Word: danang
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...that riflemen's foxholes were dug and mortar positions neatly sand bagged, the 800 U.S. Marines on Hill 327 overlooking Danang airbase were chafing under guard duty and itching for action. Thus it was with considerable relief that the Marines got word that one company could move out to probe the nearby ridges and ravines. Cautiously the company fanned out in separate platoons to begin a 2½ day search for nesting Viet Cong. The first flush was not long in coming: that night one platoon startled some seven V.C.s, who took off running as the Marines fired after...
Marine General Karch makes no secret of the fact that he wants more men to add to the 3,500 Marines already around Danang. He has applied for another infantry battalion, and at least one squadron of Marine air cover not only for tactical infantry support in case of Viet Cong attack, but also for low-level bombing should the V.C. install long-range artillery. Lacking such additional firepower, Karch depends on the U.S. Seventh Fleet destroyer that cruises just off Danang ready to use its 5-in. guns as artillery support of the Marines...
With some marines dug in on hills well beyond the outer defense perimeter that stretches some 20 miles around Danang, there was every prospect of action. "Obviously," said Karch, "the Viet Cong are going to probe us. We expect them, and we are ready...
Getting Some Action. Swiftly the two battalions deployed to security positions at and around Danang. Some dug in near the Marine helicopter flight line. Others pitched their two-man pup tents at the ends of Danang's 10,000-ft. runway to reinforce the inner perimeter defense. Three companies set out for the grassy hills overlooking the base, preceded by Marine engineers with a bulldozer to flatten one of the hilltops for the marines' Hawk missiles. So steep were the ridges on one of the hills that some men had to be positioned there by helicopter...
...South China Sea, either to relieve one of the three carriers now on duty or to reinforce those already there. In the air, the U.S. has ticketed North Vietnamese targets up to Hanoi and beyond for destruction if necessary. All last week U.S. bombers flew out of Danang with South Vietnamese Skyraiders on "mystery" missions-mystery in the sense that officials refused to say whether they had been hitting Viet Cong units in South Viet Nam or bases north of the 17th parallel...