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The American Special Forces operators at Camp Nam Dong knew that the Viet Cong
would attack their outpost sooner rather than later. They just didn’t know when.
In early July of 1964, several confrontations had escalated to full-fledged warfare,
innocent villagers were attacked by Communist aficionados, entire farms were destroyed and
left to rot, and combat patrols from around the area reported countless ominous signs.
Then, at 2:00am on July 5, twelve Green Berets instructors and their Vietnamese trainees
received their baptism in fire when over 1,000 Viet Cong guerillas surrounded
their base and went after them. The odds were not in their favor,
and it was up to Captain Roger Donlon to push his men to the limit until air support arrived...
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First Americans in Vietnam While the Americans and the South
Korean were fighting the Communists beyond the 38th parallel in the Korean peninsula in 1952,
the war in Vietnam was coming to an end in favor of the Marxist sympathizers of Ho Chi Minh.
The seasoned French veterans of World War 2 and their ex-Waffen SS German
compatriots of the French Foreign Legion were then forced to leave the country
after the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Vietnam was no longer a French colony after 1954.
Still, the Vietnamese population was divided. Some locals became fervent followers of the
Marxist ideology, while others opted for democracy and the Western way of life
inherited by the French occupation. A civil war eventually broke out,
and South Korea was the first to offer support to fend off the spread of Communism.
Still, President Syngman Rhee’s military offering was refused to prevent further escalation.
Meanwhile, the United States did its best to support the Vietnamese Republic with weapons,
vehicles, and supplies, following its domino theory.
In the early 1960s, President Kennedy repeatedly refused military intervention in Vietnam.
He believed that civil unrest in the countryside could be solved through peaceful means.
At the time, the President could not afford to have a presence in Vietnam
and only approved sending highly-trained military advisors to assist the Vietnamese armed forces.
Kennedy observed that: (QUOTE) "To introduce US forces in large numbers there today,
while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead
to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences."
Still, advisor John Kenneth Galbraith warned Kennedy of the: (QUOTE)
"Danger we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did."
Kenneth’s worlds became prophetic, and after Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963,
the war in Vietnam drastically escalated. However, President Lyndon B. Johnson adopted
a policy of foreign participation in the war, and wrote to several world leaders to ask for
their support in the upcoming conflict as part of the Many Flags initiative.
The Free World Military Assistance Forces were then formed, sending troops from South Korea,
Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and even Spain.
Meanwhile, the American military advisors in Vietnam were on their own
against a numerically superior and ruthless opponent, the Viet Cong guerrilla,
and one of the first outposts to witness the brunt of the Communist forces was Camp Nam Dong.
They are Coming… Camp Nam Dong was purposely erected
on a significant route employed by the North Vietnamese to deter enemy forces in the area.
The camp was located about 30 miles west of Da Nang and about 15 miles near the border with Laos.
It was a US Special Forces Center. 30-year-old Special Forces Captain Roger Donlon
arrived in the area in May of 1964 to build the outpost with the help of twelve Green Berets,
Australian Warrant Officer Kevin Conway, and American anthropologist Gerald Hickey,
who was studying local indigenous tribes.
Donlon and his men were tasked with training 60 Nung or ethnic Chinese mercenaries at the camp,
around 300 Katu Tribesmen, and a Vietnamese Special Forces unit.
Camp Nam Dong was strategically placed on the highest point of the valley and comprised
over five acres. The Americans and the Nung mercenaries controlled the inner perimeter
while the Vietnamese forces and the tribesmen guarded the outer compound.
Although the outpost was lightly defended, it had everything it needed to put up a fight against
an approaching enemy force, with three mortar positions and several machine-gun emplacements.
From the beginning, Donlon and the Green Berets noticed that the area was infested
with Communist sympathizers. And one month after setting up the base, some of the Green
Berets had already figured out that there were traitors and spies among the ranks.
Still, the Americans put a significant effort in convincing them to fight the good fight,
an error that would cost many lives later on.
On July 3, 1964, Donlon was inspecting the defenses and the mortar positions
when he got a message by radio. It was from Special Forces Team A-726, which was on patrol
near the region. Sergeant Michael Disser said: (QUOTE) "The villagers are scared,
and they won't tell me or my interpreters why." Rumors of an imminent Viet Cong attack had been
running loose in the surroundings of Camp Nam Dong for days, and Disser's account was
one of many. Several other Green Berets had also reported strange occurrences.
