Danang Landing 1965
Re: Danang Landing 1965
More here:
http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/books/buildup/0003.cfm
Frederick J. Karch(1917-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_J._Karch
http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/books/buildup/0003.cfm
Frederick J. Karch(1917-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_J._Karch
The storming of Nam O Beach took place on the 8 March 1965 on the coastline around the port of Da Nang in South Vietnam. In the few days preceding the landing, Karch commented that the weather was the worst that he had experienced. When inhabitants of the friendly beach greeted the arriving Marines and photographs were taken, Karch was never seen to smile. When this was queried, he replied "...if I had to do it over, that picture would have been the same. When you have a son in Vietnam and he gets killed, you don't want a smiling general with flowers around his neck as leader at that point."
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
From NARA
"Da Nang, Vietnam...A young Marine private waits on the beach during the Marine landing"
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
With the US Army and Vietnamese women securing the area, the Marines had no problems storming the beach.
Re: Danang Landing 1965
Time Magazine,19th March 1965:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -1,00.html
First to hit the beach was Corporal Garry Parsons, who splashed onto the wet sand and sprinted 50 yards into a stand of pine trees—and a platoon of photographers. Parsons' comment was candid if not immortal. Cried he, "I'm glad to get off that damned ship!"
Girls & Frogmen. Marines are indoctrinated in boot camp that there is no such thing as a "friendly" beach, and as they dashed ashore, they were ready for anything—except perhaps the winsome welcoming committee of Vietnamese girls bearing garlands of yellow dahlias and red gladioli. Even General Karch, 47, and a very tough gent, was hard put to maintain his composure while being festooned with posies...
Re: Danang Landing 1965
According to Philip Caputo(who flew into Danang with the 1/3rd marines at the same time):
Map of Danang 1965 from Caputo's book,page 73.
A Rumor of War..we had been spared the humiliation suffered by Three-Nine.Their entrance into the war zone had been the stuff of which comic operas are made.Like the Marines in WW2 newsreels,they had charged up the beach and were met,not by machine guns and shells,but by the Mayor of Danang and a crowd of schoolgirls--garlanded like ancient heroes,they then marched off to seize Hill 327,which turned out to be occupied only by rock apes--gorillas instead of guerillas,as the joke went--who did not contest the intrusion of their upright and heavily armed cousins...
Map of Danang 1965 from Caputo's book,page 73.
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
Nice shot of a M-14 on the 8th March 1965.From Edwin Simmon's Marines;The Vietnam War,1987.
According to Simmon's:
According to Simmon's:
The normally stern Karch disapproved the whole exercise.On a previous visit he denounced Vietnam as a 'cancer' and suggested the Marines would be better deployed invading North Vietnam..
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
ARVN I Corps commander Nguyen Chanh Thi organised the flowers and was on hand at Danang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Chanh_Thi
http://members.tripod.com/~nguyentin/thichanh.jpg
From: http://vets.appliedphysics.swri.edu/3recphot.htm
Photo of Hill 327,1965:
http://grunt.space.swri.edu/images/vn/recon/hill327.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Chanh_Thi
http://members.tripod.com/~nguyentin/thichanh.jpg
From: http://vets.appliedphysics.swri.edu/3recphot.htm
Photo of Hill 327,1965:
http://grunt.space.swri.edu/images/vn/recon/hill327.jpg
3/9th Marines held Hill 327(later called Division Ridge)while 1/3rd Marines defended the airbase in March 1965.Photo taken shortly after Marines Landed in March 1965.Camp Reasoner and 3rd Marine Division. Headquarters would soon be built on the hillside on the right side of the photo. The road separated Division Hdqts and Camp Reasoner. The 3rd Mar Div Hdqtrs would be at the top side of road at top of hill. Recon Hdqtrs would be on bottom side at top of hill.
Re: Danang Landing 1965
Frederick Karch has passed away.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 7186.story
From Time-Life,Karch and Nguyen Chanh Thi.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 7186.story
..Karch, a Naval Academy graduate, served in the Marine Corps for 27 years, from before World War II through the Vietnam War. During World War II, he was a part of a successful campaign as U.S. forces fought the Japanese on a succession of islands, with the island of Japan as the ultimate goal. He received the Bronze Star for his actions on Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.
Twenty years later, on March 8, 1965, he landed with the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade on Red Beach at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Before their arrival, all military personnel in Vietnam were there as "advisors," and Karch told reporters that the activities of his men would be strictly defensive.
Later that year, he voiced his respect for the stamina of the Viet Cong. "I thought that once they ran up against our first team they wouldn't stand and fight, but they did. I made a miscalculation."...
From Time-Life,Karch and Nguyen Chanh Thi.
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
Time-Life.More Larry Burrows photos of the Danang landing.
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Re: Danang Landing 1965
Navy SEALS recce beach before landing
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