US Army Air Cav Patch 1 Air Cavalry Division Soul Vietnam 1968

US Army Aviation Air Cav Patch 1 Air Cavalry Soul Vietnam Patch 1968 Original Japanese Made Subdued Embroidered on twill cut edge 134mm by 99mm five and one quarter inches by three and seven eighth inches.

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1 Cavalry Division Airmobile First Team was reactivated on 29 June 1965 on the renaming of 11 Air Assault Division and 2 Infantry Division at Fort Benning to use helicopters on large scale troop carrying cargo lift medevacs and aerial rocket artillery.

In September 1965 1 Cavalry Division Airmobile began deployment to Camp Radcliff An Khe Vietnam equipped with UH 1 Huey troop carrier helicopters UH 1C gunships CH 47 Chinook cargo helicopters and CH 54 Skycrane cargo helicopters. The Division commenced Operation Silver Bayonet its first major operation on 23 October 1965 to help relieve the Siege of Plei Me near Pleiku and the subsequent pursuit of the withdrawing North Vietnamese Army which culminated in the Battle of Ia Drang earning the Division a Presidential Unit Citation.

In 1966 the Division conducted Operation Masher Operation Crazy Horse and Operation Thayer against communist Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in Binh Dinh province. In 1967 1 Cavalry Division Air Assault undertook Operation Pershing a large scale search and destroy operation on communist base areas in II Corps.

The Division moved north to Camp Evans north of Hue for Operation Jeb Stuart in January 1968 to carry out further search and destroy operations but was diverted by the enemys Tet Offensive the Wars largest battle which commenced on the Tet holiday 31 January 1968 and the Division moved on to Landing Zone Sharon and Landing Zone Betty south of Quang Tri City I Corps Tactical Zone to break the attack. 1 Cavalry Division Airmobile relocated to LZ Stud in March 1968 for Operation Pegasus to end the siege of the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh the second largest battle of the War on 8 April 1968.  

On 19 April 1968 the Division commenced Operation Delaware its air assault on the A Shau Valley stubbornly defended by the NVA causing losses to men and equipment until they retreated into Laos and the operation ceasing in mid May. Tactical operations continued in I Corps as well as local pacification and Medcap medical outreach programs to local Vietnamese until the Division relocated south to Phuoc Vinh Base Camp northeast of Saigon during October and November 1968 for operations in the III Corps Zone including against enemy controlled areas hidden supply trails and extending its area and new fire support bases towards the Cambodian border.

In May 1970 the Division participated in the Cambodian Incursion and following successful capture of supplies and equipment withdrawing from Cambodia on 29 June 1970. Thereafter the Division took a defensive posture while US troops withdrawals continued from Vietnam. On 29 April 1971 the bulk of 1 Cavalry Division Airmobile was withdrawn to Fort Hood leaving 3rd Brigade remained as one of the final two major US ground combat units in Vietnam again mostly returning on 29 June 1972 with Task Force Garry Owen 1 Battalion 7 Cavalry remaining another two months.  

This patch dates from 1968.