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Casualty Info
Home Town Lugoff, SC
Last Address Lugoff ,SC
Casualty Date Mar 14, 1968
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Quang Tri (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Rock Hill Baptist Church - Ridgeway, South Carolina
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase V Campaign (68)
From Month/Year
July / 1968
To Month/Year
November / 1968
Description This campaign was from 1 July to 1 November 1968. During this period a country-wide effort was begun to restore government control of territory lost to the enemy since the Tet offensive. The enemy attempted another such offensive on 17-18 August but his efforts were comparatively feeble and were quickly overwhelmed by Allied forces.
In the fall of 1968 the South Vietnamese government, with major U.S. support, launched an accelerated pacification campaign. All friendly forces were coordinated and brought to bear on the enemy in every tactical area of operation. In these intensified operations, friendly units first secured a target area, then Vietnamese government units, regional forces/popular forces, police and civil authorities screened the inhabitants, seeking members of the Viet Cong infrastructure. This technique was so successful against the political apparatus that it became the basis for subsequent friendly operations. Government influence expanded into areas of the countryside previously dominated by the Viet Cong to such an extent that two years later at least some measure of government control was evident in all but a few remote regions.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
July / 1968
To Month/Year
November / 1968
Last Updated: Dec 22, 2023
Personal Memories
Memories From October to the end of November, the MRF searched for enemy troops reportedly concentrated north of the Mekong between Sa Dec and Dong Tam, but the enemy avoided contact. Then, on 4 December the Viet Cong triggered an ambush against River Assault Division 112 on the Ruong Canal northeast of Sa Dec. The river sailors turned the tables when they fought through the ambush and landed troops on the enemy?s flank. Soon other American and Vietnamese combat units surrounded and killed 266 Viet Cong and captured 321 small arms and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. MRF actions during the 1968 Tet offensive were the key to the allied military success in the delta and earned the force the Presidential Unit Citation, exploiting the inherent mobility and firepower of the riverine command. COMUSMACV used it as his primary reaction force in the vast delta. During the first week of February 1968, the MRF battled through the streets of My Tho to help recapture the overrun city, and then shifted to Vinh Long for several days of intense combat with three Viet Cong battalions. For the rest of the month the Army-Navy team fought around the deltas chief city, Can Tho. The force killed 544 of the enemy in this period of almost constant crisis. During the first three months of 1968, the MRB traveled almost 1,000 kilometers while conducting operations in Dinh Tuong Province and entering new areas in Vinh Long and Phong Dinh Provinces. In March, 10 armored troop carriers, 3 monitors, and 1 command and control boat of River Assault Division 112 deployed to I corps and supported allied ground troops with gunfire on the vital Cua Viet and Perfume Rivers.
