World: Mac's War

Did he resent hearing it called "McNamara's war"? At his Pentagon press conference last week, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara soberly reminded everyone that it was South Viet Nam's and the U.S. Government's war. But he added that he didn't really mind the tag.

Mac's war was going full force. Since the start of the year, 34 Americans have been killed. South Viet Nam casualties have increased in two years from an average of 300 a week to 600. For the week ending April 18, casualties for both sides reached 1,710, highest in any week since the war began. At a U.S.-run training camp near Trunglap (which means, ironically, "neutrality"), only 25 miles northwest of Saigon, the Viet Cong ambushed and killed an American sergeant and seven Vietnamese rangers.

But at week's end, General Nguyen Khanh's South Vietnamese troops showed considerable fighting spirit of their own. Whooping and racing across paddy fields, 200 government troops attacked bunkers of the toughest Viet Cong battalion (the 514th) in the Mekong Delta, made the Reds yield their positions. "It was beautiful," said an American sergeant. "The South Vietnamese bounced across that grass like they were in a foot race."