Description This period was from January 22-July 7, 1968.
The air campaign in defense of Khe Sanh, an outpost held by the U.S. 26th Marine Regiment. began on January 22. 1968. For 2 and 1/2 months Allied tactical air forces continuously attacked targets surrounding the base and B-52s dropped bombs near Khe Sanh on an average of every 90 minutes. At night AC-47 gunships provided illumination and close air support. Air Force and Marine airlifters. mostly C-130s. frequently landed under fire at the Khe Sanh airstrip. bringing in supplies and reinforcements and flying out the wounded and refugees. When the transports could no longer land because of intense mortar and artillery fire. their crews used parachutes and arrester cables to extract cargo from the aircraft as they flew a few feet above the ground over the airstrip. Beginning on March 6 the Seventh Air Force provided fighter escorts to suppress enemy fire and lay down smoke screens until the C-130s dropped their cargoes. Gen. William C. Westmoreland, MACV Commander, encountered difficulties coordinating the air resources of the USAF and U.S. Marines to meet both the military demands at Khe Sanh and the requirements introduced by the Tet Offensive that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched on January 30, 1968. On March 8 he appointed the Seventh Air Force Commander. Gen. William W. Momyer, as Deputy Commander for Air Operations. MACV. to manage all tactical air resources in South Vietnam.
Late in March 1968 the North Vietnamese surrounding Khe Sanhmwithdrew. leaving only a single NVA division to oppose the Allied advance. On April 1, the 1st Marine regiment and the Army's 1st Cavalry Division moved along Route 9. relieving Khe Sanh 5 days later. On April 10. for the first time in 48 days. no shells fell on the base.
A week later, on April 19. the Allies mounted a helicopter-bome attack against A Shau Valley on the Laotian border. 30 miles south- west of Hue. The Viet Cong and NVA had built a vast stores and logistical base in this area since 1966. Preliminary USAF and Allied air strikes. including B-52 bombings between April 8 and 13, 1968. failed to clear the enemy from landing zones. In spite of the heavy resistance. on April 24, the U.S. Army seized the A Luoi airstrip at the northwest end of the valley. USAF transports airdropped supplies. often during bad weather and without tactical air support, because intense ground fire prevented the landing of C-130s until May 4. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese withdrew into Laos in mid-May, leaving behind large caches of weapons and supplies.
Earlier in the year. on January 30, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launched the Tet (Buddhist New Year) Offensive throughout South Vietnam in an effort to regain the political and military initiative that they had held 2 years previously. At Bien Hoa and Tan Son Nhut Air Bases. alert base defenders successfully repulsed initial attacks, but in the next 2 weeks the air bases came under frequent mortar and rocket attacks; in all, the USAF lost 14 aircraft on the ground and another 114 damaged. During the Tet Offensive. Seventh Air Force pilots provided close air support for Allied troops. and C-7s and C-130s hauled ammunition, supplies, and reinforcements to isolated areas. Within 2 or 3 days Allied forces cleared the Viet Cong troops from all cities except Saigon and Hue. By February 5, the Allies had driven the Viet Cong from Saigon, although a large force remained in the vicinity. North Vietnamese forces that had taken the old imperial city of Hue were more difficult to dislodge. The Seventh Air Force used close air support carefully to avoid indiscriminate and unwanted damage in Hue; AC-130 gunships that could deliver precise fire day or night provided the most effective support. On February 25, Allied forces succeeded in driving the enemy from the city. Although
the Allies successfully and rapidly countered the Tet Offensive. the Communists gained a significant propaganda victory. Many Ameri- cans believed that a failure of U.S. military policy had permitted the Communists to mount so extensive a battle throughout South Vietnam.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
July / 1968
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember Joseph Crump ? Norberg Jim Dean Bob Robertson George Wiehoefen Mike Edwards Tom Spivak ? Kalenik
Memories While at Phu Cat we thanked our lucky stars for not being at Pleiku. Then in July 1968 some of us were transferred to Pleiku AB until March 1969. This was a total different situation. Instead of having three shifts of eight hours, like Phu Cat, there were only two shifts of twelve hours each. Our first night there there was a rocket attack and we received our indoctrination into war. We were jolted out of bed by the sounds of the explosions and the air raid signal. We proceded to the armory and was issued our weapons and ammo and took cover behind the sandbag bunkers that surrounded the barracks. We lay there until the all-clear signal was given, which seemed to take hours. Those of us that worked from 1900 Hrs. to 0700 Hrs. had a routine after we turned in our weapons. We would go to the chow hall and eat like pigs, go to the Officer's club to watch a movie and drink, jump into the dirty green Officer's swimming pool fully clothed, check our mail, go to the barracks and strip down, take a shower then go to bed. When we awoke our uniforms were wasked and starched with rice starch, our boots were shined and we would get dressed, go to the chow hall then proceed to work again and start the same thing all over again. Luckily, I was working the night shift because the rocket attacks always came between midnight and 0300 Hrs. During the time I spent there the rockets destroyed an aircraft I was guarding, blew up the fuel storage area and flames jumped high in the sky. The newspapers, back in the states, reported that Pleiku had been blown up and when my wife heard the news she became frantic until she got the truth from a military installation. Knocked out part of a nearby barracks and part of the enlisted club. An F-4 flew off the end of the runway and bellied down in a rice paddy just off the perimeter fence, but the pilot got out and jumped off the wing into a tunnel that led onto the base. Some south Vietnamese soldiers were killed at a munitions storage area just off the base, and the runways and taxiways were blew up several times. One rocket hit the dirt area just off one runway and left a hole big enough to hide a jeep and its passengers.
