Week of June 27

On June 28, 1968, I Company, 3d Battalion of the 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division, was on a patrol in Quang Nam Province. Walking fourth and fifth in line with their platoon were Private First Class Oscar Juarez and Petty Officer Third Class George L. Myers, Jr., respectively. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as the three Marines ahead of Juarez in line passed a trail junction. But just when Juarez got to the same spot, he tripped a Viet Cong booby trap. A U.S. artillery shell rigged to explode detonated, wounding several in the platoon and killing Juarez and Myers, behind him. No Communist forces seemed to be nearby, and no sniper fire arrived in the wake of the explosion. What did follow was a brief silence, two dead Marines, and sudden radio calls for medical evacuations.

It is both a cliché and a truism to say that death in the Vietnam War was an ever-present possibility. But most people in the twenty-first century imagine this death as a function of combat—a patrol stumbles upon a Viet Cong base or a North Vietnamese company and a firefight ensues. Yet violence and death were possibilities even outside of combat, and many allied service people were killed without any battle, firefight, or exchange of gunfire at all. When Private First Class Juarez tripped the booby-trapped artillery round, he was not even his patrol’s point man, but the explosion killed him and Myers, behind him, while sparing the Marines ahead. There was no one against whom their comrades could return fire.

I Company was attached to 3d Battalion of the 27th Marine Regiment, which had arrived in Vietnam only a few months prior to June 28, 1968. The battalion was serving in Operation ALLEN BROOK, assigned to relieve elements of the 3d and 5th Marines in an area nicknamed the “Rocket Belt,” because it was rife with booby traps and mines. I Company spent most its time during the operation patrolling the area for explosive devices and Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. They patrolled a few miles away from Marble Mountain Airfield, just south of Da Nang, South Vietnam. The wider area around Marble Mountain was known for its natural beauty. It was also known as a place where U.S. service people ate, slept, and breathed nearly side by side with Viet Cong forces in nearby bunkers, tunnels, and even an underground medical facility. While enemy troops could always be nearby in Vietnam, near the Marble Mountain Airfield they were likely always within earshot.

Despite the danger, the weather in Quang Nam Province was almost as deadly that spring. There were “heat casualties” nearly every day, as temperatures soared past 110 degrees with the humidity above 80 percent most of the time. Unit commanders limited movement largely to the mornings and late afternoons, and many Marines had chosen to forgo their flak jackets, seeking relief from the heat and their own sweat. Contact with enemy forces was sparse until mid-June, when the first of several significant firefights occurred. Private First Class Oscar Reina Juarez had arrived with the battalion just weeks earlier, in the middle of the three-month operation.

Juarez had been a Marine for less than ten months. After graduating high school in San Angelo, Texas in June 1967, he had enlisted in the Marine Corps three months later. Juarez had been in Vietnam for only five weeks in late June 1968. He was still 18 years old. Walking behind Juarez that day was Petty Officer Third Class George Lester Myers, a two-year Navy veteran and a respected Hospital Corpsman. Like many Navy corpsmen who served with the Marines, the 25-year-old Chicago native was affectionately known as “Doc.”

Myers and Juarez are each memorialized on Panel 54W, Lines 9 and 12, of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Operation ALLEN BROOK ended in August 1968. A total of 1,124 Marines had been wounded during the operation, and 172 Marines had been killed.1


Two photos taken during Operation ALLEN BROOK: Photo #1 - Heavily sweating Marines from 3d Battalion, 27th Marines assist an injured comrade during Operation ALLEN BROOK, circa June 1968. (U.S. Marine Corps). Photo #2 - Mines and booby traps were horribly common hazards in the vicinity of Marble Mountain. Here, troops of the 7th Marine Regiment give medical aid to a fellow Marine wounded by a hidden explosive device during Operation ALLEN BROOK, circa June 1968.


