BookHillFights

THE HILL FIGHTS

THE FIRST BATTLE OF KHE SANH

Edward F. Murphy

While the seventy- seven-day seige of Khe Sanh in early 1968 remains one of the most highly publicized clashes of the Vietnam War, scant attention has been paid to the first battle of Khe Sanh, also known as the "Hill Fights". Although this harrowing combat in the spring of 1967 provided a grisly preview of the carnage to come at Khe Sanh, few are aware of the significance of the battles, or even their exist. For more than thirty years, virtually the only people who knew about the Hill Fights were the Marines who fought them. Now, for the first time, the full story has been pieced together by acclaimed Vietnam War historian Edward F. Murphy, whose definitive anaylsis admirably this significant gap in Vietnam War literature. Based upon firsthand interviews and documentary research, Murphy's deeply informed narrative history is the only complete account of the battles, their origins, and their aftermath.

The Marines at the isolated Khe Sanh Combat Base were tasked with monitoring the strategically vital Ho Chi Minh trail as it wound through the jungles in nearby Lao. Dominated by high hills on all sides, the combat base had to be screened on foot by the Marine infantrymen while crack, battle-hardened NVA units roamed at will through the high grass and set up elaborate defenses on steep,sun-baked overlooks.

Murphy traces the bitter account of the U.S.Marines at Khe Sanh from the outset of 1966,revealing misguided decisions and strategies from above, and capturing the chain of hill battles in stark detail. But the Marines themselves supply the real grist of the story; it is their recollections that vividly re-create the atmosphere of desperation, bravery, and relentless horror that characterized their combat. Often outnumbered and outgunned by a hidden enemy - and with buddies lying dead beside them- these brave young Americans fought on.

The story of the the Marines at Khe Sanh in early 1967 is a microcosm of the Corp's entire Vietnam War and goes a long way in explaining why their casualties in Vietnam exceeded, on a Marine-in-combat basis, even the tremendous losses the Leathernecks sustained during their ferocious Pacific Island battles of World War II.

The Hill Fights is a damning indictment of those responsible for the lives of these heroic Marines. Ultimately, the high command failed them, and their rifles failed them. Only the Marines themselves did not fail. Under fire, trapped in a hell of sudden death meted out by unseen enemies, they fought impossible odds with awesome courage and uncomon valor.

Historian's Note. Unlike "Semper Fi - Vietnam", this book portrays a hurried completion of a book to meet a deadline. While the first half of the book appears to be concise and in great detail, the second half presents a "Oh-by-way attitude" that suggests the battles were largely confined to Hill 881 South. Numerous errors are prevelant indicating a haphazardly edited narrative.

Pfc John R.Meuse is mistakingly depicted to be in E-2-9. He was in the 2nd Platoon,Echo Company,3rd Bn,3rd Marines. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for valor during the morning of 3 May 1967.

SSgt Robert M. Morningstar, also a member of 2nd Platoon ,Echo 2/3 was depicted as being in E-2-9.

Other errors placed Hotel Company on Hill 881 at times. Hotel Company was never on Hill 881 North. Many members of the Company think they were on 881N . Hill 881 North was captured by Foxtrot Company on the left and Echo Company on the right. Very little was mentioned about Foxtrot Company being pinned down in a saddle on Hill 773, west of Hill 803 northwest of Hill 881 North. In error also is the fact that while the 2nd Platoon, Company E was dispatched to pull them out, Hotel Company was credited with the rescue.

All of this however, is overshadowed by the malfunctions of our M-16 rifles resulting in the death of so many of our young Marines .