Tully progressed without incident along the rump and located Sn. lost whose men welcomed their saviors with understandable emotion. They retreated slowly and in good order to the landing area, carrying off the dead and wounded and losing only one wounded to a sniper. Throughout the following night, although friendly artillery defended the entire perimeter to some depth, the enemy still managed to close in on the position and finally launched a company attack on the company. B of 2nd Bn. at 5:30 a.m. and another one an hour later.
Wanting to avoid falling into the same trap as the day before, Moore ordered at first light a general volley, lasting one minute, into the trees, ant hills and tall grass lying in front of the position. . It was a success, snipers fell from the trees only yards from the cavalrymen and a section attack was nipped in the bud. After a lull, Moore decided to clear the ground to a depth of 500 m, and in the course of this operation Co. B of 2nd Bn. again suffered a sudden attack in which wounded North Vietnamese took part, throwing grenades from the place where they had fallen.
The Co. fell back fighting into the perimeter, and the Air Force forward controller engaged the air force with such precision that a 500-pound bomb was aimed at an objective less than twenty-five yards from the perimeter. Chu's men had had enough, and another sortie met only light resistance. The landing area was now sufficiently secure for the other Coys. of the 2nd Bn. could land and relieve Moore's exhausted troops and Co. B of 20 Bn. from 70 of Cav. and the 3rd Sn. of the Co. A of the same Bn. These units left the X-RAY landing area by air. Moore was soon to be named Colonel. The enemy losses were estimated at 634 killed with certainty, 581 presumed dead and 6 prisoners. The North Vietnamese who had a reputation of never giving up weapons or equipment had got rid of more than 100 individual or collective weapons. including four Maxim machine guns as well as rocket launchers and mortars.
American losses were 79 killed and 121 wounded.
The lessons of la la Drang were clear. Relatively inexperienced troops performed well against a hardened enemy. They were well supported by fire and reinforcements, but the helicopter was their saviour. He transformed a Bn. surrounded, lost in the depths of an enemy sanctuary into an active unit with an uninterrupted line of communication:a unit that could resupply, receive reinforcements, evacuate its wounded and retain the initiative. La la Drang also demonstrated that the helicopter was not a fragile war toy.