SHALLOWS

War in the Shallows
Donham took out his fear and aggression directly on the enemy. When he spotted a Viet Cong
trying to remove a dead comrade from a trench, he grabbed an M14 and shot him. “The bullet
went straight through the dead guy, and his comrade went down in the trench.” 142
By 1510, the enemy pulled back to the southwest. Company A leapfrogged by boat to try
to block the retreat while the other companies pushed southwest in pursuit of the fleeing Viet
Cong. Contact was made in a wooded area between the two groups of American soldiers, but
by nightfall the Viet Cong managed to escape the impending encirclement. The 3d Battalion,
60th Infantry returned to the Mobile Riverine Base on the afternoon of the 7th and departed
Vinh Long for Dong Tam the next day. During the fighting between 4 and 6 February 1968, the
U.S. Army suffered four killed and 62 wounded, and the Navy, one killed (Radioman 3rd Class
Samuel Boyce) and 14 wounded. Cumulative Viet Cong losses were 138 killed and numerous
wounded. In addition, 121 Viet Cong suspects were detained, 43 weapons captured, and 45 bunkers
destroyed. Civilian losses in the province as a whole included 230 killed and 283 wounded.
Fighting in Vinh Long Province also created over 30,000 civilian refugees. 143
Counteroffensive operations designed to relieve pressure on My Tho and Vinh Long, two
of the delta’s most important cities, ended on 12 February. In both cases the MRF was able to
defeat large enemy formations and exact severe casualties. From 29 January to 7 February, the
Viet Cong lost 269 troops compared to 12 killed in action sustained by the MRF (9 soldiers and
2 sailors). 144 More significantly, the defeat of the Viet Cong at My Tho, Ben Tre, and Vinh Long
and in much of Saigon by the second week of February allowed the allies to focus more resources
on the north in general, and Hue and Khe Sanh in particular. As historian James Willbanks
described the situation, “The Communist offensive seemed to run out of steam by the end of
the first week of February.” 145
Can Tho
Fighting in the delta, however, was far from over on 7 February. Tet related mop-up operations
would continue throughout the summer and beyond. In mid-February one of the biggest such
operations occurred at Can Tho. Near this city of approximately 166,000, the capital of Phong
Dinh Province, the Communists had assembled a force of 2,500 soldiers, many of whom were
hastily recruited teenage boys, and appeared poised to attack. 146 To relieve pressure on the area,
the senior IV Corps advisor ordered the MRF to make a 110-mile journey from Dong Tam to
Phong Dinh Province. One of the longest transits of the war for the force, it took the MRF far
from its normal supply lines. 147
Operations began on 14 February when RADs 92 and 111 landed the 3d Battalion, 47th
Infantry and the 3d Battalion, 60th Infantry south of Can Tho. Only light contact was achieved,
but ground troops did discover a large cache of enemy weapons and ammunition, including
460 B40 rocket rounds. At 1600, elements of the 3d of the 47th made contact with an estimated
two to three companies of Viet Cong southwest of the city and after over seven hours of often
fierce fighting, forced the enemy to withdraw. 148
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