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30 January 1968 - 1 April 1968
29-30 Jan 68
In violation of the Tet Truce, Phu My District Hqs receives mortar fire and limited ground probes, as does the 41st ARVN Regimental HQ at LZ Crystal. At 1045 on 30 January, the 1/50 (M) Infantry Battalion was notified that due to enemy action, the Tet Truce was terminated effective 0945.
31 Jan 68
84,000 Viet Cong guerrillas aided by NVA troops launch the Tet Offensive attacking a hundred cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. The surprise offensive is closely observed by American TV news crews in Vietnam which film the U.S. embassy in Saigon being attacked by 17 Viet Cong commandos, along with bloody scenes from battle areas showing American soldiers under fire, dead and wounded. The graphic color film footage is then quickly relayed back to the states for broadcast on nightly news programs. Americans at home thus have a front row seat in their living rooms to the Viet Cong/NVA assaults against their fathers, sons and brothers, ten thousand miles away.
31 Jan 68
The 1/50(M) battles NVA enemy which had moved in force during the Tet Truce to within striking distance on three sides of the Phu My District Headquarters. 0850 Popular Forces patrol in contact N.E. of Phu My at Tan An BR928691. B and D Companies 1/50 were directed to immediately move to the contact area. Both companies were in position by 1100 north and south of Phu My on Hwy 1. At 1105 D Co. was directed to move east to the northern edge of Tan An, and to sweep S.W. to fix the rear of the enemy force gathered to attaack Phu My. D Co. made contaact with an estimated enemy company. A Co.was released from base defense at LZ Uplift , and joined D Co.s right flank. B Co. 1/50 moved to the south side of Binh Tri (BR 912678) where contact was also made immediately. A & D 1/50 launched a simultanous attack on the estimated enemy battalion. Co. D attacking on the left continued to encounter stiff enemy resistance from a well entranched enemy armed with many automatic and antitank weapons. D Co. eliminated the enemy resistance and later moved to LZ Uplift for base security. A & B 1/50 stayed for the night at the contact area.
31 Jan 68
During the Tet ceasefire, 35 NVA and Viet Cong battalions launch a surprise attack on Saigon and surrounding facilities. Unbeknownst to the enemy, LTG Fred C. Weyand, a veteran of World War II in the Pacific, had sensed the coming attackand positioned 50 battalions of American and Allied troops to protect the city on a hunch.
31 Jan-2 Mar 68
In the Battle for Hue during Tet, 12,000 NVA and Viet Cong troops storm the lightly defended historical city, then begin systematic executions of over 3,000 "enemies of the people" including South Vietnamese government officials, captured South Vietnamese officers, and Catholic priests.
1 Feb 68
LTG Fred C. Weyand launches a decisive counter-attack against the Viet Cong at Tan Son Nhut airport thus protecting nearby MACV and South Vietnamese military headquarters from possible capture.
1 Feb 68
The final attack on Binh Tri by A & B 1/50 and C 2/5 Cav. met only with sporadic fire. The enemy lost 42 soldiers KIA in this encounter. We lost one soldier KIA and seven wounded. 29 weapons were captured.
1 Feb 68
In Saigon, a suspected Viet Cong guerrilla is shot in the head by South Vietnam's police chief Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan on film and still cameras from American newsmen. The haunting AP photo taken by Eddie Adams appears on the front page of most American newspapers the next morning. Americans also observe the filmed execution on NBC TV.
2 Feb 68
President Johnson labels the Tet Offensive "a complete failure." For the North Vietnamese, the Tet Offensive is both a military and political failure in Vietnam. The "general uprising" they had hoped to ignite among South Vietnamese peasants against the Saigon government never materialized. Viet Cong had also come out of hiding to do most of the actual fighting, suffered devastating losses, and never regained their former strength. As a result, most of the fighting will be taken over by North Vietnamese regulars fighting a conventional war
2 Feb 68
Ironically, the only success of the Tet Offensive for the North Vietnamese was the unexpected loss of support in Congress and the American public because of the prejudicial news coverage.
