D Company Loss — CPL Michael Charles Jackson, Tay Ninh Province, March 17, 1970
March 17, 1970 — Tay Ninh Province
Research stub. The casualty record is confirmed; the operational circumstances are not. This page holds what is known and marks the gap explicitly.
CPL Michael Charles Jackson, a mortarman with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, was killed in action on March 17, 1970, in Tay Ninh Province. The Army records his death as hostile, died outright — multiple fragmentation wounds, ground casualty. He was 20 years old and had been in Vietnam three months and twenty-one days. He is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Panel 12W, Line 13.
What is known
The date, province, unit, and cause of death are confirmed across all three primary sources. Jackson was a mortarman — MOS 11C10 (Indirect Fire Infantryman) — serving alongside SP4 Stephen Alsup, also a D Company mortarman (MOS 11C20), who was wounded the following day at grid XT045833, approximately seven kilometers northeast of Firebase Illingworth.
FSB Illingworth opened on March 17, 1970 — the same day Jackson was killed. The 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry operated from that position through April 4; it is the firebase known for the major NVA ground assault of April 1. Whether Jackson was present at Illingworth's establishment, on patrol from it, or engaged elsewhere in the Tay Ninh AO is not established.
What is not known
The 1st Cavalry Division ORLL (AD0512505) carries no significant contact entry for the 2/8 Cav on March 17, 1970. The contact log runs from March 13 directly to March 18 with no intervening entries for the battalion. Single-KIA contacts were frequently not logged at division level in this period. Jackson's location, the circumstances of his death, and whether others were wounded in the same action are unknown.
Next source needed
The 2/8 Cav daily staff journal (NARA RG 472, 17 March 1970) is the primary outstanding source. It should establish the grid, the type of contact, D Company's position, and whether the March 17 death is connected to the preparation or opening of Firebase Illingworth.
See CPL Michael Jackson.
If you served with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry in March 1970, we'd like to hear from you. CPL Michael Jackson — a mortarman from Simi, California — was killed March 17, 1970, in Tay Ninh Province. The same day the battalion established Firebase Illingworth. Any detail about what happened that day — a contact, a grid, a name — would help complete the record.
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