To replace the 101st Airborne Division and the 11th Infantry Brigade in the Army strategic contingency forces, the Army activated the 6th Infantry Division, with nine infantry battalions, on 24 November 1967, Initially all units of the division were to be organized at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but U.S. Army, Pacific, requested that one brigade be transferred to Hawaii to take over the property and nondeployable personnel of the 11th Infantry Brigade. Accordingly, the 6th Infantry Division was split between Fort Campbell (the division base and two brigades) and Schofield Barracks (one brigade), Hawaii.[1]
With the attachment of the 11th Infantry Brigade, originally a component of the 6th Infantry Division, to the 23d Infantry Division in Vietnam, a new designation was needed for the 6th Infantry Division's third brigade headquarters. The staff, in an unprecedented move, decided to use the designation 4th Brigade, 6th Infantry Division, until the 11th could be returned to the division.
January 1968 turned into a month of crises for the nation. On 23 January, after a series of incidents in Korea, the North Koreans seized the intelligence ship Pueblo in the Sea of Japan and incarcerated the crew. This resulted in the strengthening of United States air and naval forces there and the authorization of hazardous duty pay for elements of the 2d Infantry Division in Korea. Shortly thereafter the North Vietnamese began their expected offensive during the Tet holiday in Vietnam, shocking both Westmoreland and the nation with its intensity. President Johnson ordered additional forces to Vietnam, including the 3d Brigade (three airborne infantry battalions) of the 82d Airborne Division and a Marine Corps unit. Those units arrived in February, and eventually the 82d's 3d Brigade, organized as a separate brigade, became a part of the standing forces in Vietnam.[2]
Because of other contingency plans the Marine unit had to return to the United States, and Westmoreland asked for a mechanized infantry brigade to replace it. Army Chief of Staff Johnson approved the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, as the replacement. The unit, reorganized as a separate brigade fielding one battalion each of infantry, mechanized infantry, and armor, arrived in Vietnam in July 1968 and was the last large Army unit to be sent to Southeast Asia (Table 27).[3]
The seizure of the Pueblo, the Tet offensive, and the need to maintain the strategic force prompted the president to call a limited number of National Guard and Army Reserve units to active duty in the spring of 1968. The call included two brigades from the National Guard, the 29th Infantry Brigade (Hawaii), which reported to Schofield Barracks on 13 May, and the 69th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Kansas), which took up station at Fort Carson. To ease the burden of mobilization, the brigades acquired elements not previously associated with them. The 29th got the 100th Battalion, 442d Infantry, from the Army Reserve, and the 69th included the 2d Battalion, 133d Infantry, from the Iowa National Guard.[4]
Following the Tet offensive and the limited reserve mobilization, the Department of Defense ended the buildup of divisional and brigade units in the
- ↑ SS, ACSFOR for CofS, 18 Oct 67, sub: Activation of the 6th Infantry Division, FOR PP TP, Msg, DA ACSFOR for CG, CONARC, and CinC, USARPAC, 837848, 261426Z Oct 67, same subject, Msg, CinC, USARPAC, to ACSFOR, 062056 Nov 67, same subject, and GO 358, Third U.S. Army, 1967, all 6th Inf Div file, DAMH-HSO.
- ↑ W. W. Rostow, The Diffusion of Power (New York: Macmillan Co., 1972), p. 410; Report by the J–1 to the JCofStaff on Special Pay for Duty subject to Hostile fire in Korea, 21 Feb 68, JCS 2478/130, Korea, Special Pay for Hostile Fire file, DAMH-HSO; Sharp and Westmoreland, Report of the War In Vietnam, pp. 157–62, 183–84.
- ↑ Ltr, TAG to CG, Fifth U.S. Army, 13 May 68, sub: Change in Status of Units, AGSD-C (M) (2 May 68) ACSFOR, 5th Inf Div file, DAMH-HSO; Msg, DA to CG, CONARC, and other addresses, 866004, 28 May 68, sub: Final Movement Directive 68–56, 1st Bde, 5th Inf Div, file, DAMH-HSO; Unit History of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), 1917–1971, Ms, MHI.
- ↑ Lyndon Baines Johnson, The Vantage Point (New York: Holt, Rinchard, and Winston, 1971), pp. 385–415 passim; Msg, ACSFOR, DA, to JCS, and other addresses, 859314, 11 Apr 68, Mobilization Order, Msg, ACSFOR, DA, to JCS, and other addresses, 860342, 18 Apr 68, sub: Mobilization Station Change, 18 Apr 68, and ORC-OPT, Fact Sheet, sub: 12 Apr 68, Selection of Reserve Components for Mobilization Vietnam, Reserve Component file, DAMH-HSO.
