May 1961 - President John F. Kennedy sends 400 American Green Beret U.S. Special Forces to South Vietnam to train South Vietnamese soldiers in the fight against Viet Cong guerrillas.
August 1962 - A camp is set up at Khe Sanh to monitor North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltration down the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Summer 1964 - As 56,000 Viet Cong spread their successful guerrilla war throughout South Vietnam, they are reinforced by North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars pouring in via the Ho Chi Minh trail. At the same time, South Vietnam is in the midst of multiple military coups and continued instability.
August 2, 1964 - Three North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, 10 miles off the coast of North Vietnam. They fire three torpedoes and machine-guns, but only a single machine-gun round actually strikes the Maddox, with no causalities. A second, unconfirmed attack is widely reported by the U.S. press.
August 4, 1964 - President Johnson decides to retaliate with bombings of North Vietnamese oil facilities and naval targets. Two Navy jets are shot down during the bombing raids, resulting in the first American prisoner of war, Lt. Everett Alvarez of San Jose, California, who is taken to an internment center in Hanoi, later dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" by the nearly 600 American airmen who later become POWs.
August 7, 1964 – Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which grants enormous power to President Johnson to wage an undeclared war in Vietnam from the White House.
November 1, 1964 - The first attack by Viet Cong against Americans in Vietnam occurs at Bien Hoa air base, 12 miles north of Saigon. A pre-dawn mortar assault kills five Americans and two South Vietnamese, and wounds nearly 100 others.
February 6, 1965 - Viet Cong guerrillas attack the U.S. military compound at Pleiku in the Central Highlands, killing eight Americans, wounding 126 and destroying 10 aircraft. President Johnson approves Operation Flaming Dart, the bombing of a North Vietnamese army camp by U.S. Navy jets.
The U.S. Puts Combat Troops on the Ground
February 1965 - General William Westmoreland requests two battalions of U.S. Marines to protect the American air base at Da Nang from 6,000 Viet Cong massed in the vicinity.
March 2, 1965 - Operation Rolling Thunder begins, as over 100 American fighter-bombers attack targets in North Vietnam. Scheduled to last eight weeks, Rolling Thunder will go on for three years.
March 8, 1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam as 3,500 Marines land at China Beach to defend the American air base at Da Nang. They join 23,000 American military advisors in Vietnam.
March 29, 1965 - Viet Cong terrorists bomb the U.S. embassy in Saigon.
April 15, 1965 - A thousand tons of bombs are dropped on Viet Cong positions by U.S. and South Vietnamese fighter-bombers. During the entire war, the U.S. will fly 3 million sorties and drop nearly 8 million tons of bombs, four times the tonnage dropped during all of World War II, in the largest display of firepower in the history of warfare.
April 17, 1965 - In Washington, 15,000 students gather to protest the U.S. bombing campaign.
May 3, 1965 - The first U.S. Army combat troops, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, arrive in Vietnam.
August 18-24, 1965 - Operation Starlite begins the first major U.S. ground operation in Vietnam, as Marines make a preemptive strike against Viet Cong planning to assault the American airfield at Chu Lai. Marines arrive by helicopter and sea, following heavy artillery and air bombardment of Viet Cong positions. A decisive first victory boosts U.S. troop morale.
November 14-16, 1965 - The Battle of Ia Drang Valley is the first major battle between U.S. troops and North Vietnamese Army regulars (NVA) inside South Vietnam. Troops of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) respond to the NVA threat by using helicopters to fly directly into the battle zone. Upon landing, the troops quickly disembark, then engage in fierce fire fights, supported by heavy artillery and B-52 air strikes, marking the first use of B-52s to assist combat troops. The two-day battle ends with NVA retreating into the jungle.
November 17, 1965 - Success at Ia Drang is marred by a deadly ambush against 400 soldiers of the 7th Cavalry, sent on foot to occupy nearby Landing Zone 'Albany.'
September 11-October 31, 1967 - U.S. Marines are besieged by NVA at Con Thien located two miles south of the Demilitarized Zone. A massive long-range artillery duel erupts. B-52 air strikes end the siege.
