Instead, military photographers were often simply told to "go find some action," and were allowed to use their discretion when it came to documenting things like violence and gore. Second, was the need to relocate the Vietnamese families living on the desired site. He was also charged to prepare joint instructions, in conjunction with Commanding General, III MAF, and appropriate Army and Navy commanders, to insure integrated and coordinated air operations. He also established an MEB command post in the same old French compound where Colonel King was set up. Four prisoners captured in a Viet Cong tunnel complex wait for transfer to a prisoner-of-war camp. Ever since the Korean War, when the 1stMarDiv was under operational control of the Eighth Army and the 1stMAW was under the Fifth Air Force, the Corps has been especially alert co avoid such a split again. Control. Thrash took command when the wing was at its maximum strength and operating a peak number of facilities. Chu Lai 25 March 1968 - 16 June 1971 85th Evacuation Hospital (Semi-Mobile) Phu Bai 1969 - 9 December 1971 91st Evacuation Hospital (Semi-Mobile) . In order to husband its resources, the wing commander issued a message directing that if ordnance could not be dropped on a worthwhile target, it would be brought back to base, not jettisoned. Another HMM returned to Santa Ana, California, to become part of the 3d MAW. On 20 April 1970, the President announced the largest withdrawal yet, with 150,000 to leave by 1 May 1971. Marine transports and helos were not included under single management. The Seabees of MCB-10 built the helicopter pad, and the Marines also established a combat base and helicopter facility on the K H peninsula north of the air base. The other major aviation units included in this package were one HMM, which departed for Santa Ana, and Marine Wing Support Group 17, which was relocated at Iwakuni. Commanding General, III MAF, was further enjoined to conduct offensive and defensive tactical air operations to include close air support, interdiction, reconnaissance, maintenance of air superiority, air transport, search and rescue, and other supplemental air support as required. The river finally opened to larger ships, including LSTs, fuel barges, and coastal freighters, when dredges cleared A 16 foot channel in the spring of 1966. Q2 - Q3 - Chu Lai Airfield (1967). April 1966. Though the images rarely focus on the carnage of war, they offer surprisingly frank depictions of search-and-destroy missions and prisoner-of-war camps. An AM-2 runway, complete with catapult and arresting gear, was constructed to connect the northern ends of the concrete and "tinfoil" runways. Equally important to the Vietnamese was the relocation of their ancestral grave sites. Although a small number of helos were fragged each day specifically for medical evacuation, any helicopter in the air was available for such a mission, if required, and many evacs were made by on-the-scene aircraft. This technique became well known to the enemy, so they did not always come too close. The units overseas in turn exceeded all planning factors in terms of output and productivity, under less than ideal conditions. Vinh Long 1966-1971. The Air Force was to have overall air defense responsibility and designate an air defense commander. The jets also climbed back on top, plugged in to the KC-130 tankers for refueling, and headed back to Da Nang and Chu Lai. A detachment of obsolescent CH-37S arrived from Santa Ana, California, in the summer of 1965 and did yeoman service pending arrival of the CH-53 in January 1967, when Major William R. Beeler brought in a four-plane detachment from HMH-463. Additional squadrons could not be deployed 'because they could not be supported. One HMH, one HMM, and one VMO went to Futema as part of MAG-36. These were "rotational" squadrons. This problem arose because the Stateside training establishment became saturated with training individuals as individuals and had no time to devote to team or unit training, except for those units which were reforming with new aircraft. The civilian construction combine in Vietnam, Raymond, Morrison, Knudson-Brown, Root, and Jones (RMK-BRJ), received the job of building the helicopter facility at Marble Mountain. Both General Westmoreland and General William W. Momyer, Commander, Seventh Air Force, believed more effective use could be made of MACV's total air resources if they were managed by a single commander and staff. This division plus the 1stMAW (Rear) with headquarters at Iwakuni constituted I MAF. Thank you for stopping by. Thus, in a departure from prewar practice, the role of the FAC on the ground was minimized as far as control of air strikes was concerned. Like This Movie Trailer? The more sophisticated EA-6As provided electronic warfare support for missions against targets located in the high threat areas of the north. At midnight, three sapper teams hit Marble Mountain Air Facility. One of our guys was hit. !y since May 1964, when CinCPac initiated the Yankee Team operations to conduct photo reconnaissance over Laos. The 2d LAAM Battalion landed at Chu Lai in September 1965, and set up its firing batteries north and south of the SATS airfield. Lieutenant General Richard G. Stilwell, U. S. Army, commander of all U. S. ground forces in Northern I Corps under CG III MAP, summed it up in a few words when he said, "Dewey Canyon deserves some space in American military history by sole reason of audacity, guts, and team play. In 1968, the helicopters carried an average of over 50,000 men and over 6,000 tons of cargo a month. In 1965, whenever the strip at Chu Lai was less than eight thousand feet and A-4s were required to take off with reduced fuel loads, there was a KC-1 30 tanker in orbit to tank them after climb-out. The helo gunship proved to be indispensable. MEDICAL COMPANIES IN VIETNAM 1stMED, Ambulance, Pleiku, 23 NOV 66 - 4 FEB 70 37th MED, Separate Bde - 11th Arm Cav, Long Giao, 7 SEP 66 - 20 MAR 72 As experience was gained with the new systems, night infrared reconnaissance played an ever increasing role in the overall intelligence collection effort. The weather continued to hamper operations at Chu Lai, witnessed by the loss of the Mahnomen County LST-912 in January 1967. This became known as "Johnson City." !t would provide the Corps with its first gunship designed for the mission. In addition, a Marine KC-130 tanker was kept available to top off A-4s after take-off, by in-flight refueling. The Harrier will not only permit operations from more sites; it will improve response time in close air support by reducing the time taken to request support (there will be fewer centers and echelons of command to go through), and it can be staged closer to the action, thus cutting flight time. September 1967. Marine Refueler Transport Squadron 152 (VMGR-152) was based in Japan when the war began, but it moved to Okinawa late in 1965. It became apparent in 1965, however, that there were some voids in the Marine capability as far as aircraft were concerned, so the C-117s were rapidly drafted to fill some of these. 