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CPL Edward Burke-Historian
to remember
Ransbottom, Michael Lee, CPL.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Huntington
Last Address Huntington
Casualty Date Apr 07, 1968
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Quang Tri (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Ridgelawn Memorial Park - Barboursville, West Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 48E 046
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (1968)/Operation Pegasus / Lam Son 207
From Month/Year
April / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description Mar 30 - Apr 15; 1st Cavalry Division, USMC units and ARVN 2nd Division resupply and relief operations along Route 9 to U.S. Marines besieged at Combat Base Khe Sanh in the Quảng Tri Province.
In March 1968, an overland relief expedition (Operation Pegasus) was launched by a combined Marine–Army/South Vietnamese task force that eventually broke through to the Marines at Khe Sanh. American commanders considered the defense of Khe Sanh a success, but shortly after the siege was lifted the new American commander in Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams, decided to dismantle the base rather than risk similar battles in the future. Historians have observed that the Battle of Khe Sanh may have successfully distracted American and GVN attention from the buildup of Viet Cong forces in the south prior to the early 1968 Tet Offensive. Even at the height of the Tet Offensive, General Westmoreland maintained that the true intentions of the offensive was to distract forces from Khe Sanh.
