The next day, Honeycutt ordered his battalion to renew the attack. Alpha and Bravo companies once again headed up the hill. This time they made it to within 150 meters of the summit, but yet again, a helicopter gunship mistaking friendly troops for the enemy salvoed an entire rack of rockets into Bravo, pummeling the company command post, killing one American soldier and wounding the company commander. By this time in the battle, the two companies had lost a total of 36 men, taking both down to half-strength. Badly battered and growing demoralized, the companies withdrew back down the hill to take up night defensive positions—and prepare for the next day's attack. Some of the soldiers began to question their orders, convinced that the whole mission was senseless.

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Nevertheless, the battle continued. On May 16, the plan called for the 3-187 to continue its attack as before up the two ridges, but to hold short of the summit to exert pressure on the enemy defenses while the 1-506 assaulted from the west and south to sweep across the top of Hill 900 toward Hill 937. As the day unfolded, however, the 1-506 was stopped short after seizing Hill 916, still some 2,000 meters from the summit of Ap Bia itself. With the Currahees halted, Colonel Conmy ordered Honeycutt to postpone his attack to wait for the 1-506.

By this time, the news media had caught wind of the vicious battle raging in the A Shau. The Associated Press sent a reporter, Jay Sharbutt, to investigate the situation. After visiting the 3-187 command post and interviewing a number of soldiers in the area, he met with Zais. The general tried to explain to him why the battle was being joined on Dong Ap Bia, but the journalist was not satisfied with his explanation. In a subsequent newspaper account, Sharbutt described the bloody battle to the American public, writing, "The paratroopers came down the mountain, their green shirts darkened with sweat, their weapons gone, their bandages stained brown and red—with mud and blood." He reported that one of the paratroopers said, "That damn Blackjack (Honeycutt) won't stop until he kills every one of us." Sharbutt's gripping description of the "meatgrinder" battle horrified readers and set off a firestorm of protest that spread all the way to the floor of Congress.

On May 17, with the 1-506 having made little progress, the two-battalion attack up the hill was again postponed. While they waited for the arrival of the 1-506, Honeycutt directed his troops to prepare for the next assault up the mountain. They began stockpiling supplies, passing out new protective gas masks and bringing up concussion grenades for use against the dug-in NVA troops in the bunkers and trench lines.

On the 18th, with the 1-506 still some 500 meters from Hill 900 and nearly twice that distance from Hill 937, the brigade commander, not wanting to postpone the attack again, ordered a coordinated two-battalion assault with the 3-187 attacking from the north and 1-506 attacking from the south. In preparation for the new attack, Conmy threw every resource he had against the mountain. Starting at 0800, he hit the area with every available fighter-bomber, followed by a 60-minute artillery prep. He hoped that this pounding would allow the Currahees to initiate a breakout and get their attack on the mountain underway to alleviate some of the pressure on the 3-187.

In their flak jackets and heavily laden with grenades and extra rifle ammunition, Honeycutt's men moved up for yet another attempt. The fighting was intense and progress was slow as gunships, artillery and mortar fire continued to pound enemy positions on the summit while the paratroopers clawed their way up the hill against heavy enemy fire.

In the middle of this swirling melee, there was yet another deadly and demoralizing incident of friendly fire. Cobra gunships mistakenly shot up a platoon from Bravo Company, killing one soldier and wounding four others. A livid Honeycutt ordered the attack helicopters out of the area.

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