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Kim Ki Sam ©Stars and Stripes

A Chinook helicopter carries supplies to hilltop positions surrounding the A Shau Valley Vietnam during Operation Somerset Plain in 1968.

Operation Somerset Plain was a lengthy, late summer raid by the U.S. Army's 101s Air Cavalry Division into the A Shau Valley, which sits along the western flank of Thua Thien province. The cavalry would cut off Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army supply routes with their air-assisted raids.