Echo Company - Vietnam
USMC 40 YEARS AGO, MARCH, 1966
March 1, 1966 the 26th Marines are activated at Camp Pendleton
initiating the formation of the 5th Marine Division,
while the1st 155mm Gun Battery and the 3rd
Howitzer Battery arrive in RVN.
On March 2nd VFMA-545 relived VMFA-232 at Danang just before
Operation UTAH was conducted in Quang Ngai Province
from the 4th through the 7th. 1st Hospital Company,
HMM-164 and elements of the 7th Motor Transport Battalion
arrived in RVN on March 7th.
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara requested and
received authorization for 278,184 active duty
Marines, making the Marine Corps the only service to have
troop strength larger than its peak during the Korean
War.
LtGen. Nguyen Chanh Thi was removed as ARVN Commander,
I Corps by Prime Minister Ky, leading to protests and strikes
in the Hue-Danang area which slowly spread to
Saigon.
March 13th saw the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion
1 arrive in RVN with the Force Logistic Command
(FLC) established in Danang on March 15th made up of
the 1st and 3rd Battalions, 4th Marines. On March
20th, Operation TEXAS commenced south of Chu Lai by Task Force
DELTA, while the 1st Medical Battalion and a detachment of the
1st Shore Party Battalion arrived in RVN.
March 23rd saw detachments of the 1st Reconnaissance
Battalion; HG Battalion, 1st Marine Div.; 3rd Force Service Regiment;
1st Service Battalion; 1st Engineer Battalion; 1st Tank Battalion;
and, 1st Dental Company arrive in RVN, as the 9th Marines
initiated and continued to employ a system of cordoning
off and searching Hamlets permitting a census to be taken in
what was named Operation COUNTY FAIR.
March 26th saw the first operation by American troops
in the Saigon River Delta area, when the amphibious
Operation JACK STAY was initiated in the Rung Sat
Special Zone 27 miles SE of Saigon by the Battalion
Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.
As March came to an end, the 11th Dental Company; HQ,
1st Tank Battalion; and detachments of the 3rd Amphibian
Tractor Battalion and 1st Anti-Tank Battalion arrived in RVN
on the 28th. The Marine KIA count for March 1966 totaled 261,
bringing the total Marine Corps KIA list since January 1962 to 1954,
and made March 1966 the costliest month in the war to date,
as well as the costliest month in 1966.
Before the endof December 1966, 1,428 more Marines will give their
lives in RVN. The Command Chronologies of units deployed
in Vietnam give detailed accounts of all operations and
events in March 1966.