1969 is the 'hump' year for Southeast Asian
conflict with U.S. forces in Vietnam peaking at 543,000, while U.S. aircraft
sorties against North Vietnam reaching 250,000 a year. Additionally, U.S. Navy
sorties from the two aircraft carriers off the northern Vietnamese coast at
Yankee Station were averaging 3,000 to 4,000 per month from November 1968 to
mid-1970 as well. From the start of Nixon's secret Cambodian Operation Menu on
March 18, 1969, to May 20, 1970, 4,308 'secret' sorties were flown over
Cambodia. And far from the limelight of western media, the docks at Cambodia's
seaport Sihanoukville bustled with the arrival of East European ships with arms
and munitions for the North Vietnamese every few weeks.
1969 was also the year that the Vietnam era draft began and
the year in which we learn about some of the most vicious battles of the
Southeast Asian conflict for both U.S. and allied forces. In May, US Marines at
Hamburger Hill (Operation Apache Snow) fight a brutal 10-day battle, while at
Binh Ba (Operation Hammer), Australian forces in June fight a fierce
close-quarter house-to-house battle, which becomes a source of national pride
to many.
However, 1969 is also the beginning of the
end. The 'end' begins with President Nixon announcing on June 8 that 25,000
American troops will be pulled out of Vietnam by the end of August. This
announcement coincides with the Marine Corps announcing early discharges of
26,800 Vietnam veteran Marines. Simultaneously, the entire 3rd Marine Division
and several fixed-wing and helicopter squadrons are moved out of Vietnam. In
July, President Nixon made his eight trip to Vietnam and his first trip as
president. On August 4, Henry Kissinger has his first secret meeting in Paris
with representatives from Hanoi. On September 5, the U.S. Army brought murder
charges against Lt. William Calley for the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at
My Lai in March of 1968. On September 2, Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack at
age 79. He is succeeded by Le Duan, who publicly reads the last will urging the
North Vietnamese to fight on until the last Yankee has gone. On September 16,
President Nixon orders the withdrawal of 35,000 soldiers from Vietnam and a
reduction in draft calls. On December 15, President Nixon orders an additional
50,000 soldiers out of Vietnam, while Air Force Magazine in an explosive
December article, details the horrific tragedies of POWs/MIAs in an article entitled,
The Forgotten Americans of the Vietnam War. The year, however, ends with Ross
Perot making a best effort (unsuccessfully) at chartering planes to deliver
Christmas Presents to POWs in North Vietnam. By year's end, America's fighting
strength in Vietnam has been reduced by 115,000 men and 40,024 Americans have
died.
When I did my first count of named
operations for 1969, I counted 203 operations listed in a simple text file
entitled, the 'Vietnam Archive Operations Database' from the 'Vietnam Center and
Archive.' I then crossed referenced this with the U.S. Library of Congress
catalog for 'O' and found 17 of the 21 operations for 1969 matched the Vietnam
Archive database. Subsequent research from news and magazine articles, unit
blogs, books, and declassified unit reports have so far unearthed another 30 operation names and
their details. As I release the first book in the series of The Chronology of
Southeast Asia in Conflict, I have identified approximately 230 named
operations involving political, intelligence, weather modification, air,
ground, and naval units operating in 1969 across Southeast Asia.
Finally, the reader might be interested to
know about what I call 'operational morphing.' This concept is when a unit or
mission changes names. An excellent example of this is how the 196th Infantry
Brigade's Operation Elk Canyon, became Operation Elk Canyon I, then Operation
Elk Canyon II, and then finally, Operation Frederick in 1970. Political
consideration had a hand in name selection and changes as well. A classic story
concerns Operation Masher, which was a 1st Cavalry Division sweep through Binh
Dinh Province and the An Lao Valley. Owing to the media's free access to
military units and the lack of censorship during the war, nicknames like
Operation Masher were frequently reported by the media as operations
progressed. And because Operation Masher was a major operation conducted by the
novel "airmobile cavalry" division, it attracted a fair degree of
media attention, causing the name to be widely circulated on television and in
the print media. When President Johnson heard it, he angrily protested that it
did not reflect "pacification emphasis." General Westmoreland put it
more bluntly when he speculated that "President Johnson … objected …
because the connotation of violence provided a focus for carping war
critics." To remove their focus, the division commander quickly renamed
the Operation White Wing.
Another aspect in my series of books on
Southeast Asian Conflict is the identification of the individuals who, to me,
seem taller than life. Most everyone knows and understands what the Medal of
Honor is, but when you read the details of the operations these men were in
when they were nominated for their medals, it makes most wonder how and why
they did what they did. As President Reagan said after he awarded the Medal of
Honor to Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez, "If the story of his heroism
were a movie script, you would not believe it."
I do hope my readers find details on these
pages, which inspires them. I know my research for these books has me. One
takeaway from this series of books has been the realization that 45 years after
the end of the Vietnam/American War, nothing has changed. Vietnam is still
communist, as is Laos. Cambodia is again run by the Khmer Rouge, although in a
business suit (Hun Sen, aka Hun Bunal, is former Khmer Rouge). Thailand still
has a King, although the son of the one who met with Elvis. China was and still
is, the real threat behind it all.
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