--- title: Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968 description: Photos from Operation Pegasus, a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese push by 30,000 men to lift the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. canonical: https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-26T00:49:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:37.538Z og:title: Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968 og:description: Photos from Operation Pegasus, a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese push by 30,000 men to lift the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. og:url: https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14805971fe79e900/69884c148e06010553460139/140702-burrows-vietnam-1968-011.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Vietnam 1968 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968 twitter:description: Photos from Operation Pegasus, a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese push by 30,000 men to lift the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14805971fe79e900/69884c148e06010553460139/140702-burrows-vietnam-1968-011.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968 by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 26, 2014 12:49 AM UTC  An American 1st Air Cavalry helicopter airlifts supplies into a Marine outpost during Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, spring 1968. An American 1st Air Cavalry helicopter airlifts supplies into a Marine outpost during Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, spring 1968.Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 26, 2014 12:49 AM UTC In April 1968, in the same issue that featured a half-dozen articles on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. earlier that month, LIFE magazine published an article on Operation Pegasus, a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese push by 30,000 men “led by the 1st Air Cavalry Division to lift the siege of [Khe Sanh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle%5Fof%5FKhe%5FSanh). While an armored column rumbled along Route 9, a slender but strategic highway (see slide #4 in gallery), fleets of helicopters lifted men and artillery into the hills above the remote plateau where 6,000 U.S. Marines had been cut off since January.” --- > “” --- In that article, LIFE published a small handful of photographs by the great [Larry Burrows](http://life.time.com/larry-burrows/)—including the extraordinary first slide in this gallery. Many, many more of Burrows’ photos from Operation Pegasus and central Vietnam in the spring of ’68 never made it into the magazine. Here are some of those pictures. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  An American 1st Air Cavalry helicopter airlifts supplies into a Marine outpost during Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, spring 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "Route 9" in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Tending to the wounded during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American troops burning Vietnamese huts during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Stranded Marines on bombed-out hillside, awaiting rescue supplies during Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Wounded Vietcong, Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American cradling dog while under siege at Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Wounded, dazed-looking American, Vietnam, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Chinook helicopters taking off after deploying ground troops along area known as "Route 9" for an offensive patrol, Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Vietnam during Operation Pegasus, 1968. Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/"},"headline":"Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968","datePublished":"2014-08-26T00:49:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:37.538Z","description":"Photos from Operation Pegasus, a joint U.S. and South Vietnamese push by 30,000 troops to lift the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968.","url":"https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/","keywords":["Vietnam","History","photography","Vietnam War","1968"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14805971fe79e900/69884c148e06010553460139/140702-burrows-vietnam-1968-011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14805971fe79e900/69884c148e06010553460139/140702-burrows-vietnam-1968-011.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vietnam 1968","caption":"An American 1st Air Cavalry helicopter airlifts supplies into a Marine outpost during Operation Pegasus, Vietnam, spring 1968.","creditText":"Larry Burrows—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880754/khe-sanh-and-operation-pegasus-scenes-from-vietnam-1968/","name":"Khe Sanh and Operation Pegasus: Scenes From Vietnam, 1968"}}]}] ```