Operation Lam Son II

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Operation Lam Son II
Part of the Vietnam War
American military band performing in Tân Phước Khánh during the fair
Date June 2–5, 1966 Location Tân Phước Khánh, Tân Uyên District, Bình Dương, South Vietnam Result Anti-communist political victory
Belligerents
South Vietnam  United States	Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Lý Tòng Bá Henry J. Wereszynski	Not applicable
Strength
Five companies	Around 30
Casualties and losses
None	One killed

Operation Lam Son II (Vietnamese: chiến dịch Lam Sơn II) was a combined United States and South Vietnamese military and public relations operation in the village of Tân Phước Khánh, Tân Uyên District, in III Corps around 40 km north of the capital Saigon staged from June 2 to June 5, 1966, during the Vietnam War. It was done in order to simultaneously win public support (hearts and minds) for the government of South Vietnam by holding a village fair and providing social services while simultaneously screening the congregated area to arrest and remove Viet Cong guerrillas operating in the area.

On the night of June 1, the eve of the village fair, elements of the US 1st Division and the South Vietnamese 5th Division arrived on the outskirts of the village by foot and helicopter and sealed it off. Early the next morning they entered the village and screened the inhabitants, before taking adult males away for brief questioning, detaining communists and South Vietnamese military deserters or conscription evaders and returning the rest to the village. At the fair, the village of 9,000 were entertained by South Vietnamese and American military bands, while the South Vietnamese military cultural troupe performed plays, folk singing and dancing. Games for children, lotteries and a free lunch of unfamiliar western food were provided to the villagers.

In addition to the festivities, Vietnamese leaders, from civil servants to the province chief, Lieutenant Colonel Lý Tòng Bá attended the fairs and made speeches and spoke to the villagers individually about government policies and initiatives such as agricultural assistance. Personnel from US and South Vietnamese medical units did health checks on villagers, providing medicine and organizing appointments for further treatment in the city where required. The festival was considered highly successful by the anti-communist organizers to they added a third day of activities to the schedule after the festival had started.

The Americans and South Vietnamese deemed the mission to have been very fruitful due to the change in the disposition of the villagers as well as the fact that during an immediately after the fair, some of the populace gave intelligence that resulted in some communists being arrested, while other Viet Cong defected and revealed the location of weapons and documents. Later, Viet Cong sources revealed that they had lost half of their support in the village and that their political losses would take two months to recover. Operation Lam Son II was then replicated in various villages in the area.