Week of January 28, 2024

Week of January 28—February 4, 2024:
Two Marines and a Navy Corpsman
Died in a Minefield, January 31, 1970

1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division insignia (USMC)

SUMMARY: On the morning of January 31, 1970, A Company, 1st Marine Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (A Co., 1/1 Marines), 1st Marine Division sent out a platoon to act as a blocking force a few miles southeast of the Tuy Loan Bridge in the vicinity of Da Nang. Dropped off in a rice paddy by helicopter, the platoon quickly moved to a nearby clearing to set up their position. A sudden explosion wounded several of the men. As Marines converged to assist their fallen comrades, a second mine exploded, killing one, wounding two more, and revealing the peril to the rest. They were in a minefield. A CH-46 Sea Knight came to their rescue. The crew chief—a private first class—exited the aircraft, entered the minefield, and returned carrying wounded and dead Marines aboard. Six times. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary bravery. A dozen men were wounded in that field, some severely. Two Marines and a Navy corpsman made the ultimate sacrifice.

Map of I Corps Tactical Zone, South Vietnam (VVA/VWC)FULL STORY: By early 1970, the U.S. Marine Corps mission and experience in I Corps was changing. Troop withdrawals combined with shifting priorities set up a new wartime paradigm. Pacification programs and Vietnamization efforts took on a larger role, and for many Marines changed the pace and tenor of the war. Marines in the Da Nang tactical area of responsibility were especially affected. The enemy had learned that large-scale encounters and pitched battles had little strategic value; small reward at enormous cost. Instead, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong (VC) waged a continual and devastating campaign of rocket and mortar attacks, booby traps, ambushes, and small skirmishes. Booby traps in particular took a terrible toll on the Marines, both in terms of casualties and morale. It was a deadly and effective way to fight against III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) in northern South Vietnam.

III MAF’s 1st Marine Division, headquartered just outside Da Nang, was responsible for the overall security of the population of Quang Nam Province. I Corps had by then been largely pacified. Approximately 85 percent of the population was living in hamlets that were considered safe, but there were still some contested hamlets, and a few entirely under VC control. The division’s chief mission was to provide a shield for the populated area of the province, which required keeping NVA and VC forces away from Da Nang. For the American Marines in I Corps, it had become a counterinsurgency war. Locating, interdicting, and destroying enemy forces, bases, logistical installations, infiltration routes, and lines of communication was the daily task.

Photo of three Sikorsky CH-46 Sea Knights returingn to Marble Mountain Airbase east of Da Nang after an operation in 1970. (USMC)The 1st Marine Division participated in a new system of heliborne combat patrols codenamed Kingfisher, which were offensive in nature, designed to seek out the enemy from the air and land troops to fight if the enemy was spotted. The Kingfisher patrol consisted of a reinforced rifle platoon aboard three Boeing CH-46B Sea Knight helicopters, accompanied by four Bell UH-1G Huey Cobra gunships, a North American OV-10 Bronco carrying an aerial observer, and fixed-wing air support on call. The Kingfisher patrols generally began at first light, one rifle platoon aboard the helicopters and the rest of the company ready to reinforce at a moment’s notice.

Photo of Marines from Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines emerging from a heavy-lift CH-53 helicopter in a search-and-destroy mission in a long-time enemy base area known to the Marines as Charlie Ridge, 12 miles southwest of the Da Nang Airbase (USMC)On June 31, 1970, 2d Platoon, A Co., 1/1 Marines set out at daybreak on a Kingfisher patrol in search of the enemy, and found him. The platoon was dropped off to fight, with close air support provided by Cobras, while the Sea Knights returned to base to pick up 3d Platoon to provide a blocking force to prevent any enemy engaged with 2d Platoon from escaping the battlefield. The men of 3d platoon disembarked in a rice paddy and, in pursuit of a lone VC guerilla, moved quickly to a nearby clearing. The enemy had led them into a minefield. After two mines had been detonated – half a dozen Marines had been wounded, and one killed –the realization of their predicament had sunk in.

1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division insignia (USMC)Almost immediately, a Sea Knight named “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (HMM-263, nicknamed “Gopher Broke”), Marine Aircraft Group 16, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing landed right in the minefield. The crew chief had directed the pilot to carefully landed with the front wheels in one of the mine craters, and the rear wheels in the other—ensuring both that the helicopter would not accidentally detonate another mine, and would be near to the injured and beleaguered Marines. The crew chief then exited the helicopter, disobeying a direct order from the pilot that no one leave the aircraft, raced into the minefield, collected wounded Marines, and carried them to the aircraft. Several more mines exploded and more Marines were wounded and killed. The crew chief made six trips into the minefield before all of the Marines, a dozen wounded and three others dead (including a Navy corpsman), were aboard and he could at last signal the pilot to lift off.

The crew chief, U.S. Marine Corps Private First Class Raymond M. Clausen, Jr., was awarded the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life. Clausen was a private first class because he had been demoted several times for disobeying orders.

These are the men who were killed in the minefield.

  • U.S. Navy Petty Officer Third Class Paul Frank Doronzo, hospital corpsman, H&S Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, III MAF (1/1 Marines), was born January 06, 1947 in Denver, Colorado. He was 23 years old.
     
  • Corporal Raymond Dale Harrell, rifleman, A Company, 1/1 Marines, was born July 10, 1950 in Fries, Virginia. He was 19 years old.
     
  • Lance Corporal Edward Arnold Rozell, rifleman, A Company, 1/1 Marines, was born June 11, 1951 in West Seneca, New York. He was 18 years old.

They are honored together on Panel W14, Lines 83-87 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.1

Engraved name on The Wall of Petty Officer Third Class Paul Frank Doronzo, U.S. Navy   Engraved name on The Wall of Corporal Raymond Dale Harrell, U.S. Marine Corps

Engraved name on The Wall of Lance Corporal Edward Arnold Rozell, U.S. Marine Corps


1Major William R. Melton (USMC) and Jack Shulimson (editors), U.S. Marines In Vietnam: Vietnamization and Redeployment, 1970-1971, History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., 1986; Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons (USMC), “Marine Corps Operations in Vietnam, 1969-1972,” Proceedings, Vol. 99/5/843, U.S. Naval Institute, May 1973 (accessed January 20, 2024); “Chronology-Vietnam War,” Pop-A-Smoke (accessed January 25, 2024); “Gopher Broke: The Story of ‘Blood Sweat & Tears,’” Pop-A-Smoke (accessed January 25, 2024); Commander John C Leslie (USN), “MEDAL OF HONOR ICO PFC Raymond M “Mike” CLAUSEN,” The Patriot Reader Newsletter, Veterans Council of St Johns County, July 2016 (accessed January 25, 2024); Lance Corporal Ed West (USMC), “A tribute to the Crew of ‘Blood Sweat & Tears,’” as shared in “Gopher Broke: A Medal of Honor Story,” Cpl Beddoe blog, TXDVLDG, January 8, 2008 (accessed January 25, 2024);  “Wall of Faces,” Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, (accessed January 20, 2024); “The Virtual Wall,” Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall (accessed January 20, 2024); Coffelt Database of Vietnam Casualties (accessed January 20, 2024)


