William Westmoreland was born on March 26, 1914, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to an upper middle class family. In 1932 he enrolled at West Point Military Academy, graduating in 1936 at the top of his class as First Captain. During World War II, Westmoreland bravely fought in North Africa and in the European Theater of Operation, ending the war with the rank of Colonel. Although he had the reputation of a stern taskmaster, he was a man who cared about his men, taking interest in their welbeing. In 1947, he married Katherine Stevens Van Deusen. They had three children: two daughters named Katherine Westmoreland and Margaret Westmoreland and one son named James Ripley Westmoreland.

During the Korean War, Westmoreland served as commander of the 187th Regimental Combat Team, 82th Airborne Division. In 1953, Westmoreland was promoted to Brigadier General, spending five years in the Pentagon. He became the youngest Major-General in the Army, assuming command of the 101st Airborne Division in 1958. He created the concept of Recondo training in the division, later bringing the concept elsewhere in the Army.

In 1964, Westmoreland was named Deputy Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. He was known for highly publicized, positive assessments of US military prospects in Vietnam. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army.

Although under Westmoreland’s command, the American forces won every battle, the turning point of the war was the 1968 Tet Offensive, in which communist forces, having staged a diversion at the Battle of Khe Sanh, attacked cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. US and South Vietnamese troops successfully fought off the attacks, and the communist forces took extremely heavy losses. Nevertheless, the way in which the American media reported and depicted the Tet Offensive shook American public confidence as Westmoreland’s previous assurances about the state of the war got undermined by leftist artists statement and behavior such as those of Joan Baez and drugged hippies demonstrations everywhere.

In June 1968, Westmoreland was replaced by General Creighton Abrams. Westmoreland served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, then retired from the Army. Many military historians have pointed out that Westmoreland became Chief of Staff at the worst time in history with regard to the Army, guiding the Army as it transitioned to an all-volunteer force.

The main objective of Operation Crimp was to destroy the Viet Cong headquarters which lay in concealment underground in Cu Chi, in the Province of Binh Duong. There was a system of tunnels which led to the main headquarters. They covered more than 120 miles. During the battle, specialized sappers, called tunnel rats, were sent in on search and destroy missions to anihialate any hiding enemy soldiers and to plant explosives to destroy the tunnels.

Preceded by artillery fire and napalm and airstrikes, Operation Crimp was initiated at 09:30 hours on January 8. Airmobile operation began with the first American units being inserted by helicopter to the north, west and south. The US 3rd Infantry Brigade, commanded by Colonel William Brodbeck, was inserted by helicopter and by road. In the north, 1st Royal Australian Regiment was inserted into its landing zone (LZ March) 1.9 miles to the south-west. Amid strong resistance, the Australians fought their way through the maze of bunkers, punji stakes and booby traps but they were eventually able to force a Viet Cong regional force company to withdraw as they continued their advance. This area was heavily seeded with trip wires connected to shells and grenades dangling from branches.

The task of breaking into and exploring the communist tunnels started on January 9, with the objective now switching to the location, clearance and destruction of the tunnel complexes. Whereas standard US Army practice was to seal, blow up or otherwise attempt to render tunnel systems unusable with smoke, tear gas and explosives before quickly moving on, the Australians spent the next few days laboriously searching and mapping the complexes they found using military engineers. Led by Captain Sandy MacGregor, the Australian sappers from 3 Field Troop systematically tackled the tunnels, using telephone line and compasses to plot the subterranean passages. Small-scale contacts between the communists and the Australians continued and MacGregor was later awarded the Military Cross for his leadership.

The Australians kept on searching the tunnels, finding a large quantity of documents and equipment, and by January 10 they had seized 59 weapons, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 fragmentation grenades, one 57-mm recoilless rifle, explosives, clothing and medical supplies. At least 11 Viet Cong had also been killed in the fighting. Contact also continued, and overnight the Australians killed another five Viet Cong outside their perimeter, while numerous actions occurred during the day as the US 173rd Brigade maintained its sweep. The US 3rd Brigade subsequently uncovered a significant tunnel complex themselves; while they attempted to clear the tunnels, heavy hand-to-hand fighting broke out above ground and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Haldane was later awarded the Silver Star for his actions when he rushed a bunker while under fire armed only with a pistol, in order to give first aid to a number of wounded soldiers. His courage inspired his men to complete the assault, and ultimately helped ensure the successful evacuation of the casualties and the capture of their objective.