This is the eighth volume of a projected nine-volume history of Marine Corps operations in the Vietnam War. A separate functional series complements the operational histories. This volume details the activities of Marine Corps units after the departure from Vietnam in 1971 of Ill Marine Amphibious Force, through to the 1973 ceasefire, and includes the return of Marine prisoners of war from North Vietnam. Written from diverse views and sources, the common thread in this narrative is the continued resistance of the South Vietnamese Armed Forces, in particular the Vietnamese Marine Corps, to Communist aggression. This book is written from the perspective of the American Marines who assisted them in their efforts. Someday the former South Vietnamese Marines will be able to tell their own story. By July 1971, less than 500 U.S. Marines, mostly advisors, communicators, and supporting arms specialists remained in Vietnam. It was thought at the time that the success of "Vietnamization" of the war would lessen even this small number, as it was hoped that the South Vietnamese could continue fighting successfully. This hope vanished in spring 1972, dashed by a full-scale North Vietnamese Army invasion. The renewed combat saw the U.S. Marines return once more to Southeast Asia in a continuation of the war that now seemed to have no end. The fighting proceeded into the fall, and only ceased with the signing of peace accords in Paris in January 1973.

Merriam Press Military Monograph 138. First Edition (June 2012). Donald McClure Fenwick enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the young age of 18. His destiny was to serve his country as a Marine and to make the Marine Corps a career. He reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California in January 1957 for recruit training and retired in October 1990. For 33 years he served our nation and retired as a Master Gunnery Sergeant. His illustrious military career embodies both the old breed and the new breed of the Marine Corps. Donald would serve in distant lands such as Vietnam and Okinawa with several cruises aboard ship in the Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. His 33 years of honest and faithful service to the United States of America and to the Marine Corps is a legacy and a story that needs to be told. His story will capture your attention and give you an insight into the reality of what being a United States Marine is all about. His personal experiences while growing up on the farm in rural Kentucky and while progressing through the enlisted ranks, reveal the espirit de corps, camaraderie and the struggles he had to endure. He is a national asset as are many of the unsung heroes of our time. May we never forget their personal sacrifices and love of country and Corps. Contents: Life on the Farm; A Destiny to Serve; Vietnam-The Early Years; Vietnam-The Second Tour; Okinawa-Back to The Rock; The Love of his Life; Retirement-Life after the Corps. 71 photos (mostly of Vietnam, all unpublished).

A Top Secret Story of Unparalleled Heroism... Staff Sergeant Larry FitzGerald, aka "Reaper 6," of the U.S. Army Special Forces, led a special Black Ops team deployed to Vietnam in 1965. He reported to only two men: General Westmoreland and General Abrams, who were in command of the U.S. Armed Forces. His first assignment-a suicidal mission to assassinate four enemy generals in Laos who were planning the 1967 Tet invasion-was never disclosed to the media or the public. General Westmoreland stated that Sergeant FitzGerald deserved the Medal of Honor, and nine additional Purple Hearts, but unfortunately, most of his missions were conducted across the fence of South Vietnam, in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam. In fact, all of his missions were classified, clandestine, and denied. They have not been disclosed until now. Reaper 6 is the only biography of this extraordinary soldier's life, capturing the very sights, sounds, and smells of the Vietnam War. Today, Larry is the proverbial "last man standing" of 89 souls who went where lesser soldiers shouldn't dare.

Sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reasons. The author admits that to be the "story of his life" and openly shares much of it in this book. Although the book is largely an historically based auto-biography, it is part fact and part fiction. In cases where identities needed to be protected, the "facts" necessary to that end are changed but without altering the accuracy of the description of the event or its historical significance. It is a personal story. It is a cowboy-warrior's story told in a cowboy-warrior's language. It is the story of one man's journey from bondage to freedom and from slavery to liberty. It is the gritty story of this man's life-long education in the school of hard knocks as his journey took him from a sharecropper's shack, through the rodeo arena and the boxing ring, across the football field and the drilling rig floor, into the Marines and two wars and ultimately culminating in the university laboratory and classroom (the most dangerous of all the aforementioned places). Although woven around the experiences and adventures of one man, it is also the story of the people who lived during the period of time in American history that an entire generation was betrayed It is the story of the dramatically changing times in which this personal odyssey took place. It is the story of the betrayal of an entire generation of Americans and particularly the 40% (of the military aged males) of that generation that fought the Vietnam war. The story is told mostly in the form vignettes-short scenes of a particular moment or event. Some are significant. Many are trivial. Some are humorous. Others are heart breaking--even nightmarish. But when sequenced, they tell a story that has a theme. They chronicle an odyssey-an intellectual journey that begins with the author's self-contradictory and delusional rationalizations for some of the horrible things that he did in the name of "mother, God and country" and ends with the realization that they were, indeed, horrible. The conclusions are not mere "visions in the night." They are a result of a very difficult process of shaking a lifetime of authoritarian indoctrination. Some segments of the book will likely be interpreted as "whining" or "self-pity" and they probably are. But it is also a story of love, hate, happiness, sadness, anger, complacency, adventure, excitement, boredom, bravery, fear, duty, tyranny, incompetence, empire building, honor, cowardice, heroism and yes, betrayal. The book is the product of a lifetime of experience and reflection with a little research and a healthy portion of labored discipline added. It was written with the white heat of passion that occurs during the moment when the world comes into focus for the first time. It will bring your world into better focus.

