[ HOME | HISTORY | TIMELINE ]
[ Previous Period | Next Period ]
 
23 February 1969 - 8 June 1969
23 Feb 69
Viet Cong attack 110 targets throughout South Vietnam including Saigon.
25 Feb 69
NVA raid on a USMC base camp near the Demilitarized Zone kills 36 U.S. Marines.
27 Feb 69
Marines Repel Human Waves - Red Suicide Attack
27 Feb 69
Airborne 'Assault' to Make History    
4 Mar 69
Viet Cong offenses in the South prompt President Nixon to threaten to resume bombing North Vietnam in retaliation.
10 Mar 69
G.I.’S Hurl Back Charge By N. Viet Battalion    
15 Mar 69
U.S. troops go on the offensive inside the Demilitarized Zone for the first time since 1968.
Mar 69
Letters from Vietnam veteran Ronald Ridenhour result in a U.S. Army investigation into the My Lai massacre.
17 Mar 69
President Nixon authorizes the secret bombing of Cambodia by B-52s in Operation Menu, targeting North Vietnamese supply sanctuaries located along the border of Vietnam.
4 Apr 69
C/1/50 CP track hit a mine at BR235485. 8 WIA medicvaced, including one serious.
1-13 Apr 69
Battalion HQ at Camp Radcliff until 13 April 1969. Operations in AO Marshall were primarily road and bridge security along QL 19.
9 Apr 69
At Harvard University, 300 anti-war students seize the administration building, throw out eight deans, then lock themselves in. They are later forcibly ejected.
13 Apr 69
Under OPLAN Washington Green, 1/50 began relocating to LZ Uplift. Battalion forward TOC located at Phu My District HQ.
18 Apr 69
1225: Main body of 1st Bn (Mech), 50th Infantry closed on LZ Uplift during relocation from Camp Radcliff, An Khe.
19 Apr 69
1/50 began pacification of Phu My District and assumed responsibility for road and bridge security along QL1 between Bong Son Pass and LZ Uplift.
28 Apr 69
Air-Land Duel Rages Along Suez    
28 Apr 69
Reds Bushwhacked at Cambodia Border    
28 Apr 69
29 Warship U.S. Armada Shifting to The Yellow Sea
28 Apr 69
2nd Negro Mass Arrest    
30 Apr 69
U.S. troop levels peak at 543,400. The total of 33,641 Americans killed to date in Vietnam exceed the total killed in the Korean War.
May 69
The New York Times breaks the news of the secret bombing of Cambodia. As a result, Nixon orders FBI wiretaps on the telephones of four journalists, along with 13 government officials to determine the source of news leak.
10-20 May 69

In the A Shau Valley near Hue, the 101st Airborne fight a 10-day battle at "Hamburger Hill," with 46 U.S. KIA and 400 U.S. WIA. After the hill is taken, the troops are then ordered to abandon it by their commander. NVA then move in and take back the hill unopposed. The costly assault and its confused aftermath provokes a political outcry back in the U.S. that American lives are being wasted in Vietnam.

14 May 69
Reds Shell, Attack 159 U.S., Viet Sites    
14 May 69
During his first TV speech on Vietnam, President Nixon presents a peace plan in which America and North Vietnam would simultaneously pull out of South Vietnam over the next year. The offer is rejected by Hanoi.
14 May 69
Nixon to Address Nation on Viet Outlook    
May 69
Washington orders MACV Commander GEN Abrams to avoid encounters like Hamburger Hill in the future. It is the last major search and destroy mission by U.S. troops in the war, with small unit actions used instead.
22 May 69
10-Day Fight Over - 'Hamburger Hill' Taken    
22 May 69
Nixon, Thieu Set Talks on Midway    
8 Jun 69
President Nixon meets South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu at Midway Island and informs him U.S. troop levels are going to be sharply reduced. During a press briefing with Thieu, Nixon announces "Vietnamization" of the war and a U.S. troop withdrawal of 25,000 men.
[ Previous Period | Next Period ]
[ HOME | HISTORY | TIMELINE ]