On May 18th 1965, The Third Battalion, Third Marines landed at Chu Lai, South Vietnam. We were to join the marines of Second Battalion, Fourth Marines and their supporting units who had landed at Chu Lai on My 5th. Our mission was to provide security and assistance to the navy's Tenth, Heavy Construction Battalion who were building the infrastructure and a ten thousand foot runway at the newly established airfield on the coast of the South China Sea. When the airfield became operational on June 1st, we continued working on ...
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On May 18th 1965, The Third Battalion, Third Marines landed at Chu Lai, South Vietnam. We were to join the marines of Second Battalion, Fourth Marines and their supporting units who had landed at Chu Lai on My 5th. Our mission was to provide security and assistance to the navy's Tenth, Heavy Construction Battalion who were building the infrastructure and a ten thousand foot runway at the newly established airfield on the coast of the South China Sea. When the airfield became operational on June 1st, we continued working on the perimeter defenses, and began to engage the communist forces north of the Tra Bong river in Quang Tin, Province. In mid June, our battalion moved our operations south of the Tra Bong river in Quang Ngai province. To date our intrusion south of the Tra Bong river was the largest military action by American forces in the Vietnam war. Except for the larger cities and Vietnamese outposts, Quang Ngai was controlled by the Communists. On August 18th our battalion and Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, joined forces in a joint operation of helicopters and an amphibious landing on the Van Tuong Peninsula and engaged the First Viet Cong Regiment. during the five day operation known as Operation Starlite over six hundred Viet Cong were killed. Marine casualties were sixty-four KIA and over three hundred wounded. after the operation, two marines had won the Congressional Medal of Honor, and many other medals went to those who participated in the first major victory of the Vietnam war which was fought only between American troops and communist forces. ne of our senior NCO's, A World War II veteran described Operation Starlite with Tarawa in which he had taken part.
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