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The Beginning
What began as a nationalist/Communist revolutionary struggle between the French
colonialist and the Viet Minh, headed by Ho Chi Minh, soon escalated into a full blown
civil war. Vietnam gained world attention in March of 1954 when communist forces
under the leadership of General Giap over ran the French base at Dien Bien Phu.
Fearing the spread of Communism throughout the Pacific rim, the Geneva
Accords reached an uneasy peace agreement by splitting Vietnam along the 17th parallel,
more commonly known as the DMZ. The Communists would gain control of the North, whereas
the South would be governed by a democratic system. It was agreed that with in two
years elections would be held nation wide to determine the fate of Vietnam. Subjected to
constant postponements, these elections never came to pass.
The United States kept a close eye on the government in the North, monitoring the
shipping running in and out of the harbors in the Gulf of Tonkin. We also sent military
advisors to the South to help them control the ever increasing number of guerrilla forces
who were bent on disrupting the unstable government in Saigon. Tensions continued to mount
in this uneasy peace until on August 2, 1964 North Vietnamese gun boats attacked the USS
Maddox.
In response to this attack, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the bombing of key
military targets in the North. The North retaliated by increasing their hostile ground
actions in the South, focusing on American installations, resulting in the deaths of
several American advisors. To protect the American airbases, President Johnson ordered
Marine ground forces to set up strictly defensive positions around the base at Danang and
later around the new base at Chu Lai. On 8 March 1965, the first wave of Marine Battalion
Landing Team (BLT) 3/9 landed at Red Beach, Da Nang. On the beach waiting for the Marines
was a host of welcoming South Vietnamese dignitaries and local schoolgirls who bedecked
the 9th MEB commander, Brigadier General Frederick J. Karch, with a garland of flowers. By
the end of March 1965, the 9th MEB numbered nearly 5,000 Marines at Da Nang, including two
infantry battalions, two helicopter squadrons, and supporting units. And so it began.
As the war expanded, command arrangements, like the American commitment, evolved over
time without any master plan. Still by the end of 1965, the United States had established
the outlines of the complex command structure which, with minor modifications, it would
fight the remainder of the war. III MAF headed since June by Major General Lewis W. Walt
reported to USMACV (Westmoreland). General Westmoreland exercised this authority through
the U.S. chain of command. Formally MACV was a unified command directly subordinate to the
U.S. Pacific Command under Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp in Hawaii.
While III MAF was under the operational control of MACV, General Walt also reported
directly through Marine channels to the Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific,
Lieutenant General Victor H. ``Brute'' Krulak for administrative and logistic support.
While not in the operational chain of command, General Krulak was not one to deny General
Walt the benefit of his advice. Through the same Marine channels, Krulak was responsible
to The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., in Washington, who
also had his perceptions on the conduct of the war.
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1965
When the Marines first arrived in Vietnam in 1965, their sole purpose was to provide
protection to the American air base at Danang. The official directive was: "The U.S.
Marine force will not, repeat will not, engage in day to day actions against the Viet
Cong". However, as the U. S. expanded its build-up with additional bases south at Chu
Lai and north at Phu Bai, these rules of limited engagement became increasingly difficult
to maintain. The Viet Cong set up strongholds in neighboring villages from where they
would launch attacks against the Americans.. Is was soon recognized that in order to
protect the American bases, these pockets of resistance needed to be flushed out.
The South Vietnamese Army (RVN) had the responsibility of securing the countryside but
it was soon apparent they were not able to do so without assistance of American forces.
The initial directive was expanded to allow Marines to work with the RVN soldiers but only
in areas that were critical to U. S. security. The Marines were given permission to run
offensive operations in areas that were critical to security of their bases. Though these
"Search and Destroy" missions did produce a limited amount of success, it was
soon clear that this would not be enough to insure protection for the American troops and
materials in Vietnam. The Viet Cong had a talent for vanishing into the hills, only to
return after an area was declared secure.
Operation Starlite
On August 15 the Marines received their first break. A deserter from the Vietcong 1st
Regiment in-formed General Thi of a major build-up of enemy Maine Force units in the Van
Tuong village complex, twelve miles southeast of Chu Lai along the coast. The VC goal was
to achieve a great psychological victory by surprising the isolated marine base at Chu Lai
in the first major engagement between American and enemy forces.
