Tet-68 in Ban Me Thuot information
for 23 ARVN DIV
45 ARVN REG
1/503 ABN
From date 680130 to 680206
23 ARVN DIV was a Vietnamese Army unit
45 ARVN REG was a Vietnamese Army unit
1/503 ABN was a US Army unit
Darlac Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Ban Me Thuot
Description: The 33d NVA Regt and the 301E VC LF Bn attacked the 23d ARVN Div headquarters, the MACV compound, both airfields, and numerous other targets including the bank. Initially they were opposed by only the local RFPF force and the SF B-23 Det. By midday on the 30th, the 8th ARVN Cav Sqdn and the 45th ARVN Regt were also engaged. The house-to-house fighting was so intense that the 23d ARVN Ranger Bn was committed on 1 Feb. These rangers were quickly consumed by the slaughter and the next day the 1/503d Airborne Battalion, 173d Airborne Brigade was flown in from Pleiku. Four major NVA assaults were hurled against Ban Me Thuot during the course of the battle, but by 6 Feb the town was cleared. Over one third of the city had been reduced to smoking rubble.
In Code-Name Bright Light, we learn that several ARVN, Montagnards and three American civilians were captured by the NVA during the battle. Mike Benge, the head of USAID and one of the senior ranking Americans in Ban Me Thuot, was captured as he drove his jeep around the city collecting Americans and taking them to the MACV compound. He was unaware that various parts of the city were in NVA hands. Two American missionaries, Henry Blood and Betty Olsen, were also captured.
Comments: CIV Benge, Mike; head of USAID; ;
CIV Blood, Henry; missionary; ;
CIV Olsen, Betty; missionary; ;
The source for this information was Rise & Fall P:228
Rise & Fall = The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1963 - 1973 by Shelby Stanton.
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023