Word: mekong
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When the U.S. Navy launched its Mobile Riverine Force in South Viet Nam's canal-laced Mekong Delta, it soon became obvious that servicing the mini-flotilla was a maxi-headache. Riverine's little boats would slip into the maze of marshlands for long patrols, far from the medical and military aid of the mother ship anchored in one of the larger rivers. The most obvious means of supply was by helicopter, but most of the Delta is too wet and soft to support the weight of a chopper...
...Summoning help, he dragged the injured men to safety through a storm of fire. > Navy Boatswain's Mate First Class James E. Williams, 37, is the unlikeliest-looking hero. He is a roly-poly father of five with 20 years of Navy service. In October 1966, in a Mekong River backwater, Williams led two patrol boats into a mass of sampans and junks loaded with Viet Cong troopers. Outnumbered and outgunned, the patrol sank 28 sampans, damaged 25 more and captured six enemy vessels. >Richard A. Pittman, 22, is a civilian now. Back in July 1966, as a Marine...
...Arabs, with whom he trades revolutionary lore. He comes by it honestly, for Bo is one of the Viet Minh's "old comrades." As a Viet Minh major, he was wounded and captured by the French, who even then were impressed. Born July 9, 1917, in a Mekong Delta town 150 miles from Saigon, Bo's Southern mandarin background makes him an appropriate emissary not only for Hanoi but also for the Viet Cong...
...TACTICS. ARVN has tended to be defensive-minded, interested only in setting up a perimeter and then sitting back inside it and waiting. ARVN soldiers did little night patrolling, fought the war on a five-day week, with officers whipping off to Saigon for the weekend. In the populous Mekong Delta, local ARVN commanders were suspected of occasional "accommodations" with their Viet Cong counterparts, aimed at preserving the status quo and holding the fighting to a minimum. In this area Abrams sees notable improvement. Of ARVN's 149 maneuver battalions, he regards only nine as really unsatisfactory any longer...
Beating the Bushes. From the lush, Mekong Delta to the sterile Demilitarized Zone, the U.S. is hard-pressed to root out the enemy. In fact, the allies have managed to take the offensive in only one region-the 10,000-sq.-mi. Ill Corps area that arches around Saigon. In the war's largest operation, a three-week-old campaign called Resolved to Win, 50,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops are beating the bushes. Last week they stirred a series of sharp firefights; 527 Communists were killed, raising the sweep's total to some 2,400. Though...