The operation began at about 0800 when eight U.S. Army H-21 “Flying Bananas” from the 145th Aviation Battalion helilifted Captain Smith, a Vietnamese company commander, and his 90-man assault force from Bien Hoa. Eight Army UH-1B gunships and a U.S. Air Force O-1B Bird Dog observation aircraft escorted the transport helicopters on the 20-minute flight to the objective area. The gunships were put to use almost immediately when Communist .50 caliber machine gun fire erupted from a treeline at the eastern edge of the village. Under the suppressive fire of the UH-1Bs, the first wave of H-21s landed the assault force in some partially flooded rice paddies about 700 meters east of the Viet Cong positions. The Marine assault force quickly deployed into a treeline on the western edge of the landing zone. From this position the company began returning fire with rifles and .30 caliber machine guns. The Air Force forward air controller (FAC) overhead in the O-1B and the Army gunships prevented the enemy from withdrawing across the open rice paddies which surrounded the objective on the north, south, and west. The distance between the assembly area at Bien Hoa and the landing zone combined with the scarcity of transport helicopters to slow the progress of the helilift. The landings continued at 40-minute intervals while the UH-1B gunships teamed with the Vietnamese Marine assault force to suppress the enemy’s fire. The last elements of the battalion were finally landed about two hours after the initial assault. Largely because of the effective suppressive fires from the air and ground, no aircraft were hit during the helilift. [Illustration: 2d VNMC BATTALION ATTACK ON HOI DONG SAM 25 NOV 1963 ]