This Day in History: 23 die at Viet Cong bomb US barracks
It was tragic day during the Vietnam War, on this day fifty years ago, when the Viet Cong terrorists blow up the U.S. barracks at Qui Nhon with a 100-pound explosive charge under the building.
A total of 23 U.S. personnel were killed, as well as two Viet Cong. In response to the attack, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a retaliatory air strike operation on North Vietnam called Flaming Dart II.
This was the second in a series of retaliations launched because of communist attacks on U.S. installations in South Vietnam. J
ust 48 hours before, the Viet Cong struck Camp Holloway and the adjacent Pleiku airfield in the Central Highlands. This attack killed eight U.S. servicemen, wounded 109, and destroyed or damaged 20 aircraft.
With his advisors advocating a strong response, President Johnson gave the order to launch Operation Flaming Dart, retaliatory air raids on a barracks and staging areas at Dong Hoi, a guerrilla training camp 40 miles north of the 17th parallel in North Vietnam.
Johnson hoped that quick and effective retaliation would persuade the North Vietnamese to cease their attacks in South Vietnam.
Unfortunately, Operation Flaming Dart did not have the desired effect.
The attack on Qui Nhon was only the latest in a series of communist attacks on U.S. installations, and Flaming Dart II had very little effect.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, National Security meeting on Vietnam in the Cabinet Room of the White House. dated July 21, 1965 photo/ Yoichi R. Okamoto
