page_title: 1969 in the Vietnam War
section_title: September
hierarchical_section_title: 1969 in the Vietnam War / September
caption_attribution_description: English: William Calley Jr. mugshot for charges involving the My Lai massacre.
context_page_description: 6 January
  The South Vietnamese Minister of Education, Dr. Le Minh Tri, was killed when two VC on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade through the window of the car in which he was riding.
  12 January to 7 February
  In Operation Bold Mariner the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines clear, search and depopulate the Batangan Peninsula a Viet Cong stronghold in Quảng Ngãi Province.
  18 January
  The parties to the Paris Peace Talks came to an agreement on the shape of the conference tables and the placement of the representatives who were negotiating an end to the war. After being delayed for nearly six weeks over procedural disagreements raised by South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, the parties came to an accord that "The two sides would be 'clearly separated' by two rectangular tables with a round one in the middle" and that the tables would have "no nameplates, no flags and no written minutes of the understanding" on the setup.
  20 January
  Richard Nixon is inaugurated as 37th President of the United States.
  21 January
  The White House issues National Security Study Memorandum 1 to the U.S.
context_section_description: 2 September
  With the outcome of the war still in question, Hồ Chí Minh died on the morning of 2 September 1969, at his home in Hanoi at age 79 from heart failure.
  5 September
  U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley was charged with six counts of premeditated murder for the 1968 My Lai Massacre.
  14 September
  A shaped charge on the perimeter of Firebase Gela accidentally discharged killing 8 U.S. soldiers.
  14 September - 25 April 1970
  Campaign 139 was a PAVN combined arms rainy season offensive to recapture the Plain of Jars. The PAVN were eventually forced back with extensive air support but they had succeeded in inflicting heavy losses on the RLA.  
  20 September
  74 of 75 persons on an Air Vietnam Douglas DC-4 were killed after a mid-air collision with a USAF F-4 Phantom. Both aircraft were approaching Da Nang Air Base when the F-4 clipped the wing of the DC-4 causing it to crash into a field, killing two farmers on the ground.
  20 September - 9 March 1970
  Operation Diamond Arrow was an RLA operation to retain control of the strategic road intersection of Routes 16 and 23 at Thatheng in southern Laos. The RLA successfully defended Thatheng and killed an estimated 500 PAVN/Pathet Lao for the loss of 40 killed and 30 missing but ultimately abandoned the position on 4 April.
  30 September to 27 November
  In Operation Keystone Cardinal the remaining units of the 3rd Marine Division withdrew from South Vietnam.
caption: William Calley
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