CHAPTER 10

Marines Meet the Challenge

_New American Decisions--A Restructured Military Assistance Command--Changes in Marine Leadership--Redesignation and Reorganization--The Vietnamese Marine Brigade--Additional Marine Activities_

_New American Decisions_

Less than three weeks after the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, the U.S. Presidency changed hands. On 22 November President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the reigns of the American government. By late November, when the new president assumed office, the process of political and military disintegration which had begun in South Vietnam following the Diem coup was already well underway. This process continued into the early weeks of 1964 when, in late January, General Nguyen Khanh, the newly appointed commander of I Corps, seized power in a bloodless coup. This second turnover in the government of South Vietnam in less than three months had its most serious impact on the nation’s armed forces. A new series of command changes ensued and again the government’s operations against the Communists suffered. As had been the case in the closing months of 1963, the Viet Cong continued to capitalize on the government’s disarray by expanding its control into previously secure areas.

By March the rapidly declining effectiveness of the South Vietnamese military forces led the Johnson Administration to review the earlier decisions to withdraw American servicemen and to cut back the military assistance program. In a 16 March memorandum to President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara warned that “the [military] situation had unquestionably been growing worse” in South Vietnam.[10-1] To counteract this threatening trend, McNamara offered a broad set of recommendations which included a proposal to support a 50,000-man increase in the size of the Vietnamese military and paramilitary forces. The memorandum did not address the question of additional American advisors who might be needed to supervise the proposed expansion. In any case, President Johnson approved McNamara’s plan the following day, thus setting the stage for increases in U.S. military assistance to South Vietnam.[10-2]

Shortly after his most recent decision on Vietnam, President Johnson ordered changes in his top civilian and military representatives in Saigon. On 22 June, General William C. Westmoreland, U.S. Army, who had been serving since January as Deputy Commander, USMACV, succeeded General Harkins as ComUSMACV. One day later, on the 23d, President Johnson announced that General Maxwell D. Taylor would replace Henry Cabot Lodge as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam. Taylor, who had been serving since 1962 as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had been closely associated with the Vietnam problem since his 1961 fact-finding mission. Both he and Westmoreland were thoroughly familiar with U.S. programs and objectives in Vietnam.

Soon after assuming his new responsibilities, General Westmoreland requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff augment his command with 5,100 additional military personnel. In his opinion, these men were needed to support and supervise the expansion of the Vietnamese military and paramilitary forces. Secretary McNamara met with the Joint Chiefs on 20 July to discuss this request for 900 more advisors and 4,200 additional support personnel. All agreed that the deteriorating situation in Vietnam demanded the measure and recommended its approval. The proposal was forwarded to President Johnson who approved it in early August. Emphasizing the urgency of the military situation, McNamara then ordered the Joint Chiefs to complete the entire build-up before 30 September. At this juncture, however, General Westmoreland pointed out that such a rapid influx of personnel would “overload existing facilities [in South Vietnam]” and stated his desire to see the build-up accomplished in a more orderly progression over a period of several months. After considering the general’s latest request, the Secretary of Defense withdrew his earlier demand for an accelerated deployment.[10-3]

[Illustration: _The MACV staff, spring 1964. Seated at head of table are General Paul D. Harkins, USA, Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and his relief General William C. Westmoreland, USA. Major General Richard G. Weede, USMC, MACV Chief of Staff, is seated to General Westmoreland’s immediate left, and Brigadier General Carl A. Youngdale, USMC, Assistant Chief of Staff, J-2, is seated two positions to General Weede’s left. (Photo courtesy of Major General Carl A. Youngdale, USMC (Ret.))._]

While the details of the expanded U S. advisory program were being hammered out in Washington, the focus of the administration’s concern swung abruptly from the battlefields of South Vietnam to the Tonkin Gulf off the coast of North Vietnam. In two separate incidents during the first week of August, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked U.S. Navy ships operating in international waters.[10-A] An international crisis ensued when the United States retaliated with limited air strikes against North Vietnamese naval facilities. On 6 August, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed a joint resolution authorizing the President “to use all measures, including the commitment of armed forces to assist [South Vietnam] in the defense of its independence and territorial integrity....”[10-4] President Johnson signed the so-called Tonkin Gulf Resolution five days after it was passed, and in so doing, reaffirmed his pledge of full support for the Government of Vietnam.[10-B]

[10-A] A vigorous debate has since developed concerning the actual origins of the Tonkin Gulf incidents. It has been claimed that the Americans precipitated the attacks by supporting aggressive South Vietnamese naval patrols off the North Vietnamese coast.

[10-B] U.S. Marines figured prominently in the crisis which followed the North Vietnamese attacks. A Marine expeditionary brigade, the 9th MEB, was activated from elements of the 3d Marine Division and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and deployed on board amphibious shipping to a position off Da Nang where it was available to support U.S. contingency plans. Its commander, Brigadier General Raymond G. Davis, and his staff attended planning conferences in Da Nang and reconnoitered possible landing sites near the city, but the MEB was not committed. Instead, the organization remained in existence throughout the remainder of 1964 and into early 1965 when, in March, two of its battalions were landed at Da Nang. The formation and subsequent commitment of the 9th MEB in the Republic of Vietnam are covered in detail in the 1965 history of U.S. Marine operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

