Happy Tet to you OLD Guys

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » January 30th, 2004, 12:50 pm

Let's hear it if we can - where were you guys - if you were in country at that time?

Horned Toad · Post by **Horned Toad** » January 30th, 2004, 7:01 pm

I'll have to pester my dad some about that, all I ever got from him about it was when he was cussing at a movie that showed the Marines being the first ones back in to Hue city after Tet. Had to listen to him rant how they were there first in their PBR,s in the river that ran through the city. Interesting tidbit is that the PBR guys wore black berets as the headgear also.

proud dad · Post by **proud dad** » January 31st, 2004, 7:59 am

I would like to give thanks to the families of the 246 service men who lost their lives on this day in 68. We will not forget.

Slowpoke · Post by **Slowpoke** » January 31st, 2004, 10:26 am

Tet '68.....I was at Bragg, just got married, and feeling terrible guilt for having left my Brothers. I knew they were in some shit and I couldn't do anything to help.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » January 31st, 2004, 10:49 am

Proud Dad - Only 246? For the most powerful and broadest offensive that North Vietnam could throw at us?

Slowpoke - I bet you did feel guilt, but I bet that changed to pride when it came out how well they did on that day? I was only 6 then, so I don't recall what the media published on that day, nor the public mood as a result of that reporting.

Steadfast · Post by **Steadfast** » January 31st, 2004, 11:03 am

I wasn't in the service yet in Tet 68. I arrived in RVN after Tet 69. I always believed that was the reason I was drafted because of Tet 68. Our government emptied out my neighborhood drafting all our asses. When I arrived in RVN, it was at the height of occupation with 543,000 troops with me. This was just before Vietnamization and U.S. was going full scale.

Slowpoke · Post by **Slowpoke** » January 31st, 2004, 11:48 am

Spartan wrote:Proud Dad - Only 246? For the most powerful and broadest offensive that North Vietnam could throw at us?

Slowpoke - I bet you did feel guilt, but I bet that changed to pride when it came out how well they did on that day? I was only 6 then, so I don't recall what the media published on that day, nor the public mood as a result of that reporting.

I came within a signature of reenlisting. I'd only been married 30 days, and I was really torn because of the pride I felt and wanting to be with my new wife.
The "media reported" public news mostly dwelt on the Marines and the "poor downtrodden" Vietnamese People having to fight the American War Machine. If it hadn't been for the media, someone might have noticed that we just kicked their ass and should have pressed the attack.

Steadfast · Post by **Steadfast** » January 31st, 2004, 4:53 pm

Slowpoke wrote:
The "media reported" public news mostly dwelt on the Marines and the "poor downtrodden" Vietnamese People having to fight the American War Machine. If it hadn't been for the media, someone might have noticed that we just kicked their ass and should have pressed the attack.

Roger that Slowpoke. I remember reading after I got home by some government report that the V.C. were no more an effective fighting force after Tet 68.

Well, that may have been partially true because in the II Corp we mainly had the NVA Regiments to contend with. But the V.C. were always around.
Just my .02

proud dad · Post by **proud dad** » February 1st, 2004, 4:33 am

Ranger Spartan, I think you are right about the causality count, it is pretty low for everything we have heard about the Tet offense. I am no historian but I remember watching the newscasts at the time and Westmoreland had just made his speach to the American people about the light at the end of the tunnel and now here on the news it was showing the VC had captured the American Embassy in Saigon and fighting in the the streets thruout South Vietnam. I remember in particular the news kept showing the film where the South Vietnamese Colonel executed a VC in the street by shooting him in the head. It was a day that the mainstream news media turned against the war and potrayed the defeat of the Viet cong over the next several days as if it were America that had been defeated.

Cat · Post by **Cat** » February 1st, 2004, 10:30 am

The numbers that I found were:
US KIA 1,100
US and ARVN KIA 3,900

proud dad · Post by **proud dad** » February 2nd, 2004, 1:29 am

The number of KIA's for the single day of Jan. 31st was listed at 246 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund - The Virtual wall. Today is is showing that 130 US Service Men were killed on this date in 1968. www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionD=2
I believe the number you gave are the total for the whole Tet offense maybe.

Cat · Post by **Cat** » February 2nd, 2004, 10:21 am

proud dad wrote:The number of KIA's for the single day of Jan. 31st was listed at 246 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund - The Virtual wall. Today is is showing that 130 US Service Men were killed on this date in 1968. www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionD=2
I believe the number you gave are the total for the whole Tet offense maybe.

Thanks proud dad this wouldn't be the first time that I had a different understanding or definition of things on this site :? .
You are right I was looking at the entire Tet Offensive 29 Jan -31 Jan 1968. The Vietnamese in the North celebrated the holiday on the 29th whereas the South Vietnamese celebrated a day later. The attacks started on different dates depending on geography. Thanks for making me take a look at my info.