This is the fourth volume in a planned 10-volume operational and chronological series covering the U.S. Marine Corps' participation in the Vietnam War. A separate topical series will complement the operational histories. This volume details the change in focus of the III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF), which fought in South Vietnam's northernmost corps area, I Corps. III MAF, faced with a continued threat in 1967 of North Vietnamese large unit entry across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Vietnams, turned over the Chu Lai enclave to the U .S. Army's Task Force Oregon and shifted the bulk of its forces-and its attention-northward. Throughout the year, the 3d Marine Division fought a conventional, large-unit war against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) near the demilitarized zone. The 1st Marine Division, concentrated in Thua Thien and Quang Nam provinces, continued both offensive and pacification operations. Its enemy ranged from small groups of Viet Cong guerrillas in hamlets and villages up to formations as large as the 2d NVA Division. The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing provided air support to both divisions, as well as Army and allied units in I Corps. The Force Logistic Command, amalgamated from all Marine logistics organizations in Vietnam, served all, major Marine commands. This volume, like its predecessors, concentrates on the ground war in I Corps and II I MAF's perspective of the Vietnam War as an entity. It also covers the Marine Corps participation in the advisory effort, the operations of the two Special Landing Forces of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, and the services of Marines with the staff of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. There are additional chapters on supporting arms and logistics, and a discussion of the Marine role in Vietnam in relation to the overall American effort. The nature of the war facing III MAF during 1967 forced the authors to concentrate on major operations, particularly those characterized by heavy combat. The uneven quality of the official reports submitted by combat units also played a role in selecting the materials presented in this volume. This is not meant to slight those whose combat service involved long, hot days on patrol, wearying hours of perimeter defense, an d innumerable operations, named and un-named . These Marines also endured fights just as deadly as the ones against large enemy regular units. III MAF's combat successes in 1967 came from the efforts of all Americans in I Corps.

Memoirs of a Carrier Sailor of life on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. It is profusely illustrated with the author's own vintage photography and contains five squadron newsletter filled with photos and info on day to day life on an aircraft carrier. Black & White Edition.

This is the third volume in a planned 10-volume operational and chronological series covering the Marine Corps' participation in the Vietnam War. A separate topical series will complement the operational histories. This particular volume details the continue d buildup in 1966 of the III Marine Amphibious Force in South Vietnam's northernmost corps area, I Corps, and the accelerated tempo of fighting during the year . The result was an "expanding war." The III Marine Amphibious Force had established three enclaves in I Corps during 1965. Employing what they believed was a balanced strategy-base defense, offensive operations, and pacification-the Marines planned to consolidate their base areas in 1966. At the beginning of 1966, the 1st Marine Division reinforced the 3d Marine Division and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Vietnam. By the end of the year, the III Marine Amphibious Force had nearly doubled in size. Two separate events, however, were to dash the high hopes held by the Marines in 1966. An internal political crisis in the spring halted the Marine pacification campaign south of the large Da Nang Airbase. In July, the North Vietnamese Army launched an incursion through the Demilitarized Zone and Marines went north to counter the enemy thrust. By December 1966, Marine units were stretched thin along the 265-mile length of I Corps. As one Marine commander observed, "too much real estate-do not have enough men." Although written from the perspective of III MAF and the ground war in I Corps, the volume treats the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese Armed Forces, the Seventh Fleet Special Landing Force, and Marines on the staff of the U .S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, in Saigon.

This is the first of a series of functional volumes on the Marine Corps' participation in the Vietnam War, which will complement the 10-volume operational and chronological series also underway. This particular history examines the role of the Navy chaplain serving with Marines, a vital partnership of fighting man and man of God which has been an integral part of the history of the Marine Corps since its inception. The first Marine aviation units to support the South Vietnamese Government forces entered Vietnam in 1962 and with them came their chaplains. When major Marine ground forces were first assigned to Vietnam in 1965, the number of assigned chaplains increased apace. By 1968 the III Marine Amphibious Force, occupying the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam, numbered over 80,000 Marines and had under its command the better part of three Marine divisions, a greatly expanded Marine aircraft wing, and a U.S. Army corps of multi-divisional strength. The number of Navy chaplains serving ashore with Marine units exceeded all past experience, and the scope of their ministry had expanded into new and sometimes troubling fields. When the American involvement in the war gave way to Vietnamization, Marine units phased down in strength, eventually departing the country from 1969-1971. Then, as today, they stood ready in the Pacific, on board ship and at bases in Okinawa, Japan, Hawaii, and California, to provide, as needed, a ready force to meet their country's call. And with them, as always, stood their chaplains, in peace or war ready to provide the counsel, comfort, and religious experience that are so much a part of military life.