1Jack Shulimson, Leonard A. Blasiol, Charles R. Smith, and David A. Dawson, The Defining Year: 1968, U.S. Marines in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps History and Museum Division, 1997); “ Wall of Faces,” Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (accessed 6/21/19); Searches for “ George Lester Myers” and Oscar Reina Juarez,” Richard Donham Coffelt Database of Vietnam Casualties (accessed 6/21/19).


Previous This Week in History Articles

Lieutenant Colonel Billie Joe Williams, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
December 12
On December 9, 1972, a flight of three U.S. Air Force RF-4C Phantom reconnaissance aircraft were on a mission over North Vietnam when alarms, warning of the approach of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), began blaring inside their cockpits. One SAM reached the...
Private First Class Lewis Albanese, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
 December 5
Somehow, through all the noise of battle, Private First Class Lewis Albanese heard the shots of a lone rifle. His platoon had just been ambushed by a large number of Viet Cong forces to their front. But the sound of the lone rifle Albanese honed in on came from his left...
Photograph of some of the Son Tay raiders prior to take off, November 20, 1970. (U.S. Air Force) Week of
 November 21
On November 21, 1970, a joint team of 92 U.S. Air Force Special Operations troops and 56 Army Special Force personnel conducted one of the most daring and dramatic missions of the Vietnam War when they raided a Vietnamese prison facility...
Specialist 4 Roger Lee Tallman Week of
 November 14
Early in the morning of November 11, 1969, soldiers of the U.S. Army 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, suddenly came under mortar and rocket attack at Fire Support Base Jerri, in Phuoc Long Province, South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Army...
Sergeant First Class Lawrence Joel Week of
 November 7
On November 8, 1965, elements of 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade were on a search-and-clear operation in the infamous Iron Triangle region, northeast of Saigon, when they stumbled...
Platoon Sergeant Joe Amos, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
 October 31
On the evening of October 29, 1967, U.S. Army soldiers assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division—leading a contingent of Montagnard local forces—worked to secure a helicopter landing zone in a small clearing of the Loc...
Staff Sergeant Jerry Glen Bridges, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
 October 24
October in Southeast Asia is the middle of typhoon season, and on October 20, 1968, two intense typhoons were churning off the coast of the South Vietnamese Central Highlands. The resulting high winds, sheets of rain, and...
2nd Lieutenant Harold Bascom Durham, Jr., U.S. Army Week of
 October 17
On October 17, 1967, elements of the U.S. Army 2d Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division engaged a large force of Viet Cong fighters along a small stream named the Ong Thanh. Two understrength American companies found themselves...
Private First Class Louis Basil Albert, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF) Week of
 October 10
On October 8, 1969, Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Williams O. Jackson heard of a unit of Marines at a remote outpost near the Laos border in dire need of ammunition and supplies. The convoy assigned to deliver them, however, would need to go by a dangerous route,...
Captain, Kenneth Earl Walker, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
 October 3
On October 2, 1964, U.S. Air Force Captain Kenneth E. Walker and his South Vietnamese copilot were flying an air support mission in an A-1 Skyraider for South Vietnamese ground forces near the coast of Vinh Binh Province. The two men successfully dropped their...
Warrant Officer Steven R. Hanson, U.S. Army (VVMF) Week of
September 26
On September 24, 1971, Warrant Officer Steven Hanson was piloting his OH-6 Cayuse scout helicopter on a mission over Quang Tri, South Vietnam. As he and his two crewmen made a low pass over a target, their OH-6 was hit by small arms fire and crippled....
Major Dean A. Klenda, U.S. Air Force (VVMF) Week of
September 19
On September 17, 1965, Captain Dean Klenda took off in his F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber to attack targets in Son La Province, North Vietnam. His mission was part of the ongoing Operation ROLLING THUNDER, a major bombing campaign ordered by...
Sergeant Donald Sidney Skidgel, U.S. Army Week of
September 12
On September 14, 1969, Sergeant Donald Skidgel was helping provide security for a U.S. Army convoy on Highway 311 outside Song Be, South Vietnam, when his unit was ambushed by two North Vietnamese Army companies. Through over two hours of intense...
Lance Corporal Bobby Gene Kinkle Week of
September 5
