The mission was, at its core, about rice. The Tuy Hòa Valley in Phú Yên Province was one of the most productive agricultural regions in South Vietnam, and in 1965 People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong forces had systematically requisitioned the harvest to feed their own troops. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was determined this would not happen again in 1966. So in January of that year, the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division — the Screaming Eagles — flew into the valley to guard a harvest, and found themselves in one of the bloodiest small-unit battles of the year.
The Tuy Hòa Valley runs along the Đà Rằng River as it reaches the coast, a broad, fertile plain that fed a significant portion of South Vietnam's population. Control of the valley's food supply was not a secondary strategic objective — it was central to both sides' ability to sustain operations in the Central Highlands. The PAVN 95th Regiment of the 5th Division was believed to be positioned in the mountains ringing the valley, watching the approaches. On 15 January 1966, the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment flew into Tuy Hòa Airfield. Three days later, the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment came ashore by Landing Ship, Tank at Tuy Hòa Port. South Korean Marines of the 2nd Marine Brigade were also deployed. The patrol lines were drawn: U.S. forces north of the Đà Rằng River, South Koreans and the 327th to the south.
The first major engagement came on 6 February, when a platoon from Company B of the 2/502nd came under fire approaching the hamlet of Canh Tanh 4, roughly 20 kilometers southwest of Tuy Hòa. The company commander maneuvered platoons around the southern and western edges of the hamlet to encircle the defenders, then attacked. The force met heavy fire and pulled back, calling in 13 separate air strikes on the position. The cordon tightened through the night. When the soldiers moved in the following morning, the PAVN had gone, leaving 39 bodies behind along with documents identifying them as the 5th Battalion, 95th Regiment. The pattern — heavy air and artillery, night withdrawal, bodies and weapons left behind — would repeat throughout the operation.
The following day, 7 February, was worse. Company C of the 2/502nd approached the hamlet of My Canh 2, two kilometers south of Canh Tanh 4, and was pinned down by entrenched fire almost immediately. Reinforcements arrived by helicopter: Company B and the Tiger Force of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, commanded by Major David Hackworth. Hackworth positioned Tiger Force to the north and Company B to the south, intending a classic encirclement. But as Tiger Force moved to its assault position, the cover thinned and the unit was hit — seven soldiers killed. Hackworth ordered Company B forward; they were caught in the open and lost 19 men before withdrawing. Tiger Force was ordered to attack again. Its commander, Lieutenant James A. Gardner, advanced alone on a series of enemy bunker positions, destroying four of them with grenades. Mortally wounded while approaching a fifth, he gathered the last of his strength and destroyed it too before he died. Lieutenant Gardner was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The hamlet was empty the next morning.
Operation Van Buren officially concluded on 25 February 1966. The accounting was stark: 346 PAVN soldiers killed and 33 captured, against 55 Americans and 45 South Koreans killed. The South Koreans had suffered their losses separately — on 31 January the PAVN attacked the 2nd Marine Brigade heavily enough that the South Koreans were withdrawn from the line and replaced by the 1/327th. The operation achieved its stated objective: the 1966 rice harvest in the Tuy Hòa Valley was protected. Whether the families of the 100 allied soldiers killed, or of the 346 confirmed PAVN soldiers, or of the estimated unknown dead, experienced that outcome as a success is a different question than the one the operation reports were designed to answer.
The Tuy Hòa Valley today is still defined by rice. The Đà Rằng River still waters the plain, and the coastal city of Tuy Hòa has grown into a modest regional center, known for its beaches and the rugged scenery of the mountains that ring the valley's western edge. The hamlets of Canh Tanh and My Canh are small agricultural communities, quiet in the way that much of rural Vietnam's post-war landscape is quiet — the violence absorbed into the ground, visible in certain kinds of attention but not insisted upon. A monument in the city records some of what happened here. The rice fields continue.
Operation Van Buren was fought in the Tuy Hòa Valley, centered on approximately 13.10°N, 109.18°E in coastal Phú Yên Province, Vietnam. The valley is clearly visible from altitude as the broad, flat agricultural plain of the Đà Rằng River delta. The hamlets of Canh Tanh and My Canh lie southwest of Tuy Hòa city. Recommended viewing altitude is 3,000–6,000 ft AGL to see the valley geography — the flat coastal plain, the mountains rising to the west, and the river course. Tuy Hoa Airport (TBB / VVTH) is located directly within the operational area, on the north bank of the Đà Rằng. The surrounding highlands, where the 95th Regiment was based, are visible as the terrain rising sharply to the west and northwest.