Photo showing Ngok Kom Leat ridge
In the spring of 2025 I was contacted by James Loesch. James was a crew chief on a Huey helicopter, running support missions out of Dak To during the November battles.
His email to me:
Ernie
I was a gunship crew chief with the 335th AHC Cowboys, Falcon Platoon , 1967-68.
I found your website while searching for information on a photo I made on November 11, 1967.
It’s a long story, but here is my diary entry from the day and a picture I shot.
It may be Hill 823. I am looking for someone to confirm the possibility
James sent me a photo that he took while on a mission on the 11th of November,1967. He was trying to determine the location where the photo was taken.
He also said that when he was trying to enhance the original lower-resolution image, he discovered the image included both the F100 jet that was dropping bombs in support of the ground troops, and the O1 Birddog spotter plane. The F100 is under the tip of the lower arrow in the photo above, while the Birddog is under the upper arrow.
James kept a diary while he was in Viet Nam, His entry for this day gives some insight into what was happening on the ground at that instant. Here is James' diary entry for 11 Nov. 1967:
6:00 again this morning. Voluntary dust-off cover first thing. Then lift. Trying to put in reinforcements. In the middle (of the lift) the company on the ground started getting over run. Put in a strike. The guy was hysterical on the ground. "Getting over run, need help, everyone is dying." We could hear gunfire over his radio. Really bad. Almost got shot down by (our) own art. (artillery) And came close to some F100s. Another jumping day. 5:40 tomorrow. (scheduled take off time)
In trying to help James find out where the photo was taken, we scoured the after-action reports for that time period. James thought it might be Hill 823 but the terrain didn't match up. As it was, there was a lot of fighting on that day, both by the 173rd Airborne at Hill 823 and by the 4th ID at Ngok Kom Leat. Other areas were also in battle that day.
By using Google Earth to view the area, I felt that Ngok Kom Leat was a more-likely location for the photo since it was a series of ridges while the other conflicts were on more stand-alone hills.
I'm including an image from Google Earth to show what the area around Ngok Kom Leat looks like now in 2025. This is the main reason I'm adding this page to the website - to show how the terrain and foliage has changed over the last 50 plus years. Now the entire area is under cultivation and has roads. In November 1967 it was all triple-canopy jungle.
