page_title: 1967 in the Vietnam War
section_title: November
hierarchical_section_title: 1967 in the Vietnam War / November
caption_attribution_description: English: Squad Leader, Company "D", 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigadde, keeps a sharp lookout past the perimeter with his M60 machine, in preparation for the final assault on Hill 875
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: 1 November
  U.S. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey presents the Presidential Unit Citation to the 3rd Marine Division and the ARVN 7th Airborne Battalion.
  1 November – 20 January 1968
  Operation Lancaster was a 3rd Marine Division operation to prevent PAVN infiltration from across the DMZ and from the west and to provide artillery and logistical support to the Marines at Khe Sanh. the operation resulted in 46 PAVN and 22 Marines killed.
  1 November – 22 January 1968
  Operation Coronado IX was an MRF/ARVN operation in the Mekong Delta. The operation resulted in 434 VC and 76 U.S. killed.
  1 November – 25 January 1968
  Operation Neosho was a 3rd Marine Division security operation in northern Thừa Thiên Province. The operation resulted in 77 PAVN killed and 9 captured and 12 Marines killed.
  1 November – 28 February 1969
  Operation Kentucky was a 3rd Marine Division operation to secure the Con Thien area against PAVN attacks. The operation resulted in 3,839 PAVN killed and 117 captured and 520 Marines killed.
  2 November
  President Johnson held a secret meeting at the White House with a group of "former officials whose advice he trusted" and asked them to suggest ways to unite the American people behind the war effort. The panel, referred to in later histories as "the Wise Men", included Dean Acheson, McGeorge Bundy, Clark Clifford, Henry Cabot Lodge and Maxwell Taylor, who urged the President to continue the war effort and to give the American people more optimistic reports on the war's progress, based on their conclusion that the U.S. was winning the war effort.
  3–22 November
  The Battle of Đắk Tô was a series of major engagements that took place in Kon Tum Province. U.S. losses were 361 killed and 15 missing, ARVN losses were 73 killed and 18 missing and PAVN losses were estimated at 1,000–1,664.
  3 November – 5 January 1968
  Operation Santa Fe was a security operation conducted by the U.S. 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, the 1st Australian Task Force and the ARVN 18th Division against the May Tao Secret Zone. The operation resulted in 126 VC and six U.S. killed.
  6–17 November
  Operation Essex was conducted by the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in "Antenna Valley", Hiệp Đức District to push PAVN/VC units into U.S. Army units conducting Operation Wheeler/Wallowa. the operation resulted in 60+ PAVN and 16 Marines killed.
  7 November
  First Sergeant Pascal Poolaw, a Kiowa serving with C Company 26th Infantry Regiment, the most decorated Native American soldier in the U.S. Army, was killed while attempting to aid a casualty during the Battle of Loc Ninh. 
  11 November
  MACV told reporters that the estimated number of PAVN/VC forces in South Vietnam had declined to 242,000 men, following the previous announced assessment of 299,000 and explained that the decrease was due to "heavy casualties and plummeting morale"; in reality, the decrease came because MACV had decided in July that some categories of VC should be dropped from the total estimate, which had been tallied at 299,000 at the beginning of 1967 in order to maintain the public position that PAVN/VC forces were less than 300,000. In 1975, a former CIA employee, Samuel A. Adams, would reveal the falsifying of numbers in testimony before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee. Adams would also reveal that his review of CIA documents indicated that the strength of the enemy had actually been 600,000 during 1967. Although the difficulties in attempting to put together an educated estimate of PAVN/VC strength in South Vietnam was described in a CIA report on the subject as "we lack precise basic data on population size, rates of growth, and age distribution for both North and South Vietnam", "Our data and conclusions are therefore subject to continuing review and revision, especially since capabilities do not remain static."
  13 November
  The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended to The White House that no ceasefire be instigated for the Tết holiday period in January 1968 due to "the fraudulent manner in which the enemy has treated past ceasefires."
  14 November
  3rd Marine Division commander Major Gene
caption: An M-60 machine gunner in position during the Battle of Dak To
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