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2023

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Sub Unit 1, 1st ANGLICO, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, U.S. Marine Corps insignia (USMC) Week of
July 30
The first South Korean combat troops arrived in Vietnam in the fall of 1965, not long after the first American combat troops arrived in country. Initially, the Republic of Korea (ROK) sent an army division and a marine brigade as part of the Free World alliance ...
Map of QL-14 road between Ban Me Thuot and Buon Brieng. (U.S. Army/VWC) Week of
July 23
The Rhade tribesmen of the Central Highlands in South Vietnam played a significant role in the Vietnam War. The Rhade were the largest and considered the most socially advanced of the major indigenous Montagnard tribes in South Vietnam. ...
Photo of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34) (U.S. Navy) Week of
July 16
The cessation of Operation ROLLING THUNDER in November 1968 shifted American air power priorities mostly away from North Vietnam—except around Vinh, just north of the demilitarized zone—primarily to South Vietnam and Laos. Navy aircraft continued to ...
Photo of a panoramic view of An Loc, Vietnam (public domain) Week of
July 9
By the spring of 1971, both President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization policy and the withdrawal of American troops from combat zones in South Vietnam were making excellent headway. Hope was high that the South Vietnamese would soon be ...
101st Airborne insignia Week of
July 2
Less than two weeks after President Richard Nixon’s inauguration, Communist leadership hatched a plan to test the resolve of the new administration and the American people. The Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN) issued a directive to the North Vietnamese ...
Army Soldier's Medal graphic Week of
June 25
The first elements of the United States Army’s 1099th Transportation Company (Boat), arrived in Vietnam in May 1965 and it was at full strength by the middle of the summer. The Army’s experience with amphibious operations during World War Two ...
2d Squadron (Airmobile), 17th Cavalry Regiment insignia (U.S. Army) Week of
June 18
In 1970, B Troop, 2d Squadron (Airmobile), 17th Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (B 2/17th Cav), a helicopter cavalry unit, was supporting the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle in I Corps.
B Troop provided direct support to the division’s 1st Brigade, ...
udt sdv Week of
June 11
In the middle of the night on June 14, 1969, after extensive reconnaissance and surveillance, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) sappers attacked elements of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) at Fire Support Base (FSB) Berchtesgaden using rocket propelled ...
udt sdv Week of
June 4
Just before midnight on the nearly moonless night of June 5, 1972, a four-man United States Navy special operations team jumped from a helicopter to rendezvous with submarine USS Grayback (LPSS-574) just off the coast of North Vietnam. The team was continuing ...
bell uh1b Week of
May 28
On May 28, 1965, two U.S. Army UH-1B Huey helicopters, tail numbers 63-08592 and 63-08594, collided midair about 75 feet over the III Corps soccer field at Bien Hoa Air Base. The first was apparently performing an autorotation exercise when the collision ...
silver star Week of
May 21
On May 23, 1968, Viet Cong guerillas near Trang Bang attacked 2d Platoon, C Company, 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (C/2-12) with rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), small arms, and automatic weapons fire. A tracker dog team from  ...
shadow gunship Week of
May 14
On May 18, 1970, Company C, 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division engaged an unknown number of enemy combatants about five miles northwest of Krek in Cambodia. The firefight commenced just before dark that evening ...
cannon Week of
May 7
Just after midnight on May 12, 1969, the explosion of mortar rounds shattered the nighttime quiet inside Fire Support Base (FSB) Gela. A force of North Vietnamese soldiers was attacking, beginning with artillery and followed by a ground assault. As the artillerymen of FSB ...
american gi Week of
April 30
Late April in 1970, two United States Army advisers —First Lieutenant Richard H. Davis and Sergeant First Class Vernel Collins—accompanied elements of the South Vietnamese 28th Regional Forces on a search-and-clear operation in Kien Phong Province ...
navy lcvp Week of
April 23
In the early morning darkness of April 23, 1965, a seven-man Marine Force Reconnaissance team disembarked a landing craft and waded ashore not far from Da Nang, in Quang Nam Province. Their mission was to probe for contact with Communist insurgents and scout ...
thuong duc Week of
April 16
In the spring of 1969, the United States Marine Corps and the South Vietnamese Army collaborated in Operation OKLAHOMA HILLS, a three-month initiative to locate and clear North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units from central Quang Nam Province in I Corps. They ...
operation babylift Week of
April 9
From April 11-12, 1966, American forces from the 1st Infantry Division (“Big Red One”) engaged a main-force Viet Cong battalion directly outside its base camp. Known as the Battle of Xa Cam My, or alternatively the Battle of Courtenay Plantation, the men of ...
operation babylift Week of
April 2
On April 4, 1975, the first flight of Operation BABYLIFT ended in tragedy. The flight was bringing adopted Vietnamese war orphans to their new homes in the United States and Canada. Twelve minutes after takeoff from Tan Son Nhut Air Base bound for Clark Air Base ...
dust off Week of
March 26
On April 1, 1965, an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Ranger team rendered an air assault into an area along the Vam Co Dong River southwest of Duc Hoa in the Hau Nghia Province and northwest of Saigon on the Cambodian border. After a full day of ...
point orient Week of
March 19
On March 22, 1969, the 82-foot United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Point Orient (WPB 82319), U.S. Coast Guard Coastal Division Twelve (COSDIV-12), U.S. Coast Guard Squadron One, Task Force 115, U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam (USNAVFORV), was patrolling near the ...
silver star medal Week of
March 12
Early in the morning on March 14, 1967, Company A, 1st Battalion, 22d Infantry Regiment, 2d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division set out on patrol in the jungle about 16 miles west of Plei Djereng airfield in the Central Highlands near the Cambodian border. They were ...
marine sikorsky Week of
March 5
On March 10, 1963, a U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse helicopter from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162 (HMM-162), crashed attempting to rescue a downed Army OV-1C Mohawk pilot. The crash site was approximately 5,000 feet above sea level ...
ju-21a Week of
February 26
Early in the morning on March 4, 1971, a Beechcraft JU-21A aircraft took off from Phu Bai Air Base on a signal intelligence collection mission over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and southwestern North Vietnam. They were specifically looking for a newly established ...
propaganda poster Week of
February 19
Late in the morning of February 16, 1965, an American Dust Off pilot noticed movement on an apparent strange new outcropping from a hidden, rocky beach at a cliff base in Vung Ro Bay, and reported the sighting. It turned out to be a heavily camouflaged North  ...
spooky insignia Week of
February 12
Just before midnight on February 14, 1968, a U.S Air Force AC-47D "Spooky" gunship from the 14th Air Commando Squadron (ACS), 14th Air Commando Wing (ACW), 7th Air Force, took off from Phan Rang Air Base in the Ninh Thuan Province of South Vietnam to ...
m113 carrier Week of
February 5
At 10:45 a.m. on February 7, 1968, an M-113 armored personnel carrier (APC) crested a hill several miles south of Thang Bin in Quang Tin Province while on a mission and suddenly exploded. The blast was the result of an enemy-triggered 250-pound bomb directly ...
phu tho race track Week of
January 29
In the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, Viet Cong sappers attacked a number of South Vietnamese and American targets in the capital city of Saigon. Snipers on Plantation Road near the Phu Tho Racetrack in the Chinese suburb of Cholon ambushed several ...
an loc Week of
January 22
On Saturday evening, January 27, 1973, North Vietnamese artillery fired a parting barrage at An Loc in Binh Long Province, about 70 miles north of Saigon near the Cambodian border. The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) senior adviser to the  ...
101 insignia Week of
January 15
At 7:48 p.m. on Friday, January 19, 1968, an enemy force attacked the 25th Infantry Division base camp at Cu Chi with 82mm mortars and recoilless rifle fire. The 1st Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division was temporarily quartered on the base and  ...
hmh 463 insignia Week of
January 8
Early in the evening of January 8, 1968, a Marine Sikorsky CH-53A “Sea Stallion” flying in foul weather, crashed into a mountain at cruising speed, approximately 150 knots. The Sea Stallion exploded, killing all five crew members and 41 passengers instantly. The ...
ho bo woods Week of
January 1
On January 7, 1966, United States and Australian Army forces launched Operation CRIMP, a massive joint search-and-destroy operation in a region about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. Their objective was to locate and destroy the Viet Cong headquarters ...

