Good Morning RallyPoint on this, 27 March 2021, thank you for your service. Here is your history for the Vietnam War on this day 27 March through the years of the war ... Welcome home all Veterans… and to those that gave their all, …may you rest in peace...!

Today, 27 March in Vietnam War History;

27 March 1963, Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng of North Vietnam told a Polish diplomat that a Geneva Conference should be convened to establish a neutral coalition government in South Vietnam. Đồng said that the U.S. could thus "withdraw with honor satisfied" and that the unification of North and South Vietnam would be accomplished only gradually.

27 March 1965, 27 Mar. About 30 Claymore type mines are accidentally detonated at the Plei Do Lim CIDG camp with heavy casualties.

27 March 1965, Operation: QUYET THANG 128, 22nd ARVN Division, Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province.

27 March 1965, Following several days of consultations with the Cambodian government, South Vietnamese troops, supported by artillery and air strikes, launch their first major military operation into Cambodia. The South Vietnamese encountered a 300-man Viet Cong force in the Kandal province and reported killing 53 communist soldiers. Two teams of U.S. helicopter gunships took part in the action. Three South Vietnamese soldiers were killed and seven wounded.

27 March 1966, About 20,000 Buddhists in Hue stage largest anti-GVN demonstration to date.

27 March 1966 the 1st Antitank Bn arrived in Vietnam.

27 March 1966 – 1 April 1966, Operation Red Ball VII, 1st Bde, 1st Inf Div., 1-28 Inf., Road security, Binh Dinh Province.

27 March 1966 – 1 April 1966, Operation Red Ball VII, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment search and destroy operation, III Corps.

27 March 1966 – 5 May 1966, Operation: HAMILTON II / BUCHANAN II, 2d Bde, 1st Cav Div,3d Bde, 25th Inf Div. Road security, Route 19, Pleiku and Binh Dinh Provinces.

27 March 1966, Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations took place in US, Europe and Australia.

27 March 1966 – 5 May 1966, Operation Buchanan II, 2/1 Cavalry 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment road clearing operation along Route 19 from Qui Nhơn to Pleiku, Pleiku Province.

27 March 1967, South Vietnamese troops launched their first major military operation into Cambodia. South Vietnam lost three troops and 53 Viet Cong were reportedly killed.

27 March 1967, A North Vietnamese spokesman unequivocally rejected a new peace plan proposed by UN Sec. General U Thant on March 14.

ALL of 1972, Operation Seahawk, US search and rescue operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, on the gun line off the coast, coming under enemy fire on 15 occasions. Gulf of Tonkin (Dennis’ note; AKA Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club).



27 March 1973, The White House announces that, at the request of Cambodian President Lon Nol, the bombing of Cambodia will continue until communist forces cease military operations and agree to a cease-fire. In March 1970, Lon Nol had overthrown Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a bloodless coup. Between 1970 and 1975, Lon Nol and his army, the Forces Armees Nationale Khmer (FANK), with U.S. support and military aid, fought the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk’s supporters for control of Cambodia. During the five years of bitter fighting, approximately 10 percent of Cambodia’s 7 million people died. When the U.S. forces departed South Vietnam in 1973, both the Cambodians and South Vietnamese found themselves fighting the communists alone. Without U.S. support, Lon Nol’s forces succumbed to the Khmer Rouge, surrendering to the communists in April 1975. The victorious Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh and began reordering Cambodian society, which resulted in a killing spree and the notorious “killing fields.” Eventually, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were murdered or died from exhaustion, hunger, and disease.



27 March 1974 -2 May 1974, The Battle of Svay Rieng was the last major operation of the war to be mounted by the ARVN against the PAVN. The battle resulted in over 1,200 PAVN killed and 65 captured for ARVN losses of less than 100 killed.
Battle;
On 27 March PAVN sapper units attacked Đức Huệ which was held by the ARVN 83rd Ranger Battalion. The initial attack was repulsed as was a subsequent infantry attack by the PAVN 5th Division. Following the failure of these attacks the PAVN laid siege to Đức Huệ.

