SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
February 26, 1965 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Advisory): President Johnson authorizes the deployment to Da Nang of two Marine battalion landing teams, a medium helicopter squadron, and headquarters elements of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade.
February 26, 1966 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation New York begins.
February 26, 1966 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Kolchak begins near Cu Chi.
February 26, 1966 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Joint Operation Lightning III is conducted northwest of Qui Nhon.
February 26, 1966 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Phoenix begins (not to be confused with the Phoenix Program).
February 26, 1966 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Harrison begins near Tuy Hoa.
February 26, 1967 (18th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui] (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Sam Houston update.
February 26, 1967 (18th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui] (US Counteroffensive): A tough fight in the Filhol Rubber Plantation in Hau Nghia Province during Operation Ala Moana.
February 26, 1967 (18th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui] (US Counteroffensive): A 3rd Brigade, 4th Division company engages the 3rd Battalion, 271st Viet Cong Regiment west of Route 22 in the latter's base camp. The company is completely surrounded, but another company comes to its relief. Eleven enemy are killed; five Americans are killed and 19 are wounded.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Ambassador Sullivan, pessimistic about the Lima Site 85's survival, writes to the Air Force Chief of Staff, "...in the final analysis, it seems doubtful that the site can be held in the face of consistent enemy determination. Therefore, we are in touch with USAF authorities on evacuation and destruction plans. We are fairly certain these can be carried out in an orderly fashion." However, no evacuation is carried out.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Houston begins.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): 155th AHC update.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): The 57th AHC compound is hit by seven rockets at 0915 hours, but no damage is reported.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): MAG-16 update.
February 26, 1968 (29th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): B/7/17 Cavalry discovers an enemy hospital complex near Kontum City.
NOTE: Per Emring, medical care for VC and NVA units operating in South Vietnam "ranged from meager to nonexistent," though each company did have at least one medical corpsman trained in first aid. Field hospitals were located underground in caves or tunnels or deep inside the jungle and were often staffed by poorly trained personnel, operating with only bare essentials, with parachute nylon sometimes used to cordon off otherwise unsterile operating areas. "In many ways, the enemy's practice of field medicine compared to the type of medicine practiced during the U.S. Civil War, with the ultimate solution being amputation of wounded limbs." Wounds and diseases, such as malaria, yellow fever, beriberi, TB, dysentery and hepatitis received expedient treatment using whatever was available. Medicine and vitamins were in extremely short supply, especially in the South, and NVN relied heavily on Soviet and Chinese aid as well as assistance from Cambodia and Laos, as well as humanitarian aid from otherwise neutral nations and humanitarian organizations. In extreme cases, enemy units in the south would buy U.S. drugs and medicines from the black market in Saigon. Sanitary napkins were often used as dressings.
February 26, 1969 (11th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Tet-69 update.
February 26, 1969 (11th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): A unit from the 3/60th Infantry, MRF, 9th Infantry Division ambushes a VC waterborne convoy approximately 20 miles south of My Tho. The U.S. has no casualties but the VC lose 21 KIA.
February 26, 1970 (21st day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Defense Secretary Laird says that no U. S. troops are engaged in Laos and that U. S. air strikes are directed only at North Vietnamese supply lines into South Vietnam.
February 26, 1973 (24th day of the 1st month, Year of the Ox [Quy Suu]): Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announces establishment of diplomatic relations with Hanoi, but retains recognition of South Vietnam's government.
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