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Note: On 06 Nov 2021, a decision was made to move the POW/MIA's to the Fallen category. This was for accountability only. The decision was made by the Army Chief DBA, Roger Gaines.
10 July 1967. SYNOPSIS:MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover" while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
As the reconnaissance team moved through their area of operation, it came under heavy enemy attack. From 1100 hours until 1600 hours the team was engaged in a running gun battle with enemy forces. Of the 11 men, only Harry Brown was able to successfully escape and evade the communist force that was in hot pursuit. After rescue, he reported that both MSgt. Almendariz and MSgt. Sullivan had been mortally wounded during the 5 hour battle. He also was able to provide basic data of where the bodies of the team leader and assistant team leader were located.
On 16 July, a platoon-size search and recovery (SAR) force was inserted into the area of contact, but was unable to locate the bodies of either man. Likewise, they found no signs of freshly dug graves. At the time the SAR operation was terminated, Samuel Almendariz and Robert Sullivan were declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.
For every insertion like this one that was detected and stopped, dozens of others safely slipped past NVA lines to strike a wide range of targets and collect vital information. The number of MACV-SOG missions conducted with Special Forces reconnaissance teams into Laos and Cambodia was 452 in 1969. It was the most sustained American campaign of raiding, sabotage and intelligence-gathering waged on foreign soil in US military history. MACV-SOG?s teams earned a global reputation as one of the most combat effective deep-penetration forces ever raised.
On 10 July 1967 a surveillance team composed of three American Special Forces soldiers and eight South Vietnamese Nungs was inserted just inside Laos in the extreme southeast portion of Savannakhet Province. The team was tasked with surveillance of a branch of the Ho Chi Minh Trail which followed Route 922 into the A Shau Valley. Although the team avoided contact through the 11th, at mid-morning on the 12th they were attacked by a platoon-size enemy force. Two of the Nungs were killed in the first exchange of fire, and two of the three Americans wounded shortly thereafter in the second exchange. After a five-hour running fight, six of the eleven men, all wounded, were extracted - one American and five Nungs. During his debrief the surviving American (Harry D. Brown) stated that he was present when the other two Americans - SFC Robert J Sullivan and SFC Samuel Almendariz - were killed by enemy fire.
Search forces went back into the area of contact over the next few days but failed to locate the bodies of the missing men. Almendariz and Sullivan were listed as killed in action, body not recovered.
Other Comments:
12 Jul 67 Samuel Almendariz, SFC E-7, McAllen, TX and Robert Joseph Sullivan, SFC E-7, East Almstead, NH, USASF Spike Team Members, FOB 1, Phu Bai, Ops 35 Recon mission of Savanakhet Province, Laos KIA-Remains Not Recovered. The team came under an attack that lasted for four hours with a superior force. The only surviving American reported that both SFC Almendariz and SFC Sullivan had been mortally wounded. The team was ambushed, not by men firing weapons, but NVA who leaped out of nowhere. One NVA wrestled Sullivan's weapon from him, then shot him dead, spun around and shot SFC Harry Brown through the shoulder, as another NVA shot Almendariz dead. Brown and half the team broke away and ran and was able to get a radio message off. During the rescue of Brown and the remainder of the team, a single Kingbee flown by Cowboy with MSG Charles Minnick without fire support and a shot up aircraft (The bird had been shot up on the first attempt, returned to Khe Sanh for refueling.
A search conducted on 16 July of the area. No remains were located). Cowboy was shot through the neck, but somehow, he flew the Kingbee with one hand and slowed the bleeding with the other while Minnick dragged the wounded aboard. A search team was inserted on Jul 16, but was unsuccessful in locating either Americans. NOTE: The legendary "Bill Waugh" felt Cowboy's valor should have won him the Medal of Honor. [See pg 105-106 SOG A Photo History of the Secret Wars by John Plaster]
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.
