Hills 861, 881 North, and 881 South were the site of intense United States Marine Corps combat with the People’s Army of Vietnam throughout 1967, in the run up to the Khe Sanh siege that actually began in January 1968. The “Hill Fights,” they are called: over the course of many months, the Marines and PAVN contested the high ground around Khe Sanh. The Hill Fights are also referred to as the First Battle of Khe Sanh.

In April 1967, units from the Third Marines based at Khe Sanh were ordered up Hill 861, one in a cluster of three hills overlooking Khe Sanh a few kilometers to the east. Their mission was to establish an observation post and position there. It was part of an effort to move defenses outward from Khe Sanh to further secure the combat base. Once they got to the top of 861, they were ambushed by PAVN forces that had been quietly occupying the hills that overlooked Khe Sanh for some time already. Over the course of the next two weeks the USMC counterattack turned into a large and violent operation.

Hills 881S, 881N and 861

As things turned out, there were about 2,000 PAVN troops on the three hills and ultimately 1,500 Marines were sent up to clear the area. Marines were then sent up neighboring Hill 881 South, and after a lull on top, they came under heavy attack from camouflaged PAVN units that had been dug in and waiting in the forest of conifer trees. Several hours of airstrikes followed, as the Marines were trapped. By the time the Marines descended the Hill 881 South the following morning, they had lost 43 killed and 109 wounded.

Ridge between 881S and 881N

With the Americans off the summit, the real artillery and air strikes started. After weeks of heavy fighting and bombardment, the PAVN withdrew from the Hills and back into Laos. But they had lost 1,000 men, and the Marines had 155 killed in action. The Hill Fights continued to percolate throughout 1967.

 

Visiting the Hill Fights area

Apart from the rare Marine Corps veteran that returns or the occasional PAVN that stops by, these hills simply aren’t much visited. They are quiet and pretty scenic. From the summit, one can see the hills of Laos in one direction, and a Central Highlands valley and river in the other. Khe Sanh Combat Base itself is much more understandable from this height, as it sits in a valley behind a hill a few kilometers to the east. You can’t exactly see the Khe Sanh site, airstrip, and museum, but you can make out the ring of peaks that surround it. It’s clear that without a large commitment of U.S. troops to occupy those hills, Khe Sanh Combat Base was vulnerable. The Dien Bien Phu comparisons make sense although there were never really any other similarities.

Vu pointing towards Khe Sanh

I have been to Hill 881 South two times. The first time was in 2018, with Annam Tours owner/ guide Van Ngoc Vu, as well as a local guy who brought a shovel with him. Hill 881 was then a pretty untouched site. The idea was to dig around spots that the scrap collectors had dug and filled years ago. I wanted to get a sense of the garbage that remains in these places. We’d driven up the hill on a rough and steep road that winds through Montagnard villages and brings you to the summit of three hills that comprised the Hill Fights. Hill 861 now houses a major radio antenna, and the summit is still littered with bomb craters. We walked about a kilometer into the woods and found the remains of a Marine position on Hill 881 South.

Cluster bomblet on Hill 881S

There is still UXO at the summit of Hill 881 South-cluster bomblets and a mortar round were still sitting there, along with other refuse. Finding the soft earth site of a former foxhole, we dropped shovel. There’s lots of garbage buried there, just under the surface. Toothbrushes, playing cards, medicine bottles, pieces of K-Bar knives, M-16 cartridges, 50-caliber slugs, exposed film, torn pieces of backpacks and raincoats, government-issue insect repellent, MRE bags, and the remains of sandbags. This garbage had been sitting there for 50 years.

Bomb crater on ridge between Hill 881S and 881N

Then we noticed the leeches. Christ. They were crawling all over the three of us. We got out of the site with all due speed to remove the bastards, which was not pretty. Buffalo and dairy cows bring the leeches into the jungle with them, and a herd had recently passed. The leeches sit on leaves and grass at about knee height. Then they leap onto passersby and get to work. To think that the Marines on Hill 881 South may have had to constantly contend with leeches here, in addition to all of the other unpleasantries of combat in Vietnam, is awful. Keeping leeches off oneself is a full time job. The parasites were just one more thing on the list of their miseries.

