How Army Engineers Built a Runway Under Fire at Dak To

In November 1967, at the Battle of Dak To, a North Vietnamese mortar barrage shattered the U.S. airstrip, destroying two C-130s and cratering the runway. Army engineers had just twelve hours to repair the surface or the firebase would face ammunition shortages. This documentary tells the story of the 299th Engineer Battalion's desperate race, laying pierced steel planking under fire, patching craters, and bypassing obstacles, while also exploring the broader evolution of combat engineering in Vietnam from 1965 to 1968. From the DeLong piers and Rome plows to the Highway Restoration Program, witness how bulldozers, bridging, and sheer grit kept the war machine moving.