Timeline, November 12th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
November 12, 1965 (Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): The first significant battle for the 1st Infantry Division is fought on Highway 13 when A/2/2nd Infantry Battalion, A/1/4th Cavalry, and C/2/33rd Artillery are attacked in their NDP at 0725 while supporting a road runner operation as part of Operation Bushmaster.

November 12, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Attleboro update: 1/5th Mech companies conduct three separate RIFs. The battalion CP moves out at 1100 hours to secure and establish the Brigade Fire Support Base #1. Night ambushes are set, but no contact is made.

November 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Plans are made for a paratroop assault by the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne into War Zone C early next year in order to place a large force on the ground as quickly as possible and still have enough helicopters available to make a sizable heliborne assault as an immediate follow-up.

November 11-12, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation MacArthur update: In the morning, shortly after being formed and moving out, the 173rd Airborne's Task Force Blue, made up of elements of A/1/503 and one platoon from D/1/503 engages 50 NVA in bunkers, and after calling in air strikes and artillery, finds many squad-sized bunkers and trench systems. Meanwhile, about an hour after Task Force Blue's initial contact, Task Force Black, made up of elements of C/1/503 and two platoons from D/1/503, is ambushed by a battalion-sized enemy force. TF Black's fight continues all day. Air strikes are diverted to support the two task forces. As a result of the day's fighting, 20 Americans are KIA, 154 are WIA, and two are MIA (their bodies later recovered). 116 enemy are dead, plus many more found during subsequent days, and two are taken prisoner. On the 12th, the 1/503 continues search and destroy operations in AO Condor and polices the battlefield. Late in the morning, they again engage an unknown number of NVA in bunkers. Three Americans and six NVA are killed.

November 12, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Camp Coryell is attacked at 0215, receiving 19 rounds of 82mm mortar fire in five minutes. Four enlisted men are seriously injured and aircraft and light vehicles are damaged.

November 12, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): B/7/17 Cavalry works out of Long Song, north of Phan Thiet with two 175mm guns on stand-by, moving into the area to possibly curtail movement of the VC out of the area.

November 12, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A light fire team of the 282nd AHC on a medevac is informed of enemy troops in a village about 20 miles southeast of Da Nang.

November 12, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Operation Dan Tien 40 begins in Quang Duc Province.

November 12, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): A reaction force from 3rd Platoon, Company D, 1/7 Marines gets pinned down by enemy fire while assisting a platoon in the same situation on Hill 953 just northeast of FSB Ryder in the Que Son Mountains.

November 12, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): The 57th AHC 1st Platoon, 'White Flight,' is mortared at Dak Pek, sustaining one dead and eight wounded; all four aircraft are severely damaged and aircraft #774 is completely destroyed.

November 12, 1969 (Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): 40th ARRS rescues downed pilots in two separate incidents.

November 12, 1971 (Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Consolidation I): President Nixon announces a withdrawal of 45,000 US troops by December and January 1972.