Under orders to maintain a loose siege of Đức Huệ, the PAVN, assisted by the local sapper battalion, blocked the only land access to the camp and continued the artillery bombardment but abandoned the idea of taking it by storm. On the ARVN side, the 25th Division committed a task force consisting of a battalion of the 46th Infantry Regiment, a battalion of the 50th Infantry Regiment, and a tank company to break the siege. Fighting raged in the paddies east and north of the camp for several days, and the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) provided effective support to the counterattacking infantry, losing an A-1 Skyraider and an observation aircraft to SA-7 antiaircraft missiles. Meanwhile, the ARVN task force command post was hit by PAVN 107mm. rocket fire and the commander was one of those killed. As April wore on, the threat of renewed assaults on Đức Huệ by the PAVN 5th Division remained. The situation was particularly dangerous because the PAVN 7th and 9th Divisions were probing aggressively in the eastern part of III Corps. Lt. Gen. Phạm Quốc Thuần, III Corps commander, determined that he must reduce the threat to his western flank and the Tây Ninh corridor while he had the opportunity to do so before the onset of the southwest monsoon. After the rains started, most of the land around Đức Huệ and the Angel's Wing would be under water.

The plan was complicated but workable. General Thuần used 18 of his own maneuver battalions and flew to Can Tho where he coordinated with General Nguyễn Vĩnh Nghi for a supporting attack by 2 IV Corps battalions from the Mộc Hóa sector. The details and timing of the operation were carefully safeguarded, and few, if any, Americans in the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon knew anything about it until 27 April when 45 RVNAF sorties struck targets in Cambodia and known and suspected bases of the PAVN 5th Division. These strikes began Phase I, which lasted through the 28th and included infantry sweeps by two Regional Force (RF) battalions between the Vàm Cỏ Đông River and the northern shoulder of the Angel's Wing. Meanwhile, the 49th Infantry Regiment, less one battalion, and the 7th Ranger Group, also short one battalion, left assembly areas near Hiệp Hoà on the Vàm Cỏ Đông and advanced westward through the swamplands, past Đức Huệ to the Cambodian frontier. To the south, three RF battalions provided security by conducting reconnaissance in northern Long An Province, generally between the Bo Bo Canal and the Vàm Cỏ Đông. Another supporting maneuver, which quickly developed into a major operation, was the attack into Svay Rieng Province south of the Elephant's Foot by two battalions from IV Corps. The northernmost of the two advanced from the border area north of Mộc Hóa and established a blocking position near the local Route 1012 that led eastward from an assembly area occupied by the PAVN 5th Division. The other battalion crossed midway between the Elephant's Foot and the tip of the Parrot's Beak and established a lodgment on the southeastern edge of the PAVN logistical base and assembly area in Svay Rieng.

While Phase I of the ARVN sweep into Svay Rieng was getting started, on 28 April the PAVN struck heavily at Long Khốt, an ARVN post and district town at the inside curve of the Elephant's Foot. Whether the attack was pre-planned or reactive was unknown, regardless, PAVN tanks were reported at first by the defenders. Later, aerial observers correctly determined that the vehicles were captured M113 armored personnel carriers. The defenders held strongly against the PAVN 275th Regiment and 25th Sapper Battalion of the 5th Division. More than 100 sorties were flown on the 28th against PAVN positions, weapons and vehicles in the Svay Rieng area, many of them in support of Long Khốt. On this same day, the ARVN at Long Khốt captured nine prisoners from the 275th Regiment and four from its supporting artillery, which had been employing 122mm. guns and U.S. 105-mm. howitzers. as well as AT-3 antitank missiles and SA-7 antiaircraft missiles. Many PAVN weapons were salvaged, and 75 PAVN soldiers were counted dead on the battlefield. Not only were the Long Khốt defenders tenacious and prepared for the onslaught, but the RVNAF proved its worth in close support as over the two days, the 27th and 28th, it flew 188 tactical and logistical sorties in the Svay Rieng Campaign. In a departure from normal practice, the 3rd Air Division supporting III Corps in the Svay Rieng campaign, located a forward command post at Cu Chi Base Camp alongside the III Corps forward command post in order to improve coordination and responsiveness. Combat pilots returned to their bases with morale-building reports about PAVN troops throwing down their weapons and running when faced with low-level strafing.

