Air Power and the Fight for Khe Sanh

The 1968 fight for Khe Sanh pitted some 6,000 U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese Rangers against an enemy force roughly three times as large. For more than 70 days North Vietnamese troops maintained pressure on Khe Sanh's defenders, who had dug in around the base's airstrip. The original purpose for deploying the Marines and South Vietnamese into the northwestcorner of South Vietnam was to block Communist troop movements along Highway 9 toward Quang Tri City and the heavily populated coastal...