Word: battalion
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Understandable Reluctance. Overall, few experts would question that Abe Abrams' aggressive tactics in Viet Nam have been markedly more successful than those of his predecessor, General William Westmoreland. Last fall Abrams replaced Westmoreland's ponderous battalion and brigade assaults with squad-sized thrusts. His Operation Sting Ray called for hundreds-sometimes thousands-of small patrols daily. The enemy's infiltration trails through the jungles, mountains and paddies were denied him. American troops began operating after dark, and for the first time in the war the night no longer belonged to the Viet Cong. Last year more than...
...rained on their parade, but for the 814 men of the 9th Division's 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, it was Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July combined. Each man had served at least ten months in Viet Nam, and theirs was the first unit to be shipped home since President Nixon's June 8 announcement at Midway that 25,000 U.S. troops would be withdrawn this summer. Last week they flew in nine C-141 StarLifter transports to McChord Air Force Base in Washington. As bystanders clapped and called out "Thank you! Thank you!" they paraded proudly...
Plastic Leis. Just before leaving Viet Nam, the 3rd Battalion stood through an elaborate three-hour send-off ceremony on the baking tarmac at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airbase. A gaggle of aodai-clad Vietnamese girls pranced out to drape them with plastic leis and give each of the departing troops the country's yellow and red flag with a two-foot pedestal. Defense Minister Nguyen Van Vy spoke his gratitude at length-in Vietnamese, later translated. The U.S. commander, General Creighton Abrams, offered his congratulations: "You have fought well under some of the most arduous...
...last minute to add his own farewells. "The fact that the South Vietnamese army can now start to replace U.S. troops constitutes both your success and our success," said Thieu in English. "I convey to you all the heartfelt gratitude of the free Vietnamese." Then, at last, the battalion wheeled to the left and marched across the runway to board the waiting airplanes. Said a Bravo Company platoon sergeant: "I don't think anybody is going to believe it until they get back. You ain't never lucky until you leave this place...
...Marine Regiment arrived at a staging area in Quang Tri, just south of the Demilitarized Zone, en route to Danang and Hawaii. On the way they stopped to pass out candy and toys to village children; one baffled Vietnamese boy got a pair of ice skates. A battalion of the 9th Marines is also scheduled to sail this week from Danang for redeployment in Okinawa...