Company C deployed by helicopter to the northern edge of the target in order to sweep to the southwest. The sandy plain where it set down, Landing Zone 4, () seemed safe, a relatively open tract in the hamlet of Phung Du 2 with a graveyard in its midst and tall palm trees on three sides. Company C omitted the artillery preparation that normally preceded a landing due to the proximity of the village. The first helicopter lift landed at LZ 4 at 08:25, with no PAVN/VC reaction. When the second lift came ten minutes later however, the PAVN 7th Battalion, 22nd Regiment, entrenched in earthworks, palm groves and bamboo thickets throughout the hamlet, poured mortar and machine gun fire into the landing zone. Company C commander, Captain Fesmire waved the second flight away, expecting the troops to be dropped at an alternative landing zone a few hundred meters to the southwest. Instead, they ended up at four nearby but scattered locations. Returning ten minutes later with a third lift, the helicopters unloaded the men at a fifth site. By 08:45 Company C was on the ground, but the unit was so fragmented and enemy fire so intense that the various parts found maneuver difficult and effective communication with one another impossible. Meanwhile, heavy rain impeded the provision of adequate air support, and the men were so dispersed that artillery was of little use. American casualties soon littered the hamlet ground.