Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division compete in the Fittest Soldier competition during Ivy Week 2025 on Fort Carson, June 25, 2025.The competition tested individual soldier skills and fitness levels to demonstrate lethality. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. William Rogers)

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Ellis, left, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division, speaks with Errol ‘Paige’ Lanier, (2/77thFA) a survivor of the Battle of Suoi Tre March 21, 1967 during Operation Junction City, a search and destroy mission of the Vietnam War. The Ivy Physical Training events commemorated the sacrifices of the Battle of Suoi Tre during the Vietnam War. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Jose Rolando Garcia)

From the Ivy Leaf Newsletter, March 24, 1967 “Battle of Suoi Tre”

Tay Ninh, Vietnam – Out-numbered infantrymen of the4th Division’s 3rd Brigade killed 596 members of an estimated 2,500-man enemy force in a fierce four-hour battle Tuesday morning (March 21, 1967) in Tay Ninh Province. The Ivymen, coupled with air strikes and artillery fire, handed the Viet Cong their worst single setback of the year and one of the worst blows of the conflict. The clash in an egg-shaped dry rice paddy area, 300 by 400meters, resulted in 31 Americans killed and 109 wounded. The battalions were alerted Monday of a possible attack by Colonel Marshall B. Garth, 3rd Brigade commander, when he spotted 35 Viet Cong in the open. He immediately notified Lieutenant Colonel John A. Bender, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry commander, and Lieutenant Colonel John W. Vessey, 2nd Battalion, 77th Artillery acting commander. Both men began preparing for the attack. The Operation Junction City battle began at 6:40 a.m. with a mortar attack on the position of 450 men comprising the two battalions. The Viet Cong, made up of five battalions, three from the 272nd Regiment and two undetermined, launched an all-out assault at the friendly troops from three directions with the main attack coming from the south. By 10:15 a.m. the badly battered VC were hastily withdrawing to the northeast and southeast.

As a result of their actions, the 3rd Brigade was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, signed by President Lyndon Johnson.