By nearly every metric, the Vietnam War was, in the common sense of the word, a war.The United States committed some 550,000 troops to the Vietnam front at the height of the conflict, suffered more than 58,000 casualties, and engaged in battle after battle with communist forces in the region until its withdrawal in 1973. It was not sufficient to simply be an American military person killed in the fighting there during the winter and spring of 1967-68. U.S. MILITARY FATAL CASUALTIES OF THE VIETNAM WAR FOR HOME-STATE-OF-RECORD: MASSACHUSETTS Prepared by the National Archives and Records Administration From the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files. But Pisor also pointed out that “205 is a completely false number.” One had to meet certain criteria before being officially considered KIA at Khe Sanh. 1968 became the deadliest year of the war for US forces with 16,592 soldiers killed. Setting out from Ca Lu, 10 miles east of Khe Sanh, Pegasus opened the highway, linked up with the Marines at Khe Sanh, and engaged NVA in the surrounding area. Besieged, Khe Sanh could only be resupplied by air. In 1966 the Marines built a base adjacent to the Army position, and organized their combat activities around named operations. The 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh was the longest, deadliest and most controversial of the Vietnam War, pitting the U.S. Marines and their allies against the North Vietnamese Army.Both sides have published official histories of the battle, and while these histories agree the fighting took place at Khe Sanh, they disagree on virtually every other aspect of it. Numbers certainly do not tell the whole story - or all of them - but they certainly paint a picture of lives lost and families devastated. A U.S. Marine watches over bodies awaiting transport near Khe Sanh. U.S. Military Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War for Pima County, Arizona. The American military presence at Khe Sanh consisted not only of the Marine Corps Khe Sanh Combat Base, but also Forward Operating Base 3, U.S. Army (FOB-3). At about 0640 hours the NVA 7th Battalion, 66th Regiment, 304th Division, attacked the Huong Hoa District headquarters in Khe Sanh village. Scotland was a 26th Marine Regiment operation, so only the deaths of Marines assigned to the regiment, and attached supporting units, were counted. On February 23 the U.S. The Marines and their allies at Khe Sanh engaged tens of thousands, and killed thousands, of NVA over a period of many weeks. MN: ... Vietnam War. General Disclaimer - This is a private sector project developed by. Unlike the Marines killed in the same place in January, since Operation Scotland had ended, the four Lima Company Marines who died in this attack on Hill 881 North were excluded from the official statistics. He suggests that another 222,000 civilians were counted as military deaths by the U.S. in compiling its "body count." A closer look at the Khe Sanh body count, however, reveals anything but a straightforward matter of numbers. Next, see what the Vietnam War looked like for those who fought it in this CBS News footage that captured a battle in action in the jungles of Vietnam near Cambodia in March 1970: After viewing the Vietnam War photos above, have a look at two of the era's most iconic images: "Napalm Girl" and the Saigon execution . The plane, piloted by Lt. Col. Frederick J. Hampton, crashed in a huge fireball a few miles east of Khe Sanh, killing all aboard. Hernandez was killed. This database contains information about awards and decorations of honor awarded to U.S. and allied foreign military personnel during the Vietnam War. Consequently, and unknown at the time, Operation Scotland became the starting point of the Battle of Khe Sanh in terms of Marine casualty reporting. The Pegasus force consisted of the Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) plus the 1st Marine Regiment. On April 5, 1968, MACV prepared an “Analysis of the Khe Sanh Battle” for General Westmoreland. In 1967, as American casualties in the Vietnam War mounted, and no end to the conflict seemed to be in sight, anti-war demonstrations that had been escalating for several years took on a new size and tone. They too were left out of the official Khe Sanh casualty count. Vietnam veterans lead a march against the Vietnam War, Washington D.C. (1967). The 1968 Battle of Khe Sanh was the longest, deadliest and most controversial of the Vietnam War, pitting the U.S. Marines and their allies against the North Vietnamese Army. U.S. reconnaissance forces continued to monitor the Ho Chi Minh Trail. ... 1968 02 11 Y PINSONNAULT RICHARD NORMA: NAVY: PO3: … The NVA 304th Division’s history notes that on “9 July 1968, the liberation flag was waving from the flag pole at Ta Con [Khe Sanh] airfield.” On July 13, 1968, Ho Chi Minh sent a message to the soldiers of the Route 9–Khe Sanh Front affirming “our victory at Khe Sanh.”. Indeed, had enemy forces not been at Khe Sanh, they could have joined the NVA and VC who occupied Hue, a much more important strategic target. The Johnson administration was no longer capable of convincing anybody that Vietnam War was a major defeat for the communists. In fact, neither side won a resounding victory. Selective Service System announced a new draft call for 48,000 men, the second largest of the war. It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in many instances as many individuals were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborer… And by the time U.S. planes began regular bombings of North Vietnam in February 1965, some critics had begun to question the government’s assertion that it was fighting a democratic war to liberate the South Vietnamese people from Com… Historian Ronald Spector, in the book After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam, noted that American casualties in the 10 weeks after the start of Operation Pegasus were more than twice those officially reported during the siege. MN: 05-12-1968: Vietnam: Army: 4: Edwin Arthur Ackerman Jr. MN: 02-19-1969: Vietnam: Army: 5: Arnold Alvin Ades . Stubbe examined the command chronologies of the 1st and 2nd battalions, 26th Marines, plus the after-action reports of the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines; 1st Battalion, 13th Marines; and more than one dozen other units, all present at Khe Sanh under 26th Marine operational control. Khe Sanh is a village located near the Laotian border and just south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated North and South Vietnam. Edith Piaf, internationally famous French cabaret singer, best remembered for her songs "La Vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rein.". Mobile combat operations continued against the North Vietnamese. In August 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, and President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Time magazine, in an April 12, 1968, article titled “Victory at Khe Sanh,” reported General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, after flying into Khe Sanh by helicopter, declaring: “We took 220 killed at Khe Sanh and about 800 wounded and evacuated. OR To shorten the name list, enter 2 or more letters of any part of a name in the box below. On June 28, a Communist spokesman claimed the Americans had been forced to retreat and that Khe Sanh was the “gravest tactical and strategic defeat” for the U.S. in the war. Only those killed in action during Operation Scotland, which began on November 1, 1967, and ended on March 31, 1968, were included in the official casualty count. The lists are based on the "home of record - state" data provided by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. 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