Hill Fights

de Rod Andrew, History Division Staff Marine Corps University (U.S.)

"In the spring of 1967, some of the most vicious and bloody fighting of the Vietnam War occurred in the remote northwestern corner of the Republic of Vietnam, or South Vietnam. Khe Sanh lies in the mountainous northwest corner of Quang Tri Province. As an otherwise insignificant village that few people from the outside world had ever heard of, Khe Sanh's location astride Route 9 near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam and just 10 kilometers east of the Laotian border made it strategically significant to American military planners and their North Vietnamese foes. Later, in 1968, the legendary siege of Khe Sanh, partly coinciding with the larger Communist Tet Offensive, would make this small village a household name among Americans and a well-known heroic chapter in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps. This narrative does not tell the story of the 1968 siege, but rather describes the equally heroic, brutal, and bloody fighting that took place around Khe Sanh during the preceding year. In the spring of 1967, various units from 3d Marine Division fought a number of ferocious battles with elements of the North Vietnamese Army, some of the best-trained and most motivated troops of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. These fierce clashes, erupting suddenly in steep mountainous terrain at close range and resulting in heavy casualties on both sides, included some of the most desperate fighting of the Vietnam War. In Marine Corps lore, they were known as the 'Hill Fights' or the 'First Battle of Khe Sanh.'"--Page 1.