On September 4, 1967, the U.S. Marine Corps began Operation SWIFT in the Que Son Valley of Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. In the first hours of the operation, elements of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, were ambushed...
Private First Class George C. Kilbuck, U.S. Arm Week of
August 29
On August 27, 1965, Private First Class George Kilbuck was with A company, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division on a search-and-clear operation in South Vietnam. When his company reached a waypoint on top of a hill,...
SSG Talmadge Horton Alphin, Jr., Special Forces, MACV-SOG Week of
August 22
American Special Forces suffered more Green Berets killed and wounded in a single attack on August 23, 1968, than any other day in history. More than 100 sappers infiltrated the Special Forces camp situated on the southern coast of Da Nang, killing 16 Green...
Specialist 4 Johhny Jacob Cureton, Jr., U.S. Army Week of
August 15
In the early morning darkness of August 11, 1969, just west of Dong Ha, in Quang Tri Province, a series of explosions jarred awake the men of the U.S. Army artillery base at Thon Vinh Dai. A small number of Viet Cong insurgents had quietly reached the perimeter...
Lieutenant JG Richard Christian Sather, U.S. Navy Week of
August 8
On August 5, 1964, Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Richard Sather, a 26-year-old U.S. Navy aviator, boarded his A-1 Skyraider and launched off the deck of the USS Constellation. He and a handful of other flyers pointed their aircraft toward the coast...
Data Systems Tech 2nd Class Stephen Louis Hock, U.S. Navy Week of
August 1
July 29th, 1967, was one of the deadliest days of the Vietnam War for American service people. Nearly 200 U.S. troops were killed on that single day. 134 of them died at sea, in the Gulf of Tonkin, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. The carrier had...
Lieutenant Colonel Roscoe Henry Fobair, U.S. Air Force Week of
July 25
On July 24, 1965, two decorated veteran U.S. Air Force pilots were shot down over North Vietnam by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). The weapons officer, Captain Roscoe H. Fobair, was killed. Roscoe’s pilot, Captain Richard P. Keirn, successfully ejected and...
Lieutenant Colonel Andre C. Lucas, U.S. Army Week of
July 18
From July 1 to July 23, 1970, several hundred American soldiers of the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, defended a hilltop firebase against a North Vietnamese Army division intent on destroying them. The battle took place in the A Shau Valley at
Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand, U.S. Army Week of
July 11
The first two American service people listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., are Major Dale Buis and Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand. Both were killed in Bien Hoa on July 8, 1959, at a time when most Americans had barely heard of
Private First Class Melvin E. Newlin Week of
July 4 
In the first hours of July 4, 1967, between 200 and 300 North Vietnamese Army troops broke into the nighttime silence with a surprise attack on elements of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, who were defending a night position on the top of...
Private First Class Oscar Reina Juarez, U.S. Marine Corps Week of
June 27
On June 28, 1968, I Company, 3d Battalion of the 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division, was on a patrol in Quang Nam Province. Walking fourth and fifth in line with their platoon were Private First Class Oscar Juarez and Petty Officer Third Class George L. Myers, Jr.,...
Specialist 4 William R. Bonner Week of
June 20
On June 20, 1970, the men of a reconnaissance platoon from the 198th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division of the U.S. Army, were on a night patrol in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam, searching for signs of Communist forces. As the platoon silently worked...
Specialist 5 Johnny Arthur Week of
June 13
On June 10, 1971, four UH-1 “Huey” helicopters—two transports and two gunship escorts—were flying cover for a ground mission near Pleiku, South Vietnam. As the helicopters flew low over the thick jungle canopy, one of them burst into flames, hit by ground...
Photo of Captain Jackie Lee Dickins Week of
June 6
During the first week of June 1969, the month-long Operation APACHE SNOW came to a close. The operation involved primarily elements of the 101st Airborne Division, as well as parts of the 9th Marine Regiment and South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division....
Sergeant Charles C. Fleek Week of
May 30
This Memorial Day week, exactly 50 years ago, two men earned the Medal of Honor on the same day in South Vietnam. In Binh Duong Province, Sergeant Charles C. Fleek was in command of a squad that was ordered to take part in an ambush of some North Vietnamese...
Sergeant Alfred Lee

