Word: pleiku
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...never came about. The North Vietnamese assault on Ban Me Thuot had caught ARVN defense forces stretched out thinly along a line from Kontum through Pleiku all the way south to Ban Me Thuot along Route 14. In a desperation move, President Thieu ordered the last two regiments of Pleiku's 23rd Division to the defense of Ban Me Thuot. But the North Vietnamese 320th Reserve Division, which was never actually committed to the fighting, set up an impregnable half circle on the western side of the city, forcing the ARVN regiments to take up positions for a counterattack...
...decimation of the 23rd Division robbed Pleiku of its defenses. At the same time, the Saigon government realized that it was badly outgunned in Kontum as well. There are now four North Vietnamese divisions in the Central Highlands. Thieu met secretly in the coastal city of Nha Trang on March 14 with Lieut. General Pham Van Phu, commander of Military Region II. The President decided to take the most drastic of steps-strategic retreat. The four ranger groups defending Kontum were shifted southeast to the coastal province of Phu Yen, to be followed a few days later...
General Phu also began moving the Military Region II headquarters from Pleiku farther south to Nha Trang. In Kontum, 68 aircraft, grounded because of a lack of spare parts, were destroyed to keep them from falling into enemy hands. As the ARVN forces moved southward, the South Vietnamese air force flew in and bombed every bridge after the ground troops crossed it. It was a last retreat. No one is planning to go back for a long time...
...imagine they have their own good reasons, but I feel betrayed by the South Vietnamese government," said Staff Sergeant Vale D. Short, 25, who is stationed at Fort Jackson, S.C. Short was a crew chief and a gunner on an assault helicopter flying out of Pleiku. "I wish we could go back over and do it right this time. I don't mean under the old rules, but in a real...
Richard C. Williams, 32, an assistant dean at Princeton University, is a West Point graduate and a retired Army colonel. He saw action in both Pleiku and Kontum provinces. Williams regards last week's developments as "the logical, albeit tragic conclusion to the whole mess. My bitterness started halfway through my tour there. This week doesn't generate any new feeling. I'd long since given up the thought that I'd ever done anything over there that had real significance. One of the best people I ever knew died in Viet...