On the morning of 2 March 1968, while patrolling north of Tan Son Nhut Air Base near the small village of Quoi Xuan to locate VC rocket sites, Company C, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment walked into an ambush losing 48 killed in just 8 minutes. U.S. forces claimed they killed 20 VC. Specialist Nicholas J. Cutinha would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Quoi Xuan. General Fillmore K. Mearns would describe this as "a classic example of a properly executed ambush." The following day as US troops swept the area they were engaged by VC forces in an 8-hour battle losing 3 dead while killing 10 VC.