September 28

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Ted Williams becomes last player to hit .400, 1941
American Revolution
Battle of Yorktown begins, 1781
Automotive
Auto inventor Charles Duryea dies, 1938
Civil War
Union generals blamed for Chickamauga defeat, 1863
Cold War
Khrushchev and Eisenhower offer views on summit meeting, 1959
Crime
A cult leader kills one of his followers, 1988
Disaster
Flu epidemic hits Philadelphia, 1918
General Interest
Pompey the Great assassinated, 48 B.C.
William the Conqueror invades England, 1066
Cabrillo encounters California, 1542
Marcos dies in exile, 1989
Estonia sinks, 1994
Hollywood
TV host Ed Sullivan born, 1901
Literary
John Milton's drama, Comus, performed, 1634
Music
Miles Davis dies, 1991
Old West
Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, 1542
Presidential
President Johnson honors American soldier, 1967
Sports
Ted Williams hits home run in last major league at-bat, 1960
Vietnam War
Battle for Thuong Duc begins, 1968
Weekly casualty figures contain no U.S. fatalities, 1972
World War I
British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler, 1918
World War II
General Arnold fights for unique bombers, 1942

Vietnam War

Sep 28, 1972:

Weekly casualty figures contain no U.S. fatalities

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On this day, weekly casualty figures are released that contain no U.S. fatalities for the first time since March 1965. There were several reasons for this. President Nixon's troop withdrawal program, first initiated in the fall of 1969, had continued unabated even through the height of the fighting during the 1972 North Vietnamese "Easter Offensive." By this time in the war, there were less than 40,000 U.S. troops left in South Vietnam. Of this total, only a small number, mostly advisors, were involved in ground combat. In addition, it appeared that the North Vietnamese offensive, which had been blunted by the South Vietnamese with the aid of massive U.S. airpower, was finally winding down; there had been a general lull in ground fighting for the sixth straight day. South Vietnamese losses continued to be high since they had assumed the responsibility for fighting the ground battle in the absence of U.S. combat troops.

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This Week in History, Sep 28 - Oct 4

Sep 28, 1968
Battle for Thuong Duc begins
Sep 28, 1972
Weekly casualty figures contain no U.S. fatalities
Sep 29, 1965
Hanoi announces that downed pilots will be treated as war criminals
Sep 29, 1969
Charges dropped against Green Berets
Sep 30, 1964
First large scale antiwar demonstration staged at Berkeley
Sep 30, 1968
Humphrey announces that he would halt the bombing of North Vietnam
Oct 01, 1961
South Vietnam requests a bilateral defense treaty
Oct 02, 1966
Soviets report that Russian military personnel have come under fire
Oct 02, 1967
Aerial offensive against North Vietnam continues
Oct 03, 1967
Operation Wallowa commences
Oct 03, 1968
Twenty-four die in Army helicopter accident
Oct 04, 1964
Johnson orders the commencement of Oplan 34A raids
Oct 04, 1966
Pope calls for end to the Vietnam War

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