While the tensions generated by the Tonkin Gulf incidents never really subsided, the immediate crisis soon passed. Thereafter the American attentions focused once again on South Vietnam where the political and military situation began to deteriorate at an unprecedented rate after midyear. Ironically, this process of accelerated decay coincided with the initiation of a new South Vietnamese pacification strategy designed to prevent just such an occurrence. One aspect of the strategy was the Chien Tang (“Struggle for Victory”) Plan. Announced by General Khanh shortly after his rise to power, this campaign was similar in method and objective to the defunct Strategic Hamlet Program. Like the earlier program, the Chien Tang Plan envisioned the restoration of government influence in selected rural areas through the coordination of military and paramilitary operations with social and economic development programs.[10-C] While the Chien Tang campaign was better planned and far less ambitious than the Strategic Hamlet Program, there were definite similarities between the two. The instrument for the social, economic, and political developmental phase of the new effort, for example, was the New Life Hamlet--a variation of the planned government community. Begun in some areas around midyear, the New Life Hamlets were to become the symbol of the new pacification effort in much the same manner that the fortified hamlets had symbolized the earlier Strategic Hamlet Program.

[10-C] Motivated at least partially by the requirement to provide better support for the pacification strategy, the Vietnamese government restructured its paramilitary forces in the spring of 1964. The old Self Defense Corps was expanded dramatically and renamed the Popular Force (PF). The Civil Guard was reorganized and designated the Regional Force (RF). More importantly, the RVNAF extended its control over both paramilitary organizations for the first time since their creation.

Coincident with the Chien Tang campaign, a similar but locally concentrated pacification effort was instituted in the rural areas around Saigon. Designated the Hop Tac Program, this campaign was conceived in order to link the seven provinces around the capital into a zone of intensive pacification in which closely coordinated military, paramilitary, police, and civil activities would systematically reduce Viet Cong strength. Because of their proximity to the area and their availability, the Vietnamese Marine Brigade and the ARVN Airborne Brigade were assigned primary responsibility for military operations in support of the Hop Tac campaign. By midyear, the Chien Tang and Hop Tac plans emerged as the backbone of General Khanh’s strategy to stave off further Communist advances in critical areas of the country.

The development of the government’s newest pacification strategy, however, was based on the assumption that the Viet Cong would pursue a campaign to strengthen their control in South Vietnam’s populated rural areas. Such was not the case. Instead, at midyear the Communists began waging a brand of warfare characterized by large-scale mobile operations against government military forces. Obviously the enemy had shifted to the “general counter-offensive”--that phase of guerrilla warfare designed to bring on the complete political and military collapse of the opposition.

The new Viet Cong strategy revealed itself in two general geographic areas during the fall months. In Binh Dinh Province on the coast of northern II Corps, two Viet Cong main force regiments staged a series of particularly swift and successful attacks which virtually eliminated the government’s presence except in the province capital, Qui Nhon, and a few district towns. In a coordinated offensive the Communists increased pressure throughout that portion of the Central Highlands west of Binh Dinh Province, thereby threatening to sever South Vietnam along an axis that extended roughly between Qui Nhon on the coast and Pleiku in the highlands. Meanwhile, another phase of the new initiative unfolded in III Corps where the government’s Hop Tac campaign was just getting underway. There the Communist offensive threatened to neutralize the government’s concentrated pacification campaign.

Eroded by the political side-effects of the battlefield developments, South Vietnam’s fragile power structure became increasingly unstable. The last five months of 1964 brought frequent changes in the Saigon government although General Khanh was able to maintain a semblance of control until December. The turmoil then climaxed when Air Vice Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, the commander of the Vietnamese Air Force, engineered a bloodless coup that forced Khanh from the Saigon political scene.

The frequent changes of government coupled with the stepped-up Viet Cong military pressure throughout Vietnam produced a downward spiral in the effectiveness of the republic’s armed forces. By the end of the year it was becoming increasingly doubtful that the government could stave off total collapse even with the increased volume of military assistance it was already receiving from the United States. Against this backdrop of Communist military activities, unprecedented political instability on the part of the South Vietnamese, and mounting combat losses, American military involvement in Vietnam deepened.

_A Restructured Military Assistance Command_

In many respects 1964 was a year of transition for the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Not only did the command experience a change in leadership when General Westmoreland replaced General Harkins as ComUSMACV, but it was thoroughly reorganized in preparation for the more vigorous U.S. advisory program which was expected to begin about midyear.

The major organizational change within MACV took place on 15 May when the MAAG was abolished and its staff integrated into that of the senior command. In June MACV itself was restructured under a new table of distribution. These changes reflected the anticipated influx of advisors and support personnel, and therefore concerned the Army more than the other U.S. armed services.

Initially, the number of Marine billets on the restructured Military Assistance Command staff did not change substantially. Twenty-four Marines (15 officers and nine enlisted) were included in the new table of distribution. This represented a net increase of only one over the number previously assigned to the MAAG and MACV staffs. By the end of September, however, Marines temporarily assigned to the MACV staff from FMFPac commands brought the on-board strength to 37. Another increase occurred in the early fall when eight more permanent Marine billets (three officers and five enlisted) were approved.

_Changes in Marine Leadership_

Two key links in the Marine command chain that joined government policy decisions in Washington to Marine Corps operations in Vietnam changed hands during the first 60 days of 1964. On 1 January, General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., replaced General Shoup as Commandant of the Marine Corps. Greene, known in American military circles as a brilliant staff officer, had been serving since 1960 as Chief of Staff of the Marine Corps. By 1964 he had become an outspoken supporter of South Vietnam’s struggle for independence. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as a Chief of Service, his presence in administration policies would be felt until his tour as commandant ended on 31 January 1967.

