Some of the 188th crews had been working with their sister unit, the 116th AHC Hornets, for the two weeks prior to becoming operational on June 15, 1967. This major operation was the first time that the Black widows went out as a unit without being under some other commander’s tactical control.

A fully constituted Mobile Riverine Force consisting of 52 armored troop carriers, 10 monitors, four command boats and two refuelers set up anchorage at Nha Be. From June 13th through the 17th operations were conducted in the Rung Sat Special Zone as part of the 9th Infantry Division’s Operation Great Bend, which was suppose to bring greater security to the Long Tau shipping channel. The Black Widows and Spiders were provided by II Field Force and used extensively to move troops within the area of operation. Although a base camp, believed to have been the recent site of the headquarters controlling VC actions in the Rung Sat Special Zone was found, no contact was made with the enemy.

On June 18th the Mobile Riverine Force moved to a new anchorage at the junction of the Soi Rap and Vam Co Rivers in preparation for operations in the Can Giuoc District of eastern Long An Province, and the Go Cong Province in northern IV Corps. Can Giouc was located 15 miles south of Saigon at the junction of the Rach Cac River and Cau Tram stream. Normally the 3rd Brigade operated west of Can Giouc District to lend security by its operations along Highway 4; however Can Giouc was outside the brigade’s routine area of operation. The 9th Division base camp during this time frame was located at Bear Cat. Tan An, the 3rd Brigade base camp was located in the extreme southern reaches of the III Corps, south of Saigon on the Vam Co Tay River. Rach Kien located seven miles southwest of Can Giouc was used as a staging area for this operation. This was the first of many operations for the 188th in support of the “Old Reliables” of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, which were the only companies assigned to the Riverine Force. The six companies involved in this two-day battle were A, B, and C of the 3rd Battalion and companies A, B and C of the 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry and the 2nd Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment(ARVN: Army of the Republic of Vietnam) which were used as a blocking force.

On June 19th the initial CA (Combat Assault) insertion carrying grunts from Alpha Company, 4 Battalion, 47th Infantry got chewed up bad, loosing close to 80 men. The Black Widow flight of slick’s and Spider gunships took a pounding…taking beau-coup hits from heavy .30 and .50 cal automatic weapons fire directed at them from fortified bunker positions on the ground.

At 1155 hours, at co-ordinates XS 865727, Spider gunship #66-00707 took a round through the fuel cell and crew chief; Sp/5 Gary Cabigon was wounded in the leg. The A/C set the gunship down at Rach Kien where Cabigon was given medical attention for his wound while the rest of the crew waited for “Pipesmoke” to arrive and pick up the damaged gunship. By the time Gary returned to the location of his downed gunship it was gone along with the crew. He had been left behind at Rach Kien and listed as missing in action. When Cabigon finally made it back to Dau Tieng, after hitching rides on other helicopters, he headed directly to the orderly room where 1st Sergeant Ray DePalm and the CO, Major Bobby Wofford, were discussing missions. Nothing was said to Cabigon about where he had been or what had happened to him, so he just went back to his hooch and flew on another mission the next day. Spider door gunner Sp/4 Stan Moody was also wounded during the battle.

