In 1962,General William Westmoreland, As Part Of The Battle

The conflict at Fox Hill lasted seven days followed by a grueling march of wounded back to base, a temporary safe spot that would also be taken by the Chinese shortly after.  Their retreat, or Major General Oliver Smith’s infamously quoted “attack in a different direction!” was escorted by the Ridgerunners of 1st Battalion’s Apha, Bravo, and Charlie companies who came down from the Chosin Reservoir and had to fight through the Chinese that surrounded Fox Hill.  By the time the Ridgerunners arrived by the look of the arriving Marines you could not tell who was rescuing whom. In the end Fox Company had 26 dead, 89 wounded and three missing. There were at least 1,000 Chinese

“In August of 1964, in response to the American and GVN espionage along its coast, the DRV launched a local and controlled attack against C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox , two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin” (Brigham 2). This resulted in the United States government giving Lyndon Johnson the ability to make war under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. President Johnson then gave orders to perform air raids on Northern Vietnam pushing the United States further into the war. Compared to 1962 when only 9,000 soldiers supported the South Vietnamese, by June 1965 82,000 soldiers occupied the country. The number only continued to rise exponentially, and by 1966 370,000 soldiers had been sent in to prop their South Vietnam allies. President Richard Nixon withdrew American soldiers from Vietnam and as part of the “vietnamization” of the war. Over and 60,000 American soldiers had been lost in a war to preserve the status quo, not to win.

In 1961 President Kennedy sent a group who’s mission was to report on conditions in the South and assess if the United States should continue to deploy troops to Vietnam -Brigham, 1. In 1962 there was a massive increase of United States troops in Vietnam –MacDonald, 626. The numbers grew so large that they almost tripled. This led for the South Vietnamese to be instructed by advisors, who were attachments in the field -MacDonald, 627. Army recruits in the Special Forces were brought in to train the tribesman in the highlands. They also assisted the South Vietnamese in some of the more remote regions of the country -MacDonald, 627. The Civilian Irregular Defense Groups accompanied the Special Forces advisors, and they were able to disrupt the flow of the North Vietnamese from the country of Laos into South Vietnam -MacDonald, 627. These men were in charge of most parts of the operation, in a country where leadership had never been encouraged -MacDonald, 628. The United States troops also had many problems directing the civilians because of the language barrier. At the same time the Special Force troops were frustrated in directing their tactics -MacDonald, 628.

With this new and improved anti-aircraft tank it became one of the perfect air defense weapon systems for potential low-altitude threats, with the M55 Quad 50 as its only rival in versatility. Known as the ‘Whispering Death’, the M55 Quad 50 consisted of four Browning M2 .50-caliber machine guns mounted in a power turret on a deuce and a half (2 ½) or 5 ton truck (“ADA Units in Vietnam”, n.d.). “Generally speaking…Quads could not go cross-country in support for maneuver units. But in operations away from established road nets where heavy machine-gun support was needed, it was possible to slingload the Quad with the CH-47 helicopter” (Charles E. Kirkpatrick, in “Arsenal”, Vietnam magazine,

This battle lasted from May 8th, 1864, until May 21st, 1864. This battle was fought between the army of Ohio, the Army of Potomac, and the army of Virginia. The Army of Ohio and the Army Potomac were teamed up as the Union while fighting against Virginia, the Confederates. The generals were: Ulysses Grant, George Meade, and Robert Lee. This battle was held in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.

For ten long days, American and South Vietnamese Army troops fought alongside each other to gain control of Dong Ap Bia, Hill 937. Their mission was to search and destroy the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Chong (VC), believed to have grouped in the A Shau Valley area. The battle now known as Hamburger Hill begun May 10, 1969 and is recognized as one of the last major encounter between the Americans and the NVA. Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Weldon Honeycutt, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment

elements of the battalion moved toward the Laotian border and Dong Ap Bia, they made initial

Forces were the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, and the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry. These units were supported by the 9th Marines and the 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, as well as elements of the Army of Vietnam. ‘Don’t mean nothing’, That was the reference from the powerful 1987 movie about the battle for Hamburger Hill, more correctly called Ap Bia Mountain also known as Hill 937. Many soldiers of that May 1969 fight would no doubt agree, since the hill was abandoned to the enemy soon after it was taken. But the truth is that it was one of the most key and historical battles of the war, for it spelled the end of Major American ground combat operations in Vietnam.

