Dak To is a village in the central highlands of Vietnam and in the so-called "tri-border" area where the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia all come together. Located just north of the Vietnamese town of Tan Canh -- nicknamed "Tin Can" by the American GIs, Dak To is populated by a Montagnard tribal people known as the Degar. It was viewed as a strategic area throughout the Vietnam War because of its closeness to a major branch of the Ho Chi Minh trail, which Hanoi maintained through the neighboring country of Laos. Dak To is in a lush region of forest covered mountains and deep valleys, with cool and refreshing streams in abundance. Yet the name will forever be associated with violence. In 1967 the mountains to the west of Dak To were the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war, when the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the United States Army fought a lengthy engagement against major elements of the North Vietnamese regular army -- the NVA. A village is a human residential settlement commonly found in rural areas. ... The term Montagnard can refer to a mountain-dwelling people of central Vietnam: Degar a factional partisan of the party of The Mountain during the French Revolution This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... http://www. ... The Degar (referred to by French colonists as Montagnard) are the indigenous peoples of the central highlands of Vietnam. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam (DRV) to South Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Ná»™i)  , estimated population 3,083,800 (2004), is the capital of Vietnam. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Shoulder sleeve patch of the 173rd Airborne Brigrade. ... The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam, was founded by Ho Chi Minh and was recognized by China and the USSR in 1950. ... The Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN) is the term used by the Vietnamese for their armed forces. ...

Dak To - Those veterans who served in the area invariably remember the name with sadness, since so many lost friends there. For not only did the 173rd Airborne and the 4th Infantry Division battle the NVA in 1967, but all during the war Dak To was a focal point of almost constant combat. Even when there was no open violence, the mines planted in the roads at night by the NVA and Viet Cong claimed their victims, mostly among local civilians. Viet Cong (NLF) flag The Viet Cong, also known as the National Front for the Liberation of Southern Vietnam (Vietnamese Mặt Trận Dân Tộc Giải Phóng Miền Nam), VC, or the National Liberation Front (NLF), was an insurgent (partisan) organization fighting the Republic...

Nevertheless, during the summer of 1969, after the 4th Infantry Division units had all been withdrawn further south as part of US President Nixon's policy of Vietnamization, Dak To suddenly jumped back in the headlines. With the rest of the country comparatively quiet, Dak To became scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the South Vietnam. For other senses of this word, see Summer (disambiguation). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Official language Vietnamese Capital Saigon Last President Duong Van Minh Last Prime Minister Vu Van Mau Area  - Total  - % water 173,809 km² N/A Population  - Total  - Density 19,370,000 (1973 est. ...

With the US 4th Infantry now gone, the veteran 42d ARVN Regiment was charged with the area's defense. But for reasons still unexplained, three companies of the US 299th Engineer Battalion and the attached 15th Light Equipment Company were left behind as support to the ARVN regiment and to defend the strategic airstrip at Dak To. Assisting them was B Battery (155 mm howitzers) of the 1/92d Artillery and a small US Air Force detachment assigned to maintain runway operations. Opposing the 42nd ARVN and their American allies were Hanoi's 66th Infantry Regiment and the 40th Artillery Battery -- some of the same units that the 173rd Airborne had fought and defeated in November of 1967. Contact between the rival armies was frequent, with the 42d ARVN Regiment engaging its enemies almost every day. In the early months of 1969, the US engineers suffered occasional ambushes and their compound at Dak To was the target of infrequent mortar attacks and sapper probes. As yet, American casualties remained comparatively small. But that was about to change. Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the 173rd Airborne Brigrade. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

Seige of Dak To

In May of 1969, the North Vietnamese launched a major campaign against the American base at Dak To. Cynics claimed that the engineers and gunners had been left behind as "bait" to the draw the NVA from their hills, thus exposing them better to bombing strikes by B-52s flying from Guam and Thailand. The American military officially denied this, but the commander of the 42d ARVN Regiment openly stated that it was indeed the reason. The subject is controversial even today. 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

