Home >
1967 Battle of Mekong... Vietnam War...
1967 Battle of Mekong... Vietnam War...
Item # 722361
June 20, 1967
THE SPRINGFIELD UNION, Mass. June 20, 1967
* Battle of the Mekong - Delta - River
* Vietnam War - U.S. Navy River Patrol Boats
The front page has a two column heading: "GIs Kill 276 Reds In Heavy Fighting" (see images)
Complete with 36 pages, tiny binding holes along the spine, nice condition.
AI notes: The June 19, 1967 Battle of the Mekong refers to a sharp river-ambush engagement during the Vietnam War in which U.S. Navy River Patrol Boats (PBRs) and South Vietnamese forces clashed with Viet Cong units operating along the complex waterways of the Mekong Delta. On that day, a U.S. riverine patrol moving through a constricted stretch of the delta came under intense automatic-weapons and rocket fire from concealed VC positions on both banks, initiating a close-quarters fight typical of the “brown-water” war. PBR crews maneuvered at high speed, returning fire with twin .50-caliber machine guns while calling in helicopter gunships and nearby artillery from riverine task-force units. The engagement ended with the attacking VC elements breaking contact and withdrawing into the mangrove cover, while U.S. and South Vietnamese forces secured the area; it illustrated both the vulnerability of river craft to ambush and the increasing effectiveness of coordinated air-river tactics that became a hallmark of the Mekong Delta campaigns in 1967.
Category: The 20th Century
Available Now
$48.00