An equally important change occurred in early March when General Greene named Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak to replace General Roberts as Commanding General, FMFPac. A 1934 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Krulak had won the Navy Cross during ground action in World War II. He arrived in the Pacific from Washington where he had served both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson as special assistant for counterinsurgency matters. Having made numerous fact-finding trips to Vietnam in this capacity, he was intimately familiar with the unique political-military struggle being waged there. He also had a reputation of being one of Washington’s most vocal advocates of resisting Communist aggression in Southeast Asia. A dynamic leader and a man of strong convictions, Krulak was to exert a pervasive influence over all Marine operations in the Pacific for nearly half a decade.

Less obvious but of immense importance to both the Marine Corps and to the future of U.S. military operations in Vietnam was a change instituted within MACV by General Westmoreland during the early part of the year. The command’s modified table of organization called for the establishment of a Deputy ComUSMACV billet to be filled by an Army general officer. The joint table of distribution for the reorganized command specified that an Army general would also fill the chief of staff billet--a position which had been held by General Weede since MACV’s creation in early 1962. Thus, when Weede’s assignment ended in May, Major General Richard G. Stilwell, U.S. Army, became Westmoreland’s chief of staff while Lieutenant General John L. Throckmorton, U.S. Army, became Deputy ComUSMACV.[10-D] The Marine Corps, however, did not lose its entire senior presence on the MACV staff. Brigadier General Carl A. Youngdale, an officer whose 30-year career included distinguished combat tours in both World War II and Korea, arrived 15 January for assignment as Assistant Chief of Staff, J-2 (Intelligence). His presence on the MACV staff would insure a Marine voice in U.S. military planning at the Saigon level. Still, many Marines saw their relative strength on Westmoreland’s staff seriously reduced--a change which seemed to mark somewhat of a turning point in the overall management of the military assistance effort.

[10-D] For his service as MACV chief of staff, General Weede was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

_Redesignation and Reorganization_

The reorganization of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, had little initial effect on the Marine advisory program. With the dissolution of the MAAG, the old Naval Section, under which the Marine advisors had operated since 1955, was redesignated the Naval Advisory Group, MACV. Lieutenant Colonel Noren’s Marine Advisory Division, whose authorized strength remained at 11 officers and nine enlisted men through the first half of the year, was also renamed in mid-May. Known thereafter as the Marine Advisory Unit, Vietnam, the organization continued to function in much the same manner as it had under the previous arrangements.

The last five months of the year, however, saw some substantial changes in the composition of the Marine Advisory Unit as the advisor build-up recently approved by the Secretary of Defense began. Colonel William P. Nesbit, a recent graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, relieved Colonel Noren (promoted from lieutenant colonel on 1 July) as the Senior Marine Advisor on 4 September. Colonel Nesbit arrived in time to supervise the implementation of a new table of organization which added eight first lieutenants and a captain to the advisory unit in November.[10-E] The captain and one of the lieutenants were assigned as advisor and assistant advisor respectively to a new Vietnamese Marine infantry battalion which was in the process of being formed. Four other first lieutenants joined Colonel Nesbit’s command as assistant advisors to existing infantry battalions and one became the assistant artillery advisor. The two remaining lieutenants were assigned as advisors to the brigade’s motor transport and communications companies, replacing noncommissioned advisors. Two billets were downgraded in rank: the engineer advisor from captain to first lieutenant, and the artillery advisor from major to captain.

[10-E] A number of the Marines scheduled to fill the newly created billets did not arrive until early 1965.

In addition to phasing out three enlisted advisor billets, these changes relieved the Assistant Senior Marine Advisor of his artillery responsibilities. Colonel Earl E. Anderson, who had been serving since mid-1963 as the MAAG Chief of Staff, was instrumental in bringing about this particular modification. Under the old arrangement, the Senior Marine Advisor’s presence frequently had been required at the MAAG headquarters in Saigon while the Vietnamese Marine Brigade headquarters was deployed to combat. As the Assistant Senior Marine Advisor was likewise torn between two jobs, Anderson had directed that he be relieved of artillery advisory duties. Thus, Major Raymond C. Damm, an officer who had served as Assistant Naval Attache in Saigon between 1959 and 1961, became the first full-time Assistant Senior Marine Advisor after he joined Colonel Nesbit’s command in May. When the changes were finally completed, the restructured and redesignated Marine Advisory Unit included permanent billets for 24 officers and men (18 officers and six enlisted men).

Another important aspect of the overall Marine advisory program was altered in the closing months of 1964. Since Lieutenant Colonel Croizat’s tour with the Vietnamese Marines in the immediate post-Geneva period, most Marine advisors had attended French language courses prior to departing for service in Vietnam. As French influence in Vietnam faded during the late 1950s, however, the requirement for the language had gradually diminished, particularly as French maps were replaced by American ones. By the early 1960s this situation had prompted several Marine advisors to recommend that instruction in French be replaced by Vietnamese language training. Primarily through the persistence of Colonels Moody and Noren, the policy was revised in 1964. The arrival of the new advisors in the fall marked the first time that Marine officers had received formal Vietnamese language training before beginning their tours. Colonel Nesbit, who had the advantage of commanding advisors trained in both languages, saw the change as “a marked step forward,” in improving the advisory effort.[10-5]

_The Vietnamese Marine Brigade_

At the beginning of 1964, the 6,109-man Vietnamese Marine Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ba Lien, experienced a crisis of morale. The recent command changes that had occurred at almost every echelon and a soaring desertion rate combined to undermine the brigade’s combat readiness. In February the Khanh government recalled Colonel Le Nguyen Khang from the Philippines, promoted him to brigadier general, and reinstated him as commandant in an attempt to restore the unit’s spirit. A veteran Marine who had been instrumental in the development of the VNMC since its inception, Khang commanded confidence throughout the corps. Following his return, increased attention was given to the welfare of the individual Marine and his dependents in order to reduce the climbing desertion rate. Under the close supervision of the senior Vietnamese officers and their American advisors, the morale problem was gradually overcome.

