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Contact Info
Home Town Sikeston
Last Address Fort Huachuca, AZ
Date of Passing Jan 17, 1986
Location of Interment Fort Huachuca Post Cemetery (VLM) - Sierra Vista, Arizona
"Lam Nut Bau troi, Rung chuyen Trai Dat" (Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth)
~ Signal to communist forces telling them to commence the greatest battle in the history of Vietnam. The Tet '68 offensive was countrywide and well coordinated, with more than 80,000 communist troops striking more than 100 towns and cities. The Saigon region was among those areas hit.
During Tet '68, the 25th Infantry Division was engaged in fierce battles around Saigon and Ton Son Nhut airfield just outside the Capital. Moving quickly into the path of the Viet Cong Units poised for the attack, the 25th Infantry Division absorbed the full force of the enemy blows and then counter-attacked viciously to smash the enemy offensive. The Division Commander, Gen Mearns and his Chief of Staff, Col Wilson were in the thick of it. Both officers were in constant heliborne control over the the action as it unfolded.
Col Wilson was scheduled to DEROS on TET '68. He extended his tour for another two months to help with the battle. Many soldiers give thanks to the 25th Infantry Division for their actions those days.
Col Wilson was one of the chief architects for the "Rings of Steel" strategy (Hop Tac) used in Vietnam. As an Aide for Gen Harold K. Johnson and Professor at the CGSC, he helped shape and formalize the doctrine used in this approach. Col Wilson worked closely with Bernard Fall regarding the defensive and offensive strategy to be used in South Vietnam (see photo).
Other Comments:
Awards & Decorations:
He was also awarded the Russian Medal for Valor, Knight's Cross Medal 1st OLC, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Fourragere. There is currently no provision for this profile to display these awards.
Most profile information taken from: Parameters, Spring 1998, pp. 93-109 "To Change a War: General Harold K. Johnson and the PROVN Study", by Lewis Sorley. ...and Col Wilson's Official Personnel Records on file at the National Personnel Records Center, St Louis, MO. Including my direct knowledge of him - I was custodian of his OMPF and had the opportunity to see him fairly often while we were assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, Vietnam.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase II Campaign (1966-67)
From Month/Year
July / 1966
To Month/Year
May / 1967
Description This campaign was from 1 July 1966 to 31 May 1967. United States operations after 1 July 1966 were a continuation of the earlier counteroffensive campaign. Recognizing the interdependence of political, economic, sociological, and military factors, the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared that American military objectives should be to cause North Vietnam to cease its control and support of the insurgency in South Vietnam and Laos, to assist South Vietnam in defeating Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam, and to assist South Vietnam in pacification extending governmental control over its territory.
North Vietnam continued to build its own forces inside South Vietnam. At first this was done by continued infiltration by sea and along the Ho Chi Minh trail and then, in early 1966, through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). U.S. air elements received permission to conduct reconnaissance bombing raids, and tactical air strikes into North Vietnam just north of the DMZ, but ground forces were denied authority to conduct reconnaissance patrols in the northern portion of the DMZ and inside North Vietnam. Confined to South Vietnamese territory U.S. ground forces fought a war of attrition against the enemy, relying for a time on body counts as one standard indicator for measuring successful progress for winning the war.
During 1966 there were eighteen major operations, the most successful of these being Operation WHITE WING (MASHER). During this operation, the 1st Cavalry Division, Korean units, and ARVN forces cleared the northern half of Binh Dinh Province on the central coast. In the process they decimated a division, later designated the North Vietnamese 3d Division. The U.S. 3d Marine Division was moved into the area of the two northern provinces and in concert with South Vietnamese Army and other Marine Corps units, conducted Operation HASTINGS against enemy infiltrators across the DMZ.
The largest sweep of 1966 took place northwest of Saigon in Operation ATTLEBORO, involving 22,000 American and South Vietnamese troops pitted against the VC 9th Division and a NVA regiment. The Allies defeated the enemy and, in what became a frequent occurrence, forced him back to his havens in Cambodia or Laos.
By 31 December 1966, U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam numbered 385,300. Enemy forces also increased substantially, so that for the same period, total enemy strength was in excess of 282,000 in addition to an estimated 80,000 political cadres. By 30 June 1967, total U.S. forces in SVN had risen to 448,800, but enemy strength had increased as well.
On 8 January U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launched separate drives against two major VC strongholds in South Vietnam-in the so-called "Iron Triangle" about 25 miles northwest of Saigon. For years this area had been under development as a VC logistics base and headquarters to control enemy activity in and around Saigon. The Allies captured huge caches of rice and other foodstuffs, destroyed a mammoth system of tunnels, and seized documents of considerable intelligence value.
In February, the same U.S. forces that had cleared the "Iron Triangle", were committed with other units in the largest allied operation of the war to date, JUNCTION CITY. Over 22 U.S. and four ARVN battalions engaged the enemy, killing 2,728. After clearing this area, the Allies constructed three airfields; erected a bridge and fortified two camps in which CIDG garrisons remained as the other allied forces withdrew.
