150, 000 u.s. troops were stationed in vietnam by the end of 1965.
150, 000 u.s. troops were stationed in vietnam by the end of 1965.
how many u.s. troops were stationed in vietnam by the end of 1965?
150, 000
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in 1965, the 2nd battalion, 16th infantry regiment and the 2nd battalion, 18th infantry regiment became the first elements of the division to deploy to south vietnam. the battalion arrived on the on 14 july 1965 as a part of the 2nd brigade, 1st infantry division (united states) and debarked at vung tau. the troops were initially sent to long binh post north of saigon and there the battalion immediately began building a base camp named camp ranger. in the many ensuing operations, the elusive enemy had to be found before he could be destroyed and to find him the troops had to remain almost constantly in the field on search missions. "search and destroy" operations such as those conducted during operations mastiff, bushmaster, abilene, birmingham, el paso, attleboro, cedar falls and junction city usually found the battalion operating far from its base camp area throughout the iii corps tactical zone. the sites of these missions included many areas that were to become well-known to many u.s. infantrymen during the vietnam years: the impenetrable jungles of tay ninh near cambodia; ho bo woods; the "iron triangle"; the michelin rubber plantation; the trapezoid, and war zones c and d. in all these places, the 2nd rangers inflicted heavy losses on enemy manpower and supplies. in march, the 2nd battalion moved to a new home at camp bearcat. once settled into its new location, the battalion received a warning order for the next operation, abilene. abilene was a division-level effort to find and destroy several enemy formations operating due east of saigon. the major incident during this huge mission took place near the village of xã cam my and the courtenay plantation. on the afternoon of easter sunday, 11 april 1966, c company became engaged in one of the toughest battles of the war. encountering the d800 battalion set up in a well-fortified base camp, the 2nd rangers fought fiercely, often hand to hand, for hours into the night. although the company suffered heavy casualties, over 30 kia, its soldiers held their own until a relief force arrived the following morning. the vc battalion, however, had paid heavy toll for its attempt to overrun c company. with over 100 killed in action and its base camp destroyed, the remnants of the enemy unit were forced to flee to avoid complete destruction as the rest of the battalion continued the search. throughout the rest of 1966, the 2/16th infantry participated a series of pacification operations. the overall mission of these operations was to move into a semi-populated area and conduct extended operations to find and destroy enemy troops and support areas. these consisted of operations el paso i, ii, and iii, allentown and fairfax. during the first part of 1967 the 2nd rangers participated in operation lam son in the phu loi area and operation junction city, the largest single mission of the war. during most of the rest of 1967, the battalion continued to conduct pacification efforts with army of the republic of vietnam (arvn) 5th division partner units and conduct patrols, ambushes, and search and destroy missions near ben cat. the end of january 1968 saw the beginning of the tet offensive, the vc effort to overrun and win the war in south vietnam. both battalions of the regiment were intimately involved in the us army's own counteroffensive operations during this period. flush on the heels of what was a significant south vietnamese-u.s. victory, the 2nd rangers took part in operations quyet thang and toan thang. these were pacification operations designed to consolidate gains made during tet as well as start moving u.s. army efforts more toward working with arvn units to provide local security for key hamlets in villages in the hinterlands. in september while conducting pacification efforts near "claymore corners," the 2nd battalion was suddenly redeployed by air to the vicinity of loc ninh to help hunt for the people's army of vietnam (pavn) 7th division's 141st regiment. in a classic meeting engagement on 12 september, the battalion battled and pursued the 141st regiment over the next two days inflicting hundreds of casualties and over fifty known kia. after the operations around loc ninh, the battalion was assigned to the "accelerated pacification campaign" in november and continued on this effort into the new year as part of the lam son mission in the phu loi area north of di an. throughout 1969, the 2nd rangers performed numerous and varied missions in support of the pacification campaign. in april it joined in operation plainsfield warrior in the "trapezoid" and in numerous search and destroy missions in june and july around ben cat and lai khê. later in july the battalion was assigned the road security mission along a section of the highway to sông bé province. known as the "thunder run," the route was so-named due to the many mortars, rockets, and mines the enemy used to interdict us and arvn traffic along the road. the battalion remained engaged in that mission until september 1969 when it was transferred permanently to lai khe where it joined the 1st battalion under the 3rd brigade, an assignment which remained constant for the remainder of the war.
16th infantry regiment (united states)