Throughout the year the Vietnamese Marine Brigade continued to share the role of South Vietnam’s general reserve force with an ARVN airborne brigade. Normally at least one Marine battalion was held in the vicinity of Saigon, ready to respond to tactical emergencies while others operated nearby in support of the Hop Tac campaign. Still, the brigade’s infantry battalions managed to see action in every corps tactical zone except I Corps, which was the farthest removed from the capital.[10-F] Although sometimes combined into regimental-sized task forces for specific operations, the individual Marine battalions normally were attached to either a corps, a province, or an ARVN division for combat operations. When so attached, the Vietnamese Marines often were assigned to clear particularly hazardous or difficult terrain. At times they served as a reserve force, responding to crucial situations to either recoup or exploit actions initiated by other government units.

[10-F] South Vietnam’s corps boundaries were adjusted again in late 1964. The southern boundary of I Corps was moved south to include Quang Ngai Province. The southern border of II Corps was also moved southward to include eight provinces formerly encompassed by III Corps. Under the new arrangement, III CTZ formed a narrow strip across the nation which centered roughly on Saigon. The Capital Military District, the boundaries of which coincided with those of Gia Dinh Province, formed an enclave within III Corps. The southernmost tactical zone, IV Corps, encompassed the entire Mekong Delta.

In early January, the Vietnamese Joint General Staff assigned a Marine task force to a pacification mission in Go Cong and Long An Provinces, located just southeast of Saigon. Two VNMC battalions, controlled by a task force headquarters, moved into the operations area later in the month and remained until mid-September when the operation was terminated. The object of the Marine unit’s presence was to reestablish government control over the region through systematic small unit operations designed to deny the enemy his usual freedom of movement.

[Illustration:

CORPS TACTICAL ZONES AT THE END OF 1964 ]

Despite the length of this particular deployment, the Vietnamese Marines fought no major engagements. Furthermore, they had not translated their improved morale into an effective pacification operation. While desertions and unauthorized absences remained low considering the duration of this particular assignment, Colonel Noren later recalled several flaws in the campaign. These operations, he remarked “were characterized by inadequate coordination of military operations and intelligence reporting ... too little operational activity ... and a seeming lack of appreciation of the objectives of pacification.”[10-6] Colonel Nesbit, who became the Senior Marine Advisor as the operation entered its final stages, tended to confirm this assessment. “The capacity of the task force headquarters in staff functioning,” he reported, “was marginal.”[10-7]

[Illustration: _General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps, inspects an honor guard of Vietnamese Marines. With him are Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ba Lien, Commandant of the Vietnamese Marine Corps, and Major General Richard G. Weede, Chief of Staff, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. (Official USMC Photo)._]

While the drive to pacify the Go Cong-Long An areas was in progress, other Vietnamese Marine task forces were organized to undertake different combat assignments elsewhere in the southern portion of Vietnam. One, composed of two battalions, an artillery detachment, and a headquarters element, launched a brief clearing operation northwest of Saigon in heavily populated Tay Ninh Province in January. A similar operation involving another task force was conducted the next month in the difficult mangrove swamps of An Xuyen Province at the southern tip of the nation. In both cases the government offensives enjoyed local success, but failed to reduce significantly the enemy’s capabilities and influence in the area.

Midyear 1964 found the Vietnamese Marine commanders and their American advisors engaged in renewed efforts to restructure and expand the Vietnamese Marine Brigade. Accomplished for the most part in July, the salient feature of this latest reorganization was the creation of a new infantry battalion. With its nucleus garrisoned at a small base about 12 miles northwest of Saigon, the newly organized 5th Battalion devoted the remainder of the year and the first six months of 1965 to forming and training its companies. It finally became combat ready in June 1965.

[Illustration: VNMC (MARINE BRIGADE) TABLE OF ORGANIZATION AS OF 1 JULY 1964

AUTHORIZED STRENGTH 6,555]

Aside from the addition of the new infantry battalion, the mid-1964 reorganization produced other noteworthy changes in the structure of the Vietnamese Marine Corps. In the artillery battalion, the two 75mm pack howitzer batteries were combined into one battery of eight weapons, while the one 105mm howitzer battery was divided to form two new batteries of six howitzers each. The tables of equipment were revised to reflect these adjustments. Another significant change occurred in the area of training. The Training Company was deleted from the Amphibious Support Battalion and a separate recruit training center was created at Thu Duc near Saigon. Tactical planning and control was also improved when the Brigade Headquarters was reduced in size and two smaller Task Force Headquarters (Task Force A and Task Force B) were formed.

