Timeline, March 10th

[David]

PREBELLUM:
March 10, 1945 (26th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [At Dau]): Keeping up the pressure on the Japanese, US B-25s sink a tanker in Da Nang Harbor.

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR:
March 10, 1950 (22nd day of the 1st month, Year of the Tiger [Canh Dan]): President Truman issues the first aid to Vietnam via France, totaling $15 million.

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 10, 1966 (19th day of the second month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Battle of A Shau SF camp update. See VHPA link below. Also, weather conditions were such that the Skyraiders had to come in low, and the enemy guns were placed so high that they were actually firing down on the planes. One of the planes, piloted by Major Stafford Myers, was hit and forced to crash-land on the airstrip. Myers jumped out of the burning plane and scrambled into a nearby trench. NVA infantrymen spotted him and poured out of the jungle after him. Myers' wingman, Major Bernard Fisher. rescued him in a daring maneuver. They were lucky - the NVA by this time had so tightened its ring around the camp that they were shooting down more than half the choppers that tried to land. That night, the camp was again pounded with mortar and recoilless-rifle fire, though there were no buildings left standing and half the camp's 434 defenders were either dead or wounded.

March 10, 1966 (19th day of the second month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Silver City I update.

March 10, 1966 (19th day of the second month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky removes Lt. General Nguyen Chanh Thi from his position as ARVN I Corps commander. A series of strikes and political unrest follows, with much of the heaviest protests in the Da Nang sector, where the US III MAF is often placed in the middle between troops loyal to the central government and those who support Thi and the Buddhist dominated "Struggle Group". The unit's commander, General Lewis Walt, often serves as a mediator between the two.

March 10, 1967 (30th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): After SAM and antiaircraft batteries are taken out of action by F-105's, US aircraft bomb the North Vietnamese Thai Nguyen iron and steel works for the first time.

March 10, 1967 (30th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City update: Battle at Prek Klok II.

March 10, 1968 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): The 155th conducts an Eagle Flight in the Cheo Reo area for the Senior Advisor of Phu Bon Province, II Corps, in which a total of 186 Popular Force troops are airlifted in 54 sorties.

March 10, 1968 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): The 101st Airborne Division, controlling its own 2nd Brigade and the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, begins to conduct combat and security operations in the vicinity of Hue and Phu Bai.

March 10, 1968 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): At Lima Site 85, in Laos, an artillery barrage against the summit begins shortly after 1800. Three NVA battalions fight their way up the southeast slope of the mountain, while on the north side, 20 heavily armed local Hmong who have defected to the Pathet Lao begin to scale the cliff with the intention of surprising the Americans in their undefended rear.

Around March 10, 1969 (23rd day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Operation Massachusetts Striker update: Rain and fog have not lifted and the decision is made to shift the staging area from Dong Tre Gong to a mountain on the edge of the central A Shau Valley, the former site of Firebase Veghel. The 1/502d is ordered to CA into an area near Veghel, reopen the firebase and conduct a reconnaissance-in-force of the surrounding area. Since few enemy troops have been sighted in the area, it looks to be a routine operation. Actually, a reinforced company from the NVA 81st Battalion is there, waiting for them.

March 10, 1971 (14th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VII): Operation Lam Son 719 update: The ARVN leadership, anticipating the heavy rains of April and a massive counteroffensive by the reinforced units of the NVA 70B Corps, orders its troops to begin withdrawal from all bases, even though ARVN is still heavily engaged with strong enemy forces. For the next five days, NVA mortar, sapper, infantry and AA battalions will repeatedly hit ARVN troops as they are airlifted back to Quang Tri Province.

March 10, 1975 (28th day of the 1st month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): Hanoi's Campaign 275, also called the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, begins as, soon after midnight, enemy tanks start their 25-mile drive to Ban Me Thuot, with the NVA 10th and 316th Divisions attacking the city's perimeter and the 320th Division cutting off the city's ground escape/reinforcement route. Simultaneously, the 198th Sapper Regiment attacks and seizes two airfields east of the city, preventing reinforcement by air. Soon after dawn, the tanks have penetrated the city's northern command center. The defenders are paralyzed in the face of the sudden assault.

POSTBELLUM:
March 10, 1998 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Tiger [Mau Dan]): President Clinton waives the Jackson-Vanik Amendment for Vietnam, allowing American investors in Vietnam to compete more effectively in Vietnam and to receive financial help from U.S. government agencies such as the Export-Import Bank.