Battle of Dak To

In accounts of the November 1967 battle of Dak To, one of the largest and longest battles of the Vietnam War, the center of attention is often the elite 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, assigned prior to the battle to the 4th Infantry Division. Seemingly forgotten is the fight waged by the division’s “leg” (non-airborne infantry), engineer and artillery units. That’s a sore spot for some veterans who were at Dak To.

Battle of Tam Quan

The afternoon of 6 December, the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division received intelligence on the location of the headquarters of the PAVN 22nd Regiment near the village of Dai Dong and aero-scout helicopters from A Troop, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment (1/9th) were sent to investigate. The helicopters saw a radio antenna and were fired on and at 16:30 aero-rifle troops were landed nearby, but were quickly pinned down by enemy fire. At 16:55 D Troop was landed to support A Troop, but they were also pinned down.

Napalm

Napalm, which was considered as one of the most successful weapons, was quickly employed in the Vietnam War in 1963. 388,000 tons of napalm was dropped in Vietnam during 1963 -1973 period – more than ten times the amount of napalm used in Korea. At the beginning, napalm was used in flamethrowers for U.S. and ARVN ground forces and soon became an effective weapon in clearing bunkers. Even if the flame could not penetrate into the entire bunker, it still consumed all the oxygen and suffocated those inside. Flamethrowers were also used to destroy enemy’s villages.

Operation Buffalo

At 10 am on the 2nd of July, Company B from 1/9 was on patrol about a mile and a half northeast of Con Thien when they encountered what they initially believed to be a small, well-entrenched enemy unit. However, this contact quickly escalated into a major attack by 5 NVA (North Vietnamese Army) battalions. The NVA employed mass artillery, coordinated ground attack forces, mortars, and flamethrowers. The rest of 1/9 attempted to join the battle, both by air and on the ground, while substantial supporting fire from Army artillery, air support, and naval forces targeted the NVA ground forces. In an effort to disrupt the reinforcement of the Marines, the NVA unleashed over a thousand artillery and mortar rounds on Gio Linh and Con Thien. Approximately 700 of these rounds fell on 1/9 alone. By mid-afternoon, 3/9 arrived by helicopter from Dong Ha and attacked from the enemy’s left flank, leading to the NVA breaking contact and retreating to the DMZ. Although the NVA suffered an estimated 55 killed in action (conf.) and 88 (prob.), the Marines incurred significant losses with 84 killed in action, 1 missing in action, and 190 wounded in action. It was undoubtedly a very challenging day for 1/9.

Operation Cedar Falls

Operation Cedar Falls, named for the hometown of 1st Division Medal of Honor recipient Robert John Hibbs, who had been killed in March 1966, would involve a massive sweep of the Triangle by two brigades of Major General William DePuy’s division, plus an airborne brigade, elements of a cavalry regiment, and an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Ranger battalion. Meanwhile, Major General Fred Weyand, employing two brigades, would sweep through wooded areas west of the Saigon River and block any enemy escape attempt to avoid DePuy’s assault. Units on the sweeps were given a “VC Installations List” detailing the location, unit or office designations of all facilities, depots, communications centers, and expected positions of three local force VC battalions and two separate companies. No enemy main force units were expected to be in the Iron Triangle. All of the estimated 6,000 inhabitants of the Triangle’s one village and several outlying hamlets would be assembled, screened, and relocated. The plan called for the destruction of all enemy installations within a two-week period, after which the Triangle would be publicly designated a free-fire zone—where any inhabitant would be considered hostile.

Operation Junction City

Operation Junction City, conducted from 22 February to 15 April 1967, was the largest single allied operation in the Vietnam War. By the time it ended, the operation involved twenty-two US infantry battalions, four ARVN infantry battalions, seventeen artillery battalions, 4,000 Air Force sorties, and 249 helicopters, making it the largest air assault operation in history. Once all units were positioned for Operation Junction City, they formed a giant horseshoe around the target area.

Operation Kingfisher

Operation Kingfisher lasted from 28–30 July 1967. The 2/9 Marines, supported by a platoon of M-48s, 3 M50 Ontos and 3 LVTEs moved north along Provincial Route 606 to make a spoiling attack into the DMZ. The unit made no contact with the NVA and set up a night defensive position near the Ben Hai River. The following morning as the unit was returning along the same route a command detonated mine exploded wounding 5 Marines. The NVA then opened fire with small arms and mortar fire and attacked the armored vehicles with RPGs. The NVA attempted to hug the US column negating the use of air support and the column broke up into several separate firefights. The isolated Marine Companies set up night defensive positions and were eventually relieved by 3/4 Marines on the morning of 30 July. Marine casualties for the operation were 23 dead and 251 wounded, while the NVA suffered 32 killed and a further 175 believed killed.

Charles Hagemeister

Hagemeister was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on August 21, 1946. He was the youngest of four siblings in his family. He attended Lincoln Southeast High School, before studying at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Hagemeister was drafted into the United States Army from his birth city of Lincoln, Nebraska, in May 1966, during a break from his university studies. By March 20 of the following year, he was serving as a specialist four in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Air mobile). He was previously serving as a medic. During a firefight on that day, in Binh Dinh Province, Republic of Vietnam, Hagemeister repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire in order to aid wounded comrades. He was subsequently promoted to specialist five and awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

Conscientious Objector

Today, all conscientious objectors are required to register with the Selective Service System. A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles. Beliefs which qualify a registrant for CO status may be religious in nature, but don’t have to be. Beliefs may be moral or ethical; however, a man’s reasons for not wanting to participate in a war must not be based on politics, expediency, or self-interest. In general, the man’s lifestyle prior to making his claim must reflect his current claims.

First Heart Transplant

On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky received the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart disease, received the transplant from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman who was fatally injured in a car accident. Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who trained at the University of Cape Town and in the United States, performed the revolutionary medical operation. The technique Barnard employed had been initially developed by a group of American researchers in the 1950s. American surgeon Norman Shumway achieved the first successful heart transplant, in a dog, at Stanford University in California in 1958.

Gerald O. Young

Gerald Young was born on May 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on May 24, 1947, and was trained as an Aviation Electrician’s Mate. Young received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1952. He re-enlisted in the Navy serving until July 1956, when he was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet program. Young was commissioned a 2Lt and awarded his pilot wings on January 18, 1958. Shortly before midnight on Nov. 8, 1967, Captain Young, the commander of a HH-3E rescue helicopter, was dispatched to evacuate the survivors of a U.S. Army reconnaissance team in Laos. Captain Young and his crew were flying as backup for another helicopter on this night operation. The first aircraft managed to pick up three members of the team before extensive battle damage forced it to withdraw. Captain Young’s helicopter was shot down and the remaining members of the reconnaissance team did not survive. He and an enlisted member of his crew were able to evade the enemy and were rescued 17 hours later. He was presented the Medal of Honor by President Johnson in 1968.

Thurgood Marshall

On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall took the judicial oath of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the first Black person to serve on the Court. Marshall’s paternal grandfather had been enslaved, and systemic racism remained widespread when Marshall was born. A segregationist admissions policy kept him from attending law school at the University of Maryland, near where he grew up. He instead attended Howard University, and soon after graduating, he filed a lawsuit that forced the integration of the University of Maryland. As a civil rights lawyer and later U.S. solicitor general, Marshall argued dozens of cases in front of the Supreme Court, winning a majority of them. His arguments in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education led the court to strike down the “separate but equal” doctrine, requiring public schools across the U.S. to desegregate. In his 24-year tenure on the high court, Marshall promoted First Amendment rights, defended affirmative action programs, and vigorously opposed the death penalty.