Following the mid-1964 reorganization, the Vietnamese Marines performed combat missions not unlike those they had been assigned prior to July. One exception was that the brigade no longer found itself tasked with actual pacification phases of operations. Instead, the Marine battalions concentrated on clearing operations around Saigon in conjunction with the Hop Tac campaign. Additionally, the various battalions were called upon occasionally during this period to provide security for key government installations located in Saigon and Vung Tau--assignments which gave the infantry units much needed respites from field duty.

By the end of the year the Vietnamese Marine Corps had been improved in several areas. In the motor transport field two new pieces of equipment were put into full-time operation--a high pressure steam cleaner and an M-108 wrecker. Progress also was made in upgrading the entire communications capability of the brigade when the table of equipment was revised in accordance with the modified table of organization. The new tables provided for modern test and repair equipment and eliminated obsolete and impractical items. Other unrealized improvements were still in their formative stages as the year closed. In the field of supply, for example, the brigade supply officer, with assistance from his American advisor, was drawing up plans which would give the Vietnamese Marines a more responsive and more manageable system.

While the technically oriented programs were being developed and implemented, intensified training programs were preparing more and better trained Vietnamese Marines for their responsibilities. Established in July, the Marine Training Center at Thu Duc had graduated 1,464 recruits before the end of the year. These recruits, moreover, were trained by Vietnamese noncommissioned officers who had recently completed the drill instructor course at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. For the first time since its inception, the VNMC was benefiting from a flow of recruits trained by Vietnamese Marines at a separate Marine training facility.

Other programs likewise were helping prepare Vietnamese officers and noncommissioned officers to command and manage their growing service. A total of 718 officers and noncommissioned officers attended various training courses in South Vietnam during the year while 42 more officers attended formal schools in the United States during the same period. Another 52 small unit leaders participated in on-the-job training programs with U.S. Marine units on Okinawa between January and December.[10-8]

Unfortunately, these developments were overshadowed by a military disaster which befell the 4th VNMC Battalion on the last day of the year. The Marine unit had been serving since early December as the reserve force for III Corps Tactical Zone. On the 27th an estimated Viet Cong battalion overran the small pro-government town of Binh Gia located in Phuoc Thy Province roughly 35 miles east of Saigon. III Corps officials reacted by dispatching the 4th Battalion and an ARVN Ranger battalion to the area. The 4th Battalion, accompanied by two U.S. Marine advisors and three OJT observers from the 3d Marine Division, was ordered to recapture the town. It proceeded to do so on the 30th, encountering no enemy opposition. Later in the day, while the Marines were developing defensive positions around the town, a spotter aircraft sighted a large Viet Cong force approximately two miles to the west and called for air strikes. A U.S. Army helicopter gunship was shot down and its crew killed while attacking the target.

Against the advice of his senior U.S. Marine Advisor, Captain Franklin P. Eller, the 4th Battalion commander ordered one of his companies to secure the crash site and recover the bodies of the dead crewmen. Accompanied by Eller, First Lieutenant James P. Kelliher, and Staff Sergeant Clifford J. Beaver, two of the 3d Division OJTs, the company moved west from Binh Gia on the morning of the 31st to carry out the mission. After reaching the crash site, the Marine unit was ambushed by a large Viet Cong force using 82mm mortars, 57mm recoilless rifles, and .50 caliber machine guns. Unable to maneuver because of the intense fire, the company radioed for assistance and began withdrawing from the ambush site in small groups.

[Illustration: _Marine Captain Franklin P. Eller, advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion, coordinates with other American-advised units operating nearby. (USMC Photo A183570)._]

The battalion commander, accompanied by the assistant Marine advisor, First Lieutenant Philip O. Brady and the other OJTs, responded to the call for assistance by leading the remaining three companies from their positions at Binh Gia. Just outside the town they met Captain Eller, who had been wounded in the face, along with Lieutenant Kelliher and the remnants of the hard-hit company. Eller and the survivors of the morning ambush returned to Binh Gia while the remainder of the battalion pushed westward in an attempt to locate the enemy force. Later in the morning, the Marine column was surprised while moving through an abandoned rubber plantation by a Communist force of between 1,200 and 1,800 men.

No artillery was available to support the beleaguered battalion. Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraiders, however, were able to deliver close air strikes for about 45 minutes. U.S. Army helicopter gunships replaced the Skyraiders on station, but their rocket and machine gun fire proved too light to dislodge the enemy from his positions under the dense vegetation. By late afternoon, 29 of the 4th Battalion’s 35 officers, including the battalion commander, were dead. In desperation, the Americans organized the surviving Vietnamese Marines into small groups some of which managed to slip past the Viet Cong and find their way back to Binh Gia.

The Vietnamese Marines had suffered their most decisive defeat of the war. Their losses were extremely high: 112 killed, 71 wounded, and 13 missing out of a 326-man battalion. Equipment losses included 142 weapons and over a dozen radios. Additionally, all four of the U.S. Marines who had participated in the disastrous action had been wounded. Both Captain Eller and Lieutenant Brady were later awarded the Silver Star Medal for their roles in the battle.[10-G] Captain Donald G. Cook, one of the OJT observers from the 3d Marine Division, was missing in action at the close of the battle.[10-H]

[10-G] Personal decorations for heroism were awarded more frequently to Marine advisors through 1964. Earlier in the year (16 February), a Marine captain, Donald E. Koelper, an advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion earned a Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for heroism. Koelper was decorated for warning the occupants of a crowded American theater in Saigon to take cover just prior to the detonation of a Viet Cong terrorist bomb. The Marine was killed by a Viet Cong satchel charge. But his sacrifice limited the number of casualties to three killed and 51 wounded.