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silver star Week of
December 25
A force of Communist guerrillas occupied the small South Vietnamese town of Binh Gia, in the Mekong Delta, on December 28, 1964. A battle for the town erupted the following day, as non-Communist forces tried to reclaim it. No American units engaged ...
support base Week of
December 18
On December 24, 1970, nine American soldiers from 2d Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 101st Infantry Division were killed and nine severely wounded. A 155mm high explosive U.S. artillery shell had landed in the ...
uss ranger Week of
December 11
On December 15, 1970, a C-2A Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) cargo aircraft was headed for Subic Bay, Philippines aboard USS Ranger, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on Yankee Station approximately 70 miles off the northern coast of South ...
m60 machine gunners Week of
December 4
Sometime during the early morning hours of December 7, 1967, Viet Cong guerrillas attacked a platoon of United States Marines. The Marines were in their overnight position on routine patrol just a few miles south of the air base at Quang Tri in I Corps at the ...
plantation Week of
November 27
On Saturday, November 27, 1965, a reinforced North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regiment attacked and destroyed the 7th Regiment, 5th Infantry Division, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) near the Michelin Rubber Plantation a few miles northeast of ...
soliders on the pr' line Week of
November 20
On the morning of November 24, 1966, Viet Cong guerrillas in the Central Highlands ambushed a convoy of communications contractors and U.S. military personnel. The caravan was traveling from the mountain resort town of Da Lat to Pr` Line Mountain, ...
ov-1c mohawk Week of
November 13
On November 15, 1969, Viet Cong soldiers shot down a United States Army OV-1C Mohawk flying on a visual reconnaissance mission in the Mekong Delta near the coast. Crewmembers on U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Point Grace (WPB-82323) saw the aircraft go down in ...
operation shendoah Week of
November 6
On November 7, 1967, Companies C and D with a Headquarters Company command group from 1st Infantry Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One), were ambushed. The trap was sprung by soldiers of ...
patch Week of
October 30
In late October 1970, the remnants of Super Typhoon Kate crossed the South China Sea and arrived in South Vietnam as a tropical storm. It brought days of heavy rains and caused widespread flooding, especially in the Quang Nam Province south of ...
patch Week of
October 23
On October 23, 1966, Senior Chief Boatswain’s Mate (BMCS) Charles F. Busby, was fatally injured while serving as the chief harbor pilot at Da Nang Harbor, Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Busby, assigned to Port/Harbor Operations, Naval Support Activity (NSA) ...
special forces Week of
October 16
On the evening of October 18, 1965, two aircraft supporting a clandestine reconnaissance mission in Laos, vanished after reporting visibility troubles in the darkening clouds and storms on their way home. One aircraft was a South Vietnamese Air Force ...
198 infantry brigade Week of
October 9
On the evening of October 13, 1970, Company B, 1st Battalion, 52d Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division was on a search-and-clear mission. They had just moved to a night defensive position about 12 miles northwest of Quang Ngai in ...
OH-13S Sioux Week of
October 2
On October 4, 1965, three American pilots were killed in action just north of Vinh Thanh Airfield near An Khe in Binh Dinh Province, II Corps, South Vietnam. U.S. Army Captain Charles F. De Amaral, Jr., pilot, and U.S. Air Force Captain John D. Musgrove, forward air ...
induction ceremony Week of
September 25
At approximately 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 26, 1965, two American POWs were executed on orders from the communist National Liberation Front’s (NLF) high command by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. The NLF's clandestine "Liberation Radio" had ...
rescue lift Week of
September 18
On September 20, 1965, four United States Air Force crewmen took off in their HH-43 Huskie helicopter to rescue an F-105 Thunderchief pilot shot down over North Vietnam. During the initial rescue attempt, North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces began ...
Michael Hammers Week of
September 11
On September 17, 1967, Private First Class John C. Peel was serving as an artillery forward observer (FO) with E Company, 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment during the Marine Corps search-and-destroy mission Operation BALLISTIC CHARGE in Quang Nam province. As ...
Army medal of honor Week of
September 4
On September 7, 1970, North Vietnamese troops ambushed a convoy of four United States Army M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) and one M551 Sheridan tank on a road near the town of Phu My, in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. The attack ...
uss garrett county Week of
August 28
Not long before sunrise on September 1, 1967, a UH-1H “Huey” helicopter attached to Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3 (HAL-3, known as the “Seawolves”) lifted off from the deck of USS Garrett County (LST-786), which was anchored in the Hau Giang River ...
officer uses a radio Week of
August 21
On August 23, 1968, during Operation TOAN THANG II, near the town of Loc Ninh, South Vietnam, D Company, 1st Battalion, 2d Infantry Regiment was acting as a rear-guard security force for the rest of the battalion. Private First Class Walter Ferguson, Jr., a ...
distinguished service cross Week of
August 14
On August 20, 1964, four American military advisers accompanied four companies of South Vietnamese troops to a small village in Kien Hoa Province, in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. While en route, a large contingent of Viet Cong insurgents ambushed the South ...
USS Canon (PG-90) Week of
August 7
While patrolling the Bo De River the morning of August 11, 1970, USS Canon (PG-90) was conducting “harassment and interdiction” fires against suspected enemy positions, when Viet Cong insurgents ambushed the patrol gunboat from both sides of the river ...
A-7A Corsair 407 Week of
July 31
On the evening of August 6, 1972, United States Navy Lieutenant James R. Lloyd was flying from the USS Saratoga (CV-60) on a routine mission, when he was hit by a surface-to-air missile (SAM), forcing him to eject 21 miles inland from the Gulf of Tonkin ...
Communist SA-2 on its launcher Week of
July 24
On July 24, 1965, two decorated veteran United States Air Force pilots were shot down over North Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). The weapons officer, Captain Roscoe H. Fobair, was killed. Roscoe’s pilot, Captain Richard P. Keirn, successfully ...
U.S. Army Medal of Honor Week of
July 17
On July 18, 1969, while on patrol in a bamboo thicket, Sergeant Rodney J. Evans heard the booming crash of an explosion to his right. A hidden booby trap had detonated amid a nearby squad of soldiers, killing or maiming multiple men. At that moment, he ...
members of the u.s. 4th infantry division Week of
July 10
On July 10, 1967, during Operation GREELEY in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, three companies attached to 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, were on a search-and-destroy mission when A Company encountered an entrenched force of ...
b-52 stratofortress Week of
July 3
On July 7, 1967, a flight of B-52 Stratofortress bombers from Strategic Air Command’s 4133 Bomb Wing’s Guam base were on their way to bomb targets in South Vietnam when the lead bomber had an equipment malfunction. As a second B-52 moved to replace ...
army medal of honor Week of
June 26
On June 30, 1966, elements of the 4th Cavalry Regiment and the 18th Infantry Regiment were moving along a road north of Loc Ninh, South Vietnam, when the lead cavalry troop was ambushed by a large force of Viet Cong guerrillas. The ensuing battle lasted through ...
d7e bulldozer Week of
June 19
On June 19, 1970, the men of the 984th Engineering Company, 62d Engineering Battalion, were asleep in their forward camp during the final days of the Cambodian Incursion, when they were attacked by a force of North Vietnamese troops with rockets and mortars. The ...
us navy coastal craft Week of
June 12
At about 1 a.m. on June 16, 1968, Fast Patrol Craft 19 (PCF-19), part of the U.S. Navy Task Force 115, was on a routine night patrol a few miles off shore in the South China Sea. Without warning, an unknown hovering aircraft fired three rockets. The rockets ...
Medal of Honor Week of
June 5
Just before midnight, on June 9, 1965, approximately 1,750 Viet Cong insurgents attacked the U.S. Special Forces camp outside of the town of Dong Xoai, Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam. The camp’s garrison of just greater than 400 men, most of them South ...
AH-1G Cobra flying over South Vietnam Week of
May 29
On June 1, 1971, a flight of AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters from the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division were providing air cover during the emergency extraction of an Army Ranger team in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. After the successful rescue, the ...
silver star medal Week of
May 22
On May 26, 1967, Company L, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines was in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, participating in Operation UNION II. After the Marines touched down at the landing zone, they received a heavy volume of machine gun and mortar fire from ...
B-57 Canberra at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force Week of
May 15
On the morning of May 16, 1965, a 500-pound bomb attached to a B-57 Canberra bomber accidentally detonated on the tarmac at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam.The resulting explosion caused a chain reaction, as additional nearby ordnance and jet fuel exploded ...
Marines from the 5th Marine Regiment Week of
May 8
On May 10, 1967, B Company, 1st Battalion, 3d Marines, was hit with intense small arms fire on two sides by a force of entrenched Viet Cong insurgents in the Que Son Valley, Quang Nam Province. The company of Marines maneuvered eastward, but was unable to ...
Map depicting Ap Bac 2 Ops Week of
May 1
While fighting enemy forces near Ap Bac in the Mekong Delta approximately 30 miles southwest of Saigon on May 2, 1967, a machine gun team assigned to A Company, 3d Battalion, 60th Infantry, 2d Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, left the cover of ...
Sailors prepare to fire a patrol boat-mounted mortar. Week of
April 24
On the morning of April 30, 1968, U.S. Navy Landing Craft, Utility 1477 (LCU-1477) was part of a convoy moving up the Cua Viet River in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, when suddenly a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into its gun turret from the ...
F-105 Releasing ordance Week of
April 17
On April 19, 1966, during a U.S. attack on the vital Mu Gia Pass on the North Vietnam and Laos border, a flight of four F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers hit their target. The flight then turned their attention toward their secondary objective: aerial reconnaissance ...
Photo of FSB Sarge in 1971 and 2013. Week of
April 10
On April 12, 1964, a large force of Viet Cong guerrillas infiltrated and occupied the district town of Kien Long, in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. In response, the South Vietnamese Army arrived outside the town via CH-21 troop transport helicopters ...
Photo of FSB Sarge in 1971 and 2013. Week of
March 27
On March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese Army launched a massive invasion into South Vietnam. The invasion began with the shelling of Fire Support Base (FSB) “Sarge,” on a hill just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where the United States and ...
United States UH-1 helicopters, trucks, and personnel at Khe Sanh providing logistical support to Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces Week of
March 20
On March 20, 1971, the South Vietnamese Army was approaching the conclusion of a near-catastrophic withdrawal from Laos. In an operation known as LAM SON 719, they had spent weeks attempting to end the North Vietnamese occupation of eastern Laos along the ...
Captain Paul W. Bucha in Phuoc Vinh Week of
March 13
In the late afternoon of March 18, 1968, the 98 men of Delta Company, 3d Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, stumbled into an entire battalion of North Vietnamese Army troops in the dense jungle outside Phuoc Vinh, South ...
Two A-6s in flight over the South China Sea Week of
March 6
On March 6, 1968, Lieutenants Richard C. Nelson and Gilbert L. Mitchell launched from the deck of USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63)in their two-seat A-6 Intruder attack jet. They were one of four A-6s from Kitty Hawk assigned to strike targets in the North ...
Medal of Honor. Week of
February 27
On March 3, 1966, Operation COCOA BEACH had its desired effect–to bring an organized Viet Cong force out from hiding so that it could be destroyed by elements of the 1st Infantry Division’s 3d Brigade. Initiated by Second Lieutenant Robert J. Hibbs in the ... 
Photo of O-1 Bird Dog flying over Vietnam, 1960s. Week of
February 20
On February 24, 1967, a platoon of South Vietnamese Army rangers was ambushed by Viet Cong forces on a hillside in the Vietnamese Central Highlands. The ranger platoon, along with two accompanying American advisers, was wiped out. When the ... 
Photo of "Boston Whaler" Patrol Boat. Week of
February 13
On February 16, 1971, three U.S. Army servicemen from Advisory Team 55 were aboard a 13-foot “Boston Whaler” patrol boat, moving along a canal in the U-Minh Forest, deep in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. Sergeant First Class Leslie L. Karnes operated  ...
Photo of Huey. Week of
February 6
On February 8, 1971, during the first full day of the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos known as Operation LAM SON 719, a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter carrying four U.S. servicemen and six South Vietnamese soldiers was struck by antiaircraft fire over the Ho Chi Minh Trail  ...
Photo of MiG-21. Week of
January 30
On February 3, 1968, U.S. Air Force pilots Major A. L. Lomax and First Lieutenant Wallace L. Wiggins each flew a F-102 Delta Dagger fighter-interceptor jet on an escort mission over North Vietnam. During the mission, the two pilots engaged at least two North ...
Silver Star Medal Week of
January 23
On January 29, 1967, elements of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, landed in transport helicopters in western Quang Nam Province to set up a blocking position for 2nd Battalion as it pushed a force of North Vietnamese soldiers toward them ...
Photo of a Marine Mortar Team in January 1966 heading up a slope during DOUBLE EAGLE Week of
January 16
On January 21, 1966, 14 Force Reconnaissance Marines were on a patrol in western Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, searching for signs of Viet Cong activity. While walking atop a steep ridgeline in fog and drenching rain, the Marines were attacked by ...
President Johnson presents Medal of Honor Week of
January 9
On January 15, 1968, four M48 tanks from Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, were ambushed by a battalion of North Vietnamese Army troops near Dak To, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. Rocket strikes disabled two of the tanks ...
Army Distinguished Service Cross medal Week of
January 2
Late on January 2, 1970, Second Lieutenant Robert C. “Bob” Wright was in command of an advance party of artillerymen and infantrymen who were establishing a new firebase on a hill near the South Vietnamese town of Duc Pho. Their unfinished camp came ...

