The Battle of Prek Klok I occurred on February 28, 1967 during Operation Junction City, a search and destroy mission by American military forces in Tay Ninh Province of South Vietnam, to the west of the capital Saigon. A few days before the battle, the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry of the United States was brought into the area near Suoi Da and Prek Klok to defend a highway, airfield, and artillery base in the area, and to carry out search and destroy operations around it. On the morning of February, elements of the battalion headed east, and were attacked from the front by Viet Cong infantry with gunfire, rockets and mortars. Soon after, they were attacked from all fronts as the communists tried to surround them with a battalion-sized force. However, with superior firepower available, the