G-2 Advisor Leads Pursuit of Viet Cong Force (12-13 MAY 1967)
On May 12-13, 1967, Lt. Col. John Kizirian, G-2 advisor to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) III Corps, led a combat patrol in pursuit of a Viet Cong unit that had just conducted a mortar attack on Bien Hoa Air Base. His actions ensured the survival of his team and earned him the Distinguished Service Cross.
Born in Massachusetts in April 1928 to Armenian immigrants, John Kizirian dropped out of high school in 1945 to join the U.S. Navy. In 1949, he transferred to the U.S. Army, serving as a sergeant first in the Medical Corps and then in the infantry. During the Korean War, then Lt. Kizirian was a platoon leader and wounded twice in action. After completing special forces training and transferring to the Military Intelligence Branch, he was assigned as the senior intelligence advisor to the ARVN III Corps from 1967 to 1968.
At 0100 on May 12, 1967, the Bien Hoa Air Base north of Saigon came under a stand-off mortar and rocket attack. For nine minutes, the Viet Cong fired 122mm rockets, 82mm mortars, and 75mm rifles at the aircraft and facilities on the air base, damaging two aircraft and killing four airmen and two Army specialists. With the arrival of an AC-47 gunship overhead, the Viet Cong aborted their attack. Shortly thereafter, 39-year-old Kizirian received intelligence reports that the responsible Viet Cong force was still nearby. Kizirian assembled a company-size ARVN combat patrol and went in pursuit.
After conducting an assessment of the enemy’s fortifications that had been destroyed by air strikes, Colonel Kizirian detected a fleeing Viet Cong force and followed them to their camp. According to his Distinguished Service Cross citation:
Deploying his main force for security, he led three men to the edge of a clearing but was pinned down by small arms and grenade fire. The company could not get to the firefight because of dense jungle and intense firepower which pinned them down, but Colonel Kizirian moved through a hail of bullets to lead them in an attack on the camp which routed the insurgents after they had suffered heavy casualties. He personally killed two insurgents with accurate fire and supervised the destruction of the bunker and tunnel complex used as a regimental base camp. While he led his men back to base, the Viet Cong repeatedly harassed the patrol from ambush. He exposed himself to withering fire time after time to fight furiously and inflict heavy casualties on the determined insurgents.
Colonel Kizirian returned to Vietnam for a second tour as the assistant G-2, 1st Air Cavalry Division. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1975 but was recalled to active duty from 1980 to 1984 to serve as the defense attaché in Indonesia. Colonel Kizirian passed away on February 26, 2006.
Article by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian. New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
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