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Sunday, February 1, 1998

Veterans remember three-decades old offensive

By TANYA EISERER / Abilene Reporter-News

It might have been 30 years ago, but the Tet Offensive still remains fresh in the minds of former Marine Sgt. Major Troy Hensley and many other Vietnam veterans.

Hensley, a career military man, was leading a platoon of young soldiers on combat patrol on Jan. 31, 1968.

"That's like New Year's here," explained Hensley, who attended the Abilene Grunts Association's 11th annual Tet Reunion Saturday afternoon. "It was an official holiday. Our president had called us to stop all of our bombing. We were told not to fire on the enemy unless we were fired upon. In other words, it was a ceasefire."

Violating their own holiday truce, the Viet Cong attacked more than 100 villages, towns and cities on that fateful morning in a massive surprise attack.

"The North Vietnamese thought that it was a good opportunity to destroy as many South Vietnamese units as they could, and turn the American politicians and the American people against the war," said Hensley, who served three tours in Vietnam.

Once restricted to countryside hamlets and jungle battlefields, the war came crashing down on South Vietnam's cities, including Danang, Nha Trang, Pleiku, and even Saigon.

"There was mass fighting," Hensley said. "The Viet Cong sent all their best fighting units. They infiltrated the major cities. When that happens, it was hard to get them out of there."

The effect was devastating in Saigon. The fortress-like American Embassy came under assault, killing five Americans.

Fighting in Saigon's Chinese district, Cholon, raged house to house, the city's national radio station was fired on and rockets rained down on the presidential palace.

Hue, an ancient walled city, remains haunted by the legacy of Tet. In block after city block, Viet Cong massacred minor government functionaries, Buddhists, missionaries and even foreign doctors.

While the offensive in most cities lasted days, the battle for Hue went on for more than three weeks. By the end, much of the city lay in ruins.

Thirty years ago, U.S. Marines were holed up inside the houses and shops that still line the far side of the channel.

Both Hensley and former Marine Sgt. Fred Nelson were among those Americans who fought valiantly.

"It was a mess in Hue city," said Nelson, a Midland native who drove to Abilene for the reunion. "There was house-to-house fighting. A lot of Marines got killed in that city."

During the fighting in Hue, the sound of Tet holiday firecrackers mixed with the rattle of gunfire and the thud of incoming mortars.

"We knew if we attacked at this time it would be a tremendous shock, so we took advantage of Tet," said Lt. Gen. Tran Van Quang, the commander of North Vietnam's forces near Hue and the central provinces.

In all, the two-month offensive left 1,113 Americans and at least 3,470 South Vietnamese dead. About 30,000 Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers were also killed.

"We lost a lot of good people, but we destroyed their units so that they were incapable of fighting again," Hensley said. "They never, ever tried to come again with all their armies until after the Americans pulled out. All Tet was the North Vietnamese army trying to make a big show of their power and they got beat."

Although American and South Vietnamese won the battle and their casualties were but a fraction of the enemy's, the all-out blitz by North Vietnamese soldiers and their Viet Cong allies across South Vietnam drove a deep wedge through the United States.

In graphic television footage and newspaper photos, Americans saw images of Viet Cong guerrillas breaching the U.S. Embassy compound in Saigon and two Marines dragging a wounded and bloodied buddy from fighting in Hue.

And perhaps most searingly, they saw the street corner execution of a communist rebel by South Vietnam's Chief of National Police.

"It was the first time in history, the American public was able to sit and watch war on television," Hensley said. "The average American had no idea what war was all about."

Hensley blames what he called the blatant spreading of "misinformation" by the media for turning the American people against the Vietnam war and its soldiers.

"We knew the attack was going to have a psychological effect on the Americans," admitted Tong Viet Duong, a former Viet Cong guerrilla commander. "We were told America was growing tired of the war."

They were right.

The offensive convinced Americans that the North Vietnamese had widespread support in the south and that the war was unwinnable. Within weeks, President Lyndon B. Johnson -- his domestic agenda tattered by opposition to the war -- told the nation he would not run for reelection.

"Militarily, it was a major defeat for (the Viet Cong)," Hensley said. "Politically, they got what they were after."

Even three decades later, many veterans still carry a deep bitterness over being called "baby killers" and being treated like criminals rather than war heroes.

"I'd rather be around veterans than anybody else because it's too late for the American people to get my love," said Don Dorsey, a Vietnam veteran from Austin. "Americans haven't done us right. We were expendable and I have a problem with that.

"Very few people were fighting for Vietnam. Most of these people were fighting to survive. We were fighting another man's war. So yeah, I'm bitter."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)