8 rally in a day Bud Carlson (D/1-6 Inf) shares a newspaper article and photo about successful "Chu Hoi" efforts in the 1st Bn 6th Inf area of operations in 1970. However, he had other useful employment. From 1965 through 1971, nearly half a million Marines served in Vietnam. The benefits will be increased payload capability under a wider range of temperatures and altitudes, and the added reliability provided by having a second power plant. Interpreters then looked for telltale indications of change or deviations from the norm that had been established by previous flights. This Air Group had been stationed at Kaneohe, Hawaii, as part of the 1st Marine Brigade. By the end of the year there were two full squadrons of CH-53s in Vietnam. After nearly five years, III MAF relinquished its position as the senior U. S. command in the area. Chu Lai soon became the second busiest port in I corps after Danang. Visual reconnaissance by low performance aircraft is still an absolute necessity. The same order formulated The 411th Transportation Detachment and The 454th Signal During the period of mobilization. The Headquarters Group and the Service Group were both reorganized in 1967 by Headquarters Marine Corps into three groups instead of two: a Headquarters Group, an Air Control Group, and a Support Group. Their mission was to coordinate various strike aircraft and to ensure they hit the correct targets. Another VMFA deployed to MCAS Kaneohe, Hawaii, and joined MAG-24 stationed there. Among other things, the directive also said that nothing therein vitiated the prior CinCPac position that ComUSMACV'S Air Force Component Commander should act as coordinating authority in matters pertaining to tactical air support and air traffic control. The wing was short two or three transport helicopter squadrons, but no additional squadrons were available. "Fragging" is a common aviation term which means to issue a fragmentary order to cover details of a single mission, that is, what is required, where, and when. Lieutenant General Moore of the Seventh Air Force visited 1stMAW and was especially interested in this gear since the Air Force had nothing comparable. Another formidable construction project was the emplacement of a Hawk missile battery on Monkey Mountain just east of Da Nang. The base was located on the K H peninsula north of Highway 1 approximately 60 km southeast of Da Nang. June 1967. The essential components of such a base would include a suitable surface for the runway, taxiways, and hardstands; a means of arresting the aircraft on landing similar to that on a carrier deck; a catapult or other means to assist in launching the aircraft; provisions for refueling, rearming, and maintenance; air control facilities; and, of course, all the necessities for housekeeping. April 1965. Chu Lai, Vietnam, Americal division (1970 - 1971) - YouTube The CG of the 1stMAW was designated as Deputy CG III MAG (Air) and as such he was the Tactical Air Commander for III MAF. Southeast Asia was an area familiar to the pilots of VMCJ-1. A bad day in the jungle - Minnesota Remembers Vietnam Because they can't get to the same altitude as the jets, the jets have to descend to receive fuel. The information from the various radars was plotted by hand on vertical display boards just as had been done during World War II and the Korean War. This would eventually accommodate one Marine Aircraft Group, a Support Group, and a Navy unit (Fleet Air Support Unit, Da Nang) which arrived in April 1968, in order to carry out various functions for the Seventh Fleet. This became big business in Vietnam. First, was the problem of obtaining real estate. Two Viet Cong prisoners are led to an ARVN Command Outpost at Ha Tien. Typhoon Hester Typhoon Hester of October 1971 was regarded as one of the most destructive storms to strike Vietnam since 1944. The new environment created new challenges for men in Marine aviation, and these were met head-on and solved. They were created to document operations, equipment, and people, as well as to create a visual record of the conflict. Before that could be done, a road had to be built from the site of the airfield to the laterite deposit. This was to be only an interim measure, however, since the forces that withdrew to Hu and Chu Lai would then be sea-lifted to Da Nang by the navy. When the war began in 1965, the Marine Corps was authorized 54 deployable aircraft squadrons in the Fleet Marine Forces: 30 jet, 3 propeller transport, 18 helicopter transport, and 3 observation. These were too few, however, so the Marines had to rely on Army observation aircraft and Air Force FAC(A)s for those tactical air control missions demanding an airborne controller. One of the most interesting was the insertion and extraction of reconnaissance teams. They located SAM sites, truck parks, supply dumps, and other targets, and then controlled other strike aircraft against them. A soldier who has chosen to decorate his helmet with a plastic ox pauses and looks backwards. Links to friends, affiliates and other sites you should visit! In this role the Marines first used the two-seat F-9, but beginning in late 1967 they employed the two-seat TA-4F. The departure of MAG-13 marked the end of an era at Chu Lai. Major General Norman J. Anderson relieved Robertshaw on 2 June 1967. This is a period when low clouds and drizzle cover the mountain tops in Northern I Corps and obscure visibility in the valleys. The 3dMarDiv was the major unit to leave Vietnam in this increment, and it went to Okinawa. During the extraction, a TAC(A) in an OV-10A would coordinate the air effort. On 10 April 1965, the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific (Cincpac), ordered the deployment of an EF-IOB detachment to Vietnam. Soldiers gather around a guitar player and sing songs after a long day during Operation Yellowstone. One was placed on Cunningham and remained there for 17 days, controlling 72 air strikes, ten A-6 beacon drops, and three emergency paradrops. Seventh Air Force also fragged back to 1stMAW a set number of sorties to take care of unique Marine requirements such as helicopter escort and landing zone preparation which were tied closely to helo operations.