During another patrol, South Vietnamese forces found the bodies of several friendly village
chiefs that were murdered by Communist sympathizers, while the owners of small
farms had been disappearing in the middle of the night along with their valuable stock.
A cloud of mystery was brewing in the valley, and the Green Berets knew something was coming.
Then, at noon on July 4, the Nung mercenaries, considered the Americans' bodyguards,
confronted Vietnamese military members after alleged rumors of a Communist victory.
Hours later, one of the Green Berets, Staff Sergeant Merwin Woods, wrote in a letter
to his wife: (QUOTE) "All hell is going to break loose here before the night is over."
Under Attack At around 2:30am on July 5,
Donlon got ready to relieve his Australian compatriot Kevin Conway from duty. Then, as he was
about to enter the mess hall to get some coffee, the roof exploded with an unbearable flash.
Donlon was knocked to the ground, and when he got up, hell had already been unleashed around him.
Fire, mortars, and calls for help immediately filled the ambiance, with Master Sergeant Gabriel
Ralph Alamo and Staff Sergeant Keith Daniels on the phone calling for an urgent airstrike.
Seconds later, the room was blown to pieces by a mortar strike, but the three
Green Berets managed to get out on time. The base was now under full attack and the
soldiers were in position, but they could not see the enemy. Then, as Donlon, Alamo, and Daniels
reached for weapons and ammunition at the command post, another Green Beret launched a flare.
What they saw was alarming: over 900 Viet Cong were approaching to break through the perimeter.
The team's medic, Sergeant Thomas Gregg,
raced to the gate area and finished off three men with his pump-action shotgun.
Then, after distributing ammunition and grenades to his Nungs, Donlon realized that traitors among
the ranks had attacked some of his comrades during their sleep before the onslaught.
The fight continued, and several Americans manned the three mortars with accurate lethal fire,
but the swarm of enemies kept coming. Conway was then fatally wounded
between the eyes while urging the remaining Vietnamese soldiers to hold their positions,
and after lingering for an hour, he became the first Australian casualty of the Vietnam War.
The First Vietnam Medal of Honor
Donlon went from cover to cover to inspire his men and concentrate their fire on the Viet Cong.
He then heard that one of his men, Sergeant John Houston, was running out of ammunition
and rushed to his side but was caught by a mortar round that knocked him down,
losing one of his boots and rifle bandoliers. Houston was then overrun by the Viet Cong.
Captain Donlon was now wounded by three direct hits, including one in his stomach.
Still, he refused medical treatment and kept rallying his men.
With the outer perimeter now breached, it was up to the Chinese Nungs to hold the inner
perimeter while the Americans fired the mortars. Alamo then fired his M79 grenade launcher directly
at the main gate from which the enemy was coming, but it was not enough. The men then moved towards
the inner defenses and desperately tried to cover Alamo when a mortar round exploded between them.
Master Sergeant Alamo instantly perished, while Donlon was wounded a fourth time. Still,
he got up and made his way towards Woods, where he helped fire one of the mortars.
At 4:00am, after almost three hours of relentless fighting and just when they
were about to be overrun, the Americans heard approaching aircraft. It was the flare ship.
The Viet Cong knew that a flare ship always anticipated an airstrike, so they quickly took
cover. The Americans and their allies then heard a loudspeaker through which someone was shouting:
(QUOTE) "Lay down your weapons! We are going to annihilate your camp. You will all be killed!"
A mortarman then pinpointed the location from which the noise was coming and fired 10 quick
rounds, silencing the enemy speaker. The fighting continued until 6:00am,
when air support finally arrived to finish off the remaining Viet Cong.
In the end, over 170 enemy bodies were scattered across the base, and many more were wounded,
while 60 South Vietnamese lost their lives along with Alamo, Houston, and Conway.
Captain Roger Donlon was eventually awarded the first Medal of Honor of the Vietnam War,
and his citation reads: (QUOTE) “His dynamic leadership, fortitude, and valiant efforts
inspired not only the American personnel but the friendly Vietnamese defenders as well and
resulted in the successful defense of the camp. Capt. Donlon’s extraordinary heroism,
at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, are in the highest traditions
of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.”
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on the heroic feat of the Green Berets against such an overwhelming enemy force.