Sgt. James Harwood and 1Lt. Gerald Kinsman were part of the 5th Special Forces Group Detachment B-43 based
at the Special Forces camp at Chi Lang, South Vietnam. The two were assisting in the training of the
Reconnaissance Platoon, 2nd Company, 1st (later the 6th) Cambodian Mobile Operations Battalion as part of Capt.
Harry Purdy's instruction team. Chi Lang was situated in a dangerous, contested border zone. Any training
venture away from camp was subject to becoming a frightening battlefield between Cambodian trainees and
hardened Viet Cong regulars, with predictable results, although the Special Forces had considerably more faith in
the abilities of the Khmer troops than they had had in the Vietnamese CIDG unit they had formerly trained. The
situation was worsened by the serious friction between Detachment B-43 and the former CIDG Vietnamese troops
at the camp.
The Special Forces made no secret of the fact that they felt the Khmer troops were superior to the ARVN border
rangers, whom they considered hoods and thieves. The Vietnamese officer, Maj. Hoa countered by refusing to
punish any Vietnamese caught stealing from the Americans.
In January 1971, Capt. Purdy's team and the Khmer battalion-in-training conducted a field exercise at Nui Ta Bec,
five miles northwest of Chi Lang. 1Lt. Gerald F. Kinsman, the tactics committee instructor, accompanied the
battalion's 3rd Company cadre, Lt. James J. McCarty and Sgt. James A. Harwood. On 15 January, the three
Special Forces troops were escorting the company's 24-man reconnaissance platoon, which was awaiting the arrival
of the 8th Khmer Infantry Battalion, coming to replace them in the field. The platoon was moving downhill through
thick bamboo on the slope of Hill 282 (Nui Ta Bec) northwest of Chi Lang and 2 miles from the Cambodian border,
after searching several large rock outcroppings of Nui Ta Bec. Sgt. Harwood was in the lead, 1Lt. Kinsman was in
the middle, and McCarty to the rear of the platoon. At this time, the platoon was moving in column formation.
Suddenly the pointman came under automatic weapons fire, engaging the platoon in a firefight.
Harwood radioed 1st Lt. James J. McCarty that he was crawling up toward the point, and was receiving direct fire
from the front. Communications were then lost with Harwood, and McCarty's shouts to him met with no response.
McCarty then approached Kinsman's position at the front, and saw Lt. Kinsman standing in an open area saying he
had been hit in the stomach. When he reached Kinsman, McCarty found him lying on his back in a bamboo thicket.
He had been shot in the stomach, just to the side of the navel with an exit wound in the back, and was lying in a
large pool of blood. McCarty tried to administer aid, but his weapon was shot away, and he was wounded himself.
He tried to drag the unconscious 1Lt. Kinsman from the area, but enemy troops were approaching and he had to
hide. McCarty did not see Harwood.
McCarty's radioman was wounded in the leg as he frantically radioed Sgt. Stamper at the base of the hill. Maj.
Leary, the Detachment B-43 commander, was overhead in an O-1 aircraft and relayed the request for immediate
assistance to Maj. Hoa at Chi Lang. Hoa claimed all of his units were "busy" and no response was possible. Leary
summoned a battalion from the 9th ARVN Division next, but by the time they arrived, the fighting was over. In
addition to the Cambodian casualties, both Lt. Kinsman and Sgt. Harwood were missing.
McCarty was later evacuated. Harwood was classified Missing In Action, and Kinsman, because of his severe
wounds was classified as Killed/Body Not Recovered. Every detail of their loss is classified, and unavailable to the
public after nearly 20 years.

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