Enjoying the life of retirement with my wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Other Comments:
I retired first and then my wife, then we MOVED FROM TEXAS to the site that God Blessed
Remembrance Profiles -
1 Soldier Remembered
Baliey, Perry, SP 5
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.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember
When I first joined the Army( Kansas City, MO) I looked around the room and there were all young boys standing in their shorts and socks freezing going to and from each station along with me and wondering if we did the wrong thing. I thought to myself, I do not know anyone around the only thing we had in common was how we were dressed and turning blue. My next stop was getting blood drawn. As they started to draw blood, I heard a big crash behind me. There was this big tall African- American laying out cold on the floor, I was told that he turned white as a sheet and went down. I told them "now is the time to draw his blood, or you might not get to when he comes around. Then off we go in a bus heading for boot camp, I heard someone say "it's off to ft lost in the woods we all go". After boot, I got orders to Ft Rucker for fixed-wing training. After that, I was assigned to the 11th Air Assault, at Ft Benning, GA OJT for rotor wing. Now I was wounding school for fixed-wing and now to rotor-wing?? Oh well, guess that is what they wanted so off I went, After training was over we were called in as a group told to go to a hanger. The Sargent stated that we needed volunteers for Viet Nam. Everybody got real quiet. The Sargent.then started to point out the ones to go. Why he did it that way I don't know, but out of all that was picked there was one got on his knees and begged not to go, I don't know if he did or not go, all I know is that no one wanted him to go with our group. That was on a Friday and we left on the following Monday. Boy when the Army wants to move fast, they do.
After we island hoped from the states we landed in Saigon, we then ushered into what
at look like a cattle car and was told to get as far back as we can because there were more troops coming to load up., now I thought it was hot before it got even hotter, then we were unloaded and told to grab our duffel bags then load up on the coppers that we were assigned to, mind went to Plaque, spent the night with Charlie calling out loud and that made for a sleepless night, welcome to Viet Nam. In the morning after we had chow, then again another copter to the 140th at Quinan for a short stay then another ride to a change of orders to the 165th, Bam Me Thuot. After Viet Nam, and back to the world and 45 days leave I went back to Ft Rucker as an instructor on UHI after about 2 or 3 months was told there was too many of my MOS there so they put me in the motor pool driving Vip's around the base during the week and a 45 pax bus on the weekends when my enlistment was up I got out and went back home.
I made a lot of friends in the Army and lost some brothers-sisters-in arms in what I call a useless war and still have that feeling, I will remember ALL of them forever.
Boys off to a war that was not popular and then the ones that did come back were spat on and called baby killer and other names I don't care to say.
No greeting at the airport as heroes we had to slip into the bathroom at the airport and change into civilian clothes so as not to be seen as someone in the military but as killers of innocents.