By the night of 28 April, 11 ARVN battalions of infantry, RF, and Rangers were conducting screening, blocking, and reconnaissance-in-force operations as a prelude to Phase II of the Svay Rieng sweep. Meanwhile, the RVNAF was attacking PAVN troop locations and bases, and Long Khốt was fighting off a violent PAVN armor, artillery, and sapper-infantry attack. In Phase II, originally planned by General Thuần to encompass only three days of armored sweeps into the Cambodian bases of the PAVN 5th Division, three columns drove west, generally parallel to each other, crossing the frontier west of Go Dau Ha) and penetrating as deeply as 15km into Svay Rieng before wheeling south and southwest into Hậu Nghĩa Province. Making the main effort and the deepest penetration was Task Force 315 with the 15th Armored Cavalry Squadron, the 64th Ranger Battalion, and a company of medium tanks as its striking force. Supported by a composite battery of 105-mm. and 155-mm. artillery this northernmost column crossed the border through the paddies south of Highway 1 and attacked west, turning south short of the swampy ground east of Chiphu, following local Route 1012 toward the blocking position held by a IV Corps battalion near Ph Chek. It was screened on its right flank by a mobile RF battalion that advanced along Highway 1 about 12km inside the international frontier. Along the center axis, which started about 2km south of Task Force 315, was Task Force 318, built around the 18th Armored Cavalry Squadron, a Ranger battalion, a tank company and a howitzer battery. This column drove west for about 10km before turning inside the sweep south by Task Force 315. Task Force 310, the only one of the attacking columns without tanks, had a battalion each from the 18th and 25th Infantry Divisions and the 3rd Troop, 10th Armored Cavalry, along with a supporting howitzer battalion it crossed into Svay Rieng just north of the southern tip of the Angel's Wing, along Cambodian Route 1013 and wheeled south inside Task Force 318, generally along the international boundary. In reserve at Go Dau Ha General Thuần had 2 companies of medium tanks of the 22nd Tank Battalion, a cavalry troop from the 1st Armored Cavalry Squadron, a battalion of infantry from the 18th Division, and a battery of 105-mm. howitzers. Designated Task Force 322, this powerful force was ready 10 exploit opportunities uncovered by the attacking echelons. The 3rd Armored Brigade controlled operations from Go Dau Ha. 54 UH-1 helicopters mustered for the campaign were effectively used in surprise air assaults into PAVN defenses. Secrecy was more rigidly enforced in this campaign than perhaps any operation since the ceasefire, partly because it was important to surprise the PAVN 5th Division in garrison and partly to conceal, for political reasons, an ARVN offensive into Cambodia.

By 29 April Task Force 315 had penetrated about 7km into Cambodia at the cost of only one wounded, but had killed nearly 50 PAVN and captured one prisoner. To the south Task Force 318 had experienced similar success, killing nearly 60 and capturing 5 while suffering only 6 wounded. The following morning, the 315th continued the attack, killing 40 more and sustaining light casualties. Meanwhile, the RVNAF was pounding the PAVN with nearly 200 sorties, accounting for nearly 100 killed, destroying many storage and defensive positions and knocking out mortar and antiaircraft positions. As the threat to the 5th Division base in southern Svay Rieng became critical the PAVN was compelled to reduce the pressure on Long Khốt and concentrate on attempting to relieve the E-6 and 174th Regiments and logistical installations lying in the path of the ARVN armored thrusts. By the end of April, nearly 300 PAVN soldiers had been killed in ground combat, over 100 more had been killed by RVNAF air strikes, and 17 prisoners of war were in ARVN hands. On the other hand, the speed, audacity and superior air-ground coordination that characterized the attack had kept South Vietnamese casualties extremely low: only 21 killed and 64 wounded. In fact, success was so striking that General Thuần elected to extend the operation a few days.

Further west in the Elephant's Foot, matters were becoming desperate for the PAVN 275th Regiment and its supporting troops. The ARVN 7th Division had moved a forward command post into Mộc Hóa and was controlling the operation of two task forces then committed in the Elephant's Foot. One was composed of the 15th Infantry, 9th Division and part of the 16th Armored Cavalry Squadron; the other included the 10th Infantry and elements of the 6th Armored Cavalry Squadron, in 12 days of fighting in the border area, these two mobile task forces killed 850 PAVN soldiers, captured 31, collected over 100 weapons, and suffered fewer than 300 casualties, including 39 killed. Making the adjustments required by the situation, particularly the fact that the most lucrative PAVN contacts were being made in the southern sweeps of the 315th and 310th Task Forces, General Thuần ordered Task Force 315 withdrawn from its northern axis on 2 May and returned to Go Dau Ha where it reverted to reserve. Meanwhile Task Force 322 was committed and advanced about 4km into the center of the Angel's Wing, and the infantry battalions of the 25th Division continued their sweep between Đức Huệ and Go Dau Ha. By 6 May the land route to Đức Huệ Camp was secured and was being improved by ARVN combat engineers, the threat to the vital road junction at Go Dau Ha was substantially reduced, and the ARVN was in complete control of the battlefield. The tank-heavy 322nd Task Force turned south and headed for Ba Thu, the long-held PAVN base on the border southwest of Đức Huệ. On 10 May, the offensive ended, the last ARVN forces began their march homeward. Their sortie had killed nearly 300 PAVN soldiers, captured 17, collected 100 weapons, and seriously disrupted the communications and logistics of the PAVN 5th Division.
Aftermath;
The operation was an ARVN success. ARVN claimed PAVN losses of over 1200 killed and 65 captured and the 5th Division's base area severely damaged, while ARVN losses were less than 100 killed. Despite its success, this was the last major South Vietnamese offensive of the war. The severe constraints on ammunition expenditures, fuel usage, and flying hours permitted no new initiatives. Although the South Vietnamese armed forces could react strongly to local threats within supporting distances of major bases, outlying threats were beyond their capability to cope with. For South Vietnam, a decline had begun to develop early in 1974 and would prove irreversible.