General Thi, informing none of his own subordinates, immediately relayed the information
to General Walt. Marine intelligence had by this time received sufficient evidence on its
own to corroborate the deserter's story. Colonel Edwin Simmons, newly arrived operations
officer for III MAF, recommended a "spoiling attack" to prevent the anticipated
VC strike against Chu Lal. The timing was fortuitous. The arrival of reinforcements at the
Chu Lai base on August 14 enabled Walt to reassign two experienced combat battalions, 2d
Battalion of the 4th Marines (or 2/4), and 3d Battalion, 3d Marines (3/3) to the command
of Colonel Oscar F. Peatross, commander of the 7th Marines. In addition, another marine
battalion, afloat offshore, served as a reserve force that could be thrown into the battle
when and where necessary. Finally, two U.S. Navy ships in the area, the U.S.S. Galveston
and U.S.S. Cabildo, could provide offshore fire support. The operation, code-named
Starlite, would be a classic marine encounter, combining land and sea forces, including an
amphibious landing and coordination with the navy. It would be a very different battle for
the Vietcong, accustomed to fighting with their backs to the sea, knowing that against
South Vietnamese forces the water could always be used as an avenue of escape.
Conducting an aerial reconnaissance of the operational area, which was
about ten miles south of Chu Lai, Colonel Peatross found that the terrain was dominated by
sandy flats, broken by numerous streams and an occasional wooded knoll. The scattered
hamlets possessed paddy areas and dry crop fields. While airborne, Peatross selected the
assault beach as well as three landing zones among the sand flats, about one mile inland
from the coast.
Operation Starlite began inauspiciously at 10:00 A.M. on August 17,
when Company M of the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines, took a short ride south of Chu Lai before
marching four miles farther south and camping for the night just north of Van Tuong. They
met only light resistance and, since marine patrols in the area had been frequent, aroused
no suspicion. Seven hours after Company M departed, the rest of the 3/3 and the command
group embarked on three amphibious ships which, after a decoy maneuver, arrived in the
area of the landing beach at five in the morning of August 18. Fifteen minutes before the
6:30 A.M. H-hour, marine artillery and jets began to pound the three landing zones west of
Van Tuong, LZ Red, LZ White, and LZ Blue. Eighteen tons of bombs and napalm were dropped,
adding to the firing of 155MM guns. At H-hour the troops of the 3/3 began their beach
assault and pushed inland as planned. At 6:45 A.M. Company G of the 2/4 landed at LZ Red,
while Company E landed at LZ White and Company H landed at LZ Blue forty-live minutes
later. The 3/3 approached Van Tuong from the south, while companies E, G, and H of 2/4
were to move in from the west. Company M blocked any retreat to the north by the VC, and
the navy ships prevented an escape to the east via the South China Sea. Van Tuong and the
Vietcong were surrounded. For the most part, the Marines met little resistance as they
closed in, but fierce fighting broke out near LZ Blue.
In the Vietnam War, intelligence was never precise and Company H had
landed right in the middle of the Vietcong 60th Battalion and found itself surrounded. The
VC let the first helicopters land without incident, then opened up on succeeding waves, a
tactic they had used successfully against ARVN. Three U.S. Army UH-lB helicopter gun ships
were called in to strafe the VC strong hold, a small knoll just east of LZ Blue called
Hill 43. (Hills were given numerical distinctions according to the height in meters.)
Meanwhile the infantry protected the LZ until the full company had landed. Company H
commander, First Lieutenant Homer K. Jenkins, ordered an assault on the hill by one
platoon, but it quickly stalled. Regrouping his men, and realizing that he had happened
upon a heavy concentration of VC, Jenkins ordered in strikes against Hill 43 and
then assaulted it with all three of his platoons. Reinforced by close air support and the
Marines overran the enemy position, claiming six KIA at one machine-gun position alone.
Hill 43 was taken.
Heavy fighting also took place in the village of An Cuong
(2)-approximately two miles northeast of Hill 43 when two platoons of Company I attempted
to clear the village of enemy snipers. After an initial setback, the company's reserve
platoon was thrown into battle and the troops cleared the village. Company I's commander,
Captain Bruce D. Webb, was among those killed in the early fire, and his company executive
officer, First Lieutenant Richard M. Purnell, assumed command of the successful counter
assault. Purnell counted over fifty enemy bodies when the fighting ended. One Company I
squad leader, Corporal Robert E. O'Malley, single-handedly killed eight Vietcong that day
and became the first marine to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam. (Later, a posthumous
award was made to Captain Frank S. Reasoner, killed in action in July.)
