it’s Sunday November 14 1965 US combat
troops have been in South Vietnam for
just eight months Army lieutenant
colonel Hal Moore and his battalion have
their orders seek out and kill communist
forces here in the Central Highlands I
had very little information on the enemy
very little intelligence information but
I knew that the enemy had been
retreating into the odd rain valley
Colonel Moore’s foray into the ayah
dragging River Valley will ramp up u.s.
involvement in Vietnam
and set the stage for years of bloody
conflict it takes shape in the early 60s
under President John F Kennedy they
think the Vietnamese people and
ourselves agree we want the Communists
to be contained and the Americans to
kill home but we are not there to see a
war lost the United States sends weapons
and builds military bases in South
Vietnam to fend off the forces of the
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in the
north
pose guerrilla fighters in the south the
Vietcong use violence and terror to
undermine the government ho is
determined to unite North and South
Vietnam under his communist rule on
November 1st 1963 South Vietnamese
military leaders staged a coup and
assassinate President ZM the Kennedy
administration not only supports but
encourages the cool
now responsibility for South Vietnam’s
destiny rests squarely on the shoulders
of the United States
tensions come to a head on August 2nd
1964 when North Vietnamese patrol boats
attacked this US destroyer the Maddox in
the Tonkin Gulf Johnson seizes the
opportunity and gets Congress to pass a
resolution authorizing him to undertake
military action
within months Vietcong guerillas begin
attacking US air bases
March 2nd 1965 President Johnson ups the
ante the u.s. launches an intense and
long term bombing campaign against North
Vietnam called Operation Rolling Thunder
army general william Westmoreland the US
commander in Vietnam receives the
president’s approval to call up two
battalions of Marines from the States on
March 8 1965 these Marines come ashore
near Danai and fortify the perimeter of
the airfield
their orders to seek out the Vietcong
and kill them will define America’s
expanding mission
eight months later this strategy brings
Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore and his men
to the aya Drang Valley ninety minutes
after landing they face 1500 North
Vietnamese soldiers the men establish a
perimeter and battle to protect their
landing zone
if the enemy gains control of the
clearing Moore and his men have little
chance of survival
on the dawn of the second morning
communist troops focused a strike on the
southern section of the landing zone the
attack decimates to u.s. platoons 42
Americans perish in less than three
hours
in the badlands the US forces abandoned
the landing zone
their goal was never to occupy the area
but to kill as many enemy forces as they
could and leave with an estimated 1,800
North Vietnamese soldiers dead the US
Army declares the Battle of victory
but what had been a limited conflict
with guerrilla fighters in the south is
about to escalate into a broader
conflict with North Vietnam
for these soldiers on the frontlines the
stakes are much higher and their mission
but far more deadly
you
troops have been in South Vietnam for
just eight months Army lieutenant
colonel Hal Moore and his battalion have
their orders seek out and kill communist
forces here in the Central Highlands I
had very little information on the enemy
very little intelligence information but
I knew that the enemy had been
retreating into the odd rain valley
Colonel Moore’s foray into the ayah
dragging River Valley will ramp up u.s.
involvement in Vietnam
and set the stage for years of bloody
conflict it takes shape in the early 60s
under President John F Kennedy they
think the Vietnamese people and
ourselves agree we want the Communists
to be contained and the Americans to
kill home but we are not there to see a
war lost the United States sends weapons
and builds military bases in South
Vietnam to fend off the forces of the
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh in the
north
pose guerrilla fighters in the south the
Vietcong use violence and terror to
undermine the government ho is
determined to unite North and South
Vietnam under his communist rule on
November 1st 1963 South Vietnamese
military leaders staged a coup and
assassinate President ZM the Kennedy
administration not only supports but
encourages the cool
now responsibility for South Vietnam’s
destiny rests squarely on the shoulders
of the United States
tensions come to a head on August 2nd
1964 when North Vietnamese patrol boats
attacked this US destroyer the Maddox in
the Tonkin Gulf Johnson seizes the
opportunity and gets Congress to pass a
resolution authorizing him to undertake
military action
within months Vietcong guerillas begin
attacking US air bases
March 2nd 1965 President Johnson ups the
ante the u.s. launches an intense and
long term bombing campaign against North
Vietnam called Operation Rolling Thunder
army general william Westmoreland the US
commander in Vietnam receives the
president’s approval to call up two
battalions of Marines from the States on
March 8 1965 these Marines come ashore
near Danai and fortify the perimeter of
the airfield
their orders to seek out the Vietcong
and kill them will define America’s
expanding mission
eight months later this strategy brings
Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore and his men
to the aya Drang Valley ninety minutes
after landing they face 1500 North
Vietnamese soldiers the men establish a
perimeter and battle to protect their
landing zone
if the enemy gains control of the
clearing Moore and his men have little
chance of survival
on the dawn of the second morning
communist troops focused a strike on the
southern section of the landing zone the
attack decimates to u.s. platoons 42
Americans perish in less than three
hours
in the badlands the US forces abandoned
the landing zone
their goal was never to occupy the area
but to kill as many enemy forces as they
could and leave with an estimated 1,800
North Vietnamese soldiers dead the US
Army declares the Battle of victory
but what had been a limited conflict
with guerrilla fighters in the south is
about to escalate into a broader
conflict with North Vietnam
for these soldiers on the frontlines the
stakes are much higher and their mission
but far more deadly
you
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