2 Feb 68
Frantic Battle Saves U.S. Embassy    
2 Feb 68
Total For 54 Hours - 5,000 Reds Die in Raids    
2 Feb 68
80,000 Stage Anti-Red Rally in Seoul    
3 Feb 68
  • 1047. 41st ARVN elements make contact at Vinh Nohn, BR940610. B Co. 1/50 moved to a position directly north of the enemy sighting. A joint coordinated attack was initiated by Co. B at 1202 and within 20 minutes engages several squads dug in on the north side of the town. The enemy lost 21 KIA in this action and 21 small arms and 5 crew served weapons were captured. B Co. suffered one KIA and one WIA.
  • 1253. Two Popular Forces platoons made contact with an estimated NVA battalion at BR878703. A Co. 1/50 was released from bridge security and moved to contact area at 1449.
  • 1728. A Co. engages a well armed and numerically superior enemy dug in the hedgerows on the edge of the hamlet. A/2/5 Cav. (OPCON 1/50) was directed to block NW of the village. Called in artillery and stayed there for the night.
  • 4 Feb 68
    D/1/50 sent in to support A/1/50. Coordinated attack by the three companies, all three companies came under heavy direct and indirect fire. At 1106, a 1/9 Cav gunhip was shot down by enemy fire. A Co. APCs rushed across the open paddy to rescue the crew of the stricken helicopter. Seconds after the crew was picked up, the helicopter burst into flames. Co. A and D 1/50 were directed to again attack NW through the town, then to cartwheel right and continue to the north. This manauver was flawlessly executed by the two companies and An Lac Dong (4) had fallen to the 1/50 by 1525.
    Enemy losses were 76 KIA and eleven weapons captured. No friendly losses in this encouter but 32 U.S. personnel were wounded. Total U.S. losses for all three encounters 3-4 Feb 68 were 2 KIA and 40 WIA, while total enemy losses were 139 KIA, 19 CIA, 57 S/A and 9 C/S weapons captured.
    5 Feb 68
    In successive battles, the 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 50th Infantry, 1st Cav Division had leaned on the enemy and completely defeated elements of the 22nd NVA Regiment and the 2nd VC Regiment.
    7 Feb 68
    Reds Open Up on Khe Sanh    
    7 Feb 68
    U.S. Balks at Apology Over Pueblo    
    8 Feb 68
    21 U.S. Marines die at Khe Sanh.
    8 Feb 68
    8 Americans Killed, 62 Hurt in Vietnam    
    8 Feb 68
    86 Killed As Chilean Plane Plows Into Andes Peak  
    8 Feb 68
    Kosygin Vows to Back Hanoi    
    18 Feb 68
    Trowbridge Quits - L.B.J. Raps Move to Oust Westy  
    18 Feb 68
    3 U.S. Pilots Released By Hanoi    
    19-27 Feb 68
    Last of the 2nd Bde, Ist Cav DIv. leave the Binh Dinh area. 1/50 is left to take care of the Bong Son/LZ Uplift AO. Contacts with the enemy are at a minimum, and the enemy was reduced to harassment by snipers while they were (probably) attempting to replenish their ranks with new personnel and weapons. Captured enemy documents show that the enemy was under orders to destroy the APC's at any cost, so they can operate more freely in Binh Dinh Province.
    24 Feb 68
    U.S. Marines occupy the Imperial Palace in the heart of the citadel and defeat the North Vietnamese in the Battle of Hue. American losses are 142 Marines killed and 857 wounded, 74 U.S. Army killed and 507 wounded. South Vietnamese suffer 384 killed and 1,830 wounded. Over 5,000 NVA are killed.
    24 Feb 68
    Senate Probers Bare Secret Message on Tonkin Incident
    24 Feb 68
    Old Glory Keeps Flying High Off Hue    
    26 Feb 68
    Certain Reds Struck First in Tonkin, McNamara Says
    26 Feb 68
    Allies Mopping Up in Hue    
    26 Feb 68
    Thant Convinced Peace Talks Would Follow Bombing Halt
    27 Feb 68
    Influential CBS TV news anchorman Walter Cronkite, who just returned from Saigon, tells Americans during his CBS Evening News broadcast that he is certain "the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate." February 28, 1968 -
    28 Feb 68
    Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Wheeler, at the behest of Gen. Westmoreland, asks President Johnson for an additional 206,000 soldiers and mobilization of reserve units in the U.S.
