First Battle Part 11

KC-130. The primary Marine cargo and air-refueling aircraft.

KIA. Killed in action.

L-hour. For landing hour. The hour at which a helicopter landing operation is to begin.

Lance Corporal (LCpl). The third lowest enlisted Marine rank. It is above private first cla.s.s and below corporal.

LCM. Landing Craft, Medium Light Antiaircraft Missile (LAAM) Battalion. Marine airdefense battalions armed with the HAWK ground-to-air missiles.

LSD. Landing Ship Dock. Amphibious ship that transports amtracs to the objective area.

LST. Landing Ship Tank. Flat-bottomed, ocean-going vessel capable of hauling troops, tanks, and other heavy equipment.

Lt. Leiutenant.

LtCol. Lieutenant colonel.

LtGen. Lieutenant general.

LZ. Landing zone for helicopters.

M14. The 7.62mm (.30-caliber) service rifle for the Marines at the time of Starlite. An updated version of the M1 rifle of World War II fame, it had a short life. It was phased in in 1962 and phased out in favor of the 5.52mm (.223-caliber) M-16 in 1967.

M48. Main U.S. battle tank during the Vietnam War.

M60. The 7.62mm machine gun used by the Marines and U.S. Army in Vietnam.

M79. The 40mm grenade launcher used by the U.S. and ARVN.

Maj. Major.

MajGen. Major general.

Marine Air Group. The intermediate Marine air unit, commanded by a colonel. It normally had three or more squadrons attached.

Marine Raiders. Elite Marine units during World War II. They were phased out early in the war.

Master Sergeant (MSgt). Pay grade E-8, the second highest pay grade for an enlisted man. Although this is the same pay grade as a first sergeant, it means that the holder of the rank is in a technical field, e.g. electronics, or administration, rather than in the command functions.

Medal of Honor. America's highest military decoration for valor. Very often incorrectly called the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Medevac. Medical evacuation.

MP. Military Police.

Navy Cross Medal. America's second highest military valor decoration for Marines and Navy personnel.

Ontos. Greek for "the thing," this was a lightly-armored, trackedvehicle that sported six 106mm recoilless rifles.

Pfc. Private first cla.s.s.

Popular Forces. A type of South Vietnamese local militia.

Purple Heart. America's oldest military decoration, it designates that the holder has been wounded in action against an armed enemy.

Republic of Vietnam. South Vietnam. Our allies in the war.

RLT. Regimental landing team. Made up of two or more infantry battalions and support units.

RPG. Rocket-propelled grenade. Manufactured in the Soviet Union or China, these were easily transportable, anti-bunker and anti-armor weapons.

S-1. A unit's personnel and administration officer.

S-2. A unit's intelligence officer.

S-3. A unit's operations officer.

S-4. A unit's logistics officer.

Sapper. Western term for infiltrator and saboteur. The Vietnamese called these men "special forces."

SATS. Short airfield for tactical support. An expeditionary airfield designed to be rapidly constructed by Marines or Seabees in a combat environment.

Sgt. Sergeant, E-5.

Silver Star Medal. America's third highest military valor decoration.

SNCO. Staff non-commissioned officer. Pay grades E-6 to E-9.

Spider hole. Small, camouflaged, one-man fighting hole.

SSgt. Staff Sergeant, E-6.

TAOR. Tactical area of responsibility. A unit's area of operations.

Tonkin Gulf incidents. Two clashes in the Tonkin Gulf between U.S. Navy and North Vietnamese naval forces. What actually happened is still in dispute. The Johnson administration used these incidents as an excuse to begin bombing North Vietnam. Congress also pa.s.sed the so-called Tonkin Gulf Resolution that gave the President expanded powers in dealing with North Vietnam.

USA. United States Army.

USAF. United States Air Force.

USMC. United States Marine Corps.

USN. United States Navy.

USS. United States ship.

Viet Minh. The designation of the Vietnamese communist armed forces that fought the French.

Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. A military valor decoration presented to members of the South Vietnamese and U.S. Military by the Republic of Vietnam.

VMA. Marine Attack squadron. At the time of Starlite, they flew the A-4 Skyhawk.

VMF/A. Marine Fighter/Attack squadron. At the time of Starlite, they flew the F4 Phantom.

VMO. Marine Observation squadron.

VNMC. Vietnamese Marine Corps.