[10-H] It was later learned that Captain Cook had been wounded and captured by the Viet Cong. Cook reportedly died in captivity in 1967.

The ranger battalion operating nearby suffered a similar fate, incurring nearly 400 casualties in another violent ambush. Thus, within a 24-hour period two elite government battalions had been shattered. Only later was it learned that the Marines and rangers had clashed with two main force regiments of the _9th Viet Cong Division_--the first Communist division to become operational in South Vietnam.

As a result of the disastrous engagement at Binh Gia, the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion was rendered ineffective as a fighting force for a period of three months. This loss created two immediate problems for General Khang and his American advisors. It reduced the brigade’s available infantry strength by approximately 25 percent and placed an added burden on the recruit training center which was already laboring to provide enough new troops to fill the 5th Battalion. For the Vietnamese Marine Corps, 1964 ended on a discouraging note.

[Illustration: _Marine Captain Donald E. Koelper, advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion, was posthumously awarded the first Navy Cross for action in Vietnam. (USMC Photo A411741)._]

_Additional Marine Activities_

U.S. Marine participation in the Vietnam War during 1964 was not limited to the activities of the advisory division and the helicopter task element. Various other Marine units and detachments made significant, although less publicized, contributions to the war effort throughout the year. One of these was the Marine security detachment which continued to protect the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Twice during the year the growing political unrest and the increasing threat of Communist terrorist attacks prompted the expansion of the security detachment, first in April and again in October. By the end of the year the detachment’s strength stood at 30 Marines--a figure which made it the second largest such unit in the world. Only the Marine detachment in Paris, with 37 officers and men, was larger. And nowhere was an embassy guard assignment more dangerous than in Vietnam where terrorist attacks were apt to occur at anytime.

Other groups of Marines performed an assortment of missions in support of the Government of Vietnam during the course of the year. The Detachment, 1st Composite Radio Company, for example, continued its duties at the U.S. Army Communications installation in Pleiku. A handful of these Marines also served at a newly opened U.S. Army communications station at Phu Bai some eight miles southeast of Hue. The strength of the Detachment, 1st Composite Radio Company, however, was reduced from 42 officers and men to only 16 by the end of December.

The spring of 1964 saw a new, substantially larger Marine communications detachment introduced into the northern provinces of South Vietnam. Unlike its predecessors at Pleiku and Phu Bai, this unit was composed exclusively of Marines and included an infantry element for security purposes. Designated the Signal Engineering Survey Unit, the radio detachment consisted of three officers and 27 enlisted men drawn from the 1st Radio Company, FMFPac, and from Headquarters Marine Corps. This element, commanded by Major Alfred M. Gray, Jr. arrived at Da Nang on 20 May along with a 76-man infantry detachment from Company G, 2d Battalion, 3d Marines. The infantry element, reinforced with an 81mm mortar section (two mortars), was commanded by First Lieutenant Raymond J. Otlowski. Major Gray assumed overall command of the composite force which was designated Marine Detachment, Advisory Team One. Advisory Team One became the first actual Marine ground unit to conduct independent operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

U.S. Air Force C-123 transports airlifted the bulk of the newly formed unit to the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) camp at Khe Sanh in northwestern Quang Tri Province in the closing days of May. Two officers and five enlisted communicators remained behind at Da Nang and a four-man team positioned itself in the U.S. Army compound at Phu Bai to provide radio support for the main body. At Khe Sanh, Advisory Team One initially concentrated on building a solid supply base prior to undertaking actual communications operations. ARVN truck convoys brought the preponderance of its supplies from Quang Tri over Route 9, the old colonial road that snaked through the Annamite Mountains into Laos. While Major Gray and his men proceeded with this task, Marine UH-34Ds from Da Nang helilifted an ARVN infantry company onto Tiger Tooth Mountain (Dong Voi Mep), a jungle-covered mountain located eight miles north of the CIDG Camp. With an elevation of 5,500 feet, Tiger Tooth Mountain is the highest terrain feature in northern I Corps. On 13 June U.S. Army UH-1B helicopters lifted Major Gray, nine enlisted men, and several thousand pounds of equipment into a tiny landing zone which the South Vietnamese troops had hacked out near the top of the rugged mountain. The ARVN soldiers, who had established a rough perimeter around a peak slightly below the mountain’s highest point, were on hand to greet the small group of Americans. After the initial helilift, however, bad weather in the form of dense clouds intervened to delay the remainder of the movement for an entire week. SHUFLY helicopters finally completed the mission on 21 June. When the helilift concluded 73 Marines and roughly 100 Vietnamese troops were strung around and across a 5,000-foot peak just south of Tiger Tooth’s highest elevation. Another 81 Leathernecks remained at Khe Sanh to provide a pool from which fresh security forces and radiomen could be drawn when needed.

MACV orders explicitly prohibited the Marines on Tiger Tooth Mountain from patrolling or engaging in any other activity which could have been construed as offensive in nature. As a result of this restriction, Major Gray’s men were confined to defensive positions around the crude little landing zone and the tents which housed the radio equipment. Even so, life on the mountain was extremely rigorous. The clouds which frequently enshrouded the mountain top left the Marines, their clothing, weapons, and equipment constantly damp. High winds heightened their discomfort. The local weather conditions also made food and water deliveries to the position hazardous and irregular. Marine UH-34Ds prepositioned at Khe Sanh brought C rations and water cans whenever the clouds revealed Tiger Tooth’s higher elevations. Often, however, the weather did not break for days. Normally the men were limited to two canteens of water daily--a restriction which made bathing and shaving impossible. Because of the harsh living conditions on the mountain, fresh security forces and radio men were rotated from Khe Sanh at two week intervals, weather permitting.

