Battle of Kham Duc - Aftermath

Aftermath

The battle for Khâm Đức and Ngok Tavak was considered a defeat for U.S. forces, described by one historian as "a Khe Sanh in reverse." Unlike the previous fight at Khe Sanh, the application of American airpower "averted a massacre" but could not prevent the North Vietnamese from dominating the high ground surrounding Khâm Đức. General Creighton Abrams described the loss at Khâm Đức as a "minor disaster". U.S. decisions at Khâm Đức may have been influenced at a higher command level by the events of Battle of Khe Sanh in 1968, which were subjected to intense media comparison with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, and the clash of operational thinking between General Westmoreland and the senior USMC generals. If there was any lesson to be learned for General Westmoreland and other U.S. commanders, the battle of Khâm Đức showed that "air power was not a cure-all". The command and control system of the United States Air Force during the ordeal was imperfect, as demonstrated by the "blunders involving the combat control teams." A final, notable outcome of Khâm Đức was that it closed the last Special Forces CIDG camp in the I Corps Tactical Zone in close proximity to the border with Laos. This made ground surveillance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail much more difficult, allowing North Vietnam to move supplies and develop new branches of the trail. Despite setbacks, the evacuation of the Khâm Đức Special Forces Camp strongly highlighted the morale, discipline and the motivation of the U.S. Air Force personnel who took part in the operation. From the very first day of the struggle at Khâm Đức, it was clear that ground units were not prepared for an emergency evacuation, due to the lack of experience in terms of integrating the numbers and types of aircraft in such a small geographical area. U.S. aircrews had to improvise by establishing their own procedures, in order to extract both military and civilian personnel from the besieged Special Forces Camp. Despite having lost two C-130 aircraft, U.S. pilots were undeterred from completing their mission, indeed, their bravery was exemplified by Lieutenant Colonel Joe M. Jackson, who received a Medal of Honor for the rescue of the three-man Combat Control Team.

The U.S. Army lost 1 soldier killed in action and 71 wounded at Khâm Đức and the U.S. Marines lost 12 marines killed in action and 21 wounded at Ngok Tavak. The combined services reported the highest number of missing in any battle in Vietnam, with 31 U.S. military personnel reported missing in action. The U.S. lost 9 aircraft: 7 within the vicinity of Khâm Đức and 2 helicopters in Ngok Tavak. The North Vietnamese, however, claimed to have killed about 300 American soldiers and captured 104 enemy troops, including two American advisors, as well as capturing vast quantities of weapons and ammunition that were left behind. For South Vietnam, several hundred South Vietnamese Special Forces and indigenous CIDG soldiers were believed to have been killed, as well as about 150 civilians who perished in Major Bucher's crash. The total number of North Vietnamese casualties is unknown, but the United States military claimed to have killed roughly 345 enemy soldiers.

In July 1970, troops from the 196th Infantry Brigade reoccuppied Khâm Đức as part of Operation Elk Canyon I and II to disrupt North Vietnamese logistics system in Quang Tin Province and forestall a VPA offensive in the autumn and winter.

August 3, 1970, USAF Combat Control Team from 8th Aerialport Squadron again managed fixed-wing communications at Kham Duc. USAF CCT SSgt David Gfeller was WIA by RPG fire. 8th APS sent in a replacement for SSgt Gfeller after he was medevaced. By late evening, SSgt Gfeller had made his way back to 8th APS HQ barracks at Tan Son Nhut.

While they occupied Khâm Đức U.S. forces conducted searches for the remains of the Americans MIA in the battle two years earlier. In 1993-94 teams from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command located the Bucher crash site and recovered the remains of the six crewmen, the remains were buried together at Arlington National Cemetery in December 2008.