On 8 May 1967, the 13th anniversary of the fall of Dien Bien Phu, the NVA tried to overrun the Marine position at Con Thien. The outpost, less than two miles from the southern boundary of the DMZ, was on a hill only 158 meters high in the middle of the red mud plain. It afforded the best observation in the area, overlooking the DMZ to the north and west, as well as the Marine base Dong Ha to the southeast. As a strategic terrain feature, Con Thien was important to the Communists: before the summer was over, it achieved an additional symbolic importance. Continue reading Attack on Con Thien→
“The Government of the United States has decided to withdraw
the American Marines Detained ashore in China, at Peiping,
Tientsin, and Shanghai. It is report that the withdrawal will begin shortly”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Press Conference, 14 November 1941
President Roosevelt’s announcement formally ended almost 15 years of duty by the 4th Marines Regiment in Shanghai. Clouds of war were quickly closing in on the China Marines and Japan and the United States edged ever closer to active hostilities. “One could sense the tenseness in the air,” Lieutenant Colonel Curtis T. Beecher remembered, “There was a general feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty in the air.” Continue reading Shanghai To Corregidor→
A young white Marine, Edward Andrusko of Company I, 7th Marines, saw his first black Leathernecks as he crossed the beach at Peleliu in September 1944, returning to the fight after having his wounds treated at a hospital ship offshore. The African-Americans were transferring ammunition from landing craft onto trucks and delivering it to the front lines. Handling ammunition struck him as “a dangerous task at any time”, but with enemy shells churning the coral sands, “it was a heroic, thankless job that few of us wanted.” The black driver of one of the trucks offered a ride inland, and Andrusko accepted, taking his place in the cab, with a cargo of high explosives behind him. As the sound of battle drew nearer, he concluded that he had made “a stupid and dangerous choice of transportation,” but he reached his unit safely. Continue reading Right To Fight→