Hill 861

The second time I made it to Hill 881 South was less successful. I was on my own this time, and for some reason couldn’t find the specific Marine foxhole site I’d visited earlier with Vu. It was in between those two visits that I began contributing to Nam War Travel. Unlike the first visit, I was ready to take a hundred photos the second time around, but I simply couldn’t find it. All photos here are from my first visit.

Bomb crater on ridge Hill 881N

Hills 861 and 881 South are up a few kilometers and across the Ho Chi Minh Highway from Khe Sanh Combat Base in the former DMZ. A small local road does run to the summit, but it’s crap and some planning, and certainly a good guide, is needed. Visiting the sites of The Hill Fights makes for a good add-on to a visit to Khe Sanh.

20 thoughts on “The hill fights around Khe Sanh”

  1. Larry Ingram was with E/2/3, he was my SDI in 1972. He passed on Nov 17, 2022 from brain cancer due to exposure to Agent Orange.

  2. My father told me about his hatred for leeches,he was hit by the first mortar of the day moving quickly to bring his fellow marines ‘friends’ back and to a coreman. He said it it was on the tenth and I think he said 861 but I could be mistaken.I would ask him but he recently had a stroke and doesn’t even know who I am.Thank you for this site alot of guys who were tough and brave but also good guys suffered there. He told me how there was so much firepower and rockets the helicopters would have to drop the c rations and supplies and the marines on the ground would have to make a break for it to retrieve without getting hit somehow.I could remember many little details like that,he actually had his flak jacket on,so you can see where he was hit everywhere on his upper right side from leg to losing the eye .He saw how bad the guys injuries were and they got to him he heard ‘AL -you look bad’ .His name Is lance corporal William Alexander.

  3. My father, Lt. Bill Crews, was in Mike 3/3 when they went up 881S. He was one of the lucky few who made it back down. One day I would like to visit Vietnam. He told me many stories about being in country. Not all of them were bad. Many, like Hill 881, were. I have heard several retired Marines refer to it as a ‘Meat grinder.” Thank you to everyone who has or is serving, in any branch (although I am partial to the Marines).

    1. I would like to see Hill 881 someday. One of a number of battles my father luckily came home from alive. He was in Marines in vn 1967. I am still sorting through various letters pictures etc after his passing. He had PTSD from all these various battles as well as parkinson’s and cancer from agent orange. Thank you to all the soldiers and marines and all service members who stood up for our country. You did not wait for the next guy to do your part for you . We do not forget you and we follow your example.

    2. My moms Uncle was in the same company as your father. Mike 3/3 as a mortar man sadly he didn’t make it back down. Pete Omman he was only 19.

  4. My name is Charles Spell. I was a sgt. in charge of CAP#2 in Khe Sanh in 1967. CAP#3, which was located near the airbase, was on patrol on hill 861 and was hit by enemy fire. My unit, CAP#2, was notified and went to the location to pull CAP#3 back off the hill. CAP#3 lost 3 marines. A platoon and company of marines were also pushed back. Bombers were called and the hill was
    bombarded. I learned that 1500 VC were killed during that bombing.

  5. I am a Marine and was severely injured at Khe Sahn at the north hill, May 1968. I was with Whiskey Battery, 1st Division, 1st Regiment, 1st Battalion. I ultimately made it back to Bethesda Naval Hospital, spending 1 year inpatient rehabilitation and a 2nd year outpatient. I was medically retired at 100% at that time. I have managed to make it to 75 years old, with the support of my family, then my wife. I am trying to write my story about Viet Nam at the urging of one of my Trauma Team doctors and it is not easy with my brain injury and memory loss. Is there anyone out there that might have served at the same time. I can remember a boot camp member, EJ Shaw, but unfortunately he is the only one. Thank you

      1. I am the son of Ronald A Weeks he too told me about staying in his fox hole for 67 days aircraft having to drop rations down too the marines most the time he said they hit the right spot sometimes not thank you for all the marines that gave their time and some their life. THANKS. And GOD BLESS

    1. I lost my fiance on hill 881. His name was Robin Chilvere & was a navy medic traveling with the marines. Thats pretty much all I know about it.