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Equipped with a powerful external winch, the HH-3 Jolly Green Giant could extract a downed pilot without landing. Here an aircrew practices lowering a jungle penetrator. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
December 19
As the sun came up on Christmas Day, 1968, Airman First Class Charles D. King volunteered for his 76th rescue mission in Southeast Asia. A pilot, Major Charles R. Brownlee, had been shot down in his F-105 Thunderchief during a mission over Laos the night before, ...
An Army convoy under attack along Highway 1 in South Vietnam, November 1966. (U.S. Army) Week of
December 12
On December 17, 1968, a 39-vehicle convoy from the 48th Transportation Group was moving ammunition and food between Long Binh and Dau Tieng, South Vietnam when the lead vehicles were suddenly hit by mortar fire. Hidden ...
Major Donald Joseph Reilly, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
December 5
On December 9, 1965, U.S. Marine Corps Major Donald J. Reilly was the pilot of a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter during Operation HARVEST MOON in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. During a night fight against several Viet Cong regiments, ...
Master Sergeant Kenneth M. Roraback Photographed when a prisoner of war, unknown date. (DPAA) Week of
November 21
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The presidency passed to Lyndon B. Johnson, who would in the years that followed make the decision to send American combat troops to Vietnam. ...
An A-1E Skyraider, similar to the plane flown by Captain Paul T. McClellan, Jr., that crash landed after being heavily damaged in combat in South Vietnam, March 1966. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
November 14
On November 14, 1965, elements of the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) were engaged in an intense battle against North Vietnamese soldiers in the Ia Drang Valley at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray. The cavalry troopers on the ground were receiving all the air ...
Two sailors man an 81-millimeter mortar aboard a monitor, May 23, 1968. (U.S. Navy) Week of
November 7
On November 10, 1968, U.S. Navy River Squadron 9, Task Force 117, was on a search-and-destroy mission along a canal that branched from the Ong Huong River in South Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The squadron consisted of troop landing craft and gunboats called ...
Image of a Fire Support Base equipped with 155-millimeter howitzers in Vietnam in 1970. FSB Rita would have looked similar. (National Archives) Week of
October 31
At approximately 3:30 am on November 1, 1968, 800 North Vietnamese soldiers launched a surprise attack on U.S. Army Fire Support Base (FSB) Rita, in the “Fishhook” area straddling the Cambodia border with South Vietnam.  ...
A PBR crew searches a sampan suspected of possible smuggling of Viet Cong arms and supplies on the Perfume River, August 20, 1968. (U.S. Navy) Week of
October 24
October 26, 1966, Petty Officer 2d Class Terrence “Terry” J. Freund was a machine gunner aboard “Patrol Boat, River” (PBR) 40, River Division 51, Task Force 116. Together with the crew of PBR 34, the four-man crew of PBR 40 was patrolling the Bassac River in the ...
Company A, 1st AMTRAC Battalion, operating along the coast north of the mouth of the Cua Viet River, September 14, 1967. (U.S. Marine Corps) Week of
October 17
On October 17, 1968, during the waning days of Operation NAPOLEON/SALINE in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, (then) Staff Sergeant John C. Yates was serving as Communications Chief for a column of Marine Corps amphibious tracked personnel ...
Troops of the 173d Airborne Brigade after the assault on Hill 875 during the battle of Dak To, November 1967. (U.S. Army) Week of
October 10
On October 12, 1967, more than 150 Viet Cong insurgents attacked a South Vietnamese Army outpost in Long An Province, northwest of Saigon, South Vietnam. The outpost was defended by elements of the South Vietnamese 25th Infantry Division. ...
Staff Sergeant Thomas Witherspoon, Jr., U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
October 3
On October 8, 1967, Staff Sergeant Thomas Witherspoon, Jr., was behind the wheel of a jeep, driving his commanding officer between Hai Lang and Quang Tri City, South Vietnam, when the two men were ambushed by Viet Cong insurgents along the ...
A UH-1D medevac helicopter takes off to pick up a wounded soldier near the Demilitarized Zone, October 16, 1969. (National Archives) Week of
September 26
In 1969, Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel was 47 years old, one of the oldest active pilots in Vietnam. He had recently been diagnosed with glaucoma and needed to get a waiver from the Army to keep flying.  ...
An example of a Vietnam-era blood chit. Searchers located Cook’s blood chit near the wreckage of his F-4 Phantom. (courtesy of Lapeer [Michigan] County Historical Society) Week of
September 19
On September 21, 1972, U.S. Air Force Major Roger W. Carroll, Jr., and First Lieutenant Dwight W. Cook flew their F-4 Phantom II fighter/bomber for an attack run on an enemy target near the Plain of Jars, in Laos. As they made a low pass and released their ...
This photo of the Rockpile taken in 1971 illustrates some of the terrain in the area where Operation PRAIRIE I took place. (Texas Tech University Vietnam Center and Archive) Week of
September 12
On September 17, 1966, during Operation PRAIRIE in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, Lance Corporals Claiborne L. Shaw and Mark A. Ferguson volunteered to retrieve the bodies of their fallen fellow Marines after they had been ambushed by North ...
Purple Heart Medal Week of
September 5
Operation KENTUCKY COUGAR was an interdiction operation conducted by elements of the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division supporting Operation TOAN THANG III (“Complete Victory”) – a combined military operation designed to keep pressure on enemy ...
Warrant Officer James George Zeimet, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
August 29
On September 4, 1968, U.S. Army Warrant Officer James G. Zeimet was piloting a UH-1 “Huey” air ambulance in Kontum Province, South Vietnam, during Operation MACARTHUR. He and his copilot had already retrieved seven wounded soldiers off of a battlefield ...
A photo of the U.S. Marine Corps C-130 Hercules, from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, that crashed in Hong Kong on August 24, 1965. (Bureau of Aircraft Accidents) Week of
August 22
On August 24, 1965, a U.S. Marine Corps C-130 Hercules taxied along the runway at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport, preparing to fly to Da Nang, South Vietnam. On board the Hercules were 71 Marines, including a crew of five, returning to the war zone after two weeks ...
Distinguished Flying Cross Week of
August 15
On August 19, 1969, during a rare post-Tet North Vietnamese offensive in the Hiep Duc Valley, the command and control helicopter for the 3d Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment circled the battlefield above the River Chang, taking heavy small-arms ...
Silver Star medal Week of
August 8
In the early morning darkness of August 8, 1970, Lance Corporal Peter Charlie and three other U.S. Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, were waiting along a trail in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam, poised to spring an ambush on some North Vietnamese ...
Distinguished Flying Cross Week of
August 1
On August 7, 1965, Lieutenant Commander Harold E. Gray, Jr., took off from the aircraft carrier USS  (CVA 41) in his A-1H Skyraider for another ROLLING THUNDER strike sortie over North Vietnam. It would be his final mission. As Gray pulled up after hitting his ...
Emblem of the 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles.” Week of
July 25
4,000 soldiers from the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division touched down at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam on July 29, 1965. It was the first combat deployment for the 101st Airborne “Screaming Eagles” in Southeast Asia, and just the third U.S. Army combat ...
Men from the 9th Marines move to join the 4th Marines south of the DMZ at the time of Operation ARDMORE, July 30, 1967. (U.S. Marine Corps) Week of
July 18
On July 21, 1967, Company M, 3d Battalion of the 26th Marine Regiment, was on a patrol mission in the vicinity of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, when the company’s lead element engaged a reinforced platoon of North Vietnamese soldiers. Within minutes, the ...
Week of
July 11
On the evening of July 11, 1965, a squad of Marines was dispatched to provide security while a disabled truck received repairs south of Da Nang, South Vietnam. Corporal Brian J. Gauthier led the squad off the road into the trees to set up an ambush position ...
Distinguished Flying Cross Week of
July 4
On July 4, 1969, Colonel Patrick M. Fallon and his wingman took off from Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, for a secret mission over northern Laos. Their job was to conduct armed reconnaissance against the Communist insurgent group known ...
Lieutenant Commander Michael Joseph Martin, U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
June 27
On June 26, 1972, the guided missile destroyer USS Stoddert (DDG-22) was supporting South Vietnamese troops onshore with its five-inch guns during their attempts to defeat the Communist “Easter Offensive.” In the middle of the bombardment, a live shell ...
Specialist 5 Edgar Lee McWethy, Jr., U.S. Army (U.S. Army) Week of
June 20
