Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Campaigns -- Vietnam -- Khe Sanh
That night the battalion commander and his operations officer stood at
the gate on 881S and slapped the men on the back as they trooped back
into the perimeter. One Marine, a tall, lanky, slow-talking Kentuckian,
held out a captured rifle for Lieutenant Colonel Studt's inspection--it
was filthy. During the attack, the Marine had come face to face with
the owner; both men raised their rifles simultaneously and pulled the
trigger but only the M-16 barked out--the enemy's rifle jammed. The
survivor's explanation was simply, "I cleaned my weapon last night, he
didn't."(220)
The next morning at 0800, PCV terminated PEGASUS. The operation was
very successful and all objectives were achieved; Route 9 was open,
the enemy had been routed, and the base itself was relieved. The North
Vietnamese had lost another 1,304 killed and 21 captured, while 41 U.
S. Army troops, 51 Marines, and 33 South Vietnamese died. Air support
again had played an important role. There were 45 B-52 Arc Light
strikes and 1,625 tactical sorties conducted during PEGASUS. Of the
latter number, 650 sorties were flown by Marines, 463 by the U. S. Air
Force, 436 by carrier-based Task Force 77, and 77 by the U. S. Army
and VNAF. From 31 March to 8 April, U. S. Air Force C-130 and C-123
aircraft delivered 843 tons of supplies to Khe Sanh by paradrop and the
low altitude extraction system. On 9 April, the strip was reopened to
C-130s and the supply level at the KSCB began to grow large enough so
that the 1st ACD could draw from the 26th Marines stockpile.(221)
With the termination of PEGASUS, the 3d Marine Division again assumed
responsibility of the Khe Sanh area. Task Force GLICK, comprised of the
26th Marines, the 1st Marines, and the 2d Brigade(-), 1st ACD, launched
Operation SCOTLAND II at 0801, 15 April. The 26th Marines, however,
did not remain in the operation very long. Three days later, the new
commanding officer and two of his battalions were transferred to Quang
Tri Base and, for the men who had taken 77 days of the best the NVA
could offer, the defense of Khe Sanh was over.[74](222)
FOOTNOTES:
[70] It was around this time that PCV was formed and General Abrams
departed I Corps. General Rosson then became a key figure in the
planning of the operation.
[71] Although the rifle companies encountered only slight resistance
during the assault, the Company A command group, while advancing toward
the objective, took a direct hit from an enemy mortar. The Air Officer,
Captain Walter C. Jones, III was killed as was one radio operator; the
battalion Operations Officer, Major Ted R. Henderson, was seriously
wounded and evacuated. The Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel
Cahill and his Artillery Officer, First Lieutenant John K. LeBlond, Jr.
were also wounded at that time but were able to continue.
[72] In addition to the Marine killed during the attack, nine were
killed by enemy shelling the night before. A total of 57 Marines were
medevaced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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