[Illustration:

MARINE DETACHMENT ADVISORY TEAM ONE OPERATIONS IN I CTZ

MAY-AUGUST 1964 ]

Advisory Team One operated in the extreme northwestern corner of the republic without incident until the second week of July. Then a severe storm struck its mountaintop base, blowing away tents and antennae, collapsing fighting positions, and generally disrupting operations. Several nights later, on the 17th, a Viet Cong force of undetermined size probed the Marine sector of the perimeter. An intense exchange of small arms and automatic weapons fire ensued for nearly two hours. Although the Marines suffered no casualties and could find no dead or wounded Viet Cong the next day, it was apparent that their location had been compromised.

Amid reports of increasing Communist activity throughout the area, MACV authorities in Saigon promptly ordered Major Gray to withdraw his force from Tiger Tooth Mountain. Fortunately good weather permitted Marine helicopters from Da Nang to helilift the men and their equipment from the mountain to Khe Sanh the day after the firefight. On the 22d, Air Force C-123 transports airlifted the entire Marine detachment to Da Nang. There Gray and his Marines crowded into the old French compound occupied by the helicopter task element. Although cramped, the SHUFLY facilities provided welcome relief for the men who had endured the rigors of Tiger Tooth Mountain and Khe Sanh for nearly two months.

While at Da Nang, Major Gray detached a small group of radiomen to Monkey Mountain, a rocky, jungle-covered peninsula that jutted into the South China Sea just northeast of the city. There in relative comfort and safety, the technicians conducted equipment tests for two weeks. Several changes in the leadership and composition of the advisory team took place during this interval. Captain Raymond A. Becker, a communications officer from the 1st Radio Company, FMFPac, relieved Major Gray as the commander of the unit on 13 August. Soon thereafter a reinforced infantry company, Company K, 3d Battalion, 3d Marines, commanded by Captain William R. Irwin, replaced Lieutenant Otlowski and the Company G Marines as the advisory team’s security element.

Under Captain Becker’s command, Advisory Team One redeployed, this time to Dong Bach Ma, a 3,500-foot mountain located roughly 25 miles west-northwest of Da Nang. An abandoned French resort, still untouched by the war, sprawled across the higher elevations of Bach Ma and a hard surface road curved up its steep northern face from Route 1. Using this road ARVN trucks moved Captain Irwin and the infantry element to the newly selected site in advance of the radio personnel. Once atop the mountain, Irwin had his men establish a perimeter around an abandoned monastery. This accomplished, Marines cleared a small helicopter landing zone near the old but well-preserved religious building which was to serve as their base of operations. On 19 August Marine helicopters lifted Captain Becker, his communicators, and some 4,000 pounds of equipment to the site from Da Nang.

Advisory Team One, relying heavily on Marine helicopters for logistical support, operated without incident from the quaint old monastery until the second week of September. The composite unit completed its operations at Bach Ma on the 10th whereupon it returned to Da Nang. Within days the detachment was disbanded without fanfare. The radio experts returned to their parent commands in Hawaii and Washington while Company K was airlifted to Okinawa where it rejoined the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines. The quiet dissolution of the Marine Detachment, Advisory Team One, ended the first brief and little publicized chapter of Marine ground unit operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

In October an element of the 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, 3d Marine Division, operating from ships of the Seventh Fleet, conducted an extensive survey of Cam Ranh Bay in southern II Corps. The purpose of its survey was to determine the feasibility of establishing a naval facility. Marine counterintelligence teams from FMFPac also were temporarily assigned to MACV for 30-day periods throughout the year. These officers and noncommissioned officers normally augmented the U.S. Army 704th Counterintelligence Unit during their stay in Vietnam. Another group of Marines to employ their skills in the counterinsurgency environment was a small Special Operations Group of six officers and 21 enlisted men. These Marines conducted operations under the auspices of MACV.

A more permanent influx of Marines into the war-torn republic occurred in the last quarter of the year. In response to the intensified advisory effort ordered by Secretary McNamara in July, General Greene, the new Marine Commandant, assured the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the Marines could be expected to carry their share of the increased burden. Shortly thereafter, the Marine Corps was directed to provide 60 officers and noncommissioned officers to serve as advisors with ARVN units in I Corps Tactical Zone. These orders, later described by Major Damm, the Assistant Senior Marine Advisor to the VNMC as “very short fused ones,” were executed without delay.[10-9] The 3d Marine Division was given short notice to select suitable personnel and to transfer them immediately to ComUSMACV. In response to these instructions, the Okinawa-based command quickly formed four advisory teams, each composed of four men--a captain, a first lieutenant, a gunnery sergeant, and a corporal (who was to serve as the team’s radio operator). Accompanied by Major John W. Walker, the first increment of Marine advisors was airlifted to Da Nang by KC-130 in mid-September.

Upon reporting to the I Corps Senior U.S. Advisor, Colonel Howard B. St. Clair, U.S. Army, the four teams were broken up, the Marines being assigned individually to battalions of the 1st and 2d ARVN Divisions. Major Walker joined the I Corps advisory staff in Da Nang as assistant operations officer. The balance of the 60 new Marine advisors were formed into teams on Okinawa and airlifted to Da Nang in the ensuing weeks. By December the advisors, who had initially been drawn from the 3d Marine Division, were being replaced gradually by officers and noncommissioned officers just beginning their normal 12-month overseas tours.