Week of
May 23

In the mid-morning sunlight of May 21, 1967, a column of U.S. Army armored personnel carriers (APCs) moved out from the small village of Soui Cat, in Long Khanh Province, South Vietnam. The column was on a routine supply mission, and, at first, all seemed calm as the...
Photo of the merchant ship SS Mayaguez (unknown date) Week of
May 16
Less than two weeks after the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces, and less than a month after the Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Cambodian Communist troops forcibly seized an American merchant ship, the SS Mayaguez,...
Private First Class Kenneth Michael Kays Week of
May 9
On May 7, 1970, in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam, Private First Class Kenneth Kays earned the Medal of Honor for heroism in combat. He did so by saving the lives of three fellow soldiers during a North Vietnamese night attack on Fire Support Base Maureen, all...
Lance Corporal Darwin L. Judge Week of
May 2
On April 29, 1975, American leaders initiated Operation FREQUENT WIND, the final American evacuation of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Army was at last closing in on Saigon, and United States Embassy personnel and a number of Vietnamese urgently boarded...
Torpedoman Third Class Fuhrman Week of
April 25
In the early morning darkness of April 23, 1965, a seven-man Marine Force Reconnaissance team disembarked a landing craft and waded ashore not far from Da Nang, in Quang Nam Province. Their mission was to probe for contact with Communist insurgents and scout the...
Lieutenant JG Michael Zerbe Week of
April 18
On the morning of April 15, 1966, a Navy UH-2 helicopter piloted by Lieutenant JG Michael Zerbe slowly lifted off the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk, somewhere in the South China Sea. He and two other crewmen were putting the UH-2 Seasprite through its paces,...
Chief Warrant Officer Horst Week of
April 11
On April 7, 1972, the North Vietnamese Army launched an attack on the South Vietnamese city of An Loc as part of their ongoing “Easter Offensive” then raging across the country. The Communist battalion that moved toward An Loc appeared so suddenly that a number of...
Major George Craig Smith Week of
April 4
Between April 3 and 4, 1965, during the early days of Operation ROLLING THUNDER, the United States Air Force sent over 100 fighter-bombers against a single bridge over the Song Ma, a river in North Vietnam. The Thanh Hoa Bridge, nicknamed the “Dragon’s...
CIA Officer Barbara A. Robbins Week of
March 28
On March 30, 1965, CIA officer Barbara A. Robbins was killed when a Viet Cong car bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam. At least 20 others were killed in the blast. Just over three years later, on July 8, 1965, Army Second Lieutenant Pamela...
Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky Week of
March 21
On March 18, 1967, U.S. Marine Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky arrived at Bien Hoa Air Force Base, just outside of Saigon, after an 18-hour flight. She became the first woman Marine in history to be assigned to a combat zone. Dulinsky volunteered for a...
A Hmong soldier Week of
March 14
This week we take a moment to honor the service and sacrifice of a group of crucial U.S. allies during the Vietnam War: the Hmong. An indigenous group from Laos and traditionally anti-Communist, the Hmong were recruited by the CIA to wage a guerrilla war against...
Specialist 4 Norman Joseph Buell Week of
March 7
On March 4, 1966, in the Tuy Hoa Valley of Phu Yen Province, two U.S. Army companies from the 101st Airborne Division engaged in a firefight with North Vietnamese forces in the village of My Phu. The day of fighting resulted in the deaths of 19 Americans, one of...
Private First Class Willie Ruff Week of
February 28
The battle of Khe Sanh is one of the most well-known battles of the Vietnam War. During the 1968 Tet Offensive, as many as 30,000 Communist Vietnamese forces surrounded roughly 6,000 U.S. marines defending a combat base on a high hill outside Khe Sanh....
Private First Class Oscar Palmer Austin Week of
February 21
