20 Deadliest U.S. Battles of the Vietnam War, 1965 – 1973
Battle Deaths Dates Print
Ia Drang Valley* 300 Oct 23 – Nov 26, ‘65
Khe Sanh 205 Jan 20 – Apr 14, ‘68
Dak To** 192 Nov 1 – Dec 1, ‘67
Cu Nghi 121 Jan 28 – 31, ‘66
Hue 119 Feb 2 – Mar 2, ‘68
Kim Son Valley 107 Feb 16 – 28, ‘66
Con Thien (ambush near) 84 Jul 2, ‘67
“Nine Days in May” 79 May 18- 28, ‘67
Dak To 76 Jun 22, ‘67
Firebase Ripcord*** 75 Jul 1 – 23, ‘70
Vin Huy 73 May 30 – Jun 2, ‘67
Ong Thang 70+ Oct 17, ‘67
Hamburger Hill (Ap Bia) 70 May 10 – 20, ‘69
Dong Ha 68 Apr 29 – May 4, ‘68
Tam Quan 58 Dec 6 – 20, ‘67
LZ Bird 58 Dec 27, 66
Dong Son 54 Sep 4, ‘67
Con Thien 51 Jul 2-3 ‘67
Thom Tham Khe 48 Dec 27 – 28, ‘67
Tan Son Nhut Air base (near) 48 Mar 2, ‘68
* LZ Albany alone claimed 155 KIA on Nov 17, making it the single deadliest U.S. action of the war. LZ X-Ray resulted in another 79 KIA over two days, Nov 14 – 16.
** 158 of the KIA were sustained at Dak To over six days, Nov 17 – 23.
*** Editor’s Note: Battle deaths in Sigler’s book for FSB Ripcord are listed as 61. Based on Keith Nolan’s research a better figure is 75 KIA, including one ARVN interpreter attached to A Co., 2/506th Infantry. This makes the battle of Fire Base Ripcord the 10th deadliest battle of the Vietnam War. – Chuck Hawkins, editor
Note: Lengthy operations are excluded. Only actions that could be categorized as single or directly related engagements are tabulated.
Source: From VFW magazine, November 2001; reprinted from Sigler, david B. Vietnam Battle Chronology; U.S. Army and marine Corps Combat Operations, 1965 – 1973.
Special thanks go to Rick Blythe (HHC, 2/506) for supplying this information to Ripcord report.