Two additional permanent Marine advisor billets were also approved in the closing weeks of 1964. These were created within the Naval Advisory Group to assist the Vietnamese Navy in controlling one of South Vietnam’s most troublesome areas--the Rung Sat Special Zone (RSSZ). Located southeast of Saigon on both sides of the Long Tao River, the main ship channel to the capital, the Rung Sat was a vast, difficult-to-penetrate, mangrove swamp. Due largely to its relative inaccessibility, the area had been developed by the Viet Cong into a key base for supporting their operations in the surrounding provinces. More significantly, by early 1964 the Communist-held Rung Sat posed a serious threat to commercial ships bound for Saigon. For this reason the responsibility for pacifying the area was turned over to the Vietnamese Navy in April.

Initially one Marine major, Edward J. Bronars, was assigned to assist and advise the Vietnamese Navy in its attempts to secure the Rung Sat. In November, however, the RSSZ advisory staff was reorganized to include one Marine captain and one sergeant. Although they did not arrive for duty until early the following year, the newly approved billets created the third distinct group of Marine ground advisors assigned to the Republic of Vietnam.[10-10]

The OJT program continued in effect for junior Marine officers and staff noncommissioned officers throughout 1964. Near the end of the year the program was broadened somewhat to include members of Hawaii-based Marine commands. Each month 10 Leathernecks arrived at Da Nang to begin their 30-day assignments. At SHUFLY headquarters the visitors were briefed as a group before being attached individually to specific South Vietnamese units for the duration of their stay in Vietnam. Normally, the officers and staff noncommissioned officers joined a unit already being advised by a U.S. Marine. When possible, the OJT was assigned to a unit which could benefit from his particular military and technical skills. Still, the on-the-job-trainee was not always considered an asset. “In honesty,” one permanent advisor to the Vietnamese Marine Corps conceded, “OJTs were a mixed blessing--they provided some help but they also were an added responsibility for the VNMC commander who was charged with their safety.” “Some OJTs,” he added, “received misperceptions of the capability of the Viet Cong since their knowledge/experience was limited to the events occurring during their brief 30-day tour.”[10-11] Nevertheless, a significant number of Marine small unit leaders were able to gain some degree of first-hand experience in counter guerrilla warfare under the provisions on the OJT program.[10-I]

[10-I] The 3d Marine Division’s OJT program did not end until after elements of the division landed at Da Nang in March 1965. The Marine Advisory Unit experimented successfully with another form of augmentation in the first days of 1965. When the Vietnamese Marines deployed to the Binh Gia area with a provisional brigade in early January, Colonel Nesbit, who was still serving as Senior Marine Advisor, requested additional personnel to assist and advise at the staff level. FMFPac responded by temporarily detaching eight officers and 11 enlisted men to the advisory division. MACV provided two more Marine officers and seven additional enlisted men, all of whom remained attached to the Marine Advisory Unit for the duration of the operation. The temporarily assigned Marines returned to their parent organizations when the operation terminated. This is covered in more detail in the 1965 account of U.S. Marine activities in Vietnam.

A similar but shorter term program for field grade officers and colonels, the Job Related Orientation (JRO) Program, also took hold during the early months of 1964. Instituted in the last half of the previous year, the JRO program provided for a small number of staff officers from the various FMFPac commands to visit U.S. Headquarters in Vietnam and Thailand for an eight-day period. Small groups of these officers arrived at Da Nang from Okinawa and, like the OJTs, were briefed by the helicopter task element commander and his staff. Later they were afforded an orientation flight over the northern provinces. Next, the visiting officers were flown to Saigon where they received more briefings at MACV headquarters. In the capital, where they were hosted by the Senior Marine Advisor, they visited Vietnamese Marine units and discussed tactics and problem areas with the advisors. After four days in the Republic of Vietnam the Marines travelled on to Bangkok where they spent the balance of their visit. Upon the conclusion of these JRO trips, each officer was required to submit a detailed written report to the Commanding General, FMFPac. In turn, extracts of these reports were forwarded to the Commandant of the Marine Corps in Washington.

Generally these reports addressed tactical, operational, logistics, and intelligence matters. But a number of the Marine officers used the reporting system to articulate their opinions relative to the overall direction of the war. Colonel Warren P. Baker, a member of the 3d Marine Division staff who visited Vietnam in March, pointed out that field advisors and MACV staff members differed sharply in their personal assessments of progress being made. The field advisors, Baker observed, demonstrated far less optimism than did the staff members. Furthermore, he reported that unless the people of South Vietnam could be won over to the government, the Viet Cong’s success could be expected to continue.[10-12] Another officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry E. Dickinson, summarized his conclusions with an even more emphatic warning:

The commitment of sizeable U.S. combat units should not be effected except to protect the seat of government. While local success might be achieved in certain areas, it is extremely doubtful whether any lasting degree of success would entail in the northern and western sections. As combat units were increased, the forces of Vietnam would do less and less with the inevitable conflict of overall command. The end result would be the ringing of the country with combat units but no solution for the internal conflict. I strongly disagree that any two or three divisions could achieve real victory as has been stated in the press.[10-13]

Through candid reporting of this nature, Marine commanders from Okinawa to Washington were kept abreast of the complex and difficult problems being generated by the war in Southeast Asia.