On February 23, 1969, North Vietnamese forces attempted to mount a second “general offensive” similar to the massive Tet Offensive of 1968. In what came to be known as “Tet 1969,” or sometimes...
This photo of the aftermath of the explosion was taken from a French news report about the bombing, February 11, 1965. Week of
February 14
In early 1965, it seemed likely that the United States was hurtling toward a full-scale war in Vietnam. However, as of February of that year, American men and women were officially in Vietnam only as advisers to the South Vietnamese armed forces. The United States...
Painting of Sergeant First Class Eugene Ashley, Jr., Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Week of
February 7
In the early morning darkness of February 7, 1968, the men based at the Special Forces camp near Lang Vei, South Vietnam, were on alert. The massive nationwide Tet Offensive of the previous weeks was beginning to subside, but the men on watch the previous...
Captain Harley H. Hall, U.S. Navy Week of
January 31
By the early 1970s, few people in the United States wanted to focus on the divisive Vietnam War anymore. President Richard M. Nixon had promised that Vietnamization—the term he used for the process of turning over responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese...
USCGC Point Banks (WPB 82327) freshly painted after dry dock in Cam Rahn Bay Week of
January 21
On January 22, 1969, The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Point Banks, on patrol south of Cam Rahn Bay, received a call for help from a nine-man South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) detachment trapped by two Viet Cong platoons. Petty Officer Willis J. Goff and...
First Lieutenant Dean Arthur Taylor, Jr., U.S. Army. (VVMF) Week of January 7 Week of
January 7
On January 7, 1966 U.S. and Australian Army forces launched Operation CRIMP, a massive, joint search and destroy operation in a region about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. Their objective was to locate and destroy the Viet Cong headquarters and stronghold...
Week of December 24 Week of
December 24
From December 16–19, 1966, elements of the Army’s 9th Infantry Division began arriving in Vietnam. General William C. Westmoreland intended to use the division to increase U.S. presence around the Mekong Delta to improve security and enhance the...
Week of December 17 Week of
December 17
In December 1965 the U.S. Marine Corps fought its second large-scale engagement against a main force Viet Cong unit: Operation HARVEST MOON. By mid-November, the 1st Viet Cong Regiment had recovered from the losses it sustained in Operation STARLITE,...
Week of December 10 Week of
December 10
On December 6, 1968, the U.S. Navy launched Operation GIANT SLINGSHOT, with the goal of eliminating Communist infiltration of South Vietnam along the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay rivers, near the Cambodian border—a region known as the “Parrot’s...
Week of December 3 Week of
December 3
On December 2, 1965, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) became the first nuclear-powered carrier in history to engage in combat operations when the ship, at Dixie Station off the coast of southern South...
Week of November 26 Week of
November 26
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald shot Kennedy from the Texas schoolbook depository, along the presidential motorcade’s route through....
Week of November 19 Week of
November 19
During the 1965 Pleiku Campaign in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, the men of the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division dropped into the Ia Drang Valley on November 14, 1965. At the first landing zone, LZ X-Ray,...
Week of November 12 Week of
November 12
On November 12, 1965, U.S. Army forces began searching for the North Vietnamese Army troops who were operating in South Vietnam’s rugged Central Highlands. Following a Communist attack on a Special...
Week of November 5 Week of
November 5
On November 4, 1965, photojournalist Dickey Chapelle, one of the few woman journalists in Southeast Asia, accompanied a U.S. Marine platoon on a search-and-destroy patrol near...
Week of October 29 Week of
October 29