November 3 to December 1, 1967 - The Battle of Dak To occurs in the mountainous terrain along the border of Cambodia and Laos as the U.S. 4th Infantry Division heads off a planned NVA attack against the Special Forces camp located there. During the fighting, the 4th Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry, earns a Presidential Unit Citation for bravery.
A Turning Point
January 21, 1968 - 20,000 NVA troops attack the American air base at Khe Sanh. A 77-day siege begins as 5,000 U.S. Marines in the isolated outpost are encircled. Operation Niagara II then begins a massive aerial supply effort to the besieged Marines along with heavy B-52 bombardment of NVA troop positions.
January 31, 1968 - The turning point in the war occurs as 84,000 Viet Cong guerrillas aided by NVA troops launch the Tet Offensive, attacking more than a hundred cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. In the Battle for Saigon, NVA and Viet Cong battalions. In the Battle for Hue during Tet, 12,000 NVA and Viet Cong troops storm the lightly defended historical city, then begin systematic executions of over 3,000 "enemies of the people," including South Vietnamese government officials and captured officers, and Catholic priests. South Vietnamese troops, along with U.S. Marines and the Army’s 1st Cavalry and 101st Airborne Divisions, engage in the heaviest fighting of the entire Tet Offensive. They retake the old imperial city, house by house, aided by American air and artillery strikes, and defeat the North Vietnamese.
April 1-8, 1968 - The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) begins Operation Pegasus to reopen Route 9, the relief route to the besieged Marines at Khe Sanh. The siege ends with the withdrawal of NVA troops from the area as a result of intensive American bombing, and the reopening of Route 9. The U.S. command then secretly shuts down the Khe Sanh air base and withdraws the Marines.
April 30-May 3, 1968 - The Battle of Dai Do occurs along the Demilitarized Zone as NVA troops seek to open an invasion corridor into South Vietnam. Aided by heavy artillery and air strikes, a battalion of U.S. Marines stops them.
May 5, 1968 - Viet Cong launch "Mini Tet," a series of rocket and mortar attacks against Saigon and 119 cities and military installations throughout South Vietnam. The U.S. responds with air strikes using Napalm and high explosives.
October 1968 - Operation Sealord begins the largest combined naval operation of the entire war as over 1,200 U.S. Navy and South Vietnamese Navy gunboats and warships target NVA supply lines extending from Cambodia into the Mekong Delta. NVA supply camps in the delta and along other waterways are also successfully disrupted.
October 31, 1968 - Operation Rolling Thunder ends as President Johnson announces a complete halt of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam in the hope of restarting the peace talks.
January 22, 1969 - Operation Dewey Canyon, the last major operation by U.S. Marines begins in the Da Krong valley.
January 25, 1969 - Paris peace talks open again, with the U.S., South Vietnam, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong in attendance.
May 10-May 20, 1969 - Forty-six men of the 101st Airborne die during a fierce ten-day battle at 'Hamburger Hill' in the A Shau Valley near Hue. 400 others are wounded. After the hill is taken, the troops are then ordered to abandon it by their commander.
A Long End to the War
July 8, 1969 - The first U.S. troop withdrawal occurs as 800 men from the 9th Infantry Division are sent home. The phased troop withdrawal will occur from July 1969 through November 1972.
June 24, 1970 - The U.S. Senate repeals the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
March-September, 1972 – North Vietnam launches the Eastertide Offensive, as 200,000 NVA soldiers wage an all-out attempt to conquer South Vietnam. In response, President Nixon authorizes the U.S. 7th Fleet to target NVA troops massed around the Demilitarized Zone with air strikes and naval gunfire.
August 23, 1972 - The last U.S. combat troops depart Vietnam.
January 27, 1973 - The Paris Peace Accords are signed by the U.S., North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Viet Cong. The U.S. agrees to immediately halt all military activities and withdraw all remaining military personnel within 60 days. The North Vietnamese agree to an immediate cease-fire and the release of all American POWs. 60 days.
April 30, 1975 - The last Americans, 10 Marines, depart the embassy in Saigon, ending the U.S. presence in Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops pour into the city, with little resistance. The war is over.
"During 15 years of military involvement, over 2 million Americans served
in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed in action, including 8,000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat deaths and
153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000 amputees.
Over 2,400 American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for in 1973."
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