page_title: 1967 in the Vietnam War
section_title: October
hierarchical_section_title: 1967 in the Vietnam War / October
caption_attribution_description: English: AH-1G Cobra gunship helicopter, 334th Hel. Co., 145th Avn. Bn., Vietnam, 1969.
context_page_description: 2 January
  Operation Bolo was a successful combat ruse by the United States Air Force that resulted in the USAF shooting down seven Vietnam People's Air Force MiG-21 interceptors.
  North Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Van Dong signaled in an interview with New York Times correspondent Harrison Salisbury that his nation would begin direct peace talks with the United States if the U.S. maintained an unconditional halt to American bombing, a statement confirmed by President Ho Chi Minh two weeks later.
  6 January
  In the Third Battle of Nakhang Royal Lao Army forces with U.S. air support repulsed a PAVN attack on Lima Site 36 at Na Khang. The PAVN lost an estimated 250 killed and the RLA lost nine killed.
  6–15 January
  Operation Deckhouse Five was conducted by the United States Marine Corps and South Vietnamese Marine Corps forces along the Mekong River Delta. The operation was notable in that it was a sizable, combined USMC and Vietnamese Marine amphibious operation and it was the last Special Landing Force amphibious landing to take place beyond the boundaries of I Corps. The operation resulted in 21 Viet Cong, seven Marines and one ARVN killed.
  8–28 January
context_section_description: 3 October
  U.S. bombers struck targets in North Vietnam as close as 10 miles (16 km) from China, striking the Loc Dinh highway bridge, the Bao Dang highway bridge 15 miles (24 km) from the frontier and the Ha Thuoc railroad yards, the northernmost penetration into North Vietnam.
  6 October
  The U.S. Army 334th Assault Helicopter Company became the first operational AH-1 Cobra gunship unit in South Vietnam.
  8 October
  A USAF C-130 crashed into a mountain 24km south of Phu Bai Combat Base killing all 23 onboard.
  10–20 October
  Operation Medina was a search and destroy operation conducted by the 3rd Marine Division in the Hải Lăng District. The operation resulted in 53 PAVN killed and three captured and 34 Marines killed.
  12 October – 31 January 1969
  Operation MacArthur conducted by the 4th Infantry Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade in western II Corps. The operation results in 5,731 PAVN/VC and 955 U.S. killed.
  16 October
  "Stop the Draft Week" was launched in front of Selective Service System induction centers of 30 American cities, by thousands of people protesting against the war. In Oakland, 600 demonstrators blocked the entrance of that city's center, including folk singer and activist Joan Baez, who was one of 125 people arrested. In New York City, 300 demonstrators blocked center entrances. Buses brought protesters to Boston, where 70 draft cards were burned and 200 cards turned over to clergymen of the Unitarian Universalist Church. Similar anti-draft protests took place in Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Albany, New York; and Ithaca, New York; where people either attempted to give their draft cards back to federal authorities, or burned them. According to one account, over 1,000 cards were turned in during the week, and "by the end of the war, 600,000 men had violated the Selective Service laws," with only 3 percent actually prosecuted.
  17 October
  The Battle of Ong Thanh saw the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, ambushed by a well-entrenched VC regiment. U.S. losses were 64 killed and 2 missing, VC losses were at least 22 killed.
  20 October – 16 February 1968
  Operation Osceola was a security operation conducted by the 3rd Marine Division around Quảng Trị Combat Base. The operation resulted in 100 PAVN and 19 Marines killed.
  21 October
  Approximately 50,000 Americans join the March on the Pentagon and some 650 were arrested.
  24 October
  U.S. Army Lieutenant General Lewis B. Hershey, the Director of the Selective Service System, issued the first of two memoranda that would collectively become known as the "Hershey Directive", ordering draft boards nationwide to draft anti-war protesters into the armed services. An injunction against enforcing the directive would be issued by a federal court and the United States Court of Appeals would rule on 6 June 1969, that draft boards had no right to reclassify any registrants based on protest activities.
  26 October
  U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander John McCain is captured when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down on a bombing mission over Hanoi.
  27 October
  Father Philip Berrigan, a Roman Catholic priest in the St. Peter Claver Church of Baltimore, broke into the city's selective service office and poured blood into 16 file drawers as a protest against the war. Berrigan, who was sent to jail, was joined in the attack by Reverend James Mengel of the United Church of Christ, Thomas Lewis and David Eberhardt of the Baltimore Interfaith Peace organization.
  29 October – 7 November
  The first battle of Loc Ninh was fought by the VC and the CIDG forces and ended when ARVN and US forces relieved the camp. VC losses were 852 killed and ARVN losses were 50 killed.
caption: AH-1 Cobra of the 334th Assault Helicopter Company
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint.NET v3.36"}