On October 26, 1966, on Yankee Station, a sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA 34) accidentally ignited a magnesium parachute flare inside the flare locker of Hanger Bay 1, just below the flight deck....
Week of October 22 Week of
October 22
On October 23, 1972, after five months of intensive bombing, President Richard M. Nixon ordered an end to the air campaign over North Vietnam known as Operation...
Week of October 15 Week of
October 15
Paul Hellstrom Foster was born in April 1939 in San Mateo, California. He joined the Marine Corps in San Francisco at the age of 22, in November 1961. Foster deployed to Vietnam at the end of 1966 and eventually was...
Week of October 8 Week of
October 8
During the first two weeks of October 1967, some of the heaviest fighting of Operation WHEELER took place in I Corps, as elements of the 23d Infantry Division (Americal)...
Week of October 1 Week of
October 1
On October 1, 1965—exactly 50 years ago, this week—the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) became operational in South Vietnam. The 1st Cavalry Division was the first....
Week of September 24 Week of
September 24
On September 21, 1971, nearly 200 U.S. Air Force fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft launched an airstrike against three gasoline storage facilities just south of Dong Hoi, North...
Week of September 17 Week of
September 17
In late 1969, 27-year-old Staff Sergeant Melvin Morris was commanding a Mobile Strike Force team from the U.S. Army 5th Special Forces near Chi Lang, in southern South Vietnam....
;Week of September 10 Week of
September 10
Between September 4 and September 12, 1967, multiple North Vietnamese Army regiments laid siege to the vital U.S. Marine Corps base on Con Thien, a hill just two miles...
Week of September 3 Week of
September 3
On September 5, 1961, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara informed the service secretaries that he planned to establish a new command, under the Military Assistance...
Week of August 27 Week of
August 27
On August 23, 1966, the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division launched Operation AMARILLO, a search-and-destroy and road security operation in III Corps, covering parts....
Week of August 20 Week of
August 20
On August 18, 1966, near the Australian army base at Nui Dat, southeast of Saigon, 108 Australians from Company D of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR)...
Week of August 13 Week of
August 13
Between August 9 and 11, 1968, U.S. Army Sergeant Robert Woods and his team of "tunnel rats" from the 1st Infantry Division achieved one of the most important successes...
Week of August 6 Week of
August 6
In August of 1966 Naval aviators of Helicopter Combat Support Squadron One (HC-1)began flying UH-1 “Huey” helicopters in III Corps and IV Corps over the twisting waterways of the...
Week of July 30 Week of
July 30
On July 29, 1967 the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CV-59) was on Yankee Station in the South China Sea off the coast of North Vietnam. Her crew was preparing a second...
Week of July 23 Week of
July 23
On July 24, 1965, F-105 Thunderchiefs were attacking an explosives factory in North Vietnam. A flight of four F-4C Phantoms provided air cover while and EB-66 Destroyer...
Week of July 16 Week of
July 16
The area around Da Nang, especially military installations, was subject to rocket attacks since that February. The area the rockets were fired from was called the "Rocket Belt". ...
Week of July 9 Week of
July 9
As units from the 1st Infantry Division continued to hunt the Viet Cong in the Binh Long province of the III Corps Tactical Zone, General William E. DePuy gave Colonel Sidney B. Berry of the 1st Infantry Brigade a special assignment to trick the enemy into ...
Week of July 2 Week of
July 2
Operation Thor, the joint mission to attack and destroy North Vietnamese long-range artillery facing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), coast artillery batteries, antiaircraft positions, and staging areas for infiltration, supplies and transport, took place July 1 - 7, 1968....
Week of June 25 Week of
June 25
In 1967 this was the first full week of Operation GREELEY in the Central Highlands of II Corps. Two battalions of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, were sent to Dak To to stave off attacks on a Special Forces camp. On...
