The Battle of la Drang

Vietnamese did not magically appear in the United States, the Vietnam War sparked the immigration of Vietnamese to America. Vietnamese did not virtually exist in the United States until 1975 when the war forced Vietnamese to evacuate (Povell). The war began after Vietminh defeated France and split into North and South Vietnam (O’Connel). In 1956 communist Ho Chi Minh ruled the North Vietnam, and Bao Dai ruled the South, who the United States supported and backed up (O’Connel). The Vietnam War consisted of the North and South Vietnam, fighting against eachother in order to stay two separate countries. The North tried to overtake the South, and the United States sent in troops to

American soldiers either volunteered or got drafted to serve their country. Most soldiers feared or hated the Vietnamese. While most wars are fought through conventional means, there were basically two wars that took place in Vietnam; the traditional war from 1964 – 1968 and the unconventional war from 1968 – 1972. “From the American G.I.’s point of view, the enemy was the North Vietnamese army whose members could be easily recognized and thus killed legally. The G.I.’s could related

Lt. Colonel Honeycutt, commander of 3/187, ordered two of his companies to the north and northwest ridges of the hill. Bravo company started pushing up the hill while meeting large amounts of North Vietnamese soldiers. Because of the resistance, they called in close air support to aid in moving up the hill. Miscommunication caused the air support to confuse the landing zone for an NVA camp resulting in them opening fire and killing two and injuring thirty-five of their own. Unfortunately, this was the first but not the last friendly fire incident during this battle. The thick vegetation caused for so much miscommunication and inability to properly identify targets. Honeycutt continued to launch assaults against the NVA. Theses assaults would face heavy resistance with many casualties. Lt. Colonel Conmey, commander of the 1st Battalion 506th Infantry regiment shifted his assaults to the southern base of the hill. American pushes were caused to fall short due to the thick vegetation, this also effected the capabilities of the American’s heavy weapons. Those hindrances gave huge advantages to the NVA. Because of all the vegetation, they called in approximately 270 Air Strikes in a ten-day period. These strikes dropped 890 tons of explosives and 115 tons of napalm. These air strikes and napalm eliminated many of the NVA bunkers and trenching system (Hickman,

The Vietnam war, also called the Indochina War , may be said to have started in 1957 when Communist-led rebels began mounting terrorists attacks against the government of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The rebel forces, commonly called the Vietcong, were later aided by troops of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). American combat personnel were formally committed to the defense of the South in 1965. An agreement calling for a ceasefire was signed in January 1973, and by March the few remaining U.S. millitary personnel in Vietnam were withdrawn. However, the war between the two Vietnamese sides persisted inconclusively for two additional years before South Vietnamese resistance

In Saigon as the situation unfolded, the general of the ARVN asked the US for help. First the US and Vietnamese Air Force were able to airlift in supplies, fresh bodies, and remove the wounded. The AH-1 Cobra were able to stop most of the tank advancement and infantry men allowing the ARVN troops on the ground to continue to defend their positions10. The VNAF, along with the US Air force and US Navy brought in planes to engage and thwart the ability of the VNA/VC advancement. Though this was successful it was found that there was not any form of battle space de-confliction. In this the pilots found themselves not only dodging the Anti-Aircraft Artillery from the VNA/VC, but as well as other aircraft in the fight. Aircraft were seen flying into direct fire from other aircraft and no one was talking to each other. Ground troops were not on the same frequency so they would stumble into the engagement area as well.

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 was the first battle between the U.S. Army and the People 's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) of North Vietnam. This two part battle occurred November fourteenth through the eighteenth of November 1965. The location was at the Landing Zone X-Ray and Albany in La Drang Valley. Although ample casualties on both Vietnam and U.S. side, each side adduced the battle was a victory of their own. The action of La Drang Valley was considered essential as it set the layouts for approaches for each side during the conflict. The U.S. troops continued to depend on air mobility and arms fire to acquire their combat zone objectives-achievement of the so called “body count”. Viet Cong learned by quickly engaging their combat forces close to the antagonists (while at close range) the could abrogate American advantages. The battle of La

On November 14, 1965 the first battle of the Vietnam War had begun. This is a war between communism and democracy. The first major part of the war between the United States and Northern Vietnam was the Battle of Ia Drang. The battle erupted in the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands. Lt. Col. Harold Gregory Moore took his 1st Battalion and 7th Calvary sent an assault near the Chu Pong hills. The North Vietnamese's 33rd regiment attacked our troops later that day. The fighting lasted all day and continued into the night however both sides were receiving support throughout the night and next day. Around noon on the 15th more companies arrived and helped Col. Moore giving us the upper hand. Once the three day battle ended, 834 were confirmed

I remember the day that it all happen. The day the battle for Yahya Khel started, the first major offensive operation for 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment (Black Knights), 172nd Infantry Brigade. I was in my rack on Forward Operating Base Super (FOB), in the early morning, I was awoken by a member the Operation Detachment Alpha (ODA) team that we shared the FOB with. He asked me “You the mortar guy?” I said I was. “Grab your gear. We have to go, we loaded your 120mm mortar and all the rounds into our vehicles. I’ll explain the situation on the way.” He said

Our squadron was tasked to clear all IEDS, UXOs, and roads within the AO. All of our troop missions worked toward clearing the area and, occasionally, cataloging the mud huts. Our platoon

North Vietnamese General Chu Huy Man and his headquarters element planned operations in the central highlands area of South Vietnam. His objectives were to attack American forces and control the western plateau consisting of Kontuam, Pleiku, binhdinh, and Phubon Provinces. The campaign began in the fall and by the end of October 1st Calvary Division was going the offense against General Man’s 32n d and 33rd Regiments following failed

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated

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.

In the 1950's, the United States had begun to send troops to Vietnam and during the following 25-year period, the ensuing war would create some of the strongest tensions in US history. Almost 3 million US men and women were sent thousands of miles to fight for what was a questionable cause. In total, it is estimated that over 2 million people on both sides were killed.

“The Vietnam war was a costly and very long conflict that eroded the communist regime of North Vietnam and its allies against the South Vietnam and its ally, us the United States of America (Unknown Source).” The Vietnam War began on the eve of 1959, causing a struggle between two of our major national forces. These two forces were attempting to unify the country the both love, Vietnam.