Operation SPEEDY EXPRESS Begins

Elements of the U.S. Army 9th Infantry Division begin an extensive counterinsurgency campaign against Viet Cong troops in the northern Mekong Delta. The operation, codenamed SPEEDY EXPRESS, lasts until the end of May 1969. Approximately 270 U.S. personnel are killed during operations. MACV reports almost 750 captured weapons and nearly 11,000 enemy casualties.

Later, multiple journalists and others question the high ratio of enemy casualties to weapons captured, and some allege that a significant number of civilians were killed. Army officials reply that recovery of enemy weapons during the operation had been difficult due to the swampy nature of the terrain, the character of the fighting, and the number of engagements occurring at night or involving aviation units.¹