The most dramatic fighting of the day was the result of another
favorite VC tactic :ambushing a relief column. between 11:00 AM. and noon Major
Andrew G. Comer sent a resupply column to aid beleaguered Company I. The column, which
included three flame tanks, the only tactical fire support available, quickly lost its
way. Suddenly, VC recoilless rifle fire and a barrage of mortar rounds rendered the tanks
useless in providing fire support. Using only their small arms, the entrapped Marines
attempted to hold the advancing VC infantry. The marine radio operator panicked and,
according to Major Comer, "kept the microphone button depressed the entire
time and pleaded for help. We were unable to quiet him sufficiently to gain essential
information as to their location." Finally Comer organized a rescue mission, led by
the already exhausted Company I and including the only available M48 tank. By luck, one of
the trapped flame tanks managed to break through the VC infantry and return to Comer's
command post. The crew chief was able to lead the rescue mission to the location of the
column. Approaching the besieged supply column, the relief force quickly drew heavy fire.
Recoilless rifle fire knocked out the M48. Within minutes five Marines lay dead and
seventeen wounded. Comer called for artillery fire and air support, and enemy fire soon
sub-sided. As Comer put it, "It was obvious that the VC were deeply dug in, and
emerged above ground when we presented them with an opportunity and withdrew whenever we
retaliated or threatened them.
The heavy fighting of the first day proved to be the only major contact
of the seven-day operation. For Companies H and l it had been an exhausting time. Together
the two companies had sustained casualties amounting to over 100 of their original 350
men, including 29 dead, but in return they claimed 281 VC dead.
Aftermath of victory
On August 19, Starlite's second day, sporadic and isolated fire came from
enemy soldiers covering their main force's retreat, but organized resistance had ended.
The operation extended for five more days with the Marines, now joined by ARVN troops,
conducting village-by-village searches. At its conclusion the Marines could claim 573
confirmed enemy dead and 115 estimated, while suffering 46 deaths themselves and 204
wounded. The battle had been won by overwhelming American firepower. Artillery support
from Chu L,ai had fired over three thousand rounds while the navy ships had supported the
infantry with 1,562 rounds, sunk seven sampans apparently carrying fleeing VC, and pinned
down one hundred enemy soldiers attempting to escape from the beach. Moreover, the Marines
had benefited from the close coordination of tactical air power, a coordination that ARVN
never seemed to achieve. General Walt later commented that air support was used
"within 200 feet of our pinned down troops and was a very important factor in our
winning the battle. I have never seen a finer example of close air support." The
Marines had won by doing what American troops do best coordinating their firepower on
land, sea, and air. But most important, the Marines had learned at least one valuable
lesson from Starlite.
At General Thi's insistence no ARVN commander was even aware of the
planned operation. At the last moment General Hoang Xuan Lam, whose men augmented the
Marines during the second day of operations, was in formed of his role. Even American
reporters did not arrive on the scene until the second day. As a result the VC were caught
by total surprise. Future operations, similar in nature to Starlite, were much less
successful. For political reasons the Marines had to inform ARVN of future operational
plans and there by risk the likelihood of this knowledge somehow reaching the enemy.
The experience taught many minor lessons as well. The planned ration of
two gallons of water per man each was insufficient in the heat of Vietnam. The M14
automatic rifle proved too heavy and bulky, especially for support troops who often
crammed into small personnel carriers and the search began for a lighter, more
maneuverable basic weapon.
Finally, for the Marines the operation dramatized the complexity of
fighting a war among civilians. Publicly the Marines declared that only fortified enemy
villages were destroyed, but the official "after-action" report stated:
"Instances were noted where villages were severely damaged or destroyed by napalm or
naval gunfire, where the military necessity of doing so was dubious.
Perhaps the most important outcome of Operation Starlite was its
psychological lift. In the first major engagement between American troops and Main Force
Vietcong soldiers the Americans had been victorious. Had the American forces lost, a real
possibility given their in experience, the effects might have been severe indeed. The old
tactics of the VC, which had worked so well against ARVN, failed to rout the Marines. So
the enemy learned a lesson as well; it would be many months before they would again stand
to fight against the Marines
For the Marines, Starlite, or the Battle of Chu Lai as became known in their lore, took on
an almost mythic' importance. For those Marines who came later and for, whom the landings
at Iwo Jima and Inchon Beach were the glory of another generation, the Battle of Chu Lai
remained for many months the only evidence of what the Marines could do if the enemy stood
and engaged.
Used by permission courtesy of History Link
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1966
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1967
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1968
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1969
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