The plan was to have the mission function like a “hammer and anvil.” The very outer cordon area would consist of mainly US SOF and numerous other nations. Task Force Rakkasans (10th Mountain and 101st Airborne Divisions) would be air assaulted in by Chinooks helicopters on the eastern side of the valley to set up blocking positions. The valley floor

This paper will examine how a unwavering adversary and difficult terrain combined to negate the effects of American technology. The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War which was fought by the United States and South Vietnam against North Vietnamese Forces from May 10–20, 1969. The battle took place on Ap Bia Mountain in the rugged, jungle-shrouded mountains along the Laotian border of South Vietnam. Ap Bia Mountain anchors the northwest corner of South Viet Nam's A Shau Valley. The valley has been a major infiltration route for Communist Forces from the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to the coastal cities of Northern I Corps since1966. Ap Bia Mountain dominates the northern valley, towering some 937 meters. Official

The People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) carried out a massive artillery bombardment on the U.S. Marine garrison at Khe Sanh (Defending Khe Sanh). The Marines recorded an actual body count of 1,602 NVA killed, but they estimated the total NVA dead between 10,000 and 15,000. The Time magazine, in an April 12, 1968, was titled, “Victory at Khe Sanh.” They took 220 killed at Khe Sanh and about 800 wounded and evacuated them to a different area. For the next 77 days, U.S. Marines and their South Vietnamese allies fought off an intense battle of the garrison. The Battle of Khe Sanh was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

The first American troops arrived in Danang, South Vietnam on 8th March, 1965. The troops’ mission was to defend the American airfield from the Viet Cong insurgents. However, their mission gradually extended to defensive patrolling and later on taking the offensive. As such, the number of US troops swelled to 184,300 by the end of the year and by1969, the number of American soldiers had swelled to 543,000. Correspondingly, opposition against the mission, which was previously minimal, rose magnanimously. In April 1967, a crowd of over 100,00 people marched from Central Park to the United Nations Buildings to ask for the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. By this time, over 8,000 American troops had been lost in the war. Following the protests, six Vietnam Veterans, among those who had returned home formed the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). They wanted the government to “bring their brothers back home.”

The Battle of the Ia Drang Valley was the first major battle of the Vietnam War that engaged regular forces of the United States Army ushering in a new era of combat. Air Assault of Artillery and Close Air Support used together for the first time in Vietnam allowed an agile small force to be successful against a much larger enemy contingency. Operation Silver Bayonet pitted the Third Brigade of the First Cavalry Division: 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Cavalry Regiment, against a much larger Vietnamese force to include the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong guerilla fighters. The fighting lasted from 14 November to 18 November 1965.

Khe Sanh, a plateau in the northwest corner of South Vietnam, was a U.S. Marine Corps base and airstrip. Located where North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Laos came together, the Khe Sanh base was important for American forces, as it enabled troops to gather information about the traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. However, the Communists also admired the region around Khe Sanh, since it could act as an avenue into Southern Vietnam. General Westmoreland, who would come to play a major role in the future battles, immediately felt this “crucial importance” (Brush) of Khe Sanh when he first arrived there.

The United States Army Special Forces (U.S. SF) conducted a joint operation with the United States Air Force (U.S. Air Force), with support from the United States Navy (U.S. Navy), to rescue American Prisoners of War (PoWs) in Son Tay Prison in Northern Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The actual date of the operation took place on November 20, 1970 but the actual mission planning process occurred between May and August of the same year. The United States identified approximately 500 American Prisoners of War that the North Vietnamese Army (N.V. Army) held in captivity. More so, several intelligence reports indicated the N.V. Army tortured prisoners and kept them in terrible conditions. As a result, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Earle G. Wheeler authorized the creation of a working group to address the issue and develop appropriate solutions. Essentially, the