    2. Hello John. My older brother, USMC Sgt Ralph M Johnson, Charlie Co. 1/1 was fatally wounded from mortar fire on May 8th, 1968, during an assault on 881N. I have letters he sent home days before that tells a story of unimaginable hardship. He was 21 and on his 2nd tour to Nam, he first arrived in Da Nang from Okinawa in 1965. I would like to hear from Veterans who served on 881S during May 1968. Bless all our Veterans.
      Sgt. Jim Johnson
      US Army, 1968-1972, 82 Airborne Division

  6. I would like to see that place someday, my uncle and namesake Carman Hicks was KIA on May 9th 1967. He was with Fox 2/3 for 10 months before he was killed I’ve been to reunions and met several people who knew him and I’m very proud to be named after him and he and his marine brother’s will never be forgotten.
    Semper Fidelis
    Carman Carmack

    1. Hello Carman, thank you for visiting our website and commenting. Your uncle was a hero.

      If you are interested in visiting the area, come and join our Facebook group Vietnam War History Travel also. We have a great discussion going on there about traveling to war sites and Vietnam. Among our members are veterans, historians, tour guides, history travelers etc. Many are very knowledgeable and I can promise you will learn more on how to plan a visit there and other places in Vietnam

      /Jonas, founder of namwartravel.com

  7. Hey, this site is great. Thanks for sharing! If you have any photos of the items left behind by the Marines or the PAVN, that would be very interesting to see all these years later.

  8. I was with Echo 2/3 in 1st.platoon,1967. at the Khe Sahn 881 Hill Fights. We were overrun on May, 3rd. 1967. 31 Marines were killed. We have a great web site that describes the battles in April, and May 1967: echo23marines6569.org I live in Surfside Beach, S.C 330-303-0715 SF

    1. Hello Dick. Thank you for your comment I am happy you made it out. If you’d like, send me the link to your website and we will insert the link here.

      /Jonas, founder of namwartravel

    2. Dick, my brother was one of the radio operators working with you guys in echo company, 2/3 , during the hill fights. Was one of the “ lucky” ones that came down on a stretcher. Lcpl Leonard Poole. Was still calling in air support after he was shot but shrapnel in the face and knees finally put him down. There’s a pic of him standing next to Captain Lyons taken a couple days before the captain was killed. Leonard went down on May3rd.

  9. Hi my name is Jon and I’m interested in seeing those sites. I want to write a book about some of the fighting in and around Khe Sahn and also the Que Son valley area which is S.W. about 20 miles from DaNang or mostly West of Hoi Anh. I don’t think that lake in your photos of 881 North and South was there during the Vietnam War. I’ve also looked at Google Maps of the area north of Khe Sahn combat base which was virgin jungle then and now it looks like it has been planted with rubber tree plantations? That road to Hills 881 North and South was not there during the war either. Have any suggestions? I’d want to get off the “beaten” path so I would need a local guide (maybe “hill-tribe”). Won’t need to speak English. I live with “Hill-Tribe” people in Thailand and I can’t speak Thai or their languages (White, Red, Kerrenni and Kaya “Long-Neck” women, Karen Hill Tribes, and Hmong, Lahu, Lawa, Pa’O ,Lisu Hill-Tribes) and I have NO problems. My best friends are White Karen (Mae Hong Son province, NW Thailand) and I have 2 children with a Lisu lady who’s family FLED the Burmese Army about 20 years ago from Shan State in Myanmar (Burma)to the area around Pai (Mae Hong Son) in N.W. Thailand. The Lisu are originally from N.W. Yunnan province in China. I’m pretty sure you Can’t got into Vietnam now because of Covid-19. I’d probably want to be based in Dong Ha on the DMZ and then in Que Son village SW of DaNang? Que Son village might not even have a guest house it is so small (home stay)? Thanks, Jon.

    1. I wrote a book titled “1968” which includes the seige in 1968 including 881S and Retired Col William Dabney. These guys put up with severe hardships and have my utmost respect. Semper Fi.

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