Today in VietNam history....

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

today from the History Channel...

1967 Amphibious operations conducted in the Mekong Delta

On this day, 1st Battalion, 9th U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese Marine Brigade Force Bravo conduct amphibious operations in the Kien Hoa Province in the Mekong Delta, located 62 miles south of Saigon.

This action, part of Operation Deckhouse V, marked the first time that U.S. combat troops were used in the Mekong Delta. The target area, called the Thanh Phu Secret Zone by the Viet Cong guerrillas, was believed to contain communist ammunition dumps, ordinance and engineering workshops, hospitals, and indoctrination centers. During the course of the operation, which lasted until January 15, seven U.S. Marines and 21 Viet Cong were killed.



1969 Lodge succeeds Harriman as chief negotiator

President-elect Richard Nixon names Henry Cabot Lodge to succeed W. Averell Harriman as chief U.S. negotiator at the Paris peace talks. Lawrence Edward Walsh, a New York lawyer and former deputy attorney general, was named deputy chief negotiator to replace Cyrus R. Vance. Marshall Green, an Asian affairs expert and ambassador to Indonesia, was assigned to assist the negotiating team. The peace talks started on May 10, 1968, but had been plagued from the beginning by procedural questions that inhibited any meaningful negotiations or progress. Unfortunately, the change in personnel had no effect in fostering more meaningful negotiations.

[LuLu550]

1. Weren't the Tet offensives in January?

My friend got shot in the second Tet in 1969, came home in a wheelchair. I seem to recall we heard about it in January...but it was so long ago I can't remember details like that, just how I felt.
I converted him to an anti-war activist but I hear through the grapevine he's turned into a right wing nut. Too bad. Some people just don't learn.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. 68 was on Jan 21... I have a special page for that day

[LuLu550]

3. yeah, he got it in the not-as-bad Tet the following year

like anything about Vietnam was "not-bad".

[Ernesto]

4. Marines in the Mekong?

Sounds fishy to me. As a Marine in the Nam (67-68) I've never heard of Marines south of I corps (the northern end of the country, far from the southern delta). On the other hand, if it was "amphibious" I guess it could be true.

[DemoTex]

5. 1st and 3rd in I Corp. 9th in the Delta.

Damn Marines got dizzy south of I CORPS. I loved the 1st and the 3rd Marines. I worked with those guys on a daily (or nightly) basis during Lam Son 719. Marine F-4s from Danang often covered my un-armed ass over eastern Laos, on my night-time Ho Chi Mihn Trail excursions.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. 9th Marines were attached to Market Garden after a fashion

It was supposed to be what they would now call the Rapid Deployment Force had the Navy/Coast Guard come up against something BIG. I believe their secondary mission was always Embassy protection and doing little dirty jobs for "The Boys" like sniping, snatch and grabs, stuff like that.