That afternoon the Black Widows were tasked with flying resupply all afternoon. It was one dull mission after another of cokes, beer and ice to the grunts on the ground. Aircraft Commander (A/C), Captain Arnold D. Amoroso, (flying left seat), WO1 Alfred “Pappy” Snook (flying right seat), crew chief Sp/5 Joe Matt, and door gunner Sp/4 Bill Crabbe crewed one of the 2nd platoon slicks that day. They decided to keep a case of beer in consideration for their tireless efforts. Joe Matt and Bill Crabbe were told to find a place to stash it; not an easy thing to do on a Huey. Around 1615 hours Amoroso’s crew was given an ammo re-supply mission northwest of Can Giouc at co-ordinates XS 773693. They contacted the unit in the LZ and they responded that they were popping yellow smoke. Almost simultaneously two yellow smokes appeared. Pappy radioed the ground commander “Talley Ho yellow smoke.” But something just didn’t look right and he expressed his concerns to Captain Amoroso. All of the infantry guys were off to one side of the LZ and there were no friendly troops on the other side of the LZ. The most disturbing fact was that there wasn’t anyone guiding them down into the LZ. Slicks usually unloaded from both sides, so that the Huey and the crew weren’t on the ground any longer than humanly possible. On final approach Pappy saw VC off to his 2 o’clock position taking aim at Captain Amoroso and himself. Amoroso carelessly, and nearly fatally, had decided to land at the nearest smoke. Pappy had the stick and made his approach low and slow over the river. As Pappy turned right base Amoroso was looking into the distance at the Rung Sat Special Zone and the surprisingly large naval craft supporting the operation. As he turned his head to focus on the landing an AK-47 round came through the nose compartment and instrument panel, passing close to Pappy’s knee and within inches of Amoroso’s shoulder…hitting the left door channeling as it exited. The round hit a toggle switch on the instrument panel, sending fragments of shrapnel flying in all directions. Pappy was hit with forty-seven shrapnel fragments, his right hand and left leg taking the brunt of the blast. Captain Amoroso was wounded in the upper right arm and shoulder. Another round exploded through Pappy’s door on the right side just missing his head. As they cleared the area Amoroso asked the guys in back if they were all right. Matt responded that he had been shot between the eyes. He then asked “How can you be talking if you were shot between the eyes?” Amoroso turned and looked back at his crew chief and saw that a piece of the door channeling had lodged in his upper nose. Those four guys were very lucky. Amoroso’s bad judgment and their inexperience almost got them killed. Unfortunately the lessons that the Black Widows learned on this mission and the knowledge they would gain on future missions in order to survive, would be learned under fire. When 2nd flight platoon leader Captain Walter Addy was infused into another III Corps unit later in the year Captain Amoroso took over the 2nd platoon.

Crew chief Joe Matt, at full alert in the back was anxious because it was getting dark and he could barely make out the friendly troops who were on one side of the LZ and the VC who were on the other side in the tree line. Charlie had been monitoring the radio traffic and popped yellow smoke at the same moment as the American unit. His A/C was headed for the wrong smoke. When Joe heard the rounds exploding through the cockpit he turned to see what was happening and was hit between the eyes. Because of the darkness Matt hadn’t pulled his ballistic helmet visor down and that would have protected his face. Door gunner Crabbe was the only crew member to come away unscathed. They got the hell out of there and flew back to Rach Kien, where they were patched up by medics and flew home to the “WEB” at Dau Tieng.

On June 20th the 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry searched south to regain contact with the enemy. Moving by helicopter and on foot the battalion found the enemy north of Rach Gion Ong stream at Ap Naman and aided by a company of the 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry decimated the enemy with close-in fire support from Spider gunships, fast movers, and artillery. That same day crew chief Sp/4 Ron Merlock’s 2nd platoon slick was given the job of picking up the bodies of Alpha Company from the battle field and flying them back to Tan An.

Following the battles of June 19-20, the Mobile Riverine Force remained in the Can Giouc area, capitalizing on the knowledge obtained of the area and attacking small elements of the VC 5th Nha Be Battalion and other local guerillas.

It just so happened that during this operation, on June 20th the Spiders began pulling night Counter Mortar (CM) at Dau Tieng. A Spiders LFT would patrol twice during the night over specific outlined areas around Camp Rainier. During this same time frame other elements of the 188th were supporting the 18th ARVN Division based at Duc Hoa, another very hot area located a few miles west of Saigon.

On June 23 Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, which had taken heavy losses, were non-operational and flown to Dong Tam by the Black Widows to begin a two-week period of refitting and retraining

The enemy unit was identified as the VC 5th Nha Be Battalion and Local Force guerillas. During the battle the 188th was used extensively to move troops when the riverine assault craft were limited by lack of navigable streams. Close-in fire support was provided during the day light hours and well into the night by Spider gunships. Black Widow slicks were available for medical evacuation and ammo resupply.

On June 22nd Spider gunship #66-00711, known in the platoon as the “Crap Shooter” was shot down at Rach Kien along with a slick tail # 66-16118 which auto-rotated into the woods. Crap Shooter took hits to the drive shaft, pedals control, and instrument panel. The slick took hits to the tail boom, tail rotor, belly, and instrument panel. Unfortunately during the recovery effort a CH-47 “shit hook” (slang term used for Chinooks) dropped the damaged slick and was written off as a total combat loss.