    30 Feb 68
    Operation Pershing II ends. The operation lasted 39 days and employed 9 battalions. 1,801 VC/NVA were killed at a cost of 21 U.S. KIA.
    1 Mar 68
    March 1, 1968 - Clark Clifford, renowned Washington lawyer and an old friend of the President, becomes the new U.S. Secretary of Defense. For the next few days, Clifford conducts an intensive study of the entire situation in Vietnam, discovers there is no concept or overall plan anywhere in Washington for achieving victory in Vietnam, then reports to President Johnson that the United States should not escalate the war. "The time has come to decide where we go from here," he tells Johnson.
    2 Mar 68
    1250: B Co., 1/50 requested a Dust Off for 1 US WIA from sniper fire vic Bridge 91 (9211182). Dust Off was complete at 1319. Enemy fire came from 917165. 1345: 1/B/1-50 Mech vic 917165 detained 2VN Individuals wre trying to exit area of sniper fire. Both had ID cards and were evac to B/1/50 Mech CP. B 1/50 Mech swept the area where sniper fire had been received along Hwy 1 with negative result.
    2 Mar 68
    48 U.S. Army soldiers are killed during an ambush at Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon.
    2 Mar 68
    Hue is retaken after a month of fighting by South Vietnamese troops and three U.S. Marine battalions in the heaviest fighting of the entire Tet Offensive. They retake the old imperial city, house by house, street by street, aided by American air and artillery strikes.
    3 Mar 68
    Attack in Fog - Khe Sanh Raid Fails    
    3 Mar 68
    Hundreds Injured in Rome As Students Battle Police
    3 Mar 68
    Clifford Takes Oath    
    3 Mar 68

    Intell Report received by 1/50 Mech Infantry: In view of the fact that 3 March 68 is the anniversary of the founding of the Lao Dong Party and other indications of impending enemy activity in the I and II Corps Tactical Zones, a widespread coordinated country-wide attack will occur within the next 24-36 hours. (Classified Confidential at the time)

    7 Mar 68
    The Battle of Saigon finishes as a resounding defeat for the communists.
    9 Mar 68
    0335:D Co. 1/50 was attacked by an estimated enemy battalion at LZ Litz. A coordinated attack by the enemy with 82mm mortars, B-40 rockets and automatic weapons killed 4 U.S. soldiers and wounded 16. CO CPT. Bruce Braun and FO "Sea Dog 89" were wounded when an 82 mm hit their track. Another soldier was killed when a mortar hit his tent. The radios in the command track to were damaged, so LTs Schroeder and Blochberger communicated with LZ Uplift with platoon radios. Requests for arty and Medevacs were relayed from LZ Uplift to LZ English (4th Inf DIv) for approval.
    0340: D/1/50 received 25-30 82 mm mortar rounds. 2nd Platoon and Delta Mortar tracks facing west were each hit two or three times with B-40 rockets, and the 2/2/D APC driver was killed by a B40 which damaged the 50 Cal and one M-60.
    0345:The APC to the left of 2/2/D takes B40 hit and starts exploding and burning. Driver shot trying to tries to get out of hatch, three others from the burning track are rescued and taken in by 2/2/D.
    0348: Enemy seen with the light of burning track trying to infiltrate perimeter, repulsed with grenades and small arms by 2nd Plt. and Delta Mortars firing 50s a 60s. Unable to get accurate artillary support, the Mortar Plt. fired illumination rounds. CS grenades were lobbed at the enemy. Medevacs unable to support Delta Co. Although many APCs facing west were hit with several B-40 rockets, troopers continued firing and kept the enemy at bay. A relief force from LZ Uplift was turned back when an enemy radio message was intercepted that the enemy was going to attack LZ Uplift. The enemy did not attack LZ Uplift.
    0426: Enemy contact began to taper off. Wounded were taken to LZ for dustoff.
    0430: Dustoff helicopter lands but one skid lands in hole or small trench in the ground so chopper lifts up to land in another level spot amd is shot down by enemy fire. Several 1/50 troopers rescue crew.
    0445: Enemy Contact broken. The enemy lost 38 KIA. Friendly losses were 4 KIA and 16 WIA.
    10 Mar 68
    A helicopter from the 61st AHC used on illumination missions crashes and burns at LZ Uplift. All pilots and crew were killed.
