Good Morning RallyPoint on this RED Friday, October 16, 2020. Here is your history for the Vietnam War on this day 16 October. Welcome home all Veterans and those that gave their all may you all rest in peace...!

Today, 16 October in Vietnam war History

16 October 1960 , In a cable to Secretary of State Christian A. Herter, US Ambassador In Saigon, Elbridge Durbrow analyzes two separate threats to the Diem regime–danger from demonstration or coup, predominantly non-Communist in origin; and the danger of the gradual Communist extension of control over the countryside.

16 October 1964, The People's Republic of China conducted its first successful nuclear weapons test. China's possession of nuclear weapons was seen in both Peking and Hanoi as a deterrent to an American invasion of North Vietnam.

16 October 1964, Đức, Phát and 18 others were put on trial in a military court over the September coup attempt. The accused officers claimed to have only intended to make a show of force, rather than overthrow Khánh. Đức claimed that the objective of his actions was to "emphasize my ideas" and said his actions did not constitute a coup attempt and that he had decided to end what he regarded as a military protest demonstration when Khánh promised to consider his concerns. Asked why he had denounced Khánh as a "traitor" in a radio broadcast during the coup attempt, Phát said he had merely "gotten excited". One week later, on 24 October, the charges were dropped. Khánh then gave Đức and Phát two months of detention for indiscipline; their subordinates were incarcerated for shorter periods.

16 October 1965, Operation Depth, 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment search and destroy operation, Bình Dương Province.

16 October 1965, Operation Fly Low, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment search and destroy operation, Bình Dương Province.

16 October – 1 November 1965, Operation Settlement, 2/1 Cavalry security operation on Route 19 , Bình Định Province

16 October 1965, Protests against the war took place in Europe and in about 40 U.S. cities. The organization coordinating the U.S. demonstrations was called the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

16 October 1966, Operation Cuu Long 22/KT, ARVN operation, Dinh Tuong Province, 14 VC & PAVN KIA, 0 Allied KIA

16 October 1966 – 2 November 1966, Operation Shenandoah was conducted by 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Bình Long Province. The operation resulted in 74 VC and five U.S. killed

16 October 1966 – 17 October 1966, Operation Craddock, US search and destroy operation, III Corps.

16 October – I November 1966, Operation Leeds, 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division search and destroy operation

16 October 1967, "Stop the Draft Week" was launched in front of Selective Service System induction centers of 30 American cities, by thousands of people protesting against the war. In Oakland, 600 demonstrators blocked the entrance of that city's center, including folk singer and activist Joan Baez, who was one of 125 people arrested. In New York City, 300 demonstrators blocked center entrances. Buses brought protesters to Boston, where 70 draft cards were burned and 200 cards turned over to clergymen of the Unitarian Universalist Church. Similar anti-draft protests took place in Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Albany, New York; and Ithaca, New York; where people either attempted to give their draft cards back to federal authorities, or burned them. According to one account, over 1,000 cards were turned in during the week, and "by the end of the war, 600,000 men had violated the Selective Service laws," with only 3 percent actually prosecuted

16 October 1968 – 24 April 1960, Operation Lam Son 271, ARVN 2nd Regiment operation, Quảng Trị Province, 603 VC & PAVN KIA, 0 Allied KIA.

16 October 1968, In a telephone conference call with all three of the major U.S. presidential candidates, President Johnson informed them that he had no plans to change the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.

16 October 1969 , President Richard Nixon announces the second round of U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam. This was part of the dual program that he had announced at the Midway conference on June 8 that called for “Vietnamization” of the war and U.S. troop withdrawals, as the South Vietnamese forces assumed more responsibility for the fighting. The first round of withdrawals was completed in August and totaled 25,000 troops (including two brigades of the 9th Infantry Division). There would be 15 announced withdrawals in total, leaving only 27,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam by November 1972.

