Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal Vietnam Service Medal
Campaigns and Dates	Campaigns and Dates
Vietnam Advisory Campaign 30 July to 9 August 1962 9 August 1964 to 28 September 1964 19 to 25 March 1965 13 to 16 April 1965 3 to 12 May 1965 20 to 24 May 1965	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VI 2 to 17 November 1968
Vietnam Defense Campaign 6 to 10 July 1965 13 to 17 August 1965 31 October to 8 December 1965	Tet 69/Counteroffensive 20 March to 12 May 1969
Vietnamese Counteroffensive 4 to 8 January 1966 18 January to 2 February 1966 6 to 10 March 1966 20 to 25 March 1966 25 May to 3 June 1966 9 to 16 June 1966 25 to 30 June 1966	Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 12 to 14 July 1969 25 to 27 July 1969 10 to 15 August 1969 5 to 9 October 1969
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II 15 to 18 July 1966 27 August to 9 October 1966 1 to 28 February 1967	Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 3 to 7 November 1969 7 to 15 December 1969 29 December to 9 January 1970 18 to 21 February 1970
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III 22 August to 2 September 1967 11 to 16 September 1967 21 October 1967 to 24 January 1968	Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII 30 July to 12 October 1970 3 February to 8 March 1971 19 to 30 June 1971
Tet Counteroffensive 14 to 20 March 1968	Consolidation I 1 July to 2 August 1971
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV 29 April to 18 May 1968 1 to 25 June 1968	Vietnam Ceasefire 1 April to 1 May 1972 7 to 10 May 1972 20 to 26 July 1972 3 to 10 August 1972 29 August to 4 September 1972
Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase V 20 September to 1 November 1968

Westchester County was mined in the Mekong Delta, 1 November 1968. The mining was the greatest loss of life in a single action for a commissioned Navy ship during the Vietnam War. It could have also resulted in the only destruction of a Navy ship by enemy action. A post war analysis by explosive expert Captain Robert Shelby said the cargo of ordinance and fuel could have resulted in an explosion equivalent to a small nuclear weapon. For the reasons noted above Richard K. Kolb included this event in his book titled Brutal Battles of Vietnam: America’s Deadliest Days, 1965-1972.
The two mines exploded next to the operations and first-class berthing killing seventeen sailors, five army infantrymen, one sailor from River Assault Division 111, and two VN Navy sailors. Overall, 22 sailors and Army infantrymen were wounded. Therefore, the ship lost a quarter of its crew and nearly all its career first-class petty officers who would have provided on site leadership for damage control and repair parties. The explosions also ruptured enormous Diesel fuel tanks holding 200,000 gallons and caved in a berthing compartment for the 9th Infantry killing five soldiers. Electrical power was out for most areas. Fuel rushed into the broken compartments. Every exposed surface was covered with a mist of Diesel oil that was ready to ignite. The air was nearly unbreathable. The ship quickly began to list to starboard.
The courageous, determined actions of the crew that night, and during the days following, controlled the damage sustained and prevented a catastrophe that would have horrified the nation. The commanding officer LCDR. John Branin dealt with the urgent problem of the increasing list by instructing Petty Officer 2nd Class Rick Russell to de-ballast starboard tanks forward. Junior petty officers and non-rated sailors further stabilized the situation by sealing off compartments to prevent progressive flooding. Hospital corpsman first class John Sullivan survived the blast, and though badly injured, cared for the trapped and wounded. Damage control and rescue efforts were hampered by the Diesel oil film which precluded the use of cutting torches and metal saws. Sailors quickly relocated away from the blast area large portions of the 350 tons of munitions, explosives, and pyrotechnics the ship carried.
After temporary repairs were completed on 14 November, the ship undertook the 2,500-mile journey to its Yokosuka homeport. The ship evaded the worst of three typhoons closing in on the Philippines to arrive 25 November. However, the journey became nearly disastrous because high winds and seas from the typhoons ruptured temporary repairs to the point that for a time pumps capable of pumping 3,200 gallons per minute were overwhelmed. The crew had to restore watertight integrity to a 96 by 28 foot section of blasted hull over which tons of eight inch steel “I” beams and one inch steel plates had been applied and were now snapping. This last problem required the most gallant, professional, and determined responses by the crew to overcome an extremely difficult and hazardous condition. Through their courage and resolve, they prevented the most devastating combat loss the Navy would have incurred in the Vietnam war.
S/S Nolan Nelson, Secretary/Treasurer, U.S.S. Westchester County Association