    10 Mar 68
    The New York Times breaks the news of Westmoreland's 206,000 troop request. The Times story is denied by the White House. Secretary of State Dean Rusk is then called before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and grilled for two days on live TV about the troop request and the overall effectiveness of Johnson's war strategy.
    11 Mar 68
    Operation Quyet Thang begins a 28 day offensive by 33 U.S. and South Vietnamese battalions in the Saigon region.
    12 Mar 68
    Johnson narrowly defeats anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy by 300 votes in the New Hampshire Democratic primary election. This indicates that political support for Johnson is very weak. Public opinion polls taken after the Tet Offensive revealed Johnson's overall approval rating has slipped to 36 percent, while approval of his Vietnam war policy slipped to 26 percent.
    14 Mar 68
    Senator Robert F. Kennedy offers President Johnson a confidential political proposition. Kennedy will agree to stay out of the presidential race if Johnson will renounce his earlier Vietnam strategy and appoint a committee, including Kennedy, to chart a new course in Vietnam. Johnson spurns the offer.
    16 Mar 68
    Robert F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the presidency. Polls indicate Kennedy is now more popular than the President. During his campaign, Kennedy addresses the issue of his participation in forming President John F. Kennedy's Vietnam policy by stating, "past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation."
    16 Mar 68
    Over 300 Vietnamese civilians are slaughtered in My Lai hamlet by members of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry U.S. Army, while participating in an airborne assault against suspected Viet Cong encampments in Quang Ngai Province. Upon entering My Lai and finding no Viet Cong, the Americans begin killing every civilian in sight, interrupted only by helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson who lands and begins evacuating civilians after realizing what is happening.
    18 Mar 68 D 1/50 sent on a company "stay behind" ambush mission, gets ambushed in 505 Valley. Enemy fire came from all sides. 2 persons killed , and several wounded. Chinook hit by enemy fire several times.
    23 Mar 68
    Gen Wheeler informs Gen. Westmoreland that President Johnson will approve only 13,500 additional soldiers out of the original 206,000 requested. Gen. Wheeler also instructs Westmoreland to urge the South Vietnamese to expand their own war effort.
    25 Mar 68
    Clark Clifford convenes the "Wise Men," a dozen distinguished elder statesmen and soldiers, including former Secretary of State Dean Acheson and World War II General Omar Bradley at the State Department for dinner. They are given a blunt assessment of the situation in Vietnam, including the widespread corruption of the Saigon government and the unlikely prospect for military victory "under the present circumstances," seemingly overlooking the fact that the Viet Cong have been decimated and the North Vietnamese militarily defeated.
    26 Mar 68
    The "Wise Men" gather at the White House for lunch with the President. They now advocate U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, with only four of those present dissenting from that opinion.
    26 Mar 68
    1629 Hrs.,Co. A point track hit a large mine at ZT 033720, three personnel KIA, and 6 WIA evacuated to Qui Non at 1833 Hrs. APC blown in place by EOD team.
    28 Mar 68
    The initial report by participants at My Lai states that 69 Viet Cong soldiers were killed and makes no mention of civilian causalities. The My Lai massacre is successfully concealed for a year, until a series of letters from Vietnam veteran Ronald Ridenhour spark an official Army investigation that results in Charlie Company Commander, Capt. Ernest L. Medina, First Platoon Leader, Lt. William Calley, and 14 others being brought to trial by the Army. A news photos of the carnage, showing a mass of dead children, women and old men, remains one of the most enduring images of America's involvement in Vietnam.
    30 Mar 68
    Three battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) begin Operation Cochise Green in Binh Dinh Province. The operation ends 31 Jan 1969 with 1,357NVA/VC KIA at a cost of 144 U.S. KIA.
    31 Mar 68
    Betrayed by his personal advisors, President Johnson announces his surprise decision not to seek re-election. He also announces a partial bombing halt and urges Hanoi to begin peace talks. "We are prepared to move immediately toward peace through negotiations." As a result, peace talks soon begin. The bombing halt only affects targets north of the 20th parallel, including Hanoi.
    1 Apr 68
    The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) begins Operation Pegasus to reopen Route 9, the relief route to the besieged Marines at Khe Sanh.
     
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