Combat· Vietnam War
Hill 881 North Battle
Hill 881 North was the companion height to its neighbor to the south, another fortified hill mass in the cluster of high ground the Marines fought to wrest from the North Vietnamese around Khe Sanh.
Like the other hills, it was held by entrenched regulars whose bunkers and trenches had to be assaulted directly, and the Marines pressing toward it met heavy resistance from defenders fighting from prepared positions on the slopes and crest. The action for the hill was part of the connected series of assaults by which the Marines cleared the dominating terrain north and west of the base, paying a steady price in casualties for ground that commanded the approaches to Khe Sanh. Securing Hill 881 North, along with its sister height, gave the Marines control of the key high ground for the time being. It stood as another hard-won objective in the brutal hill fighting that opened the long contest for Khe Sanh.
Record no. 675