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Contact Info
Home Town Johnsonburg, PA
Last Address Junction City, KS
Date of Passing Oct 27, 1989
Location of Interment Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (VA) - San Antonio, Texas
Command Sergeant Major Sisto M. Cicuzza is inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame for his contribution to the United States Army as a courageous and successful Ranger for a period of 33 years. His career began in 1942 at the age of 15, while cruising in the North Atlantic with a Merchant Marine convoy during World War II. After World War II, CSM Cicuzza joined the Pennsylvania National Guard and was soon activated for the Korean War. While active he answered the call for Airborne Ranger volunteers as a sergeant and joined the 12th Airborne Ranger Company. Ranger Cicuzza stayed in the Ranger Company and “Led the Way” from the Ranger Company inception until they were deactivated in 1951. Following his tenure with the 12th Company Rangers, CSM Cicuzza volunteered for combat duty in Korea. While in Korea he turned down a battlefield commission only to reenlist months after getting out of service. After serving two tours in Korea, Ranger Cicuzza went on to serve three more tours in Germany, receiving the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in 1963. After Germany, Ranger Cicuzza volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam and served one tour with the 9th Infantry Division as a tanker and armored recon. While serving combat duty in Vietnam, CSM Cicuzza accumulated two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Army Commendation Medal with “V” Device for Heroism, and a Vietnamese Distinguished Service Cross. General Abrams personally decorated CSM Cicuzza with his second Silver Star. Command Sergeant Major Cicuzza retired from the Army in 1977 and passed away in 1989.
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.
