Timeline, February 7th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
February 7, 1962 (3rd day of the 1st month, Year of the Tiger [Nham Dan]): American military strength in South Vietnam reaches 4,000, with the arrival of two additional Army aviation units. (Sunraysia, TVW)

February 7, 1965 (6th day of the 1st month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Advisory): Shortly before National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and his observation team are scheduled to leave Vietnam, the VC attack the US advisory compound and airstrip at Camp Holloway, killing nine Americans, wounding more than 100, and destroying five aircraft. The attack, coming immediately after the 1965 Tet Truce from February 1-6, and while Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin is visiting Hanoi, seems like too blatant a provocation to ignore, and so Bundy immediately phones the White House to recommend a retaliatory raid. LBJ agrees and, the same day, 45 aircraft from the carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Hancock (the two carriers which had originally been ordered to stand down because of Kosygin's visit, as no trouble was expected during that time) strike the Dong Hoi military barracks (a target in North Vietnam far enough away from Hanoi not to be a threat to Kosygin) in Operation Flaming Dart. Weather aborts the attack by aircraft from the USS Ranger against Vit Thu Lu, near the DMZ. Delayed by bad weather, US and VNAF planes hit the Chap Le barracks at Vinh, in the same area, the next day, with General Ky flying the lead plane. Bundy and Ambassador Taylor urge the President to begin "a measured, controlled sequence of actions" against North Vietnam. (VHPA, OS, TVW)

February 6, 1966 (18th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): A platoon from the HQ Company, 1/327th, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne, moves out to relieve one of the battalion's companies whose men have been pinned down for hours by a large enemy force in the village of My Canh.

February 7, 1967 (28th day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): A Special Forces-led platoon is attacked by an enemy company while deep in enemy territory.

February 7, 1968 (10th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): During a reconnaissance in force operation northwest of Phu Loi as part of Operation Lam Son 68, US Army troops encounter an unknown number of VC.

February 1968 (1st and 2nd months, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): A tactical analysis officer at the electronic surveillance center at Nakhon Phanom, in Thailand, hears an unusual sound from sensors in the Khe Sanh area which the computer identifies as a tank engine. Reportedly the officer anticipates a tank attack in that area using Soviet-built light tanks, but his report is not believed. (TVW)

February 7, 1968 (10th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Khe Sanh: Before first light, about ten PT-76 light amphibious tanks spearhead an assault on the perimeter of the Lang Vei Special Forces camp a few miles from the Khe Sanh Base. This is the first time the NVA has used tanks in South Vietnam. The 24 Green Berets and about 900 Montagnard irregulars and Lao troops (the latter refugees from a Communist attack some days earlier) defend the camp with grenades, 106mm M40AI recoilless rifles (Bats) and rocket launchers, knocking out at least three tanks and damaging others, while FACs direct strikes in support, but still the tanks roll over the defenders' bunkers. Khe Sanh cannot send help and two Green Berets rally some of the surviving irregulars and attempt to fight their way to the base, failing in spite of support from A-1 Skyraiders. Taking advantage of the confusion caused by subsequent air strikes, the camp's commanding officer, 13 of his men and some 60 Montagnards finally manage to reach the Khe Sanh base. Some 6000 refugees have to be excluded from the Khe Sanh perimeter after the fall of Lang Vei. Attempts to air-lift them from the combat zone generally don't work. (TVW, KSVC, OS)

February 7, 1968 (10th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Tet-68 update in Kontum and Marble Mountain. At the besieged Lang Vei Special Forces camp, surviving American advisers escape through a a gap in enemy lines.

POSTBELLUM:
February 7, 1994 (27th day of the 12th month, Year of the Rooster [Quy Dau]): The Vietnamese government hands over the remains of 12 American soldiers to US authorities. (TVW)