Battle of Nam Dong

Battle of Nam Dong Part of the Vietnam War Date July 6, 1964 Location Nam Dong, Vietnam UTM Grid YC 865-838[1] Result Pyrrhic Allied victory Belligerents  South Vietnam  United States  Australia Viet Cong Commanders Roger H. C. Donlon Unknown Strength 300+ 12 1 1,000+ Casualties and losses 115 dead and wounded 9 dead and wounded 1 dead 62+ bodies left

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The Battle of Nam Dong was fought on July 6, 1964, when the Viet Cong attacked the Nam Dong CIDG camp in an attempt to overrun it.

Battle

Nam Dong is situated 32 miles west of Da Nang in a valley near the Laotian border; it was manned by South Vietnamese personnel with American and Australian advisers.

The Viet Cong struck at the camp at 2:30AM to achieve the element of surprise, and reached the outer perimeter where South Vietnamese special forces managed to hold out. The battle lasted for five hours when the Viet Cong decided to abort the mission. At 9:45AM six USMC helicopters arrived to extract the special forces. At the end of the battle, a total of 372 allies (12 American Green Berets, 300 South Vietnamese, and 60 Nung soldiers) held off deadly attacks against 900 Viet Cong.

For his actions at Nam Dong, Captain R. C. Donlon was the first American to receive the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.^[2]

Aftermath

It was at this contact that the Australian member of the Australian Army Training Team (Vietnam) AATTV, Warrant Officer Kevin Conway, was cited by his commander, then Colonel Francis Philip (Ted) Serong for a Victoria Cross, the highest gallantry award for Australian service personnel. Kevin Conway was in a forward weapon pit with an American Master Sergeant, Gabriel Alamo, who was killed in the North Vietnamese assault. Conway alone fired his mortar upon the assaulting enemy in ever decreasing range fire until he was forced to bring his mortar fire upon himself to save the perimeter of the base.

Sergeant Terrance D Terrin, U.S. Army Green Beret Medic was awarded the silver star for gallantry in battle.

Warrant Officer Conway has never received the cited award for Valour. He was the first Australian to be killed in action in the Vietnam war. Serong stated that it was American Special Forces politics that denied Conway his Victoria Cross. M/Sgt Alamo was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The Green Berets

A key battle scene in the 1968 film The Green Berets was based on this battle.

See also

• Viet Cong and PAVN strategy and tactics

Notes

External links

• Origins of Special Forces