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Contact Info
Home Town Fayetteville, North Carolina
Last Address Columbia, Virginia
Date of Passing Mar 22, 2013
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Anthony Dodge was born on March 19, 1938, in North Carolina. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 23, 1956, completed basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in March 1956, and completed Advanced Individual Training as an Artillery Fire Control Crewman at Fort Bliss, Texas, in June 1956. His first assignment was as an Artillery Fire Control Crewman with Battery B, 550th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion at Norfolk, Virginia, from June to November 1956, followed by service as a Radar Operator and Ammo Handler with Battery C, 25th Anti-Aircraft Battalion in West Germany from November 1956 to September 1958. Sgt Dodge next served as a Fire Control Helper with Battery C, 4th Missile Battalion of the 6th Artillery Regiment in West Germany from September 1958 to August 1959, and then as a Fire Control Operator with Battery C, 3rd Missile Battalion of the 562nd Artillery Regiment at La Plata, Maryland, from August 1959 to September 1961. He served as a Radar Operator with the 502nd Airborne Company of the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas, from September 1961 to January 1963, followed by service as a Radar Operator with 1st Brigade of the 7th Cavalry Regiment in South Vietnam from January to July 1963. Sgt Dodge next served as a Radar Operator with the 15th Aviation Company in South Vietnam from July 1963 to February 1964, and then as a Drone Aircraft Operator with Company G (CET) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, from February 1964 to June 1965. After completing Airborne School, Special Forces training, and Intelligence School, Sgt Dodge served as an Intelligence Sergeant with Company B, 6th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from March 1966 to July 1967, followed by service as an Intelligence Sergeant with Company B, 5th Special Forces Group in South Vietnam from July 1967 to September 1968. His next assignment was as an instructor with the Special Forces Training Group and then the U.S. Army Institute for Military Assistance at Fort Bragg from September 1968 to March 1971. During this time he served as the Radio Telephone Operator with Headquarters Element of the Blueboy Assault Group during the Son Tay Raid, a clandestine mission to rescue American Prisoners of War in North Vietnam on November 21, 1970. Sgt Dodge next served as Assistant Operations NCO with the U.S. Army Vietnam Training Advisory Group in South Vietnam from May 1971 to March 1972, followed by service as Intelligence Sergeant and then Operations Sergeant with Company A, 3rd Battalion of the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg from April 1972 until his retirement from the Army on February 1, 1976. Anthony Dodge died on March 22, 2013, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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.