During the ensuing siege of Dak To, from May through July 1969, the American base was defended by the 299th Engineer Battalion, B Battery of the 1/92d Artillery, a detachment of "dusters" from the Americal Division (highly mobile lightly armored vehicles mounting twin 40 mm guns) and a self-propelled howitzer which had been sent there shortly before the NVA attacks began. (Most of the gunners on the self-propelled gun would be killed during a 122 mm rocket barrage.) Total American troop strength at Dak To probably was not more than 600 men, while an estimated 5,000 NVA took part in the operations against the Americans and the ARVN infantry bases. During the battle the American engineers suffered an extremely high casuality rate of about 45%, though fortunately most were comparatively minor wounds. Still, at least 19 engineers died of their wounds, and the artillery -- a favorite target of the NVA -- suffered equally heavily. 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was a military component of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as South Vietnam). ...

Dak To was subjected to daily 122 mm rocket attacks, plus occasional artillery fire from a surprisingly accurate recoilless rifle. The usual time for the shelling was around noon, the NVA obviously hoping to catch the Americans dining in the mess hall. (The NVA did get lucky one day, when the 15th LE Company took a disastrous hit. A 122 mm rocket chanced to penetrate their headquarters bunker, killing the company commander, first sergeant, operations sergeant, company clerk, commo section on duty, and a reaction force which had taken cover there.) Nights were often punctuated by heavy mortar attacks, while sapper probes were frequent. (Several times NVA sappers were killed in their attempt to penetrate the perimeter and their bodies discovered the next morning.) The entire base at Dak To was kept on constant alert, with the men sleeping on the perimeter, ready to repel ground attacks or to take cover in foxholes and trenches when required. Fortunately, this was during the rainy season and the muddy ground absorbed many rockets and mortar rounds before they exploded, limiting the spread of the shrapnel. Otherwise, the American casualties might well have been much higher. The Dak To defenders were on the receiving end of NVA attacks for over 30 days without let up, which kept American nerves on edge. Dak To was cut off by ground and supplies had to be flown in from Pleiku. At one point, the engineers -- who were still equipped with the older 7.62 mm M-14 rifle -- had to pull apart belts for their M-60 machine guns (also 7.62 mm) to obtain ammunition for their rifle magazines. There are many cartridges which use 7. ... The M14 rifle (more formally the United States Rifle, Caliber 7. ... The M60 (formally the United States Machine Gun, Caliber 7. ...

Yet amazingly, despite the presence of the NVA regulars, the 299th Engineer Battalion continued its regular mine sweeps and attempted to support friendly units in the area. It was during an unsuccessful attempt to bring supplies to the besieged Special Forces camp at Ben Het that A Company, 299th suffered its heaviest casualties, losing its acting executive officer and his driver/radio operator and having several men wounded so seriously that they had to be flown to hospitals in Japan. D Company, 299th also lost men during several of its mine sweeps on that same road.

And then suddenly in late July 1969, having taken very heavy loses from the American artillery and the B-52 bombers, the North Vietnamese regulars retreated back into their hills and were seen no more. The siege of Dak To had ended as abruptly as it had begun. B-52 can refer to the following: The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber aircraft A hairstyle popular in the 1950s and 1960s, named after the aircraft A rock band, The B-52s, named after the hairstyle A cocktail This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which...

Aftermath

Later, in both 1971 and 1972, the North Vietnamese swept through Dak To again. Because of the difficulty with the weather and the terrain, plus the absence of the Americans this time, the NVA largely maintained freedom of operations, as far as staging for and commencing battle. 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Commendations

For their outstanding performance in the 1969 defence of Dak To, both the 299th Engineer Battalion and the 1/92d Artillery were awarded the Valorous Unit Award, the Army's second highest unit decoration. The 299th Engineer Battalion would also receive the Republic of Vietnam's Cross of Gallantry unit citation with Palm. The Valorous Unit Award is a decoration which is awarded to units of the United States Army which display extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy of the United States of America. ...