The Night LZ George Was Breached: Remembering 1st Lieutenant John T. Wilkinson

At 1:30 in the morning on April 3, 1968, enemy sappers slipped through the defensive wire surrounding Landing Zone George, high on Ky Son Mountain in Bình Định Province. The attack came out of the darkness with little warning. Within moments, explosions and small-arms fire tore through the position, and the enemy was already inside the perimeter.

Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 17th Artillery was hit hard. The soldiers fought at close range in darkness and confusion, where the line between attacker and defender could disappear in an instant. Artillery positions normally intended to strike targets miles away became the scene of a desperate fight for survival within the gun pits themselves.

Among the men leading during the attack was 1st Lieutenant John T. Wilkinson. As an officer and artilleryman, he carried responsibility not only for the defense of the position, but for the soldiers serving under him. When the perimeter was breached and the battle became personal, leadership meant remaining in the fight, directing men through the chaos, and standing beside them when the outcome was uncertain.

The battle continued for approximately four hours before the enemy finally withdrew into the darkness. LZ George remained in American hands, but the cost was devastating. Eleven American soldiers were killed, the highest single-day loss the battalion would suffer during the war.

Lieutenant Wilkinson was among the dead.

He did not fall in a distant artillery exchange or during a daylight engagement. He was killed inside a position under attack, where the enemy had broken through the wire and the fighting had become immediate and close. He died in the middle of the chaos, fulfilling the responsibility placed upon him as an officer and leader.

LZ George held, but it was held at a terrible price.

We remember 1st Lieutenant John T. Wilkinson and the other Americans who lost their lives on Ky Son Mountain that night. Their stand ensured that the position did not fall, and their sacrifice remains part of the history written in the darkness of April 3, 1968.