Timeline, February 10th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
February 10, 1965 (9th day of the 1st month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Advisory): The Viet Cong blow up a hotel in Qui Nhon, Binh Dinh Province, that is being used as an American enlisted men's billet; 23 Americans die and 21 are trapped and injured in the rubble. LBJ immediately orders another series of reprisal raids. The following day, as the U.S. and South Vietnamese Air Forces hit Vu Con, 95 aircraft from USS Ranger, USS Hancock, and USS Coral Sea, in Flaming Dart II, bomb and strafe enemy barracks at Chanh Hoa. At the same time, U.S. leaders decide on a program of "measured and limited air action" against military targets in North Vietnam south of the 19th Parallel. (TVW, VHPA, OS)

February 10, 1966 (21st day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): US/Australian Joint Operation Rolling Stone begins about 30 miles north of Saigon.

February 10, 1966 (21st day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Double Eagle update.

February 10, 1968 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than])(US Tet Counteroffensive): Tet-68 update: Operation Macarthur in Hue and at Marble Mountain.

February 10, 1968 (13th day of the 1st month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive) (per KSVC--TVW gives date as Feb. 11): Khe Sanh: Enemy anti-aircraft fire hits a Marine KC-130 Hercules of VMGR-12 which is carrying helicopter fuel during its approach to the airstrip. Trailing a plume of leaking fuel, the plane touches down safely only to burst into flame and swerve from the runway; eight crew men survive, six die in the plane. The week before, enemy fire had ignited the ammo carried by a USAF C-130E. That aircraft's pilot had taxied off the runway and helped his crew put out the blaze. They then made emergency repairs and flew back to Da Nang. In another incident, a USAF Hercules was damaged on the ground when shrapnel cut a hydraulic line and the fluid caught fire. The fire was put out, but replacement parts failed to arrive. A mechanic flown in from Da Nang patched the severed line and the pilot and crew coaxed the aircraft back to Da Nang, where 242 holes were counted in the transport. After this, the commander of the Seventh Air Force would withdraw Hercules transports from the Khe Sanh supply effort, a ban only rarely lifted. The smaller, less costly C-23K Providers, with a capacity of only 16,000 pounds, less than half the payload of the Hercules, would take their place. (TVW/KSVC)

February 10, 1969 (26th day of the 4th month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau])(US Summer-Fall 1969): 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry is still under fire in the Chu Pa region of Pleiku Province.

February 10, 1970 (5th day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): Operation Hammersley begins as 8 RAR pursue communist forces in the Long Hai Hills, a VC base known as the Minh Dam secret zone. (Sunraysia)

February 10, 1970 (5th day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat] (US Winter-Spring 1970): In Phuoc Long Province, a platoon of Company D, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division is sent out at night to investigate the detonation of one of the company's ambush devices located forward of the company's main position.

February 10, 1970 (5th day of the 1st month, Year of the Dog [Canh Tuat] (US Winter-Spring 1970): Souvanna Phouma, states that he will take no action against Communist supply activity along the Ho Chi Minh Trail if North Vietnam will withdraw combat troops from Laos. (TVW)