History of A Company, 2/501st Infantry, 101st Airborne Division

In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower undertook action to maintain South Vietnam as a separate national state after the French abandoned their efforts to maintain control over Vietnam. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave a supportive nod for a military coup that toppled South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, but was deeply disappointed when Diem and his brother were assassinated. In 1964, after North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked a US Destroyer, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving President Lyndon Johnson broad authority to support South Vietnam in their effort to maintain their independence from North Vietnam.

In 1965, the First Brigade (1/327, 2/327, 2/502) of the 101st Airborne Division landed at Cam Ranh Bay anxiously in search or its "rendezvous with destiny". At the end of 1967 and early 1968, the rest of the 101st Airborne Division (the Second Brigade including A Company, 2/501 and the Third Brigade) landed at Cam Ranh Bay and moved to Bien Hoa just north of Saigon. After just a few weeks, the Second Brigade moved to I Corps near the Imperial Capital of Hue just shortly before the Tet Offensive of 1968 (January 30th). The rest of the Division moved to I Corps just two weeks later and set up headquarters at Camp Eagle.

1967-1968	Click on History Links. Green GIs Find Bloody War Tet Offensive of 1968 Phuoc Dien	Click on the Thumbnail Pictures
1968-1969	The Division Commander Visits Alpha Company A Shau Valley Firebase Airborne
1969-1970	Communists Cut Off Highway to Quang Tri Firebase Rakkason & Ripcord Firebase Henderson
1970-1971	Firebase Brick Imperial Capital of Hue Company HQ, Phu Bai All in a Day Firebase Tomahawk Bob Hope USO Show A Shau Valley Operation Joe Hooper Firebase Bastogne Eagle Beach Firebase Veghel
1971-1972	Redeployment

During the time that A Company was in Vietnam and according to Defense Department analysis, the most intense fighting, based on American casualty figures, took place in I Corps. When you compare where combat deaths took place, 53 percent of American combat deaths occurred in I Corps. Three provinces -- Quang Tri, Quang Nam, and Thua Thien -- accounted for 40 percent of all American deaths.

After Paris peace talks stalled and President Richard Nixon ordered intense bombing of North Vietnam, a peace treaty was finally signed in Paris by the United States, South Vietnam, Viet Cong and North Vietnam on January 27, 1973. On March 29, all American troops were withdrawn and 590 US war prisoners were released.

On January 8, 1975, North Vietnam broke the treaty and began a major invasion of South Vietnam. President Gerald Ford announced that South Vietnam must meet the challenge without US support. On April 30, after many valiant attempts by the South Vietnamese to stem the invasion, Saigon fell and the war ended.