coffee groves tended by tribes men kkown as the brew.ome of the only inhabitants of this remote shan gra la. controlling the hills with us essential for the base in the plateau below. there was 861 alpha, forth and south, 950 and 1015. the north vietnamese showed how much they wanted them with a blistering attack in late april '67. it started when engineers assigned to ripley's company trying to secure route 9. >> every man, every vehicle was lost. >> this was the beginning of what came to be known as the hill fights. they raged from april 25th to may 5th, 1967. >> no one i feel certain in saying was prepared for the ve rossty, the extraordinary commitment that the enemy made to not just take the hills but to hang on to them. it was a seminole point in the war. >> 168 marines were killed in action in the hill fights. things quieted down in may but trouble wws still brewing in the rugged highlands. >> it seemed peaceful but you knew after that it could erupt at any time so there was always this apprehension. >> ray stubbe was a chap tin a