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Contact Info
Home Town Plymouth
Last Address Fayetteville, GA
Date of Passing Dec 24, 2000
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
The Fort Myer Military Community bade a final farewell to one of its own Tuesday with a hero's salute in Arlington National Cemetery. Infantry soldier Colonel Daniel M. Shamanski, 60, FMMC commander from 1987 to 1991, died December 24, 2000, at his home in Fayetteville, Georgia.
A 35-year Army veteran, he held the elite Soldier's Medal. He was a highly decorated veteran who began his career as an enlisted soldier. Shamanski suffered from wounds he sustained in the jungles of Vietnam over a quarter of a century ago.
A native of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, Shamanski was one of those rare breed of officers called "Mustangs," that is, enlisted personnel who later become commissioned officers. In addition Shamanski was a graduate of the Jungle Warfare School, the Armed Forces Staff College, Personnel Management for Executives and the Army War College. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbus College in Columbus, Georgia.
Shamanski had various military assignments in the United States and Europe and served three tours of duty in the Republic of Vietnam, all with the 1st Infantry Division. There he saw action as a platoon leader and then Company A commander with the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry, Company A commander with the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry and later as the 1st ID assistant operations officer.
Prior to his final Army assignment as FMMC garrison commander, Shamanski was the Deputy Chief of Staff and then Chief of Staff to the post commander of the U.S. Army Signal Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia.
For his courage in combat in the Republic of Vietnam, Shamanski was awarded seven Bronze Stars with "V" for valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals and seven campaign stars on his Vietnam service ribbon.
He also held the elite Soldier's Medal (heroism at the risk of your own life while saving another's life). As a captain and company commander in Vietnam, Shamanski was sited for his heroism (not involving the enemy,) in March 1969, when he personally fought and extinguished a fire that raged near an ammunition storage site. "Ignoring the possibility of danger to himself," reads the Soldier's Medal citation, Shamanski saved equipment and civilian lives.
Shamanski received three Meritorious Service Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Medal, the NCO Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbons with numeral "two," the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry Unit Citation.
He was also awarded the Parachutist Badge and the Combat Infantry Badge. He was entered into the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame, Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1994.
Shamanski was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Survivors include his wife, Dorothy, of Fayetteville, three children, Daniel Shamanski, Jr., of Mableton, Ga., Jennifer Vogel, of Birmingham, Ala., and Dana Shamanski, of Nashville, Tenn., his mother, Alvina Shamanski, Voorhees, N.J., and a sister, Joan Derascavage, Cherry Hill, N.J.
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.
