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C-130 delivering supplies to the Marines at Khe Sanh
Episode 2779 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the Battle of Khe Sanh as told by Marine Ronald Echols who was there. The featured story comes from The U.S. Marine website and was titled: Veteran Remembers Battle of Khe Sanh. It was submitted by 1st Lt. Isaac Lamberth and MC1 Pedro Rodriguez.
In the featured story it was reported that this year the U.S. Marine Corps commemorates 55 years since the Battle of Khe Sanh, which lasted from January 21 to March 31, 1968.
In early 1968, Khe Sanh Combat Base gained world-wide attention as the roughly 6,000 Marines defending the base were encircled and besieged by three North Vietnamese Army regiments of about 20,000 troops. For 77 days, the Marines and their South Vietnamese counterparts, with support from an element of U.S. Army soldiers and U.S. Air Force bombers, would endure one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.
Among the Marines defending the base was U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Ronald Echols, who was serving with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, 3rd Marine Division on Hill 881 South.
After the battle, Echols said this. “You get a bond with your fellow Marines that’s indescribable. I’ve got two brothers, but I’ve never had with them the bond I had with the guys I was in combat with. They were my brothers.”
Echols received a battlefield commission and a Bronze Star for his actions during the Battle of Khe Sanh. According to his Bronze Star Medal citation, “on numerous occasions, Staff Sgt. Echols served as a platoon commander, a billet normally assigned to a commissioned officer, and repeatedly disregarded his own safety to maneuver his unit against the enemy.
Listen to episode 2779 and discover more about the Battle of Khe Sanh through the eyes of Marine Ronald Echols who was there.