Wermacht. German military forces in World War II.

WIA. Wounded in Action.

XO. Executive officer. Second-in-command of a military tactical unit (company through regiment).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

I was able to compile this book only through the cooperation of dozens of former Marines and Navy corpsmen who partic.i.p.ated in Operation Starlite. The Vietnamese who were there made this an unusual work and I am grateful for their perspective. For the partic.i.p.ants of both sides, recollecting these long-ago events was sometimes a painful task. I thank them for the courage they displayed in seeing it through.

Thanks also to the archivists, the keepers of the records. Without them, much of what I heard from the partic.i.p.ants, whose memories were decades old and embedded in the fog of war, could not have been sorted out. Particularly helpful were Kerry Strong, director of the U.S. Marine Corps University Archives, and Clifford Snyder, military archivist at the National Archives. A special thanks goes to my friend Col John Ripley, USMC (Retired), director of the History and Museums Division, Headquarters Marine Corps, and his staff. I am also grateful to Susan Hodges of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and to the Foundation itself for approving a grant that enabled me to travel to the Washington area to put the finishing touches on the ma.n.u.script. Ed "Coconut Ensemble" Henry of Military Historical Tours, in Alexandria, Virginia, provided me with the contacts I needed to interview to former Viet Cong and shared his wealth of knowledge about our former enemy. Ed and Professor Alexander "Sandy" Cochran of the National War College, retired Marines Capt Ed Garr and MGySgt Ron Keene, and former Marines Bill Dougla.s.s and Fred Caron also read early drafts of the ma.n.u.script and made many valuable suggestions. I could not have interviewed the Bo Doi without the impressive skills of Vo Duc Tam, professor of English at Hue University. Thanks, Tam. I am grateful for the patience of Col Mike Harrington, USMCR (Ret), who is not a lawyer after all. Finally, and especially, the warmest of thanks to Susy King, whose help in getting the grunt work done was an effort from the heart.

NOTES.

CHAPTER 1.

1. Cable of February 27, 1946 from Kenneth Landon, Reported in Herring, George C., ed. The Pentagon Papers, Abridged Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993, p. 4. Hereafter, Pentagon Papers.

2. Stetler, Russell. ed. The Military Art of People's War: Selected Writings of Vo Nguyen Giap, Hereafter Stetler, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970, p. 50. The Viet Minh was a shortened version of Viet Minh Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (Vietnam Independence League).

3. McNamara, Robert S., with Brian VanDerMark. In Retrospect: the Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, New York: Times Books, 1995, pp. 83-85.

4. Sorley, Lewis, Honorable Warrior: General Harold K. Johnson and the Ethics of Command, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1998, p. 153.

5. Ibid., p. 225.

6. Ibid., p. 157.

7. Pike, Douglas PAVN: People's Army of Vietnam, Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1986, p. 9.

8. Ibid.

9. Nguyen Khac Vien. Vietnam: a Long History, (rev) Hanoi: Gioi Publishers, 1993, pp. 20-29. Hereafter Nguyen.

10. Boettcher, Thomas D. Vietnam, The Valor and the Sorrow, From the Home Front to the Front Lines in Words and Pictures. Boston: Little Brown, 1985, pp. 8. Hereafter Boettcher.

11. Patti, Archimedes L.A. Why Vietnam? Prelude to America's Albatross, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980, p. 132. Patti was an OSS officer who was parachuted into Vietnam during World War II to a.s.sist the Vietnamese against the j.a.panese.

12. Boettcher, pp. 13-15.

13. Boettcher, pp. 13-29.

14. Ho Chi Minh's background has in many cases been blurred by the hagiographic efforts of his admirers. Even his critics have had a hard time uncovering the truth of his early years. Ho was unusually secretive, even for a revolutionary, and the whole story may never be told. The cited material is from Boettcher, pp. 71-78.

15. Currey, Cecil B. Victory at any Cost: The Genius of Vietnam's Vo Nguyen Giap, Hereafter, Curry, Washington, DC: Bra.s.sey's, 1997, pp. 22-23.

16. Ibid., pp. 42-43.

17. Boettcher, pp. 51-52.

18. Ibid., pp. 84-85.

19. Ibid. pp. 55-57.

20. Stetler, p. 57.

21. Attributed to General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

22. Nguyen, p. 30.

CHAPTER 2.