Week of June 18 Week of
June 18
On June 18, 1965, the first ARC LIGHT Mission was flown by 30 U.S Air Force B-52 Bombers. It was flown against Viet Cong targets near Ben Cat north of Saigon. ARC LIGHT missions were distinguished from other missions by their need for a high degree of accuracy to hit well...
Week of June 11 Week of
June 11
On June 9, 1965 at 11:30P.M. elements of the Viet Cong 762nd and 763rd Regiments totaling at least 1,500 men attacked a Special Forces camp of the 5th Special Forces Group at Dong Xoai, and the adjacent district headquarters. The Defenders included eleven....
Week of June 4 Week of
June 4
On June 1, 1967, Task Force 117, the Mobile Riverine Force, became operational. It was a joint U.S. Army-Navy task force whose goal was to search out and eliminate Viet Cong elements in the waterways of the Mekong Delta. During operations, Navy gunboats...
Week of May 28 Week of
May 28
On May 26, 1967, Operation UNION II began in the Que Son Basin in southern I Corps. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Marine Regiments were initially supported by South Vietnamese Rangers. They drove off the entrenched 3rd North Vietnamese Army Regiment...
Week of May 21 Week of
May 21
On May 22, 1964, the CIA-run airline known as Air America officially began to support search-and-rescue missions for downed American aviators in Laos and North Vietnam. Air America pilots flew piston-engine aircraft and helicopters for these and other covert...
Week of May 14 Week of
May 14
On May 10, 1969, U.S. and allied forces launched Operation APACHE SNOW, an effort to dislodge the North Vietnamese army from the A Sau Valley. The valley, adjacent to Laos,...
Week of April 30 Week of
April 30
In April 1975, South Vietnam was on the verge of collapse as the North Vietnamese army closed in around Saigon. With almost all U.S. troops having left Vietnam in 1973, the few...
Week of April 23 Week of
April 23
On April 24, 1950, President Harry S. Truman approved the contents of National Security Council Report (NSC) 64. The memorandum was drafted by the State Department and the...
Week of April_16 Week of
April 16
On April 17, 1956, three U.S. Army women nurses arrived in Saigon as part of a medical training team assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance and Advisory Group, Vietnam....
Week of April 9 Week of
April 9
At the end of 1964, with direct U.S. participation in combat operations poised to begin, there were about 23,000 U.S. forces in Vietnam. In less than five years, by the first...
Week of April 2 Week of
April 2
By the end of March 1972, there were fewer than 70,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam (after peaking in 1969 at over 540,000). Following President Richard Nixon's "Vietnamization"...
Week of March 26 Week of
March 26
On March 26, 1964, Air Force Captain Richard L. Whitesides and Army Special Forces Captain Floyd J. Thompson were conducting a reconnaissance mission aboard a small...
Week of March 19 Week of
March 19
In late February 1965, a U.S. helicopter pilot spotted a 130-foot North Vietnamese vessel anchored in South Vietnam's Vung Ro Bay. Investigators discovered the ship was carrying...
Week of March 12 Week of
March 12
As the United States commenced a bombing campaign against North Vietnam, American leaders grew concerned about the possibility of Communist retaliation against U.S....
Week of March 5 Week of
March 5
On March 2, 1965, U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft commenced the bombing of military, industrial, and infrastructure targets in North Vietnam. Called...
Week of February 12 Week of
February 12
On February 12, 1973, a group of American prisoners of war (POWs) lifted off from Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport, in North Vietnam, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter. These men...

 

Week of June 27

Private First Class Oscar Reina Juarez, U.S. Marine Corps
Private First Class Oscar Reina Juarez, U.S. Marine Corps (VVMF)

Petty Officer 3rd Class George Lester Myers, Jr.
Petty Officer 3rd Class George Lester Myers, Jr., U.S. Navy (VVMF)