[136], Operation Meade River was a 1st Marine Division cordon and search operation in Dodge City, Quảng Nam Province. [31], General Westmoreland in his annual report said "In many areas the enemy has been driven away from the population centers; in others he has been compelled to disperse and evade contact thus nullifying much of his potential. [30], In Time magazine, General Westmoreland said, "the Communists seem to have run temporarily out of steam. A few of the buildings suffered direct hits from the rockets. [120], In a telephone conference call with all three of the major U.S. presidential candidates, President Johnson informed them that he had no plans to change the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. killed. [66], Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford gets the President to authorize 24,500 more troops on an emergency basis, raising authorized strength to the Vietnam War's peak of 549,500, a figure never reached. Johnson received 49.6% of the votes cast, but McCarthy who had campaigned on a platform of ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam got 41.9% despite being relatively unknown outside of his home state. They rebel in the street. Present at the shooting were Adams and an NBC television news crew. [40] They were later awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism against hostile forces during the Tet Offensive, making them one of only a few non-U.S. military units to receive the highest U.S. military honor awarded at the unit level. "[7]:872, Operation Igloo White was a covert U.S. military electronic warfare operation carried out by the USAF 553d Reconnaissance Wing and the United States Navy VO-67 squadron to detect and interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail. "[119], Operation Sealords was launched to disrupt PAVN/VC supply lines in and around the Mekong Delta. While initially successful the arrival of PAVN reinforcements from the 316th Division forced the RLA to withdraw. [92]:31, A gunship from the 120th Assault Helicopter Company fired a 2.75-inch rocket that struck a building that contained the forward command post of the ARVN 30th Ranger Battalion. The operation resulted in 1,931 VC and 129 U.S. [18], The Kampuchean Revolutionary Army was established by the orders of Pol Pot, the leader of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). [35], The PAVN/VC attacked major politico-military installations in and around Saigon. [89]:39, The second phase of the May Offensive attacks on Saigon began. killed. Wheeler advised Westmoreland that a major reinforcement and expansion of ground operations were out of the question. Thirty-two VC were killed. The ARVN and three understrength U.S. Marine battalions attacked and defeated more than 10,000 entrenched PAVN/VC. "It doesn't make any difference to the soldier whether he is killed by a rusty knife or a nuclear explosion," LeMay commented, adding, "In fact, I'd lean toward the nuclear weapon. At the end of January, the PAVN and VC launched the Tet Offensive. U.S. Secretary of State Rusk stated that nearly three months after the U.S. had limited its bombing to below the 17th parallel, infiltration by PAVN troops into South Vietnam had increased to record levels and North Vietnam had started a campaign of indiscrimate rocket attacks into residential areas of Saigon. [130][131], The Paris Peace Talks were called off less than 24 hours before they were to open, after the VC negotiator, Nguyen Thi Binh, said at her press conference that the group had a series of demands before it would negotiate, and the conditions were unacceptable to South Vietnam. [22], North Korean commandos carry out the Blue House raid, the most significant escalation in the low-intensity conflict that had been underway in South Korea since October 1966. 152 members of the VC Quyet Thang Regiment surrendered to ARVN forces, the largest communist surrender of the war. killed. The exception would be a Navy seaman who was given permission by his superiors to accept release because he had memorized the names of all his fellow prisoners of war. Some sections of the city were left badly damaged by the combat and U.S. retaliatory air and artillery strikes in particular. A long list of "counterrevolutionary" crimes was subject to punishments ranging from brief detention, to life in prison or the death penalty. killed. RLA losses were 300 killed and 400 missing while PAVN/Pathet Lao losses are unknown. Sapper Bns and the local forces attacked the Presidential Palace, the National Radio Station, the US Embassy, and other principal targets.