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LTC Tim Stoy (Dragon5)
to remember
O'Daniel, John Wilson, Sr. (Iron Mike), LTG USA(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Newark, Delaware
Last Address San Diego, California
Date of Passing Mar 27, 1975
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Lt. Gen. John W. O'Daniel commanded the US Army, Pacific from September 1952 to April 1954. A veteran of both world wars and Korea, the most famous soldier he commanded was Audie Murphy. Commissioned in 1917 through the Reserve Officers Training Camp into the Infantry, he graduated that same year from the University of Delaware.
During World War I, O'Daniel took part in the offensives of Meuse-Argonne and St. Mihiel where he was wounded in action. During World War II, he took command of the 168th Infantry in North Africa which captured Algiers. In 1943 he served as deputy commander for the 3rd Infantry Division that landed in Sicily. In 1944 he commanded the 3rd Division in Italy. He led that same division in Germany where it broke through the Siegfried Line, crossed the Rhine, and captured Munich and Nuremburg. German Field Marshal Kesselring, who surrendered to him, said that the 3rd Division was "the best we faced." Gen. O'Daniel lost his son, a paratrooper, over Holland in 1944.
After the war, O'Daniel was named Military Attache to the Soviet Union in 1948. In 1951 he commanded I Corps in Korea before taking the Hawaiian command. His final assignment before retirement was Chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group for Indo-China. After withdrawal of French forces there, he helped train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).
Among Gen. O'Daniel's awards are the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. He died on 27 March 1975.
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.