By: Brian Nielson Executive Editor’s note: The following article received 1st place in the 2025 Leatherneck Magazine Writing Contest. The award is provided through an endowment by the Colonel Charles E.  Michaels Foundation and is being given in memory of Colonel…

On January 2, 1968, 19 days before the siege of Khe Sanh began, an unusual and little-known event occurred there that may have helped prevent that Marine combat base from falling to the enemy, perhaps changing the course of the…

Early 1968: THE Prayer at Khe Sanh Faith in the Shadow of War Posted Facebook Khe Sanh Veterans November 18, 2025 The early months of 1968 marked one of the most turbulent chapters of the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive…

I was Company Commander of Mike Company 3/26 on Hill 881S, having assumed that billet on January 31, 1968 as a 2nd Lt. when Capt. John Gilece was wounded by a sniper and medevaced to the U.S. In the early…

The Marines on Hill 881S faced challenges in addition to fighting the NVA: drenching rain, rats, lack of water, you name it. And, on one occasion, too much pistachio ice cream. Author: Bob Koury & Bill Ring Date: November 16,…

Arriving at Khe Sanh was relatively easy. Leaving the combat base, even after the battle officially ended, was a lot more challenging. Date: Spring, 1997 Author: Chuck Dahm Getting into Viet Nam was easy. Getting out was expected to be…

Author describes his enlistment in the Marines, recruit training, Marine Corps schools, deployment to Vietnam, and finally patrolling and engaging the NVA in 1967 along Route 9 near Khe Sanh Author: Bruce “T-Bone” Jones Date: July 21, 2025 Part One…

Describes the lives of Robert McNamara, the American Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, and Marine Lance Corporal Tom Mahoney, who were neighbors while growing up. On July 6, 1947, the Soviet Union began production of the Avtomat Kalashnikova-47…

Spencer was a company commander at Khe Sanh during the 1968 battle. Here he describes his adjustment, including his antiwar activities, to civilian life after Vietnam. Author: Ernest Spencer Date: November, 1991 I’ve done three wars and I’ve had enough.…

For nearly 80 days in early 1968, Marines on the hills surrounding Khe Sanh endured one of the war’s fiercest fights.   Date: 11/14/2017 The top of what became known as Hill 861-A was just virgin land covered with elephant…

Tankers from Company B, 3rd Tank Battalion, fight their way through a NVA ambush on a road clearing operation on Route 9 near the Khe Sanh Combat Base in May, 1968. First Lieutenant Harris Himes stabbed holes around the side of…

A company grade officer’s memoir of duty in Vietnam and his reflections on how the Corps adjusted and responded to battlefield challenges. We are taught by the book. That is, we are taught the basics of individual and unit discipline…

Describes the role of Marine Corps armor at Khe Sanh INTRODUCTION I wrote this article at the suggestion of LtCol Raymond A. Stewart, USMC (Retired), president and founder of the Marine Corps Vietnam Historical Tankers Foundation. Ray Stewart and the…

Article describes how artillery is directed to support infantry in the field. A fire missi on starts with a call on the radio. Picking up the receiver, the battery Executive Officer hears the words that never fail to excite an…

This article describes the harrowing experience of a young Marine during the Battle of Khe Sanh, and after. Date: August, 2025 In 1967, Ronald Ridgeway was a student at Sam Houston High School in Hallettsville, Texas.  In June, Ridgeway quit…

Ray Stubbe discusses the harrowing experiences of reconnaissance team DOCKLEAF with Robert Painter. DOCKLEAF was a reconnaissance team from Company B, 3rd Recon Battalion. Date: Spring, 1997 Author: Ray Stubbe and Robert Painter STUBBE: You were part of DOCKLEAF, weren’t you?…

Archer describes the C-ration diet of the Marines at Khe Sanh Combat Base during the Siege. Date: May 7, 2020 My recent blog piece about Ham and Lima Beans in Juices, aka Ham & MoFo’s, [Food for Thought] generated a…

This article describes the activities of JTAD (the Joint Technical Advisory Detachment) at Khe Sanh Combat Base. Date: Spring, 1998 Americans walking the jungles of the Khe Sanh area and neighboring Laos in civilian clothes, former NVA now loyal to…

U.S. strategy for the defense of the DMZ during the Vietnam War called for interlocking bands of artillery fire, and the firebase at Camp Carroll was the linchpin Date: 1997 American military commanders are taught to use generous volumes of…

In this interview, US Army Captain Walter Gunn, Jr., senior advisor to the 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion, describes the contributions of the South Vietnamese Army unit in the defense of Khe Sanh combat base during the 1968 siege. [The insignia…

Archer describes the C-ration diet of the Marines at Khe Sanh during the 1968 battle. My previous blog posting about sheltering in place at Khe Sanh in 1968 resulted in some interesting conversations. As millions all over the world are…

This “manual” (in cartoon format) illustrates both how to maintain the M16 rifle as well as how things have changed. Today, although the information is still valid, the images would be considered  inappropriate.   Source: The Khe Sanh Vet newsletter,…

Originally published in Sea Tiger (an official USMC newspaper), the article describes the high morale in the midst of very difficult conditions experienced by the Marines during the battle of Khe Sanh. The following article is reprinted from the very…

Author Tourte describes the ship that took him to Vietnam and the ultimate fate of this US Navy vessel. This article by Craig Tourte was previously published in Red Clay magazine. I had the pleasurable – sarcastic comment here –…

Describes the efforts by the US Army to provide the Marines at Khe Sanh with air drops of food and other supplies. In 1993 a monument was dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery to the Marines who fought at Khe Sanh,…

One of the most sobering experiences in life is the responsibility of leading young Marines into the teeth of the enemy knowing that some of them will not come out of it alive. It takes courage, faith, an indomitable spirit,…

The court-martial of a Marine at Khe Sanh results in a method of confinement that reflected the unique circumstances of that battlefield. By Peter Brush By mid-February 1968, enemy artillery, rocket, and mortar attacks against the Marines at the Khe…

The author connects the beginning of the battle of Khe Sanh with a nuclear accident in Greenland and an assassination attempt in South Korea that caused a global Cold War crisis. By Michael Archer, January 19, 2023 (from Michael Archer’s…

Altoona, PA Nine months prior to the Khe Sanh siege, a battle known as The Hill Fights was described as one of the most brutal of the Viet Nam War. During the Viet Nam War, the U.S. ·Navy kept two…

This article discusses the operation of the Fire Support Coordination Center (FSCC) at Khe Sanh. The FSCC coordinated artillery fires and aerial bombardment that prevented the base from being overrun. By Michael Archer, from his blog post dated 4 May…

These stirring poems by a Navy Seabee describe the variety of powerful emotions he felt while in Vietnam, and after. TEARS Listen America and you will hear, The wounded, the crying, the Broken hearted Vets. You can hear him in…

The Marines at Khe Sanh had to deal with two enemies: The NVA, and thousands of rats. ©2002 Peter Brush Note: This article was originally published in Vietnam Generation, Volume 4, Number 3-4, Summer-Fall, 1992, pp. 94-98. Men who received…

This poem describes the memories the author, a Navy corpsman, experienced over the death of his friend while serving with the Marines of A/1/1 at Khe Sanh. By “Doc” Bunner “Alpha” 1/1 MEMORIES of A Wounded Corpsman  by Doc Bunner (1st…