By Spec. 4 Seth Lipsky
     LONG BINH-- Back in April 8, 1966, Col. George D. Rehkoph got orders at Ft.
Benning, Ga., to set up the 199th Light Inf. Brigade, and nine months later the men
who came to be known in these parts as the "Redcatchers" landed in Vietnam at 
Vung Tau, ready for a war they have fought on the ground in the provinces around
Saigon ever since.
     Now, nearly four years after they arrived, the 199th is about to go home as part of
the 4th increment of troop redeployment.  They will leave still feeling the loss of their
late commander, Brig. Gen. William R. Bond, who died April 1, 1970.  He was killed
in ground action by a single enemy bullet, the first general officer killed on the ground
in Vietnam.
     And they will leave, having also experienced warfare in Cambodia, where 
Redcatchers stood off one of the largest NVA attacks on a U.S. position.
     The 199th's 5th Bn., 12 Inf., under the operating control of the 1st Air Cav. Div., 
Had been in Cambodia six hours when Reds tried to overrun the Redcatchers' 
Landing Zone Brown.  The 199th threw them back, killing 50 in the process.
     During their two months in Cambodia, 199th troops copped nine enemy jeeps, 
tons of mortar rounds, more than a quarter of a million AK47 rounds, 375 tons of
rice, plus SKS rifles, mortars, AK47s and crew served weapons.
     The 199th had seen its share of heavy fighting before Cambodia, most notably 
during Tet 1968.  On Jan. 31, during the first 14 hours of the Red uprising , troopers
from the 199th killed 500 Communists at Long Binh.
     Then in early May, in heavy fighting south of Saigon, they killed more than 500 
VC and NVA again in a week of bitter clashes. 

     Two months later Brig. Gen. Franklin M. Davis Jr., the brigade commander, 
was wounded, and Col. Frederic E. Davison took command.  The next month 
Davison, a Negro, was promoted to brigadier general.
     Davison, along with Bond, are two among several men who stand out in the
199th's history in Vietnam.  Another is Chaplain Angelo J. Liteky, a captain.  On
Dec. 6, 1970, after Redcatchers found a battalion-sized Viet Cong base camp, 
Liteky became what members of the 199th call "a living legend."
     The fight that ensued the uncovering of the base camp was described as "the
bitterest and bloodiest battle to date for a unit of the 199th."  During the battle, 
Liteky was seen moving upright repeatedly through intense enemy fire and 
despite his own wounds he carried more than 20 wounded men to safety.  He
became the fifth chaplain in history and the first in the Vietnam War to win the 
Medal of Honor.
     Half a year later, Spec. 4 Kenneth L. Olson, another 199th soldier, threw him-
self on a grenade to save the lives of other U.S. soldiers near him.  He died from 
the explosion and was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.  The brigade's
main base --- Camp Frenzell Jones --- is named for two of the best remembered 
soldiers of the 199th who were with A Co., 4th Bn., 12th Inf.  When they were 
caught in an ambush.
     Pfc. Herbert E. Frenzell drew enemy fire, enabling exposed elements of the 
unit to reach safety.  Then as Frenzell himself tried to reach safety, he was hit and 
killed.
     At that point Spec. 4 Billy C. Jones crawled through mud and enemy fire to 
reach Frenzell's body.  He carried the body for more than two hours through 
thick mud and hazardous swamps, as the story is told.  He reached a waiting 
helicopter, and then moments later, when he went to assist another wounded man, 
Jones, too, was cut down by a Red bullet.
     They were the first two soldiers of the 199th to die in Vietnam.  Jones dying words
are remembered b the brigade: "I tried.  I did all I could do.  I couldn't do any more."

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