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Bến Củi is a commune of Dương Minh Châu District, Tây Ninh Province, Vietnam. The area of the commune is 34,26 km2, and the population in 1999 was 4,802 people.
Bến Củi was the site of a rubber plantation (Nông trường cao su Bến Củi) that was part of the Michelin Rubber Plantation near Dầu Tiếng,
Vietnam War
Bến Củi was the site of a rubber plantation (Nông trường cao su Bến Củi) that was part of the Michelin Rubber Plantation near Dầu Tiếng, Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...
. During the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, Ben Cui and other sections of the Michelin rubber plantation were the scene of intense fighting between United States forces and the North Vietnamese Army
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...
(NVA) and Viet Cong
The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...
forces.
Staff Sergeant Marvin "Rex" Young, Company C, 1st Battalion (Mechanized), 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division posthumously received the Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
, in recognition of the repeated efforts he made to save the lives of his comrades near Ben Cui on August 21, 1968. The 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment earned the Presidential Unit Citation for the actions from August 18 to September 20, 1968.
The fighting in the Bến Củi rubber plantation is sometimes referred to as the Third Offensive, in reference to the third wave of massed North Vietnamese troops after the Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...
. The Tet and subsequent offensives marked a major shift from the small hit-and-run sniper and ambush that dominated during the Vietnam War to a more massive display of force and higher numbers of casualties.
Some of the veterans of the combat in the Bến Củi and other segments of the Michelin rubber plantation believe that heavier U.S. casualties were sustained because the U.S. Army had an informal agreement with the French Government to not use artillery or air strikes in the rubber plantations, to avoid costly damage to the rubber trees. However, the Combat After Action Reports from the Bến Củi engagement of 21 August 1968 indicate that both artillery and air support were used.
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