The Bonding of Warriors
A Unit History
AN EVALUATION OF THE 1963 BATTLE OF AP BAC
by Clarence "Clancy" Matsuda
Ap Bac is located in Dinh Tuong Province approximately 20 kilometers northwest of My Tho. It is the name of a hamlet in the Mekong River Delta. The surrounding terrain includes rice paddies, swamps, canals and tree lines. (Some of you, LRRPS, have conducted missions in this area of operations). On 2 January 1963, units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and its American advisers were soundly defeated by the Viet Cong (VC) guerilla forces at the Battle of Ap Bac.
On 2 May 1967, the Second Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division was engaged in a fierce clash with the VC on the same battlefield. As the commander of Co A, 3d Battalion, 60th Infantry, I was proud of my troops as they fought gallantly in this battle. Two soldiers were subsequently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
As I was reading an Army magazine last fall, I noticed an article highlighting a book, The Battle of AP BAC, Vietnam, which was published in 2001. It is a detailed examination of the 1963 battle. The author is David M. Toczek, a 1988 graduate of West Point. He is a classmate of my son, Matt. They served together as company commanders at Ft Benning in 1995. Both Toczek and Matt were born over four years after the 1963 Battle of Ap Bac. As a graduate student in history at Texas Tech University, Toczek became a scholar of the Vietnam War. He then became an instructor in the History Department at West Point. During his tour at West Point, he was selected to join a group of researchers to visit Vietnam. This academic venture was funded by the United States Military Academy and Texas Tech University. Toczek physically examined the Ap Bac battlefield; he interviewed the VC veterans of the battle, the residents of Ap Bac, and the key leaders in the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF).
David Toczek's research for this book was huge. He analyzed declassified messages that were stored in vaults for many years. His selective bibliography included books from the most credible authors of the Vietnam War. His historical background of the VN War is thorough and scholarly. He interviewed some of the key military and civilian leaders of the war. The scope of the book ends in 1963. Toczek identified the flaws of the early decision makers such as: General Maxwell Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff; General Paul Harkins, Commander, US MACV; Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara; and Ambassador Frederick Nolting. The battle of Ap Bac in 1963 demonstrated the crucial failings of our military advisory system, all the false reports, all the wrong counterinsurgency tactics and techniques, deceptions and frauds which marked the war in Vietnam. Our civilian and military leadership missed an opportunity to learn from the lessons of this battle; they failed to draw the right connections between the ARVN's horrible performance at Ap Bac and the overall American policies. Senior American officials drew their own skewed conclusion about what was transpiring in Vietnam in order to protect the administration's agenda; they fostered a misleading policy of optimism.
Upon reading Toczek's book, I went through again some of the latest books on the VN War. This war seemed to differ for the different units and soldiers, for the different time periods, and in the different locations based on the political schemes of the different military and civilian policy makers. Deceptions, lies, egos, arrogance and hidden agendas of our politicians were overflowing. After reading these books, my understanding of the Vietnam War has been restructured.