Good Morning RallyPoint on this, 5 April 2021, thank you for your service. Here is your history for the Vietnam War on this day 5 April through the years of the war. Also today I have the honor of introducing RP members to one (1) Medal of Honor recipient, a US Army Special Forces soldier due to actions taken on this day 5 April in Vietnam History... Welcome home all Veterans… and to those that gave their all, …may you rest in peace...!

Today, 5 April in Vietnam War History;

5 April 1954, The National Security Council met again to consider U.S. intervention at Điện Biên Phủ. The Army, including Army Chief of Staff General Matthew Ridgway, was negative, stating that U.S. intervention would require 7 army divisions and heavy air support.

5 April 1964, In South Vietnam a new draft law authorizes conscription into the Civil Guard and the Self Defense Corps, the two paramilitary forces that bear the brunt of fighting with the Vietcong. Both forces have been at a lack for volunteers and have experienced rising desertions.

5 April 1964, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur (b.1880) died in Washington, D.C. William Manchester wrote his biography: “American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur.”

5 April 1965, A U.S. Navy RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft photographed an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile (SAM) site under construction in North Vietnam for the first time. The discovery, 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Hanoi, "sent shivers down the spines of task force commanders and line aviators alike", a historian would note later, but official permission to attack a site so close to the capital would not be given "until the Navy and Air Force lost a few jets to the SA-2s".

5 April 1965, A three day battle in the Mekong Delta begins that leaves six US troops dead and a reported 276 Vietcong fatalities.

5 April 1965, President Johnson Approves an Expansion of the Marines’ Mission. U.S. military commanders request an expansion of the Marine Corps’ defensive mission at Da Nang so that they can pursue enemy forces in more offensive actions. Lyndon Johnson approves this request and also agrees to send two additional deployments of Marines to Da Nang. The Marines based at Da Nang are now authorized to pursue Communist forces away from American bases. On the same day, Johnson asks National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy to draft National Security Action Memorandum 328 to explain the president’s rationale for these decisions. Johnson signs the memo the next day, but does not make it public, distributing it only to his top cabinet officials. The president’s actions allow for the first official American offensive ground operations in Vietnam.

5 April 1966, Arrival in Vietnam of the 2/5 Marines.

5 April 1966, Premier Ky flies to Da Nang with two VNMC battalions beginning a confrontation with the anti-GVN struggle forces. Ky announces that the city has been infiltrated, not taken over by communists. 1st ARVN Div Commander, BG Pham Xuan Nhuan, declares solidarity with the struggle movement. All US advisors to the division withdrawn to base camps. Demonstrators clash with riot police and airborne units in Saigon.

5 April 1967 Operation Canyon, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines and 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines search and destroy operation including a sweep of the Barrier Island which was bounded by the Cua Dai/Son Thu Bon rivers to the north and the Truong Giang to the west, Quảng Nam and Quảng Trị Provinces.

5 April 1967, U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker arrives in Saigon. On March 15, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he is appointing diplomat and former businessman Ellsworth Bunker as the new U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam and continued as ambassador to 1973. Bunker replaces Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. who has served intermittently in the role since 1963. Johnson is impressed with Bunker’s integrity and record, as Bunker can collaborate well with sensitive foreign leaders. Bunker is also well-respected in Congress, and unlike Lodge he can cooperate with U.S. military leadership. He remains in this position for six years. Throughout his tenure he consistently advocates for more aggressive positions to achieve U.S. objectives than Washington is comfortable with. Although he is considered a “hawk,” Bunker unfailingly implements programs for both the Johnson and Nixon administrations.

5 April 1967 – 12 October 1967, Operation Francis Marion, 1st and 2nd Brigades, 4th Infantry Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade operation against the NVA 1st and 10th Divisions, western highlands of Pleiku Province, Plei Me, Duc Co, Plei Djereng, Plei Mrong, Plei Do Lim, Buon Blech, Se San, Ia Drang, Ia Tchar, Dak Ayun, Dak Payou, Chu Pong, Chu Prong, Chu Goungot, Chu Groh, Route14, Route 14B, Route 19E, Route 509, Hill 521, LZ OASIS, LZJACKSON HOLE, Pleiku and Darlac Province.. Results: 1,600 enemy killed, 122 detained, 11returnees, 300 US KIA, 982 US WIA, 8 US MIA, 297 individual and 62 crew-served weapons recovered. (Dennis’ note; This operation is huge, and too large for today’s post, If interested in the operation details go to this web page; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Francis_Marion

5 April 1968, The siege of Khe Sahn, Vietnam ended after 76 days.

5 April 1969, Approximately 100,000 antiwar demonstrators marched in New York City to demand that the United States withdraw from Vietnam.

5 April 1970, Photojournalist Gilles Caron disappeared on Highway 1 in Cambodia. He was the first of 25 journalists to disappear or be killed by the Khmer Rouge/PAVN between 5 April and 28 October 1970.

5 April 1972, Moving out of eastern Cambodia, North Vietnamese troops open the second front of their offensive with a drive into Binh Long Province, attacking Loc Ninh, a border town 75 miles north of Saigon on Highway 13. At the same time, additional North Vietnamese cut the highway between An Loc, the provincial capital, and Saigon to the south, effectively isolating An Loc from outside support. This attack was the southernmost thrust of the three-pronged Nguyen Hue Offensive (later known as the “Easter Offensive”), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces designed to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to An Loc in the south, were Quang Tri in the north, and Kontum in the Central Highlands. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders in each case were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces where government forces abandoned their positions in Quang Tri and fled south in the face of the enemy onslaught. In Binh Long, the North Vietnamese forces crossed into South Vietnam from Cambodia to strike first at Loc Ninh, then quickly encircled An Loc, holding it under siege for almost three months while they made repeated attempts to take the city. The defenders suffered heavy casualties, including 2,300 dead or missing, but with the aid of U.S. advisors and American airpower, they managed to hold An Loc against vastly superior odds until the siege was lifted on June 18. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months, but eventually the South Vietnamese forces prevailed against the invaders and they retook Quang Tri in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his Vietnamization program, which he had instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces.

