LONG BINH, Vietnam (UPI)--The band played "The Battle Hymn of the Republic,"
an announcer read a list of important battles, a bugler played taps for 692 dead comrades,
and the 199th Inf. Brigade Sunday bowed out of Vietnam.
     The approximately 80 men participating in the ceremony at this Army post 18 miles
northwest of Saigon were to escort the brigade flags home later in the day.
     The brigade, which helped in the defense of Saigon since late 1966, and participated
in the Cambodian invasion, was ordered home in Phase Four of the U.S. troop withdrawal
program.
     Most of the nearly 5,000 soldiers have already been either shipped home if their time in 
Vietnam was completed, or transferred to other outfits.
     The unit had been based in the Saigon area since arriving Dec. 10, 1966.  Among the
battles mentioned by the announcer were Tet of 1968, the defense of Long Bien, the
defense of Saigon, --- both in the Tet, and the post-Tet offensives of May, 1968.
     The 199th's official history claims its soldiers, called "the Redcatchers" slew more
than 900 Communist soldiers in less than four days in the Tet offensive at their northern
base camp, and in street fighting in Saigon.  The statistics show 14 "Redcatchers" killed
during the battles.
     A sniper's bullet killed Brig. Gen. William Ross Bond, the brigade's commander, on
April 1, 1970, shortly after he stepped out of a helicopter.
     Bringing the flags home Sunday was the brigade's current commander, Lt. Col. 
George E. Williams.
     Williams accepted for his unit, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Vietnamese
Civic Action Award.

---

Back to Redcatcher Reds