Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Brotherhood

11/06/2026

On this day during the Vietnam War --- November 6:


1963 – General Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam.

In the aftermath of the November 1 coup that resulted in the murder of President Ngo Dinh Diem, Gen. Duong Van Minh, leading the Revolutionary Military Committee of the dissident generals who had conducted the coup, takes over leadership of South Vietnam.

U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge cabled President Kennedy, "We could neither manage nor stop [the coup] once it got started. It is equally certain that the ground in which the coup seed grew into a robust plant was prepared by us, and that the coup would not have happened [as] it did without our permission." Lodge's words were more than a little disingenuous since he had long been a proponent of removing Diem from power.

Following Diem's death, a Buddhist named Nguyen Ngoc Tho became premier, but the real power was held by the Revolutionary Military Committee headed by General Minh. The new government earned U.S. approval in part by pledging not to become a dictatorship and announcing, "The best weapon to fight communism is democracy and liberty." However, Minh was unable to form a viable government and he himself was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Gen. Nguyen Khanh in January 1964.

1970 – South Vietnamese forces attack into Cambodia.

South Vietnamese forces launch a new offensive into Cambodia, advancing across a 100-mile-wide front in southeastern Cambodia. The new offensive was aimed at cleaning out border sanctuaries and blocking North Vietnamese forces from moving through Cambodia into South Vietnam. The 6,000-man South Vietnamese task force pulled out on November 11 after failing to find new Communist troop sanctuaries. Forty-one enemy soldiers were reportedly killed in the operation.

11/05/2026

11/05/2026

On this day during the Vietnam War --- November 5:


1967 – U.S. troops conquer Loc Ninh, South Vietnam



1968 – Nixon wins presidential election

Eight years after being defeated by Democrat John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, Republican Richard M. Nixon defeats Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and is elected U.S. president.

Two years after losing to Kennedy, Nixon ran for governor of California and lost in a bitter campaign against Edmund G. ("Pat") Brown. Most political observers believed that Nixon's political career was over, but by February 1968, he had sufficiently recovered his political standing to announce his candidacy for president. Taking a stance between the more conservative elements of his party led by Ronald Reagan and the liberal Northeastern wing led by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Nixon won the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach.

For his running mate, he chose governor of Maryland Spiro T. Agnew. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, was weakened by internal divisions within his own party, stemming in large part from the country’s growing dissatisfaction with the Johnson administration's handling of the Vietnam War. Alabama governor George C. Wallace—running on a third party ticket—further complicated the election. Although Nixon and Humphrey each gained about 43 percent of the popular vote, the distribution of Nixon's nearly 32 million votes easily gave him a clear majority in the Electoral College.

1970 – U.S. combat deaths down in Vietnam

U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam reports the lowest weekly death toll in five years. Twenty-four Americans died in combat during the last week of October, the fifth consecutive week that the U.S. death toll was under 50. Although the numbers of American dead were down, 431 were wounded during the reported period, mostly from mines, b***y traps, and mortar and sniper fire.

The reduced number of U.S. casualties reflected the gradual transfer of the responsibility for the war to the South Vietnamese under President Nixon's Vietnamization program. While U.S. troops were still conducting combat operations, more and more of them were being withdrawn from Vietnam and the nature of their operations became more defensive.

11/04/2026

On this day during the Vietnam War --- November 4:
1969 – South Vietnamese battle communists along the Cambodian border

In the biggest battle in four months, South Vietnamese infantry – supported by U.S. planes and artillery – clash with North Vietnamese troops for 10 hours at Duc Lop near the Cambodian border. Eighty communist troops were reported killed in the action. South Vietnamese losses included 24 killed and 38 wounded.

1970 – U.S. hands over air base to the Vietnamese Air Force

The United States hands over an air base in the Mekong Delta to the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) as part of the Vietnamization program. President Richard Nixon initiated this program in 1969 to increase the fighting capability of South Vietnam so they could assume more responsibility for the war. It included the provision of new equipment and weapons and an intensified advisory effort.

Secretary of the Air Force Robert Seamans and Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam, attended the ceremony. The air base became the home of two South Vietnamese helicopter squadrons, with the United States providing 62 aircraft, 31 of which were turned over along with the air base. By 1973, after additional equipment and aircraft transfers had been made to VNAF, the air base had a fleet of 1,700 aircraft, including more than 500 helicopters.

The USAF had begun turning over control of Binh Thuy AF Base at Can Tho (in the Mekong Delta) to the South Vietnamese beginning in February, 1970 – culminating with the transfer ceremony on this date. It then became the headquarters of the 4th Air Division of the Republic of Viet Nam Air Force (RVNAF).

In July 1969, the U.S. Air Force began the process of turning over to RVNAF, all Air Force facilities, material, supplies, and related services.