5 April 1972 – 10 May 1972, Operation Freedom Train, Initial US bombing campaign in response to the PAVN Easter Offensive, later superseded by Operation Linebacker.

5 April 1972, US planes destroyed Benhai bridge on the DMZ, the only road link between North and South Vietnam.

5 April 1975, The city of Nha Trang was captured with little opposition, the latest in a series of important cities to fall to the military forces of North Vietnam.


Today is 5 April 2021
Vietnam War Memorial facts
146 Names on the wall were born on 5 April
187 Names on the wall died on 5 April
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 & Notes left at the wall;

On 30 march 2021, the following message was left at the Wall;
“I have had Lt. Col. Patrick Hardy Wood bracelet since 1967. I have kept hoping to return it someday to his family. Please contact me it can be returned to you. Know that he was remembered always and was proud of him as I am sure you were . To this day, I am proud of his service. Hope to hear from you.”- Pat.

Vietnam war quotes and other interesting items;

“My solution to the problem would be to tell them frankly that they've got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression or we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Ages.” -GENERAL CURTIS E. LEMAY

“Jackie Coots was a good friend of mine. Me and Jackie used to ride bicycles together. That was a time when people were burning their draft cards. They were burning flags. They were demonstrating in the streets. Jackie Coots, a small-town boy from Cumberland, Kentucky, was very patriotic and he loved his country. When he received the call of duty, he never hesitated. He didn't burn his draft card. He didn't hide, and he gave his life for this country. I'm just proud to say I knew him, he was a good friend.”-DAVID KENNEDY

“I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today (January 27, 1973) have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.”-President RICHARD NIXON


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;

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth...could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years... If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." - Abraham Lincoln

"No longer must government be allowed to ride roughshod, absorbing the people's wealth, usurping their rights, and crushing their spirit."- President Reagan, November 11, 1982

"Arms alone are not enough to keep the peace - it must be kept by men."- U.S. President John F. Kennedy, 1962

"There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight."- President Woodrow Wilson, May 10, 1915

"It is up to us, however we may disagree on policies, to work together for progress and humanity so that our grandchildren, when they look back on us, can truly say that we not only preserved the flame of freedom, but cast its warmth and light further than those who came before us."- President Reagan, March 23, 1982


Congressional Medal of Honor Citation for actions taken in the Vietnam War on this day 5 April in Vietnam War history. Sergeant Brian Buker US Army, 5th Special forces Group (Airborne).

Brian Leroy Buker (November 3, 1949 – April 5, 1970) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.

Biography;
Buker was born on November 3, 1949, in Benton, Maine, the youngest of four sons of Opal Buker Clark. He grew up in Benton and graduated from Lawrence High School in nearby Fairfield in 1967. His brothers, Victor, Gerald, and Alan, also served in the Vietnam War.

Buker joined the Army from Bangor, Maine in 1968, and by April 5, 1970 was serving as a sergeant in Detachment B-55, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces. On that day, he was acting as a platoon advisor for a Vietnamese mobile strike force company on a mission in Chau Doc Province, Republic of Vietnam. When his platoon came under intense fire, he single-handedly destroyed one enemy bunker, was seriously wounded, and then destroyed another bunker despite these wounds. He was killed later in the battle as he reorganized his soldiers.

For these actions, Buker was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. He was one of three people from Maine to receive the medal in Vietnam, the others being Thomas J. McMahon and Donald Sidney Skidgel. His other decorations include a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Vietnamese Gallantry Cross. On September 15, 2010, Buker's family donated his Medal of Honor and other decorations to his alma mater, Lawrence High School in Fairfield, for display.

Buker, aged 20 at his death, was buried at Brown Cemetery in his hometown of Benton.

In 2018 the Maine State Prison named their American Legion Post after Buker.

HONORED ON PANEL 12W, LINE 96 OF THE WALL

Medal of Honor
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING Vietnam War
Service: Army
Division: 1st Special Forces

GENERAL ORDERS:
Department of the Army, General Orders No. 6 (January 25, 1972)

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Sergeant Brian Leroy Buker (ASN: 5485496), United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Detachment B-55, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, in action against enemy aggressor forces at Chau Doc Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 5 April 1970. Sergeant Buker distinguished himself while serving as a platoon adviser of a Vietnamese mobile strike force company during an offensive mission. Sergeant Buker personally led the platoon, cleared a strategically located well-guarded pass, and established the first foothold at the top of what had been an impenetrable mountain fortress. When the platoon came under the intense fire from a determined enemy located in two heavily fortified bunkers, and realizing that withdrawal would result in heavy casualties, Sergeant Buker unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his personal safety, charged through the hail of enemy fire and destroyed the first bunker with hand grenades. While reorganizing his men for the attack on the second bunker, Sergeant Buker was seriously wounded. Despite his wounds and the deadly enemy fire, he crawled forward and destroyed the second bunker. Sergeant Buker refused medical attention and was reorganizing his men to continue the attack when he was mortally wounded. As a direct result of his heroic actions, many casualties were averted, and the assault of the enemy position was successful. Sergeant Buker's extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
S/S Richard M. Nixon