Word: mayaguez
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...different precedent was offered by the Mayaguez incident. On May 12, 1975, Cambodian forces seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez and its 39 crewmen in the Gulf of Siam. On May 14 the ship was freed, after U.S. fighter jets had sunk three Cambodian gunboats, the Marines had landed on Cambodia's jungle islet of Koh Tang, and the U.S. had bombed a Cambodian air base at Ream. As soon as the ship was seized, President Ford simply declared the matter "an act of piracy," then threatened military action. On May 14 he dutifully appealed to the United Nations...
GSAS students from Puerto Rico first proposed the recruiting effort in their home island. Lipsky and the other representatives visited the Universities of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and Rio Piedras and the Inter-American University in San Juan...
They helped mine Haiphong Harbor, retrieved airmen downed in hostile territory during the Viet Nam War, rescued crew members of the Mayaguez, who had been seized by Cambodian Communists, and flew in the commandos who raided the San Tay P.O.W. camp in North Viet Nam. The honor roll is long and distinguished for the Sikorsky S-65 series of helicopters, a mammoth, 25-ton rotary-blade airship that in its various versions, including the affectionately named Jolly Green Giant, has been one of the most dependable workhorses for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force...
...After the Mayaguez, a small U.S. merchant ship headed for Thailand, was seized by a Cambodian gunboat, President Ford ordered a military rescue by 1,100 Marines. All 39 Mayaguez crewmen were freed, but at the cost of 41 U.S. servicemen killed and 50 wounded...
...raid on the prison camp in North Viet Nam and the response to the seizure of the Mayaguez were far from models of success, but Nixon and Ford trumpeted the audacity of the missions and pride replaced doubt...