Timeline, March 24th

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 24, 1965 (22nd day of the 2nd month, Year of the Snake [At Ti]) (US Defense): McGeorge Bundy reports "a pleasantly quiet week" both militarily and politically in South Vietnam.

March 24, 1967 (14th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive): An armed helicopter of the 155th AHC is crippled by enemy fire near Ban Me Thuot and crashes into a secure landing zone. There are no injuries.

March 24, 1967 (14th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive): In the Gio Linh District of Quang Tri Province the lead platoon of a company of US Marines comes under intense small arms, automatic weapons, rocket and mortar fire from a well entrenched enemy force.

March 24, 1968 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): The 155th AHC has a full day.

March 24, 1968 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Quyet Thang update.

March 24, 1968 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): An enemy ammunition cache is discovered southwest of Hue which contains 76 mm shells used in Russian PT-76 tanks and 23 mm anti-aircraft ammunition.

March 24, 1968 (26th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Khe Sanh: A/1/9 patrol kills 31 NVA west of 1/9 perimeter.

March 24, 1969 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): In Quang Tri Province, a platoon of US Marines encounters five enemy soldiers on a jungle trail.

March 24, 1969 (7th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): In Long Khanh Province, a CIDG battalion and its American commander are surrounded by elements of three enemy regiments during combat.

March 24, 1971 (28th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Boar [Tan Hoi]) (US Counteroffensive, Phase VII): Operation Lam Son 719: Major assault forces are withdrawn into South Vietnam although some airmobile raids into Laos continue for the next two weeks Hanoi calls the battle "a complete victory", claiming to have killed, wounded or captured 16,400 men, including 200 Americans. Saigon, however, alleges that its troops have killed 13,636 North Vietnamese at a cost of a little more than 6000 killed and wounded. American experts estimate that the South Vietnamese have actually suffered approximately 50% casualties--nearly 10,000 killed, wounded or missing--and have killed 10,505 enemy troops while US air support and artillery have accounted for further 8900 North Vietnamese.

Osprey says that the operation probably did disrupt Hanoi's plans for a dry season offensive in 1971, but that it also proved the NVA's ability to operate at the corps level for the first time. Communist aggression in central and southern Laos slackened when NVA reinforcements were rushed to Highway 9, but the war in northern Laos continued as briskly as ever in spite of Lam Son 719. Movement along the Ho Chi Minh Trail resumed within a week of the battle at Fire Base Delta and by May the North Vietnamese had rebuilt Tchepone, Laos. As a test of Vietnamization, the operation revealed both strengths and weaknesses in ARVN.

Late March 1975 (2nd month, Year of the Hare [At Mao]): Ho Chi Minh campaign: Disorder is overwhelming Da Nang and its major air base as troops and civilians arrive there by land, sea and air. As South Vietnam's two key units, the Marine Division and the I Division, prepare to make a stand at Da Nang, thousands are fleeing the area by water while air evacuations produce scenes of panic similar to those at Pleiku.