Enemy Contact Near FSB Fontaine
Summary
On April 20, 1971, a reconnaissance patrol from Range Platoon, D Company, 2/8 Cavalry walked into an NVA bunker complex near a stream in Long Khanh Province, approximately 1–2 km from FSB Fontaine. The lead elements were ambushed by tree-mounted, command-detonated Chicom mines and heavy automatic weapons fire from the bunkers. Three soldiers — CPL James Cardwell, CPL Danny Drinkard, and CPL Joseph Hall — were killed in action. A fourth, PFC Stanton Sargent, was severely wounded and died the following day. An estimated fifteen soldiers were wounded, including Range Platoon Sergeant SSG Stan Dillon and platoon leader LT Bill Bott.
The surviving elements of Range Platoon withdrew across the stream under fire. Cat Platoon fired from the south bank to hold enemy attention while Range extracted its wounded. Supporting fires were brought to bear throughout the afternoon: direct and general support artillery (including 8-inch guns from Xuan Loc), aerial rocket artillery, Air Cav gunships, and six USAF F-100s dropping 500-lb bombs on the bunker complex. Three KIA could not be retrieved from the ambush site that day and were left under enemy guns with great reluctance. They were recovered in a combat assault on April 23.
The night of April 20–21 was spent in a defensive perimeter east of the bunker complex, with continuous artillery fire directed through the night by Capt. Neal and acting FO SGT Steve Kahnke. Skull Platoon was choppered in to reconstitute D Company's strength. The event directly precipitated the helicopter crash four days later that killed pilot CW2 Martin Fanning, for whom the next FSB was named.
Context and Contested Details
FSB name: Col. Bacon's deposition refers to "FSB Fanning" when describing the morning of April 20 — including General Abrams's visit to the fire base before the contact. This is almost certainly a retrospective slip. The FSB was not renamed Fanning until after the 4/24 crash, four days after this event. All other sources and the slug for this record use Fontaine.
Platoon naming: Bacon refers to the ambushed unit as "2d platoon," its numerical designation. All soldier accounts use the call-sign Range. This record uses Range throughout.
Contested — Neal's position during the firefight: Davis states (in a section redacted from his published account) that Neal and Cat Platoon remained on the south bank throughout the firefight and provided no direct support to Range. Neal's own account describes actively managing the withdrawal, directing medevacs, and ordering Cat's trail squad across the stream to flank behind Range. These accounts are not fully reconciled. Davis's characterization is retained in the archive repository but is not part of his published account.
Sargent DOW date: Davis states Sargent "died the next day." The Linda Martin oral history (widow's testimony, Angelo State University, 2018) confirms April 21 as the date of death. The Honor Roll entry for Sargent should reflect April 21.
The three KIA — Cardwell, Drinkard, and Hall — could not be recovered from the ambush site on April 20. McGrew's calendar places a CA to Fontaine on April 23, corroborating recovery, but no source explicitly documents that mission. If you were there or know what happened, we want to hear from you.
Share what you know →Hall, Collins, and Schneck all performed actions that multiple accounts describe in terms consistent with valor citations. We have found no award documentation for any of them. If you have copies of citations or know what awards were issued for April 20, 1971, please contact us.
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