"Greyhound in Vietnam," Richard M. Bush, Senior Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy (Ret.): Richard Bush served as crew on several United States Navy warships. Favored among them is USS Lynde McCormick (DDG 8); the "Best DDG." "Greyhound in Vietnam" manuscript evolved from a near- daily sea-journal penned aboard McCormick while Richard was Gunfire Control Technician Petty Officer Second Class, USN. Navy destroyer McCormick, a "greyhound," engaged a Western Pacific Ocean deployment, 1 October 1971 through 10 March 1972 (5 1/3 Months; 161 days). McCormick operated southeast Asia, offshore and in river deltas, in support of United States and Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam. Too, McCormick operated close inshore, Gulf of Tonkin, in support of U. S. pilots who flew missions against well defended North Vietnam shore-targets.

After relatively successful military interventions in Iraq in 1992 and Yugoslavia in 1998, many American strategists believed that airpower and remote technology were the future of U.S. military action. But America's most recent wars in the Middle East have reinforced the importance of counterinsurgency, with its imperative to "win hearts and minds" on the ground in foreign lands. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has studied and experimented with the combined action platoon (CAP) concept used from 1965 to 1971 by the Marine Corps in Vietnam.

Consisting of twelve Marines, a medic, and dozens of inexperienced local militiamen, the American contingent of CAPs lived in South Vietnamese villages where they provided twenty-four-hour security and daily medical support for civilians, and fostered social interaction through civic action projects, such as building schools, offices, and wells. Defend and Befriend is the first comprehensive study of the evolution of these platoons, emphasizing how and why the U.S. Marine Corps attempted to overcome the inherent military, social, and cultural obstacles on the ground in Vietnam. Basing his analysis on Marine records and numerous interviews with CAP veterans, author John Southard illustrates how thousands of soldiers tasked with counterinsurgency duties came to perceive the Vietnamese people and their mission.

This unique study counters prevailing stereotypes and provides a new perspective on the American infantryman in the Vietnam War. Illuminating the fear felt by many Americans as they served among groups of understandably suspicious civilians, Defend and Befriend offers important insights into the future development of counterinsurgency doctrine.

The Vietnam War was a defining event for a generation of Americans. But for years, misguided cliches about its veterans have proliferated. Philip F. Napoli's "Bringing It All Back Home" strips away the myths and reveals the complex individuals who served in Southeast Asia. Napoli helped to create Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, and in the spirit of that enterprise, his oral histories recast our understanding of a war and its legacy.
Napoli introduces a remarkable group of young New Yorkers who went abroad with high hopes only to find a bewildering conflict. We meet, for instance, a nurse who staged a hunger strike to promote peace while working at a field hospital and a black soldier who achieved an unexpected camaraderie with his fellow servicemen in racially tense times. Some of these soldiers became active opponents of the war; others did not. Tracing their journeys from the streets of Brooklyn and Queens to the banks of the Mekong, and back to the most glamorous corporations and meanest homeless shelters of New York City, Napoli uncovers the variety and surprising vibrancy of the ex-soldiers' experiences.

(Rated R) Wild Crazy Absolutely INSANE people in charge of our national security in the Vietnam War A story of Army Security Agency agents in the Vietnam War in 1968. From the draft, basic training and spy training to the war. Their lives and loves are exposed and the characters come together to accomplish their missions on the ground, air and water. The outcome of the war may depend on what may be described as "M*A*S*H" meets "Catch 22" in this action packed adventure. Includes shocking new theory on the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo Action packed chapter on using Swift Boats as spy platforms. Since the cracking of the "Enigma Code" the deadliest weapon has been code breakers. These unlikely warriors make the difference in every war since. This story shows these soldier boys at play in the ASA. They are both sentinels and shooters engaged in top secret missions. The first novel in a quatrain. Watch for the next in the series "The Men Behind The Iron Curtain." It is about the Army Security Agency in Europe during the Cold War. To be released later this year. "The Dragon Hunters," a story about the ASA in Asia, will be released next year. The fourth novel has been started but has not yet been named. The writing of the screenplay for "We Served In Silence" is in production. Buy your collector's copy today of this first issue of a story which can not be told in one book. Publisher and editor Mrs. Glenn Fannin (E. Jo Fannin). Rated (R) for violence and explicit sexual content.

The Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1973, An Anthology and Annotated Bibliography, based on articles that appeared in the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval Review, and Marine Corps Gazette, has served well for 14 years as an interim reference on the Vietnam War. It has both complemented and supplemented our official histories on Marine operations in Vietnam. Since its publication in 1974, however, events in Vietnam and the appearance of additional significant articles in the three periodicals have made both the anthology and bibliography somewhat dated. This expanded edition extends the coverage of the anthology to 1975 and the entries in the bibliography to 1984.

Originally published in 1973. Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs.