Year Of The Snake

As Year of the Dragon gives way to Year of the Snake,
two squads of Viet Cong slice through a barbed wire
skirt at Camp Holloway’s airstrip, sneaking in unseen,
one-arming satchel charges, blowing up helicopters
and reconnaissance air crafts.

 

Concurrently, guerrillas hiding 1,000 yards away poured
55-rounds from 81mm mortars into the compound.
52 billets are damaged. 7 Americans die. 100 plus wounded.

 

President Johnson addresses the National Security Council
around a casket-shaped table in the Cabinet Room,
responding to the slaughterous Communist attacks,
“I’ve had enough of this.”

 

U.S. warplanes receive orders to destroy supply dumps,
communications systems, and guerrilla staging cites
north of the 17th parallel.

 

The White House states, “Whether or not this course can
be maintained lies with the North Vietnamese aggressors.
The key to the situation remains the cessation of infiltration
from North Viet Nam and the clear indication by the Hanoi
regime that it is prepared to cease aggression against its neighbors