In early April of 1968, President Lyndon Johnson ordered an operation that demanded the cooperation of the Marines, the Air Force, the Navy, and the Army and involved the deployment of over 15,000 soldiers in less than a week.
The US services teamed up to relieve a strategic base at Khe Sanh in South Vietnam, where the 26th Marines had been surrounded and harassed by the North Vietnamese for months. Soldier Don Sykes summed it up well when he said: (QUOTE) “I’m counting the days till I’m out of the Godforsaken place.”
Determined to retake the base at all costs, Operation Pegasus was launched with the objectives of not only relieving Khe Sanh and reopening its main artery but also neutralizing as many North Vietnamese units in the area as possible.
The brutal battle became one of the largest offensive campaigns of the Vietnam War and would require all the bravery and faultless communication that the US forces could muster…
VIDEO HERE (10:26 minutes)
I missed Khe Sanh by a couple months. However, they were still pretty riled up. Lots of activity. Went on my first patrol at about four days in country. Thought I was gonna die. A mighty green and scared boot I was.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine.
DeleteBy time Pegasus got underway Khe Sanh was on its way to being a worthless backwater again. It was a lot of effort and work to string a line of firebases across I Corps but I've never heard it called a battle before.
ReplyDelete