Timeline, November 2nd

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
November 1961 (Year of the Ox [Tan Suu]): Rear Admiral Henry Persons inspects the South Vietnamese Navy for Commander in Chief, Pacific, and identifies many problems, including the fact that there are few advisors assigned to the Vietnamese Navy and they are generally unable to speak Vietnamese or to fully understand the culture; however, the greatest problem is poor leadership. The officer corps is plagued by political intrigue, cultural differences among the Vietnamese themselves, and seemingly petty personal disputes. Senior officers are relatively young and inexperienced. Its small size in comparison with ARVN and the consequent domination by the ground force stifles the naval command's initiative. In the enlisted ranks, lack of motivation, low pay, austere living conditions, and inadequate training contribute to desertions. There are many technological problems caused by poor maintenance of obsolete World War II-vintage craft, and inefficient Navy repair and supply systems. These problems still exist in 1964, when Captain Phillip Bucklew makes a similar inspection; in fact, the Navy is in a worse state then, after the disruption in the officer corps caused by the 1963 coup against President Diem and the Communist exploitation of the subsequent political and military chaos in South Vietnam. Fortunately, North Vietnam's navy, technically a branch of the NVA to get around Geneva restrictions, gets off to a slow start and, apart from encountering US naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 and occasional participation in coastal supply missions to the south, it is not a major military force in the Second Indochina War; however, by the 1980s, during the Third Indochina War, it will have become the largest navy in Southeast Asia, though still inferior to that of the People's Republic of China.

November 1962 (Year of the Tiger [Nham Dan]) (US Advisory): U.S. Special Forces organization in Vietnam consists of one C detachment, three B detachments, and twenty-six A detachments, as well as a headquarters unit in Saigon. The C detachment doesn't function as an operational control detachment, as it normally would, but rather provides augmentation for the headquarters. The normal Special Forces chain of command comes into effect.

November 2, 1963 (Year of the Hare [Quy Mao]) (US Advisory): Coup in South Vietnam: At around 0300, one of Diem's aides betrays the location of his hideout. After a three-hour chase, Diem telephones the generals to say that he and his brother will surrender from inside a Catholic church outside Saigon. Diem and Nhu are then taken into custody and placed in the back of an APC. While traveling back to the city, they are both killed.

November 2, 1965 (Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Operation Shining Brass update: An American-led recon team, RT Alaska, is inserted into Laos but is quickly detected by the NVA.

November 2, 1965 1965 (Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Ia Drang Campaign: The leaders of the American forces, on reviewing the previous day's contact with the enemy, decide that the major enemy force has moved along the Ia Drang Valley close to the base of the Chu Pong Mountains. The 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry is given the mission of establishing an ambush in the area of a selected site called LZ Mary.

November 2, 1966 (Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Attleboro update: The 2/1 and 4/31 continue saturation patrolling northwest of Dau Tieng while the 1/27 conducts Eagle Flights to the north of the 2/1 and 4/31 positions.

November 2, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Battle of Loc Ninh SF Camp: At 0050, the enemy masses a battalion for an obvious last-ditch effort to overrun the camp. Once again the attack is repelled by the camp's defensive fire and well-placed air strikes. After the final air sortie, the enemy becomes disorganized and flees, with only sporadic contact maintained until dawn.

November 2, 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): The ANZAC 135th Assault Helicopter Company (with RANHAV pilots) commences combat operations.

November 2, 1967 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Macarthur update: The 173rd Airborne returns to the highlands as part of reinforcements sent in after the detection, at the end of October, of a rapid and substantial build-up of enemy regiments (the 32nd, 66th and 24th NVA Regiments, as well as the 40th NVA Artillery Regiment) in the area around Dak To. The 4/503 of the 173rd is ordered into attack this date and, reinforced by other 173rd battalions, engages in heavy fighting around Hill 823 for a week.

November 2, 1967 1967 (Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): III Corps Special Forces mobile strike force troops are airlifted into the Suoi Da area to conduct reconnaissance missions against a known VC base there. Eight separate fights with elements of several VC regiments will result, and the mobile strike force will be credited with rendering a Viet Cong battalion ineffective. Total confirmed enemy casualties: 85 killed, but another 148 are probably killed in ground action.

November 2, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Operation SEALORDS update: Operation Search Turn begins in Kien Giang Province, where allied forces establish patrol "barriers," often using electronic sensor devices, along the waterways paralleling the Cambodian border. In this operational area, PBRs and riverine assault craft will open two canals between the Gulf of Siam at Rach Gia and the Bassac River at Long Xuyen, and South Vietnamese paramilitary ground troops will help naval patrol units secure transportation routes here.

November 2, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Operation Comanche Falls update: Phase 3 begins 20 miles northwest of Hue.

November 2, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): Operation Vernon Lake II begins in the Song Ve valley of the Da Vach Mountains in I Corps.

November 2, 1968 (Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase VI): A/7/17th Cavalry Scouts spot eight enemy moving along a trail west of Oasis in Pleiku Province.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR:
November 2, 1982 (Year of the Dog [Nham Tuat]): During a visit to Southeast Asia, US Secretary of Defense Weinberger reaffirms American support of regional efforts to free Cambodia (Kampuchea), by peaceful means, from Vietnamese domination. He also assures Thailand of increased military assistance and American help in the event of Communist attack.

POSTBELLUM:
November 1, 2000 (Year of the Dragon [Canh Thin]): Lt. Gen. Stanley R. "Swede" Larsen, a Silver Star winner who participated in four major Pacific campaigns in World War II and was a high-level commander in Vietnam, dies in a car crash at the age of 84. One of the West Point Class of ?39, which also included William Westmoreland, General Larsen commanded I Field Force in 1965-66.