On June 21, 1967, two U.S. Army soldiers displayed truly remarkable acts of valor within minutes of each other in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. Their platoon had moved to secure the site of a crashed helicopter when they were attacked from ...
Barbara Walling Burke, 19 at the time, receives her late husband's Silver Star Medal from President Lyndon B. Johnson at a ceremony at the White House, August 22, 1964. (Photo property of Barbara Walling Burke) Week of
June 13
On June 19, 1964, three U.S. Army Green Berets accompanied 103 South Vietnamese militia fighters on a planned two-day reconnaissance patrol in Tay Ninh Province, approximately 60 miles northeast of Saigon. On the afternoon of the ...
Australian soldiers Week of
June 6
On June 10, 1965, the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) arrived in South Vietnam. They represented the first Australian Army combat forces to fight in the Vietnam War. Australia had long been one of the United States’ most important ...
Medal of Honor Week of
May 30
On June 2, 1969, Specialist 4 Joseph “Guy” LaPointe, Jr., a medic and conscientious objector, ran forward alone into a hail of small-arms fire for the second time in three weeks. North Vietnamese soldiers had just ambushed his platoon. Two of the men up front ...
DPAA Recovery Team members look on as U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant David Speigel scans an excavation unit for hazardous materials in Kon Tum Province, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, March 23, 2016. The team is searching for remains of a downed American pilot. (Department of Defense) Week of
May 23
On May 28, 1970, the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, also legally known as the National League of POW/MIA Families, was formally incorporated. The League’s early efforts helped focus greater public attention on ...
F-105 Thunderchief “Wild Weasels” of the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing parked on the tarmac at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, circa 1972. The missile visible under the wing is a AGM-45, the same type that exploded and killed Lathon, Daubendiek, and the four Royal Thai Air Force airmen. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
May 16
On May 17, 1972, during the bombing campaign known as Operation LINEBACKER, an F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber returning to Korat Royal Thai Air Base touched down on the runway and its landing gear collapsed. The mechanical failure sent ...
Two artillerymen load a 105-millimmeter shell into a howitzer cannon, November 1967. (Australian War Memorial) Week of
May 9
Just after midnight on May 12, 1969, the explosion of mortar rounds shattered the nighttime quiet inside Fire Support Base (FSB) Gela. A force of North Vietnamese soldiers was attacking, beginning with artillery and followed by a ground assault. As the artillerymen of ...
A C-130 delivers supplies to a Marine Corps base in South Vietnam, circa late 1960s. (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force) Week of
May 2
On May 3, 1972, a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft had just air-dropped supplies to the besieged South Vietnamese Army troops in the small city of An Loc, when North Vietnamese anti-aircraft fire ripped into the plane’s wing and engines. ...
A soldier of the 27th Infantry Regiment “humps” an M-60 along a rice paddy dike while on patrol, 1966. (National Archives) Week of
April 25
On April 27, 1967, Company A, 2d Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment, had just infiltrated a Viet Cong base area, which was seemingly abandoned, when an enemy-occupied bunker engaged them at close range. The company’s point man was wounded in ...
Northeasterly aerial view of the Thuong Duc Special Forces Camp airstrip at the base of the western end of Charlie Ridge with a USAF C-7 Caribou on the runway (upper right). (Ron Lester photo) Week of
April 18
In the spring of 1969, the U.S. Marines and Vietnamese Army collaborated in Operation OKLAHOMA HILLS, a three-month initiative to locate and clear North Vietnamese Army units from central Quang Nam Province in I Corps. They concentrated their ...
Silver Star medal Week of
April 11
On April 13, 1969, in Operation TOAN THANG III, approximately 40 miles north of Saigon, Sergeant Joseph A. “Tony” Oreto and Specialist 4 Kenneth V. Jensen were walking point for their aero rifle platoon when North Vietnamese machine gun fire and ...
The OV-10 Bronco makes its maiden flight in Southeast Asia before being released for combat duty, August 1968. (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force) Week of
April 4
On April 7, 1972, a U.S. Air Force OV-10 Bronco, flown in support of a search-and-rescue mission, was shot down by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile. The two men aboard, Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant Larry Potts and Air Force 1st Lieutenant Bruce Walker ...
Photo of 2d Lt. John P. Bobo reading a letter from home to fellow Marines, November 1966. (Posted to VVMF courtesy of Jack Riley) Week of
March 28
On March 30, 1967, I Company, 3d Battalion of the 9th Marines, was digging in for the night on the top of Hill 70, two miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Quang Tri Province. There were about 200 Marines up on the hill, and ...
Photo of a Vietnam War-era  U.S. Air Force Cessna O-1 Birddog. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
March 21
On March 26, 1964, U.S. Air Force Captain Richard L. Whitesides and U.S. Army Captain Floyd J. “Jim” Thompson took off in a small single-engine O-1 “Birddog” for a reconnaissance mission northwest of Khe Sanh, near the Laos border. While investigating ... 
A CH-46 Sea Knight lands supplies at a Marine Corps combat base in South Vietnam, 1968. (National Archives) Week of
March 14
All seemed quiet on March 14, 1969—finally. On the southern fringes of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam, a company of Marines had just retaken Landing Zone SIERRA after a day of hard fighting and high casualties. A Marine ... 
Major Dafford Wayne "Jump" Myers (right) and Major Bernard Francis "Bernie" Fisher (left), Medal of Honor recipient, after Fisher's daring rescue of his wingman, March 1966. (U.S. Air Force) Week ofMarch 7 On March 9, 1966, two regiments of North Vietnamese soldiers and a contingent of Viet Cong insurgents attacked a small U.S. Special Forces camp in South Vietnam’s A Shau Valley, near the Laos border. The two-day battle and siege that followed became the setting for ... 
Specialist 4  Charles Brown, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
February 28
On February 28, 1969, two companies of U.S. Army troops engaged Communist Vietnamese forces in a firefight near the villages of Duyen Phuoc and Minh Khanh, on the north bank of the Tra Khuc River, Quang Ngai Province. It was the first day of Operation ... 
First Sergeant Abelardo Malave-Rios, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
February 21
On the morning of February 27, 1968, during the waning days of the Tet Offensive, as many as 1,000 North Vietnamese soldiers launched an attack on a U.S. Army firebase in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands, near ... 
Major Robert Francis Ronca seated in an F-100 in 1964. In an Associated Press interview, he once described his job as a jet fighter pilot as "flying  nosebone to nosebone with the guy on the ground to see who gets who." (courtesy of Super Sabre Society) Week of
February 14
On February 19, 1965 a large U.S. Air Force strike force attacked the Ban Ken Bridge in Laos as both a show of force to dissuade communist aggression in the region and to cripple the flow of supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail ... 
Specialist 4 Willie Garder, Jr., U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
February 7
On February 12, 1971, as the triple-canopied jungles of Quang Tin Province fell into a late-afternoon twilight, North Vietnamese troops ambushed a U.S. Army platoon from both sides of a narrow trail near the Laos border ...
The USS Moinester (FF-1097) underway, 1991 (Department of Defense) Week of
January 31
On the morning of January 31, 1968, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Robert W. Moinester was the Officer in Charge of the Hue boat ramp, the primary military port in the old Vietnamese city of Hue As he and a detail of men drove a vehicle convoy through the city ...
Hospital Corpsman Third Class William Ray Broad, U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
January 24
On January 28, 1967, during Operation DESOTO, a company of U.S. Marines advanced on the hamlet of Tan Tu, in eastern Quang Ngai Province. A large force of Viet Cong fighters occupied the small collection of houses, and as the Marines approached ...
Lieutenant Commander William Stannard Forman, U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
January 17
On the morning of January 22, 1966, the four crewmen aboard a U.S. Navy S-2 Tracker antisubmarine aircraft had nearly completed their routine surveillance mission over the Gulf of Tonkin when the pilot, Lieutenant William S. Forman, ... 
Lance Corporal Roberto Ramos, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
January 10
On January 15, 1969, elements of the 26th Marine Regiment were patrolling on the Batangan Peninsula, Quang Ngai Province, searching for signs of Viet Cong occupation. Company H, 2d Battalion had just walked into a small clearing ...
Sergeant First Class George Carl Bigley, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week ofJanuary 3 On January 3, 1965, Sergeant First Class George C. Bigley, a Green Beret and American military adviser to the South Vietnamese 35th Ranger Battalion, was accompanying his unit on the return trek from a convoy escort mission. While working their way ...

