in different strategic sites, ringing the valley. This enabled the teams to report on enemy activity and forward observe for ordnance payload delivery. One team worked its way south of Hiep Duc after the set up positions along the heavily wooded Hill 555. They spotted several groups of NVA forces of varying size that appeared to be training in the area. Born: Grigori Perelman, Russian Soviet mathematician who proved the soul conjecture, Thurston's geometrization conjecture, and the Poincaré conjecture; in Leningrad June 14, 1966 (Tuesday) The Vatican ruled that the reading of books, listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum as banned by the Roman Catholic Church, would no longer be a violation of church law. The Index remained, however, and church members were advised that reading such books was still a sin. Born: Indira Radić, Serbian pop music singer, in Dragalovci, Yugoslavia Eduardo Waghorn, Chilean singer-songwriter, in Santiago June 15, 1966 (Wednesday) In the Battle of Hill 488 at the Quảng Tín Province, the 18 men of Charlie Company, a heavily outnumbered U.S. Marine platoon held off an attack by more than 400 well-disciplined North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong fighters, and inflicted large casualties on the enemy, losing 14 of their own, before being able to withdraw. One Marine officer later noted, "This was an Alamo— with survivors." Gunnery Sergeant Jimmie E. Howard would be presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in the battle, fought at Nui Vu Hill. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that 19,000 American military personnel were being removed from France in advance of that nation's withdrawal from NATO, and that about 300,000 tons of supplies would have to be moved, destroyed, or sold. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's pet beagle, "Him", was accidentally run over by a car on a driveway at the White House. The famous dog, who sometimes appeared in photographs of the President, ran into the path of one of the White House's limousines, while chasing a squirrel. Born: Roberto Carnevale, Italian classical composer, pianist, and conductor, in Catania June 16, 1966 (Thursday) Thirty-three people were killed and 40 injured after the British tanker MV Alva Cape collided with the American ship Texaco Massachusetts and caught fire, engulfing both ships and two adjacent tugboats (the Esso Vermont and the Latin American) in flames. The four ships were all sailing within the Kill Van Kull strait between New