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| Operation Seward | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theVietnam War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |  North Vietnam Viet Cong | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| BGWillard Pearson | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division | 18B Regiment 95th Regiment 307th Battalion | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 27 killed | USbody count: 239 killed | ||||||
 | |||||||
Operation Seward was an operation conducted by the1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division inPhú Yên Province, lasting from 5 to 25 September 1966.[1]: 254
OperationSeward was a harvest security operation in Phú Yên Province that continued with the same units in the same general area as the just concludedOperation John Paul Jones.[1]
The operation commenced on 5 September and for the first 11 days saw only small skirmishes. On 8 September a unit from the1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment engaged a 7-man patrol from thePeople's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 18B Regiment, killing 4 and capturing 3. The prisoners revealed that their unit was planning to attack the hamlet of Tu Bong and so the2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment was deployed there to forestall any attack.[1]: 255
At 02:00 on 17 September, under cover of heavy rain more than 100Viet Cong (VC) attacked the night defensive position of Company B 2/327th, targeting the command post with satchel charges. The attack killed 10 soldiers including the Company commander, the executive officer and the forward observer. The Company had occupied the same position for several days and despite VC probes the Company commander had failed to move his command post, this carelessness prompted BGWillard Pearson to order that in future field command posts should be relocated every 48 hours.[1]: 255
Operation Seward officially concluded on 25 September, Viet Cong losses were 239 killed by body count from the 18B Regiment, 95th Regiment and 307th Battalion, U.S. losses were 27 killed. BG Pearson regarded the operation as a success because 90 percent of the rice crop had been harvested with minimal interference.[1]: 256
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Army Center of Military History.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.