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142
23 December 1965
Submitted by: Jim Anderson
When the first troops of the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Tropic Lightning Division, landed December 23, 1965, at the New Pleiku Airfield, they represented the first of a 4,000-man brigade on its way from Schofield Barracks, thanks to Blue Light, the longest and largest airlift of cargo and personnel to a combat area in military history.
"Blue Light" saw a total of 225 missions flown and 9,290,000 pounds of cargo transported in C-133 Cargomasters and C-141 "Starlifters" to Pleiku headquarters in the central mountain region, 250 miles northeast of Saigon.
This was the first in a series of moves which eventually brought the entire 25th Infantry Division to Vietnam.
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