Timeline, January 5th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
January 1964 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Hare) (US Advisory): Inept leadership of South Vietnam under General Duong Van Minh ("Big Minh") after the overthrow of Diem results in striking workers marching the streets of Saigon, more student demonstrations, and chaotic rumors that Minh himself plans to betray the country to the Communists.

January 5, 1964 (21st day of the 11th month, Year of the Hare) (US Advisory): ARVN, with US aircraft support, sees action.

January 5, 1965 (3rd day of the 12th month, Year of the Dragon) (US Advisory): Two US Special Forces units and a CIDG unit go into War Zone C.

Early 1967 (late Year of the Horse/early Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): The North Vietnamese are continuing to increase their strength in the DMZ, but the US State Department is still reluctant to grant approval for American and ARVN operations in the Zone, despite clear evidence of North Vietnamese violations. General Westmoreland can only obtain approval to return artillery fire when fired upon.

January 1967 (11th and 12th months, Year of the Horse)(US Counteroffensive Phase II): Due to increased pressure from enemy forces, including shelling, the 3d Marines arrive at Khe Sanh, the camp from which Green Berets have been patrolling nearby roads and trails. The SF move their camp westward to the Montagnard village of Lang Vei and the Marines set to work improving area defenses, while a Seabee battalion builds a 1500 foot runway at Khe Sanh for supply flights. Ground conditions make the runway difficult to maintain.

January 5, 1967 (25th day of the 11th month, Year of the Horse) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Niagara Falls begins. (NOTE: Easy to confuse with Operation Niagara at Khe Sanh in 1968, but this was a different, earlier operation.)

January 5, 1968 (6th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Maj. Patrick Brady evacuates 51 wounded in Quang Tin Province, I Corps, near Chu Lai.

January 1968 (12th month, Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): In Laos, the North Vietnamese attack a US mountaintop radar facility with An-2 biplanes outfitted with gun pods, rockets and mortars dropped from a modified hydraulic dispenser. The mission is a total failure and two aircraft are lost: one runs out of fuel and the second is shot down by a helicopter gunner.

January 5, 1968 (6th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Camp Coryell is attacked. The 155th AHC conducts its largest CA in several months in support of Operation Thien Bo.

January 5, 1968 (6th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): The 170th AHC conducts a final extraction in support of the 5th Special Forces Group.

January 5, 1968 (6th day of the 12th month, Year of the Goat) (US Counteroffensive Phase III): Operation Macarthur update: Mortar attack on the town of Dak To, Dak To Airfield and the District HQ.

January 5, 1970 (28th day of the 11th month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Winter-Spring 1970): An American-South Vietnamese LRRP team triggers an explosive booby trap while operating deep in enemy-held territory in Kontum Province.

January 5, 1973 (2nd day of the 12th month, Year of the Rat) (US Cease-Fire): Letter from President Nixon to President Nguyen Van Thieu of Vietnam, reassuring Vietnam of US support.