Battle of Ong Thanh

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Battle of Ong Thanh

Date	October 17, 1967
Location	Ong Thanh, South Vietnam
Result	Decisive Viet Cong Victory.

Combatants

United States

Viet Cong

Commanders

Lt. Col. Terry Allen†

Vo Minh Triet

Strength

141

1,400+

Casualties

58 KIA,
2 MIA,
75 WIA

163 killed and wounded

The Battle of Ong Thanh was a battle of the Vietnam War that occurred on October 17, 1967.

While out pursuing the VC in the jungle near Ong Thanh 50 miles north of Saigon, soldiers of the 2/28th Black Lion were ambushed by the Viet Cong 271st Regiment, one of three regiments belonging to the VC 9th Division.

The 2/28th were ambushed by an enemy they had pursued: first appeared a small group of VC and then there were waves of enemy troops surged to attack. The Alpha and Delta Companies were pinned down as Viet Cong snipers opened fire from all directions, the two companies took cover and returned fire.

During the battle the Black Lions were virtually wiped out by the entrenched VC, A Company was wiped out in 20 minutes. 2nd Battalion commander Lt. Col. Terry Allen was killed while Lt. Clark Welch was wounded during the firefight. After a couple of hours, the VC had withdrawn their forces and the American survivors were evacuated by helicopter.

During the war newspapers in the United States reported the battle as an American victory, but in his book The Beast Was Out There, former Brigadier General James Shelton shed light on the true nature of the battle.

The battle also features in David Maraniss's award-winning book, They Marched Into Sunlight (Simon & Schuster, 2003). A 2005 documentary film, part of the PBS American Experience series was based on this book and titled Two days in October. The book and film also feature a parallel story which was taking place at the same time back in the US. This was the student protest against Dow Chemical at the University of Wisconsin, which resulted in violence and perhaps triggered similar troubles on a much wider scale in the US from then onwards.