Photo courtesy of Col James W. Scemple, USMC (Ret) Gen Leonard F. Chapman, Commandant of the Marine Corps, at right with back to tree, receives a briefing an use iij Scout Dogs during Operation Taylor Common at Fire S u ['furl Base Pike on Christmas Day, 196iS. Other officers in the [lii'tiire an', from left: LtCol James W. Stemf/le. commander of the 2d Biitttiliun. 5th Marines: BGen Ross T. Dwyer. Jr.. CG ofTF Yankee: Cu/James B. Ord. commander of the 5th Marines (standing): and MajGen Carl A. Youngdale, Deputy Commander. Ill MAF (seated). Col Michael M. Spark, commander of the 3d Marines, has his back to the camera.

previously established, the battalion began constructing FSB Spear atop the hill. With Fire Support Bases Lance and Pike, FSB Spear formed the point of a triangle which extended TF Yankee's thrust ever deeper into the heart of Base Area 112.99

Northeast of Base Area 112, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines and BLT 2/7 maintained the security of An Hoa through constant patrolling. Having accomplished its blocking force mission in the Arizona Territory, BLT 2/7 conducted a helicopter assault into an LZ near the western end of Go Noi Island, at the edge of the huge Taylor Common area ot operations. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines patrolled in the vicinity ot An Hoa, tre-quently encountering small groups of the enemy.100

TF Yankee completed the initial penetration of Base Area 112 on IS December, when the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines mounted a helicopter-borne assault on Hill 375, about four kilometers south of FSB Spear. After scoring yet another unopposed landing for the task force, the battalion began developing the hilltop as Combat Operations Base (COB) Mace.'

The four battalions ensconced in the eastern half of Base Area l 12 began a program of saturation patrolling and reconnaissance-in-force operations, depending upon helicopters alone for all logistic sup-

*A Combat Operations Base differed from a Fife Support Base, primarily, in nut having any artillery.