Foxtrot and Golf companies attacked once more and, encountering only sniper fire, took the summit just before 3 p.m. With that success the Marines commanded the high ground surrounding Khe Sanh.Bodies from the hill fights are prepared for transport on May 6, 1967. Survivors call it the “payback patrol.” The 3rd class petty officer grabbed his rifle and left his hooch.
The engagement resulted in 24 Marines killed and 19 wounded while US forces claimed the PAVN had lost 31 killed, while a further 203 recent graves were alleged to have been discovered in the area.At midnight on 9/10 May the PAVN attacked Reconnaissance Team The Hill Fights officially ended on 10 May. During the climb they were ambushed, and four were killed.Marines lay down smoke to guide airstrikes near Khe Sanh in February 1967 and then scurry for cover. The Americans also had near total US ground troops also had great firepower and this meant that the NVA could only use disrupting tactics as opposed to making a conventional attack.
Navy Corpsman John “Doc” Cicala remembers someone calling for him.
Regimental commander Colonel John P. Lanigan ordered Lt. Col. Gary Wilder, chief of the regThe Americans, cobbling together detachments of engineers and riflemen, stalled the attack with the assistance of gunships, artillery and jet fighters but could not push the intruders out of their position.
Trails crossing the hills and low mountains were covered by jungle canopy up to 60 feet tall, while lower paths were hidden by dense elephant grass and bamboo thickets. The NVA hit them with automatic weapons fire from concealed bunkers and snipers in trees.
“I reached for my helmet and there was the tail fin of a mortar stuck in it,” he said. “These were important men. The Marines confirmed the deaths of 1,602 NVA but the number is believed to be as high as 15,000. A sniper’s bullet finally stopped the captain; he was shot in the head and knocked unconscious. He went, not wanting to be viewed as a coward.
Marine patrols rarely got any further than 100 to 200 metres from the base before coming under attack. Company M, 9th Marines engaged a PAVN platoon, while Company M, 3rd Marines secured the intermediate position and dug in.On 30 April 2/3 Marines moved from Hill 861 to support 3/3 Marines and walked into a PAVN bunker complex suffering nine killed and 43 wounded, the Marines backed off to let artillery and air support hit the bunkers and then overran them.The Marines withdrew from Hill 881S to allow for an intense air bombardment, on 1 May 166 Marine sorties were flown against Hills 881 North and South and over 650,000 lbs of bombs were dropped on them resulting in over 140 PAVN killed.On 2 May Companies K and M, 9th Marines assaulted Hill 881S capturing it with minimal resistance by 14:20. The legendary siege at Khe Sanh occurred in 1968, but during the spring of 1967, the United States Marines fought in northwestern Quang Tri Province in what became the first stage of … For many, it has taken decades to get over what they saw and come to terms with the post-traumatic stress. Company E almost reached the summit of the hill when it was hit by an intense rainstorm and the Battalion was pulled back into night defensive positions.At 04:15 on 3 May a PAVN force attacked Company E's night defensive position, penetrating the east of the position and reoccupying some bunkers. A flare ship arrived overhead and the Marines on Hill 881S could see approximately 200 PAVN forming up to attack Company E from the west and fired over 100 rounds of recoilless rifle fire to break up this fresh assault. Thirty-one NVA soldiers lost their lives.The action of May 9 was the last large encounter of the 16-day first battle of Khe Sanh.
The defeat marked the end of France as a colonial power. The hill battles around Khe Sanh cost the Marines 155 killed with 425 wounded, compared with an NVA loss of 940 dead, mostly from 325C Division’s 18th Regiment.
“I get angry when people talk about glory and honor,” Cicala said. The two platoons started forward, but were soon struck by five 82mm mortar rounds and heavy fire on their right, forcing them to pull back.
(AP Photo/Joe Holloway)The gunfire on Hill 861 prompted King to send a squad to make contact with the mortar observation team. The Marines were outnumbered four or five to one. Buy The Hill Fights: the First Battle of Khe Sanh by Edward F. Murphy (ISBN: 9780891417477) from Amazon's Book Store. “All along the line, everybody was jumping up.
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Some days only a few rounds would hit the base; other days would bring more than 2,000, Pipes said.
For the Americans, the base had to hold out for many reasons.
The men of Bravo Company were forced to process these feelings and the horrors they had witnessed while coming home to a country that wanted nothing to do with them.