27 March 1975, In Laos Communist Pathet Lao launched an attack against Hmong defenders.

27 March 1975, U.S. Merchant Marine and CIA Help Evacuate Refugees from Da Nang and Other Locations. Over five days, non-combatant ships of the U.S. Military Sealift Command take part in evacuating refugees from Da Nang south to Cam Ranh Bay. The SS Pioneer Commander, SS Pioneer Contender, USNS Miller, and several other vessels evacuate over 30,000 refugees. CIA-owned Air America also helps evacuate refugees by air. U.S. and allied vessels evacuate thousands of additional refugees from several other ports in I and II Corps.

Today is 27 March 2021
Vietnam War Memorial facts
153 Names on the wall were born on 27 March
156 Names on the wall died on 27 March
245 men earned the Medal Of Honor in the Vietnam war and 160 of those men are listed on the wall

Other wall information/stories/quotes;

“Robert. Just taking a moment today, to remember your sacrifice.
You were 'In- Country' only 20 days before you were K.I.A: 52 years ago today (March 26, 1969), You were 19 years old.
This man was Selective Service.
He answered His Countries Call.
I never met you Robert, but I'm a first cousin.
Semper Fi”


Vietnam war quotes and other interesting items;

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory.”-FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

“We are fighting a war with no front lines, since the enemy hides among the people, in the jungles and mountains, and uses covertly border areas of neutral countries. One cannot measure progress by lines on a map.”-WILLIAM C. WESTMORELAND

“For many Americans, the enduring memory of the Vietnam War is of the protests that defined a generation and shattered the illusion of America's purity on the world stage. But for the 3 million men and women who served in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and early 1970s, the memories are more visceral: the fog of combat, the stench of death, the sting of returning to a seemingly ungrateful nation.” -Unknown Author.


Links of interest?

Looking for a Brother or sister you served with? This might help you.
The Viet Nam Veterans Home Page to be quite useful in finding living veterans. They maintain a Lost and Found section http://www.vietvet.org/lostfnd.htm, with listings of people looking for people.

To find information on the availability of U.S. Navy deck logs during the Vietnam war era, check out this link. https://historyhub.history.gov/community/military-records/blog/2020/10/08/update-on-availability-of-vietnam-era-1956-1978-us-navy-deck-logs

Unit Reunions, Homecomings, Gatherings, Newsletters, Etc. can be found at http://www.vietvet.org/unitlist.htm
There are two replica versions of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial that tour the United States regularly. The first of them which is called The Moving Wall, has been traveling the country for almost twenty years. You can find their schedule at http://www.themovingwall.org/
Where can I find the latest information on the status of Prisoners of War and those listed as Missing in Action? A: The Library of Congress maintains POW/MIA information at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pow/powhome.html


Quotes;

“You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you'll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit. “- Joe Paterno

“I am sure that if every leader who goes into battle will promise himself that he will come out either a conqueror or a corpse, he is sure to win. There is no doubt of that. Defeat is not due to losses but to the destruction of the Soul of the leaders--the 'live to fight another day' doctrine.”- General George S. Patton Jr.

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”- Galileo Galilei

“Start every day with a smile and get it over with.”- W. C. Fields

"In this world there are good causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where that line is drawn, yet there is no such thing as a good terrorist. No national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate murder of the innocent. Any government that rejects this principle, trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will know its consequences." - U.S. President George. W. Bush, United Nations General Assembly

“Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.”- Horace

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” ― John F. Kennedy

Congressional Medal of Honor Citation for actions taken in the Vietnam War on this day 27 March in Vietnam War history. None on this day throughout all the war years.