2020

Lai Khe from the air in 1965. (photo courtesy of Jimmy j. - Vietnam 1965) Week of
December 20
On December 23, 1969, four experienced artillery soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division were towing a trailer in an open-top jeep on their way back to their battery. While driving down a rural forest road, roughly two dozen men suddenly ...
First Lieutenant James Gable Dunton, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
December 6
The Battle of An Lao was initiated by offensive actions conducted jointly by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces and Viet Cong (VC) guerrillas when they captured the An Lao district headquarters in the coastal Binh Dinh province ...
LCpl Thomas Raymond Steinbach (VVMF) Week of
November 29
Operation MEADE RIVER was a combined search and destroy operation supporting a South Vietnamese country-wide “Accelerated Pacification Campaign” known as Le Loi. The 1st Marine Division tasked its units to neutralize ...
Corporal Jimmie Ray Green, pictured here as a high school student, circa 1966 (VVMF) Week of
November 22
Private First Class Jimmie Ray Green was a rifleman in the 4th Battalion, 3d Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division. Green’s company was on a search-and-destroy operation in coastal Quang Ngai Province ...
2d Lieutenant John Lance Geoghegan U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
November 15
Between November 14 and 17, 1965, elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) conducted the first large-scale airmobile assault in the history of warfare when they engaged North Vietnamese Army ...
Engineman Petty Officer 3d Class Harry Kenney,  U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
November 1
On November 1, 1968, in the deep still of night in the vast Mekong Delta, a cacophonous explosion tore through the darkness. At about 3:20 am, two Viet Cong mines attached to the hull of the Tank Landing Ship (LST) USS ...
Major Robert Clifton Edmunds, Jr.,  U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
October 25
On the afternoon of October 27, 1968, U.S. Air Force 1st Lieutenant Robert C. Edmunds, Jr., lifted off the tarmac at Korat Royal Thai Air Base in his F-105D Thunderchief and headed northeast toward North Vietnam. He never ...
2d Lieutenant  Kenneth Arthur Kubik, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
October 18
On October 22, 1969, Marine Corps platoon leader Ken Kubik was on his first reconnaissance patrol as a newly minted 2d Lieutenant. He had been back in Vietnam for five days, this time for his third tour. As he led his seven-man ...
Specialist 4 Guy Lamar Mears, Jr., U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
October 11
Fifty years ago, this week, U.S. Army Specialist 4 Guy Mears, Jr., lost his life in South Vietnam while trying to save his comrades. He was a crew chief aboard a UH-1 “Huey” helicopter assigned to the 254th Medical Detachment in ...
Colonel Robert Dale Anderson, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
October 4
On October 6, 1972, Operation LINEBACKER, a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnam, had been raging for more than five months. That day, Lieutenant Colonel Robert D. Anderson and 1st Lieutenant George F. Latella ...
Sergeant Major Raymond Louis Echevarria, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
September 27
On October 3, 1966, a U.S. Army Special Forces team was dropped off by helicopter for a secret mission in Laos. The seven-man team – including three Americans and four South Vietnamese – made it only a few steps from their ...
Captain Jackie Phillip Heil U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
September 20
In war, the cliché goes, even small mistakes can get people killed. On September 25, 1970, a flight of two Huey gunship helicopters, accompanied by several South Vietnamese Air Force helicopters, was on a special operations mission ...
Sergeant First Class Robson Ward Wills, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
September 13
On September 16, 1969, elements of C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade were on a search-and-clear mission in Quang Ngai Province, approximately 100 miles southwest of Da Nang ...
Sergeant First Class Dwaine "Mac" Usry McGriff, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
September 6
Sergeant First Class Dwaine U. McGriff sat in his armored bulldozer on September 7, 1970, filling out paperwork after finishing up for the day. He and the U.S. Army 984th Engineering Battalion had just finished clearing land for a ...
Sergeant Lawrence David Peters, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
August 30
During Operation SWIFT on September 4, 1967, Company M, Third Battalion of the Fifth Marines was on a mission in Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam, when they walked into a concealed North Vietnamese Army unit. As machine ...
Major Stephen W. Pless, U.S. Marine Corps (U.S. Marine Corps) Week of
August 16
On August 19, 1967, Captain Stephen W. Pless and his three crewmates were on an escort mission aboard a UH-1E “Huey” helicopter when they received a distress call. Nearby, a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook had just been shot down ...
Specialist 4 Prentice Dale Le Clair, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
August 9
On August 9, 1967, elements of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) flew into Landing Zone Pat in the Song Re Valley as part of Operation PERSHING. The valley was a Viet Cong and suspected North Vietnamese base area in ...
U.S. Army 1st  Aviation Brigade Commander, Major General Robert R. Williams, presenting awards. Royal Australian Navy Able Seaman John Peart, received the U.S. Army's Asir Medal with Oak Leaf clusters, for "meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight." Like many men in the 135th AHC, Peart completed more than 200 combat missions before rotating home. (RAN photo) Week of
August 2
During the first week of August 1970, five helicopters from the 135th assault helicopter company (AHC) – a combined U.S. Army and Royal Australian Navy helicopter squadron – conducted a joint operation with a U.S. Navy Sea, Air, ...
General William C. Westmoreland, CommanderU.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, arrives on board self-propelled barracks ships Benewah (APB-35) to discuss Mobile Riverine Force operations with subordinate Army and Navy commanders. (USN photo) Week ofJuly 26 Working with South Vietnamese forces, the U.S. Mobile Riverine Force launched Operation CORONADO II in late July 1967 to shut down Viet Cong strongholds. It was the second of eleven consecutive operations conducted in the ...
Lance Corporal Richard A. Pittman, U.S. Marine Corps (U.S. Marine Corps) Week of
July 19
On July 24, 1966, Lance Corporal Richard Allan Pittman was a squad leader in the rear element of a U.S. Marine Corps patrol near the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) during Operation HASTINGS. As he and his fellow ...
Hospital Corpsman 3d Class Mark V. Dennis, U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
July 12
On July 15, 1966, during Operation HASTINGS, elements of two battalions of U.S. Marines began an assault into the Song Ngan Valley, a river valley in Quang Tri Province, just south of the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and ... 
Major Charles Livingston Kelly, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
July 5
On July 6, 1966, American prisoners of war in North Vietnam were awoken early by their captors, ordered to shave, and told to hand over their prison-issued pajamas. Something was up, through the POWs did not yet know what ...
Major Charles Livingston Kelly, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
June 28
When Major Charles L. Kelly took off from Soc Trang on July 1, 1964, it was for yet another medical evacuation mission –  just one among literally hundreds he had flown in the six months spent as commander of the U.S. Army 57th ...
Master Sergeant Douglas Harold D'Orsay, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
June 21
On a warm Friday evening in Saigon, June 25, 1965, several dozen people were enjoying dinner at the My Canh, a popular floating restaurant on the shore of the Saigon River. The restaurant was in the heart of Saigon’s busy ...
Lieutenant Clyde E. Lassen, U.S. Navy (U.S. Navy) Week of
June 14
Just after midight on June 19, 1968, the search-and-rescue helicopter crew assigned to the USS Preble (DDG-46) in the Gulf of Tonkin were abruptly awakened and scrambled to their UH-2 Seasprite helicopter. They had been ordered to ...
Lieutenant Charles Klusmann with Vice Admiral Roy L. Johnson, Commander Seventh Fleet, in September 1964, after Klusmann's escape from captivity in Laos. (U.S. Navy) Week of
May 31
On June 6, 1964, Naval Aviator Charles F. Klusmann was flying an RF-8 Crusader fighter jet on a secret photoreconnaissance mission in Laos, over the Plain of Jars, when his aircraft was crippled by antiaircraft fire ...
Lockheed A-12 test pilots and managers, photographed circa 1963. Jack Weeks is fifth from the left in the striped shirt. (Central Intelligence Agency) Week of
May 24
On May 30, 1967, the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret new A-12 spy plane (code-named OXCART) officially became operational as part of Operation BLACK SHIELD. The aircraft made its first reconnaissance flight over North Vietnam ...
Specialist Four Santiago Erevia, U.S. Army (U.S. Army) Week of
May 17
On the morning of May 21, 1969, Specialist Four Santiago Erevia, quiet and unassuming, was essentially anonymous, even within his own unit. By the evening of that same day, he had become a hero. When his unit was pinned down in ...
First Lieutenant John Timothy ("Tim") Conry, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
May 3
On May 9, 1972, Captain William (Bill) S. Reeder, Jr. and First Lieutenant John Timothy (Tim) Conry were flying an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter as an escort for an aerial resupply mission during the battle of Kontum. As they maneuvered ...
Members of the 1st Cavalry Division  (Airmobile) land on a hilltop in early 1967, preparing to make the area safe for Task Force OREGON to build a new base facility. (National Archives) Week of
April 26
On April 30, 1970, two American military advisers – U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Vernel Collins and First Lieutenant Richard Davis – accompanied elements of the South Vietnamese 28th Regional Forces on a search-and-clear ...
1st Lt. Philip Howard Sauer, U.S. Marine Corps (Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Wall of Faces Week of
April 22
On April 24, 1967, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Philip H. Sauer sacrificed his life in an attempt to save four other Marines under his command. During the first major battle of Khe Sanh, Sauer led a five-man patrol slowly up Hill 861 on ...
Members of the 1st Cavalry Division  (Airmobile) land on a hilltop in early 1967, preparing to make the area safe for Task Force OREGON to build a new base facility. (National Archives) Week of
April 15
On April 12, 1967, General William C. Westmoreland officially activated Task Force OREGON. It was a conglomerate of several disparate Army units, brought together to reinforce the U.S. Marine Corps in “I Corps,” the far northern ...
Chief Master Sergeant  Charlie Sherman Poole, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
April 8
United States Strategic Air Command finalized a decision on April 10, 1967, that at the time had seemed inevitable, but in retrospect became a potent symbol of the escalation of the air war in Vietnam. On that day, B-52 ...
Lance Corporal David Colvin, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
March 25
On March 26, 1966, the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy launched Operation JACKSTAY, a largescale amphibious operation in the Rung Sat Swamp, southeast of Saigon. The operation lasted for nine days. During that time, the ...
Chief Master Sergeant Richard L. Etchberger, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
March 11
On March 11, 1968, at about 3:00 AM, a group of North Vietnamese commandos attached a top-secret American radar facility on top of a sheer mountainside in Laos. The station and its personnel19 Americans and a few dozen ...
This cartoon from the Washington Post indicates the supposed arrival of a new phase in protests against the war, March 1971.  (Washington Post) Week of
March 4
In the early morning darkness of March 1, 1971, the seemingly unthinkable happened. In the restroom in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol building, a bomb exploded, sending wood, stone, glass, and metal shrapnel ...
Captain Paul Lloyd Milius, U.S. Navy (VVMF) Week of
February 26
On February 27, 1968, a U.S. Navy OP-2E Neptune reconnaissance aircraft carried its nine crewmen over the South Vietnamese border into Laos airspace. Their crew’s mission was to surveil the Ho Chi Minh Trail and drop ...
Staff Sergeant Fred William Zabitosky, United States Army (U.S. Army) Week of
February 19
On February 19, 1968, a nine-man team comprised of U.S. Special Forces and indigenous Montagnard troops was on a mission four miles across the South Vietnamese border, in Laos, when they became pinched between at least ...
President Lyndon Johnson greets U.S. troops in Vietnam during a presidential trip to Asia, circa October 1966. (National Archives) Week of
February 13
In response to the concerns of civil rights leaders and activists, in mid-1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared his intention to address allegations that the American Selective Service System had built-in, systemic racial and ...
Captain Don Robert Lewis, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
February 6
On February 8, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson authoruzed the bombing of North Vietnam for the first time. Fearing that the loss of South Vietnam to a Communist regime was imminent, Johnson ordered airstrikes against ...
Specialist 4 Charles Lincoln Daniel, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
January 30
On January 3031, 1968, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces launched what became known as the Tet offensive. A staggering 84,000 Communist forces launched coordinated guerilla-style attacks on population centers and allied ...
Second Lieutenant Thomas Drew Brindley, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
January 23
On January 20, 1968, a group of North Vietnamese soldiers attached a U.S. Marine Corps platoon near the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh. The ambushing forces attacked from entrenched machine gun nests at the base of a ...
Sergeant William David Port U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
January 16
On January 12, 1968, a platoon attached to C Company, 5th Battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division, was ambushed by a well-entrenched force of North Vietnamese soldiers. The enemy fire was ...
Private First Class Daniel Lee Sherman, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
January 9
On January 7, 1966, U.S. and Australian Army forces launched Operation CRIMP, a massive joint search-and-destroy operation in a region about 25 miles north and west of Saigon. Their objective was to locate and destroy the Viet ...
Specialist 4 Donald Leon Braman, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
January 2
On January 2, 1963, South Vietnamese Army forces, accompanied by American advisers, engaged a smaller force of Viet Cong insurgents outside the village of Ap Bac, in the Mekong Delta. Though the South Vietnamese troops ...