The U.S. Air Force had occupied 11 major air bases in the Republic of Vietnam. Six of these--Da Nang, Sot Trang, Tan Son Nhut, Binh Thuy, Bien Hoa and Nha Trang--were VNAF bases even before U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. However, the United States either rebuilt or improved them. The United States constructed air bases at Cam Ranh Bay, Tuy Hoa, Phan Rang, and Phu Cat and also at the
ARVN base at Pleiku.

As of August 31, 1972, a total of 4,163 facilities, having a total value of $120,198,000 had been turned over to VNAF. After that date, the remaining 900 facilities were turned over to VNAF.

11/03/2026

11/03/2026

On this day during the Vietnam War --- November 3:


1964 – Johnson is re-elected

With 61 percent of the popular vote, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson is re-elected as President of the United States in a land-slide victory, the biggest to date in U.S. history, defeating Republican Barry Goldwater by 16 million votes. The Democrats also achieve big majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.

Johnson secured his first full term in office after succeeding to the presidency after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963 .During the 1964 campaign, Goldwater was decidedly critical of Johnson’s liberal domestic agenda, railing against welfare programs and defending his own decision to vote against the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress earlier that year.

However, some of the most dramatic differences between the two candidates appeared over the issue of Cold War foreign policy. The Republican angrily charged Johnson and the Democratic Party with having given in to communist aggression, pointedly referring to the existence of Castro’s communist Cuba 90 miles off America’s shore. On more than one occasion, Goldwater seemed to suggest that he would not be above using nuclear weapons on both Cuba and North Vietnam to achieve U.S. objectives. Johnson’s advisers, of course, did all they could to portray Goldwater as a saber-rattling warmonger, who would bring the world to nuclear annihilation if elected.

The President countered his opponent’s challenges by portraying himself as a model of statesman-like restraint. Concerning Vietnam, he mollified domestic concerns about a possible war by claiming that he would not send “American boys nine or ten thousand miles from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.”

Johnson’s statement satisfied many Americans, but any commitment he may have had about avoiding direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict was already eroding by the time of the 1964 election. Four months after his victory, Johnson committed U.S. combat troops to Vietnam.



1966 – 27th Infantry Regiment engages 9th VC Division

Eleven companies from five battalions of the 27th Infantry met a large number of Viet Cong in a three-day engagement as part of Operation Attleboro that was at best a standoff. The search and destroy mission took place about 4 miles northwest of Dau Tieng, in Tay Ninh province.

When the tally was complete 53 Americans were dead and 159 wounded, including five medics killed in action. Two medics were awarded posthumous Silver Stars. The enemy suffered at least 200 dead.

Capt. Robert F. Foley, CO of A Co., 2nd Bn, 27th Infantry and Pfc. John F. Baker, Jr., of A Co., 2nd Bn, 27th Infantry, were awarded the Medal of Honor for courageous actions in the battle.



1967 – The month-long battle of Dak To begins

The heavy fighting around Dak To occurs in the mountainous terrain of the Central Highlands, along the border of Cambodia and Laos as the U.S. 4th Infantry Division heads off a planned NVA attack against the Special Forces camp located there. During the fighting, about 280 miles north of Saigon, the 4th Battalion, 503rd Airborne Infantry earns a Presidential Unit Citation for bravery.

The 1,000 U.S. troops there were reinforced with 3,500 additional troops from the U.S. 4th Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. They faced four communist regiments of about 6,000 troops.

Massive air strikes combined with U.S. and South Vietnamese ground attacks result in an NVA withdrawal into Laos and Cambodia. NVA losses are put at 1,644. U.S. troops suffer 289 killed. “Along with the gallantry and tenacity of our soldiers, our tremendously successful air logistic operation was the key to the victory,” states General Westmoreland.

During this battle, the North Vietnamese failed to achieve one of their main objectives, which was the destruction of an American unit. They came close, but the Americans, despite heavy losses, had achieved the true victory: they mauled three enemy regiments so badly that they were unavailable for the Tet Offensive that the Communists launched in late January 1968.

1969 – Nixon calls on the "silent majority"

President Nixon promises the gradual removal of troops from South Vietnam. Nixon delivers a major television and radio speech asking for support from “…the great silent majority of my fellow Americans” for his “peace with honor” Vietnam strategy. “The more divided we are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris. North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.”

Pledging that the United States was "going to keep our commitment in Vietnam," he said U.S. forces would continue fighting until the communists agreed to a fair and honorable peace, or until the South Vietnamese were able to defend themselves on their own. He said that he had already withdrawn 60,000 U.S. troops and would make additional reductions as the situation permitted. He also reported progress in the "Vietnamization" effort to increase the combat capability of South Vietnam's armed forces so that they could assume more responsibility for the war.

A Gallup Poll survey carried out in the wake of the president's speech indicated that 77 percent were in support of Nixon's policy in Vietnam. Congressional reaction to the president's speech was also overwhelmingly favorable. Although Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Arkansas) and other congressmen and senators who opposed the war questioned the president's sincerity, more than 300 congressmen and 40 senators cosponsored resolutions supporting the president's efforts to make peace and bring the war to an honorable end.