Black Virgin Mountain, South Vietnam, Oct. 14, 1969: A patrol is about to depart on a mission outside the mountain top’s perimeter wire in search of enemy activity. Multi-service forces had been holding the top of the mountain ever since Special Forces assaulted the mountain in May 1964, pushing the Viet Cong off of its peak and establishing a camp at 3,200 feet. The camp commander estimated in October 1969 that there were some 1,500 Viet Cong underneath the craggy hill in caves that open in crags and crevices in the brush and black granite on the mountain’s side.

Read the article on the high elevated outpost and see another photo here.

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