2019

Staff Sergeant Harold George Bennett, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
December 26
A force of Communist guerrillas occupied the small South Vietnamese town of Binh Gia, in the Mekong Delta, on December 28, 1964. A battle for the town erupted on December 29, 1964, as non-Communist forces tried to reclaim ...
1st Lierutenant Peter Charles Formae, U;S Army (VVMF) Week of
December 19
On December 19, 1971, First Lieutenant Peter Forame and Warrant Officer Thomas Skiles flew their small scout helicopter low over the tree line among the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in Cambodia. Their mission was to reconnoiter a region ...
Lieutenant Colonel Billie Joe Williams Week of
December 12
On December 9, 1972, a flight of three U.S. Air Force RF-4C Phantom reconnaissance aircraft were on a mission over North Vietnam when alarms, warning of the approach of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), began blaring inside their ...
Private First Class Lewis Albanese, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
December 5
Somehow, through all the noise of battle, Private First Class Lewis Albanese heard the shots of a lone rifle. His platoon had just been ambushed by a large number of Viet Cong forces to their front. But the sound of the lone rifle ...
Photograph of some of the Son Tay raiders prior to take off, November 20, 1970. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
November 21
On November 21, 1970, a joint team of 92 U.S. Air Force Special Operations troops and 56 Army Special Force personnel conducted one of the most daring and dramatic missions of the Vietnam War when they raided a ...
Specialist 4 Roger Lee Tallman Week of
November 14
Early in the morning of November 11, 1969, soldiers of the U.S. Army 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, suddenly came under mortar and rocket attack at Fire Support Base Jerri, in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam ...
Sergeant First Class Lawrence Joel Week of
November 7
On November 8, 1965, elements of 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade were on a search-and-clear operation in the infamous Iron Triangle region, northeast of Saigon, when they stumbled ...
Platoon Sergeant Joe Amos, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
October 31
On the evening of October 29, 1967, U.S. Army soldiers assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division—leading a contingent of Montagnard local forces—worked to secure a helicopter landing zone ...
Staff Sergeant Jerry Glen Bridges, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
October 24
October in Southeast Asia is the middle of typhoon season, and on October 20, 1968, two intense typhoons were churning off the coast of the South Vietnamese Central Highlands. The resulting high winds, sheets of rain, and ...
2nd Lieutenant Harold Bascom Durham, Jr., U.S. Army Week of
October 17
On October 17, 1967, elements of the U.S. Army 2d Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division engaged a large force of Viet Cong fighters along a small stream named the Ong Thanh. Two understrength American ...
Private First Class Louis Basil Albert, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
October 10
On October 8, 1969, Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Williams O. Jackson heard of a unit of Marines at a remote outpost near the Laos border in dire need of ammunition and supplies. The convoy assigned to deliver them, however, ...
Captain, Kenneth Earl Walker, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
October 3
On October 2, 1964, U.S. Air Force Captain Kenneth E. Walker and his South Vietnamese copilot were flying an air support mission in an A-1 Skyraider for South Vietnamese ground forces near the coast of Vinh Binh Province ...
Warrant Officer Steven R. Hanson, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
September 26
On September 24, 1971, Warrant Officer Steven Hanson was piloting his OH-6 Cayuse scout helicopter on a mission over Quang Tri, South Vietnam. As he and his two crewmen made a low pass over a target, their OH-6 was hit by ...
Major Dean A. Klenda, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
September 19
On September 17, 1965, Captain Dean Klenda took off in his F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber to attack targets in Son La Province, North Vietnam. His mission was part of the ongoing Operation ROLLING THUNDER, a major ...
Sergeant Donald Sidney Skidgel, U.S. Army Week of
September 12
On September 14, 1969, Sergeant Donald Skidgel was helping provide security for a U.S. Army convoy on Highway 311 outside Song Be, South Vietnam, when his unit was ambushed by two North Vietnamese Army companies. Through ...
Lance Corporal Bobby Gene Kinkle Week of
September 5
On September 4, 1967, the U.S. Marine Corps began Operation SWIFT in the Que Son Valley of Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. In the first hours of the operation, elements of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, ...
Private First Class George C. Kilbuck, U.S. Arm Week of
August 29
On August 27, 1965, Private First Class George Kilbuck was with A company, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division on a search-and-clear operation in South Vietnam. When his company reached a ...
SSG Talmadge Horton Alphin, Jr., Special Forces, MACV-SOG Week of
August 22
American Special Forces suffered more Green Berets killed and wounded in a single attack on August 23, 1968, than any other day in history. More than 100 sappers infiltrated the Special Forces camp situated on the southern coast ...
Specialist 4 Johhny Jacob Cureton, Jr., U.S. Army Week of
August 15
In the early morning darkness of August 11, 1969, just west of Dong Ha, in Quang Tri Province, a series of explosions jarred awake the men of the U.S. Army artillery base at Thon Vinh Dai. A small number of Viet Cong insurgents ...
Lieutenant JG Richard Christian Sather, U.S. Navy Week of
August 8
On August 5, 1964, Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Richard Sather, a 26-year-old U.S. Navy aviator, boarded his A-1 Skyraider and launched off the deck of the USS Constellation. He and a handful of other flyers pointed their ...
Data Systems Tech 2nd Class Stephen Louis Hock, U.S. Navy Week of
August 1
July 29th, 1967, was one of the deadliest days of the Vietnam War for American service people. Nearly 200 U.S. troops were killed on that single day. 134 of them died at sea, in the Gulf of Tonkin, aboard the aircraft carrier USS ...
Lieutenant Colonel Roscoe Henry Fobair, U.S. Air Force Week of
July 25
On July 24, 1965, two decorated veteran U.S. Air Force pilots were shot down over North Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). The weapons officer, Captain Roscoe H. Fobair, was killed. Roscoe's pilot, Captain Richard ...
Lieutenant Colonel Andre C. Lucas, U.S. Army Week of
July 18
From July 1 to July 23, 1970, several hundred American soldiers of the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, defended a hilltop firebase against a North Vietnamese Army division intent on destroying them. The battle took place ...
Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand, U.S. Army Week of
July 11
The first two American service people listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., are Major Dale Buis and Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand. Both were killed in Bien Hoa on July 8, 1959, at a time when most ...
Private First Class Melvin E. Newlin Week of
July 4 
In the first hours of July 4, 1967, between 200 and 300 North Vietnamese Army troops broke into the nighttime silence with a surprise attack on elements of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, who were defending a night position on ...
Private First Class Oscar Reina Juarez, U.S. Marine Corps Week of
June 27
On June 28, 1968, I Company, 3d Battalion of the 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division, was on a patrol in Quang Nam Province. Walking fourth and fifth in line with their platoon were Private First Class Oscar Juarez and Petty Officer ...
Specialist 4 William R. Bonner Week of
June 20
On June 20, 1970, the men of a reconnaissance platoon from the 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division of the U.S. Army, were on a night patrol in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, searching for signs of Communist forces. As ...
Specialist 5 Johnny Arthur Week of
June 13
On June 10, 1971, four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters—two transports and two gunship escorts—were flying cover for a ground mission near Pleiku, South Vietnam. As the helicopters flew low over the thick jungle canopy, one of them ...
Photo of Captain Jackie Lee Dickins Week of
June 6
During the first week of June 1969, the month-long Operation APACHE SNOW came to a close. The operation involved primarily elements of the 101st Airborne Division, as well as parts of the 9th Marine Regiment and South Vietnamese ...
Sergeant Charles C. Fleek Week of
May 30
This Memorial Day week, exactly 50 years ago, two men earned the Medal of Honor on the same day in South Vietnam. In Binh Duong Province, Sergeant Charles C. Fleek was in command of a squad that was ordered to take part in an ...
Sergeant Alfred Lee

Week of
May 23

In the mid-morning sunlight of May 21, 1967, a column of U.S. Army armored personnel carriers (APCs) moved out from the small village of Soui Cat, in Long Khanh Province, South Vietnam. The column was on a routine supply mission, ...
Photo of the merchant ship SS Mayaguez (unknown date) Week of
May 16
Less than two weeks after the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces, and less than a month after the Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Cambodian Communist troops forcibly seized an American ...
Private First Class Kenneth Michael Kays Week of
May 9
On May 7, 1970, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, Private First Class Kenneth Kays earned the Medal of Honor for heroism in combat. He did so by saving the lives of three fellow soldiers during a North Vietnamese night attack ...
Lance Corporal Darwin L. Judge Week of
May 2
On April 29, 1975, American leaders initiated Operation FREQUENT WIND, the final American evacuation of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Army was at last closing in on Saigon, and United States Embassy personnel and a number ...
Torpedoman Third Class Fuhrman Week of
April 25
In the early morning darkness of April 23, 1965, a seven-man Marine Force Reconnaissance team disembarked a landing craft and waded ashore not far from Da Nang, in Quang Nam Province. Their mission was to probe for ...
Lieutenant JG Michael Zerbe Week of
April 18
On the morning of April 15, 1966, a Navy UH-2 helicopter piloted by Lieutenant JG Michael Zerbe slowly lifted off the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk, somewhere in the South China Sea. He and two other crewmen were putting the ...
Chief Warrant Officer Horst Week of
April 11
On April 7, 1972, the North Vietnamese Army launched an attack on the South Vietnamese city of An Loc as part of their ongoing “Easter Offensive” then raging across the country. The Communist battalion that moved toward An Loc ...
Major George Craig Smith Week of
April 4
Between April 3 and 4, 1965, during the early days of Operation ROLLING THUNDER, the United States Air Force sent over 100 fighter-bombers against a single bridge over the Song Ma, a river in North Vietnam. The Thanh Hoa ...
CIA Officer Barbara A. Robbins Week of
March 28
On March 30, 1965, CIA officer Barbara A. Robbins was killed when a Viet Cong car bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam. At least 20 others were killed in the blast. Just over three years later, on ...
Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky Week of
March 21
On March 18, 1967, U.S. Marine Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky arrived at Bien Hoa Air Force Base, just outside of Saigon, after an 18-hour flight. She became the first woman Marine in history to be assigned to a combat zone ...
A Hmong soldier Week of
March 14
This week we take a moment to honor the service and sacrifice of a group of crucial U.S. allies during the Vietnam War: the Hmong. An indigenous group from Laos and traditionally anti-Communist, the Hmong were recruited by the CIA ...
Specialist 4 Norman Joseph Buell Week of
March 7
On March 4, 1966, in the Tuy Hoa Valley of Phu Yen Province, two U.S. Army companies from the 101st Airborne Division engaged in a firefight with North Vietnamese forces in the village of My Phu. The day of fighting resulted in ...
Private First Class Willie Ruff Week of
February 28
The battle of Khe Sanh is one of the most well-known battles of the Vietnam War. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, as many as 30,000 Communist Vietnamese forces surrounded roughly 6,000 U.S. marines defending a combat base on ....
Private First Class Oscar Palmer Austin Week of
February 21
On February 23, 1969, North Vietnamese forces attempted to mount a second “general offensive” similar to the massive Tet Offensive of 1968. In what came to be known as “Tet 1969,” or sometimes ...
This photo of the aftermath of the explosion was taken from a French news report about the bombing, February 11, 1965. Week of
February 14
In early 1965, it seemed likely that the United States was hurtling toward a full-scale war in Vietnam. However, as of February of that year, American men and women were officially in Vietnam only as advisers to the South ...
Painting of Sergeant First Class Eugene Ashley, Jr., Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Week of
February 7
In the early morning darkness of February 7, 1968, the men based at the Special Forces camp near Lang Vei, South Vietnam, were on alert. The massive nationwide Tet Offensive of the previous weeks was beginning to subside, but ...
Captain Harley H. Hall, U.S. Navy Week of
January 31
By the early 1970s, few people in the United States wanted to focus on the divisive Vietnam War anymore. President Richard M. Nixon had promised that Vietnamization—the term he used for the process of turning over responsibility ...
USCGC Point Banks (WPB 82327) freshly painted after dry dock in Cam Rahn Bay Week of
January 21
On January 22, 1969, The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Point Banks, on patrol south of Cam Rahn Bay, received a call for help from a nine-man South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) detachment trapped by two Viet Cong ...
First Lieutenant Dean Arthur Taylor, Jr., U.S. Army. (VVMF) Week of
January 14
Throughout the war, one of the most intractable problems for United States troops in Vietnam was the ability of Viet Cong insurgents to hide among the civilian population. Especially in isolated areas such as rural valleys and peninsulas, ...
Week of January 7 Week of
January 7
On January 7, 1966, U.S. and Australian Army forces launched Operation CRIMP, a massive, joint search and destroy operation in a region about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. Their objective was to locate and destroy the Viet Cong ...

