Timeline, May 31st

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
May 31, 1964 (20th day of the 4th month, Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): Operation Quyet Thang 303 begins in Kontum Province.

May 1964 (3rd and 4th months, Year of the Dragon [Giap Thin]) (US Advisory): This month, 25 government officials and 105 other South Vietnamese men, women and children have been killed by the VC, while 74 officials and 727 other South Vietnamese have been abducted. There have been 175 VC attacks, 1418 incidents of terrorism, 217 acts of sabotage and 140 forced propaganda sessions.

May 31, 1965 (1st day of the 5th month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): Total Australian strength in Vietnam is now 1120. Total US troops in-country now 82,000.

May 31, 1965 (1st day of the 5th month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): The 173rd Airborne conducts its first brigade-sized operation in Vietnam.

May 31, 1968 (5th day of the 5th month, Year of the Monkey (Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The 135th AHC provides combat assaults, tactical troop lifts and field resupplying missions to operations throughout III Corps from its base at Camp Black Horse.

May 31, 1968 (5th day of the 5th month, Year of the Monkey (Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): Foxtrot Ridge: The Marines engage the NVA in a daylight battle on a nearby ridge, killing 44 of the enemy.

May 31, 1968 (5th day of the 5th month, Year of the Monkey (Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The 50th Medical Detachment's new home at Gia Le is ready.

May 31, 1968 (5th day of the 5th month, Year of the Monkey (Mau Than]) (US Counteroffensive Phase IV): The 61st AHC reports on its May activities from LZ English.

May 31, 1969 (16th day of the 4th month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): The Air Ambulance Platoon newsletter reports a Camp Eagle Dustoff helicopter was shot down earlier in the month.

May 31, 1971 (8th day of the 5th month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): North Vietnamese troops are reported to have driven South Vietnamese troops from Snoul, Cambodia.

May 31, 1971 (8th day of the 5th month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): RAAF No. 2 Squadron Canberra jet bombers fly their last mission in Vietnam (some sources give this date as May 2, 1971). The contribution by No. 2 Squadron over four years has been 11,963 sorties (of which 11,696 were combat missions), dropping 76,389 bombs, with the loss of two aircraft.

May 31, 1972 (19th day of the 4th month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]) (US Cease-Fire): Nguyen Hue/Easter Offensive: By mid-day, the battle for Kontum city is over and the NVA main force has withdrawn. Only a few pockets of resistance remain inside the city.

BORDER CLASHES:
May 31, 1975 (21st day of the 4th month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): An American contract C-130 crew in Laos reports that armed Pathet Lao soldiers at Vietntiane have threatened to seize the aircraft because it has been "stolen from Vietnam."

[Bill Farnie]

May 31, 1969 A Shau Valley

While continuing looking for remnants of the 29th NVA Regiment after the Battle for Hamburger Hill, D/1/506 is ambushed twice.

After the battle, we were on a sweep of the Laotian/Vietnamese border while making our way to FSB Currahee.

At around 1130 hours in the vicinity of YC 375967 we came upon an area which had signs that the enemy was/had been there. We found small game snares, a small corn field with a hooch near by and numerous fresh, recently used trails. We destroyed the hooch, traps and corn and moved out at 1217 hours .

We maybe went 200 meters and received a hail of small arms fire and RPG?s from an unknown size enemy force and two men were hit. As the rest of the company returned fire, the second squad of my platoon went to the get the wounded and they came under intense enemy fire and were cut off from the rest of the company. My squad went out to give them covering fire so they could maneuver and get the wounded (besides the two men hit when the ambush was sprung two more were hit) back to where our company had taken position. Between our two squads we were able to retrieve the wounded and get them back to our medics. I did a visual head check on my squad and to my horror, Merle Christensen was missing. We called to him and over the gunfire heard him call back. Carlos Williams, Gerry Harpole and me went back out and found him hunched down behind a large tree stump. The bark of the stump was flying off as the NVA had him pinned down and when they saw us, they opened up and the elephant grass just above our heads was being cut as the zing - zing of the rounds zipping by sounded in our ears. That?s when one of those comical moments that sometimes happen in the heat of combat came to pass.

When the NVA opened up on the three of us we hit the ground in a line with Carlos and me on the ends with Gerry between us, laying about three feet from one another cursing our jungle fatigue tops thinking that the buttons were keeping us from getting that much closer to the ground.

To this day I don?t know why, but I asked Carlos if he had a cigarette. He pulled out a pack of Pall Malls and shook the pack in my direction and two cigarettes fell in front of Harpole. Without a moments hesitation he says to Carlos, ?no thanks, I?m trying to cut down?. Well that did it and the three of us started laughing loud and hardy and the NVA must have thought we lost our minds.

We were all ?rescued? when the rest of our platoon came and provided covering fire. The company pulled back and we called in ARA and the NVA broke contact around 1330 hours with Medevac completed around 1350 hours.


We continued moving southwards towards Currahee and at about 1600 hours, were ambushed again by an estimated squad sized force with one man being wounded. The NVA quickly broke contact and as in the earlier ambush, we didn?t find any enemy casualties. Medevac was completed around 1730 and after humping for a couple more hours, setup our NDP at YC 377967.


Don?t really know why I wrote this. Just felt like it I guess on the heels of Memorial Day and thinking about this day and how Gerry cracked us up with some humor during a very serious and precarious situation we found ourselves in ..... a long time ago in a land far away. Don?t mean nothin?

[DMZ-LT]

Thanks for writing that Homie, those days are a part of us forever. Makes people like me realize I wasn't the only son of a bitch in the Valley. Welcome Home. Did I tell you I was an Opa ?