Congress passes a ten percent income tax surcharge to
defray the ballooning costs of the war.
General Creighton W. Abrams replaces General Westmoreland
as commander of MACV and USARV.
The Phoenix program is established to crush the secret
Viet Cong infrastructure (VCI) in South Vietnam. The Phoenix program,
controlled through CORDS, was part of the pacification campaign and ultimately
results in the deaths of some 20,587 Viet Cong"mostly in combat situations."
Three American prisoners of war are released by Hanoi.
President Johnson and South Vietnam's President Thieu
meet in Hawaii.
The newly constituted 1/50th Scout
Pltn. joins the rest of the companies in Operation Cochise Green in the
Soui Ca Valley. Scout Pltn. captures one VC enemy.
Scout Plt. killed 2 NVA with web
gear, rocket launcher and rockets.
Bravo Company 1/50 located a large
natural cave complex BR 748646 and found $150,000 dollars in 50 dollar
bills and thousands of dollars in Piasters. Also recovered were one ton
of rice and 200 pounds of documents.
The Scout Platoon hit a booby trap
hand grenade VIC BR799588. Four personnel and the platoon leader were
wounded.
The Republican Party chooses Richard M. Nixon as the Republican
presidential candidate. He promises "an honorable end to the war in Vietnam."
Operation Cochise Green ends in
the Bong Son Plains, Vinh Than Mountains, Central Coastal Plains, Binh
Dinh Province. 1/50th (M) Infantry moves to An Khe area under Operation
Walker.
Bridge 26, manned by 1/50th personnel
is overrun, resulting in 3 KIA, including the officer in charge. Six soldiers
were wounded.
During the Democratic national convention in Chicago.
26,000 police and national guardsmen confront 10,000 anti-war protesters
gather on downtown streets live on TV. 800 demonstrators and numerous
policemen and guardsmen are injured.
Sep 68
Task Force Schnoor, Operation Walker,
Phu My District, Binh Dinh Province.
At 0104 Hrs. LZ Schueller came under
mortar attack from VIC BR362465. A total of 18 82mm mortar rounds impacted
within the LZ wounding 5 US personnel.
Elements of Bravo Co. and Scout
Platoon 1/50 Infantry conducting a Recon in Force operation foil a Viet
Cong ambush near An Khe. Reaction force of Charlie Co. combat assaults
to nearby area to link up with the other units.
LZ Schueller gets mortar attack.
Strong Point 2 gets hit with B 40 rockets, wounding one personnel causing
him to lose leg. The APC on Strong Point 3 was hit by an 82 mm mortar
round inside cargo hatch.. The track immediately exploded tearing off
all of the hatches, gun mounts and totally destroying the APC. One man
killed at Schueller and one man killed at SP 3. AO WALKER area enemy was
the 95B NVA Regiment and supporting units.
The 900th U.S. aircraft is shot down over North Vietnam.
October 1968 - Operation Sealord begins the largest combined naval operation
of the entire war as over 1200 U.S. Navy and South Vietnamese Navy gunboats
and warships target NVA supply lines extending from Cambodia into the
Mekong Delta. NVA supply camps in the Delta and along other waterways
are also successfully disrupted during the two-year operation.
The U.S. releases 14 North Vietnamese POWs.
50,000 protest the war in London.
30 Oct 68
Nearly 100 mines have been found
in the last two months on the strong points west of LZ Schueller, placed
during the night in an effort to destroy the APCs who man the strong points
during the day.
Attack on Camp Radcliff, An Khe
Operation Rolling Thunder ends as President Johnson announces
a complete halt of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam in the hope of restarting
the peace talks.