16 October 1969 – 6 January 1970, Operation Cramer White, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry security operation, along Route 14, 52 VC & PAVN KIA, 2 Allied KIA

16 October – 30 January 1970, Operation Greene Bear, 1st and 2nd Battalions, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 1st and 2nd Battalions, 35th Infantry Regiment and 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment clear and search operation, Kon Tum and Pleiku Provinces

16 October 1970 – 31 Dec 1970, Operation Keystone Robin (Bravo), Redeployment of the 4th Infantry Division and 25th Infantry Division (excl 2nd Brigade) from South Vietnam to the United States

16 October 1971, Prime Minister Lon Nol of Cambodia suspended the Cambodian National Assembly and announced that he would run the country by executive decree. Lon Nol said that "the sterile game of democracy" was hindering the Cambodian government's fight against the communist forces of the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnamese.

Vietnam quotes16 October 1972, South Vietnamese troops recaptured Quang Tri province in South Vietnam from the North Vietnamese Army.

16 October 1973, Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris peace accords; however, the Vietnamese official declined the award.

16 October 1974 President Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft-evaders. Limited amnesty was offered to Vietnam-era draft resisters who would now swear allegiance to the United States and perform two years of public service.

16 October 2015, A court in central Vietnam sentenced seven people to up to life in prison for defrauding families of Vietnam War soldiers by moving unidentified war dead into fake graves and claiming to have found their kin.

Today is Saturday, October 16, 2020
Vietnam War memorial facts
159 Names on the wall were born on 16 October
72 Names on the wall died on 16 October
245 men earned the Medal Of Honor in the Vietnam war and 160 of those men are listed on the wall

Memorial Wall facts:
Women on the wall;

Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham - On the Wall at 48W 012
Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa. From Efland, NC, she suffered a stroke in August 14, 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.

Capt. Mary Therese Klinker - On the Wall at 01W 122
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal

Other facts of interest:
The Ace of Spades meant death
As part of the mental war, American soldiers often put an ace of spades on the bodies of deceased enemy soldiers. They’d been told, incorrectly, that the card represented death in Vietnam. It hadn’t when the war started, but by the end, thanks to the Americans and their efforts to spook their enemies, it actually did come to represent death.

The Americans used people sniffers
Everyone knows about the defoliant, Agent Orange, because of the horrible birth defects it caused, but not many people know people sniffers — known as Operation Snoopy. Northern troops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail were notoriously difficult to find, so the Americans used sensors to detect effluents of human sweat and urine. While they frequently turned up false results, leading to attacks on civilians and cattle, they did prove to be somewhat effective. Though, the North Vietnamese Army eventually learned to hang buckets of mud mixed with urine from trees to throw off the sensors.


Vietnam war quotes:

I didn't argue that the war in Vietnam was immoral; it was merely stupid and a horrendous waste of time, money, and lives based on a flawed premise. JOE BIDEN, Promises to Keep

North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that. RICHARD NIXON, speech, November 3, 1969

This war in Vietnam is, I believe, a war for civilization. Certainly it is not a war of our seeking. It is a war thrust upon us and we cannot yield to tyranny. FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN, speech, 1966

The Vietnam War was arguably the most traumatic experience for the United States in the twentieth century. That is indeed a grim distinction in a span that included two world wars, the assassinations of two presidents and the resignation of another, the Great Depression, the Cold War, racial unrest, and the drug and crime waves. DONALD M. GOLDSTEIN, introduction, The Vietnam War

The bastards have never been bombed like they're going to be bombed this time. RICHARD NIXON, statement to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and Attorney General John Mitchell, April 4, 1972

With 450,000 U.S. troops now in Vietnam, it is time that Congress decided whether or not to declare a state of war exists with North Vietnam. Previous congressional resolutions of support provide only limited authority. Although Congress may decide that the previously approved resolution on Vietnam given President Johnson is sufficient, the issue of a declaration of war should at least be put before the Congress for decision. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, The Washington Post, July 22, 1967