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 Cong headquarters and stronghold believed to be in the area. The combat during the operation was sporadic and inconclusive. As historian John Carland puts it, the entire endeavor was a “frustrating reminder of the [Viet Cong’s] skill at avoiding battle with large formations” of allied forces that might wipe them out with superior firepower. But the fighting was nevertheless deadly, even if the allied forces rarely saw their assailants. American and Australian troops spent the week-long Operation CRIMP being harassed by sniper fire, booby traps, and land mines.

Participants in Operation CRIMP included elements of the U.S. Army 173d Airborne Brigade, the 28th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, and the 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment: in all, about 8,000 men. These ground forces were also amply supported by artillery and U.S. airpower, including preparatory strikes by U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses. The operation took place in the Ho Bo Woods, a region that was largely open terrain punctuated by jungle thickets and abandoned rubber plantations. Over the course of 7 days, CRIMP forces fought frequent but sporadic engagements with guerrillas and seized numerous caches of supplies, weapons, and rice. While firefights with Viet Cong fighters were intermittent, dense fields of booby traps and landmines created numerous casualties. In some units, these devices killed more allied soldiers than did enemy fire.

On January 9, 1966, five U.S. soldiers from the 28th Infantry Regiment “Black Lions” were killed in the search for Viet Cong supply caches. Sergeant Richard L. Hollingsworth, 34, from Warren, Michigan, and Staff Sergeant Donald R. Sandve, 33, from Langford, South Dakota, were both killed by booby trapped mines. Between the two of them, they could boast of 32 years of service in the United States armed forces. Private First Class Richard E. Tucker, 18, from La Fayette, Georgia, was killed by a mine as well. Snipers also peppered the men of the 28th all day, usually by peeking out of small unnoticed tunnel entrances, shooting, and disappearing again below ground. Private First Class Daniel L. Sherman—25 years old from Overland Park, Kansas—and Private First Class Michael P. Moran—18 years old from Milwaukee, Wisconsin—were both killed by Viet Cong snipers who disappeared before anyone could effectively return fire. Both men died before they could reach a medical facility. These five soldiers killed on January 9, 1966, are memorialized on Panel 4E, Lines 59–60, of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

It was perhaps the Australian troops who encountered the fiercest resistance of Operation CRIMP. One firefight in the early evening darkness of January 8 was particularly intense, if brief. The men of the 1st Royal Australian Regiment hunkered down until daybreak, not wanting to walk further into an ambush in the dark. The next morning, they found no enemy troops, but they did locate the headquarters facility that the Viet Cong had been defending.

The Communist base facility in the Ho Bo Woods consisted of a vast complex of tunnels that boasted barracks, hospitals, kitchens, storage depots, and munitions shops. Extensive searches of the complex also turned up thousands of pages of vital intelligence, including lists of Communist Party members in South Vietnam, documents revealing the local Viet Cong command structure, detailed maps, and the notebook of a senior political officer that became known as the “CRIMP Document.” Collectively, the tunnels—later known as the Cu Chi Tunnels—contained one of the most important intelligence collections found by U.S. or allied forces during the war.

American and Australian troops also captured thousands of pounds of rice, arms, ammunition, and other equipment, but the majority of the Viet Cong in CRIMP’s search area managed to escape. The discovery of the Cu Chi Tunnels, though, helped convince American commanders that massive search-and-destroy operations like CRIMP were unlikely to succeed if enemy combatants were able to hide in such extensive underground complexes. U.S. forces thus subtly shifted their strategy and resources toward finding and destroying these underground Communist base areas and supply caches in the following months and years.¹