C/227 Blog

Slideshow of C/227 in action, produced by Geoff Boehm, CW4 Ret, and provided by Kirby Lawson for release onto the C/227 website

When the 1st Cavalry Division left Vietnam all of the units of the 227th remained in Vietnam and were re-designated/re-assigned. C/227 became the 60th Aviation Company, Assault Helicopter.

Philip Williams who served as Crew Chief from 1971 to 1972 when the unit was located at Ninh Hoa, has a copy of the 1971 yearbook and has provided the 1971 yearbook information below.

The link below will open a PDF file of the “Yearbook” section of individual photos with names. The second file is a PDF file of the action photos.

Yearbook 1971 Individual Photos with Names

Yearbook 1971

Robert Kelly (A/227 and D/227, 1967-1968) has found a treasure trove of the “Pouvoir” Newsletters that were published by the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion during that time period.
Each Newsletter is six pages mimeographed and in a PDF file.

1 July 1967
8 July 1967
15 July 1967
22 July 1967
29 July 1967
5 August 1967
12 August 1967
25 August 1967
2 September 1967
9 September 1967
16 September 1967

Early in 1963, in the sandy hills of Fort Benning, Georgia a new concept was formally introduced to the United States Army. This idea was conceived in the minds of mobility-minded military leaders many years ago. Its birth was celebrated in the rice paddies and jungles of the Republic of South Vietnam early in that conflict. The concept matured into adolescence with the advent of new and better machines and it became the duty of the new 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion to prove to the world that air mobility was ready to take its place among the tired and proven tactical concepts available to the Army.

The 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was constituted in the Regular Army on 1 February 1963 and assigned to the 11th Air Assault Division. This was the first battalion of its kind in the world and as it built into a full strength unit in the next several months, it stood ready to meet the challenge of providing a third dimension to the United State Army’s tactics.

On 11 February 1963 the 31st Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) was redesignated and activated as Company B, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, and brought to the battalion its twenty-two CH-34 helicopters.

On 15 February 1963 Company A, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was activated as the second of the battalion’s units. Company A was designated the aerial weapons armed escort company; their UH-1b’s and armament systems arriving in late April 1963.

On 18 July 1963 Headquarters Company, Company C and Company D, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was activated and in August 1963, the battalion became operational. Company C received its first UH-1D’s in August, the first issued to a TOE unit for field use. In December, Company A and Company D exchanged designations, making Company D the assault escort company. The Battalion then embarked on a long trail of sweat and tears that took two and half years of testing the airmobile concept. The concept was proven and the ground work laid for the forth-coming airmobile division.

The 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1965 as the 227th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter); concurrently relieved from assignment to the 11th Air Assault Division and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The battalion had provided the “Air Assault” to it’s former division and now set out to put the “Airmobile” in the 1st Cavalry Division.

The above history reprinted from:
History of the 227th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter)
PREPARED BY: Major Thomas I McMurray & Major Larry E. Scoggins
APPROVED BY: Jack Cranford
Lt. Colonel, Armor
Commanding

The current capability of the 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade (1ACB), has been developed in conjunction with the long history and needs of the 1st Cavalry Division. It is the combination of the experienced training received by each dedicated member of the Team and adherence to the performance level and traditions of the past. As of today, the 227th Aviation Regiment is currently represented by the following active units:

The 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment is an attack helicopter battalion that is a sub unit of the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade (1ACB), the aviation brigade for the 1st Cavalry Division. The battalion is an AH-64D Apache battalion based at Fort Hood, Texas. The unit’s nickname is “First Attack” because it was the first army aviation battalion to operationally field both the AH-64A and AH-64D model Apache. In June 2012, “First Attack” returned from its most recent deployment to Operation Enduring Freedom where it was stationed at FOB Sharana in Paktika Province, Regional Command-East.

The 1–227th traces its lineage directly from Company A, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

The 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment fly the UH-60 Blackhawk and provides aerial C3 support, limited air assault, aeromedical evacuation and air movement for the 1st Cavalry Division. Recently, the 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment logged over 4400 hours in the Balkans in support of Stabilization Force 4. Missions performed ranged from multi-national general support and airborne command & control, to air movement operations. At Fort Hood, 2nd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment provides general aviation support to the 1st Cavalry Division and conducts aerial fire fighting operations to support the local communities.

The 2–227th traces its lineage directly from Company B, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

The 3rd Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment is an assault helicopter battalion, currently flying the UH-60L Blackhawk helicopter in support or our troops.