2018

Week of December 24 Week of
December 24
From December 16–19, 1966, elements of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division began arriving in Vietnam. General William C. Westmoreland intended to use the division to increase U.S. presence around the Mekong Delta to improve security ...
Week of December 17 Week of
December 17
In December 1965 the U.S. Marine Corps fought its second large-scale engagement against a main force Viet Cong unit: Operation HARVEST MOON. By mid-November, the 1st Viet Cong Regiment had recovered from the losses it ...
Week of December 10 Week of
December 10
On December 6, 1968, the U.S. Navy launched Operation GIANT SLINGSHOT, with the goal of eliminating Communist infiltration of South Vietnam along the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay rivers, near the Cambodian ...
Week of December 3 Week of
December 3
On December 2, 1965, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) became the first nuclear-powered carrier in history to engage in combat operations when the ship, at Dixie Station off the coast of southern South ...
Week of November 26 Week of
November 26
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald shot Kennedy from the Texas schoolbook depository, along the presidential motorcade's route through ...
Week of November 19 Week of
November 19
During the 1965 Pleiku Campaign in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, the men of the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division dropped into the Ia Drang Valley on November 14, 1965. At the first landing zone, ...
Week of November 12 Week of
November 12
On November 12, 1965, U.S. Army forces began searching for the North Vietnamese Army troops who were operating in South Vietnam's rugged Central Highlands. Following a Communist attack on a Special ...
Week of November 5 Week of
November 5
On November 4, 1965, photojournalist Dickey Chapelle, one of the few woman journalists in Southeast Asia, accompanied a U.S. Marine platoon on a search-and-destroy patrol near. ..
Week of October 29 Week of
October 29
On October 26, 1966, on Yankee Station, a sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA 34) accidentally ignited a magnesium parachute flare inside the flare locker of Hanger Bay 1, just below the flight deck ...
Week of October 22 Week of
October 22
On October 23, 1972, after five months of intensive bombing, President Richard M. Nixon ordered an end to the air campaign over North Vietnam known as Operation ...
Week of October 15 Week of
October 15
Paul Hellstrom Foster was born in April 1939 in San Mateo, California. He joined the Marine Corps in San Francisco at the age of 22, in November 1961. Foster deployed to Vietnam at the end of 1966 and eventually was. ..
Week of October 8 Week of
October 8
During the first two weeks of October 1967, some of the heaviest fighting of Operation WHEELER took place in I Corps, as elements of the 23d Infantry Division (Americal) ...
Week of October 1 Week of
October 1
On October 1, 1965—exactly 50 years ago, this week—the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) became operational in South Vietnam. The 1st Cavalry Division was the first ...
Week of September 24 Week of
September 24
On September 21, 1971, nearly 200 U.S. Air Force fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft launched an airstrike against three gasoline storage facilities just south of Dong Hoi, North ...
Week of September 17 Week of
September 17
In late 1969, 27-year-old Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris was commanding a Mobile Strike Force team from the U.S. Army 5th Special Forces near Chi Lang, in southern South Vietnam ...
;Week of September 10 Week of
September 10
Between September 4 and September 12, 1967, multiple North Vietnamese Army regiments laid siege to the vital U.S. Marine Corps base on Con Thien, a hill just two miles. ..
Week of September 3 Week of
September 3
On September 5, 1961, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara informed the service secretaries that he planned to establish a new command, under the Military Assistance ...
Week of August 27 Week of
August 27
On August 23, 1966, the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division launched Operation AMARILLO, a search-and-destroy and road security operation in III Corps, covering parts ...
Week of August 20 Week of
August 20
On August 18, 1966, near the Australian army base at Nui Dat, southeast of Saigon, 108 Australians from Company D of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR) ...
Week of August 13 Week of
August 13
Between August 9 and 11, 1968, U.S. Army Sergeant Robert Woods and his team of "tunnel rats" from the 1st Infantry Division achieved one of the most important successes ...
Week of August 6 Week of
August 6
In August of 1966 Naval aviators of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron One (HC-1)began flying UH-1 “Huey” helicopters in III Corps and IV Corps over the twisting waterways of the. ..
Week of July 30 Week of
July 30
On July 29, 1967 the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CV-59) was on Yankee Station in the South China Sea off the coast of North Vietnam. Her crew was preparing a second ...
Week of July 23 Week of
July 23
On July 24, 1965, F-105 Thunderchiefs were attacking an explosives factory in North Vietnam. A flight of four F-4C Phantoms provided air cover while and EB-66 Destroyer ...
Week of July 16 Week of
July 16
The area around Da Nang, especially military installations, was subject to rocket attacks since that February. The area the rockets were fired from was called the "Rocket Belt"...
Week of July 9 Week of
July 9
As units from the 1st Infantry Division continued to hunt the Viet Cong in the Binh Long province of the III Corps Tactical Zone, General William E. DePuy gave Colonel Sidney B. Berry of the 1st Infantry Brigade ...
Week of July 2 Week of
July 2
Operation Thor, the joint mission to attack and destroy North Vietnamese long-range artillery facing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), coast artillery batteries, antiaircraft positions, and staging areas for infiltration, ...
Week of June 25 Week of
June 25
In 1967 this was the first full week of Operation GREELEY in the Central Highlands of II Corps. Two battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, ...
Week of June 18 Week of
June 18
On June 18, 1965, the first ARC LIGHT Mission was flown by 30 U.S Air Force B-52 Bombers. It was flown against Viet Cong targets near Ben Cat north of Saigon. ARC LIGHT missions were distinguished ...
Week of June 11 Week of
June 11
On June 9, 1965, at 11:30P.M. elements of the Viet Cong 762nd and 763rd Regiments totaling at least 1,500 men attacked a Special Forces camp of the 5th Special Forces Group at Dong Xoai, ...
Week of June 4 Week of
June 4
On June 1, 1967, Task Force 117, the Mobile Riverine Force, became operational. It was a joint U.S. Army-Navy task force whose goal was to search out and eliminate Viet Cong elements in the waterways ...
Week of May 28 Week of
May 28
On May 26, 1967, Operation UNION II began in the Que Son Basin in southern I Corps. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Marine Regiments were initially supported by South Vietnamese Rangers ...
Week of May 21 Week of
May 21
On May 22, 1964, the CIA-run airline known as Air America officially began to support search-and-rescue missions for downed American aviators in Laos and North Vietnam. Air America pilots flew piston-engine ...
Week of May 14 Week of
May 14
On May 10, 1969, U.S. and allied forces launched Operation APACHE SNOW, an effort to dislodge the North Vietnamese army from the A Sau Valley. The valley, adjacent to Laos ...
Week of April 30 Week of
April 30
In April 1975, South Vietnam was on the verge of collapse as the North Vietnamese army closed in around Saigon. With almost all U.S. troops having left Vietnam in 1973, the few ...
Week of April 23 Week of
April 23
On April 24, 1950, President Harry S. Truman approved the contents of National Security Council Report (NSC) 64. The memorandum was drafted by the State Department and the ...
Week of April_16 Week of
April 16
On April 17, 1956, three U.S. Army women nurses arrived in Saigon as part of a medical training team assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group, Vietnam ...
Week of April 9 Week of
April 9
At the end of 1964, with direct U.S. participation in combat operations poised to begin, there were about 23,000 U.S. forces in Vietnam. In less than five years, by the first. ..
Week of April 2 Week of
April 2
By the end of March 1972, there were fewer than 70,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam (after peaking in 1969 at over 540,000). Following President Richard Nixon's "Vietnamization" ...
Week of March 26 Week of
March 26
On March 26, 1964, Air Force Captain Richard L. Whitesides and Army Special Forces Captain Floyd J. Thompson were conducting a reconnaissance mission aboard a small ...
Week of March 19 Week of
March 19
In late February 1965, a U.S. helicopter pilot spotted a 130-foot North Vietnamese vessel anchored in South Vietnam's Vung Ro Bay. Investigators discovered the ship was carrying ...
Week of March 12 Week of
March 12
As the United States commenced a bombing campaign against North Vietnam, American leaders grew concerned about the possibility of Communist retaliation against U.S ...
Week of March 5 Week of
March 5
On March 2, 1965, U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft commenced the bombing of military, industrial, and infrastructure targets in North Vietnam. Called ...
Week of February 12 Week of
February 12
On February 12, 1973, a group of American prisoners of war (POWs) lifted off from Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport, in North Vietnam, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter. These men ...

 

Week of January 28, 2024

Photo of Petty Officer Third Class Paul Frank Doronzo, U.S. Navy (VVMF)
Petty Officer Third Class
Paul Frank Doronzo, 
U.S. Navy
(VVMF)

Photo of Corporal Raymond Dale Harrell, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF)
Corporal
Raymond Dale Harrell,
U.S. Marine Corps
(VVMF)

Photo of Lance Corporal Edward Arnold Rozell, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF)
Lance Corporal
Edward Arnold Rozell,
U.S. Marine Corps
(VVMF)

Photo of Medal of Honor recipient, United States Marine Corps Private First Class, Raymond M. Clausen, Jr.
Medal of Honor Recipient, 
Private First Class
Raymond M. Clausen, Jr.,
U.S. Marine Corps
(USMC)