The 3-227 traces its lineage directly from Company C, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

The 4th Battalion 227th Aviation Regiment was an attack reconnaissance battalion, also known as 4-227 ARB supporting the 1st Cavalry Division. Flying the AH-64D Apache Longbow.  The 4-227th traced its lineage directly from Company D, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

The 4th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division held a reflagging ceremony, changing its unit designation to the 7th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment at Hood Army Airfield Oct. 22, 2015. This transition is part of a larger Army wide reorganization process. The transformation to the 7-17 Cav. Regt. will change the unit to a heavy-attack, reconnaissance squadron, comprised of both AH-64E Apache helicopters and Shadow unmanned aerial systems aircraft.

Beginning May 1, 1970, the 1st Cavalry Division (along with ARVN and other US Units) crossed the border into Cambodia in the area known as the Fishhook. The following documents add background and details about the operation and the role of the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.

The first document is the Warning Order notifying the Battalion of the upcoming operation. This is followed by the intelligence detail provided by the Battalion S2 of the Fish Hook area inside Cambodia, Assault timeline, Flight Assignments, Flight Leaders Briefing sheet, Description of the “Heavy” flight formations, “Atta-Boy” to Company Commanders, and a copy of the 11th Group Newsletter.

Documents provided by Kirby Lawson. COL Lawson served as CO of C/227 (Ghostrider 6) and also as the 227th Battalion XO (1969-1970)

The following rosters include all personnel assigned to Company C. 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion as of April 1970, and June, 1970.

Division wanted a higher level of maintenance in each company to improve mission ready aircraft. So they took teams from the 15th TC and assigned them to each company. The 400th Transportation Detachment was with us in C227.

We completely integrated it into our company, like a another platoon would be. But the TO/E still required it to be listed as it’s name, 400th Trans.

Provided by COL Kirby Lawson. COL Lawson served as Company Commander for C/227 (Ghostrider 6) and also as the Executive Officer for the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion during his tour (July 1969 – June 1970).

April 1970
June 1970

I have uploaded .PDF documents (below) that have information about the operations of the 1st Cavalry Division for the time period indicated.

Although these documents are not specific to the 227th, they do contain a lot of information about the operations that we were involved with and might jog some memories.

We will add more as they become available.

Quarter ending 30 April 1966
Quarter ending 31 July 1966
Quarter ending 26 August 1968
Quarter ending 31 January 1969
Quarter ending 30 April 1969
Quarter ending 31 July 1969

The following file (.pdf) contains historical documents regarding the Valorous Unit Award for the Bien Hoa action. This award was issued 24 January 1970 with General Order No. 203.

Included are the descriptive narrative for the award, the citation, maps designating gun placements etc, and list of individuals from the 227th decorated for this action.

Also included are the supporting documents and statements in a second file.

This information has been provided by Potato Masher 12, Victor Diatschenko, B/227, 1969-1970. The documents were found initially by Mr. Charles D. Eddins, one of the award recipients from B/227

Valorous Unit Award, 6 March 1969.

Supporting Documents

Provided by COL Kirby Lawson. COL Lawson served as Company Commander for C/227 (Ghostrider 6) and also as the Executive Officer for the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion during his tour (July 1969 – June 1970)

A video recording of a presentation by COL Kirby Lawson and LTC Joe Shaffer.

This video is an overview of Army Aviation operations in Vietnam and the development of the air mobile concept. The later part of this video has voice recordings from the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion Assault into Cambodia, May 1970. Captions have been added that go along with the audio of the combat assault flight into Cambodia.

The assault flight was made up of 42 UH-1H “Huey” helicopters and 18 AH-1 “Cobra” gun ships.
LTC Johnson flew above vectoring us into and out of the landing zones, from an altitude
3000 to 5,000 feet to stay out of anti-aircraft fire. The flights went in at tree top level to
avoid exposure.

CALL Signs:
11th Group Commander: Terror 29 – Colonel Mertel
227th Battalion Commander: Anchor 29 – Lt. Colonel Johnson
C/227th Company Commander: Hang 29 – (Yellow One) Major Lawson
B/227th Company Commander: Desire 29 – Major Knudson
A/227th Company Commander: Owner 29 – Major Sundstrom
D/227th Company Commander: Welder 29 – Captain Matocha

The video is provided by COL Kirby Lawson. COL Lawson served as Company Commander for C/227 (Ghostrider 6) and also as the Executive Officer for the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion during his tour (July 1969 – June 1970).