U.S. Marines

David E. Adams, Hill 55: Just South of Danang Vietnam. 1stBooks. The publisher has labelled this as a novel, but the author says it is not a novel but a memoir. Adams was in Vietnam November 1966 to March 1967, with 1st Platoon, A Company, 1/26 Marines.

John Akins, Nam Au Go Go: Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War. Port Jefferson, NY: Vineyard Pres, 2005. 262 pp. Akins arrived in Vietnam in February 1968, served in E Company, 2/1 Marines during operation Pegasus (the relief of Khe Sanh), then was assigned to CAP 1-1-4, then sent for a month of Vietnamese language training, then sent to CAP 1-1-7.

Charles Anderson, The Grunts. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1976. pb New York: Berkley, 1984, xviii, 236 pp. B Company of the 1/3 Marine Battalion, in Operation VIRGINIA RIDGE, close to the DMZ, April to June 1969. Day after day of exhausting marches through the sun, without seeing any enemy troops, and then an enemy mortar scored a direct hit on the Marines' ammunition stockpile and the explosion killed thirteen men. Unpleasant, but very much worth reading.

Phil Ball, Ghosts and Shadows: A Marine in Vietnam, 1968-1969. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998.

Dan A. Barker, Warrior of the Heart. Chevy Chase, MD: Burning Cities, 1992. 275 pp.

Bloody Bill, A Few Good Men . . . Very Few. New York: Vantage, 1988. 176 pp. Memoir by a Marine, quite negative about the Corps. Publication was announced, but there is not much evidence the book ever actually went on sale.

Tom Bissell, The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam. New York: Pantheon, 2007. xiii, 407 pp. John Bissell, the author's father, served in Vietnam 1965-66 as a Captain in the Marines. The book apparently covers numerous aspects of the war (not just the parts in which John Bissell was involved), and its aftermath and legacies.

Samuel Brantley, Zero Dark Thirty. Central Point, Oregon: Hellgate, 2002. xiii, 270 pp. Brantley initially served as an A-4 pilot with VMA-21 ("December," "Green Knights," "Brand X"), based at Chu Lai. Later he became a Forward Air Controller for the 1/7 Marines, not far from Danang; he was there when the Tet Offensive hit.

George Brondsema, Born in the '40s, Raised in the '50s, Died in the '60s. PublishAmerica, 2006. 188 pp. Brondsema's first tour, 1965-66, was with the 2/3 Marines, 3d Marine Division. His second tour, 1967-68, was interrupted when he was wounded at Khe Sanh.

Jim Brown, Impact Zone: The Battle of the DMZ in Vietnam, 1967-1968. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004. xi, 277 pp. Brown joined the Marines in February 1966, finished OCS in May, and was trained for artillery. He arrived in Vietnam in June 1967 and was assigned to C Battery, 1/12 Marine Artillery (105mm howitzers), then based at Camp Carroll near the DMZ. He remained part of C Battery when sent to serve as a forward observer with the 3/3 Marines at the Rockpile. He later served at Khe Sanh, Con Thien, etc.

Peter Brush, "Big Guns of Camp Carroll." Vietnam Magazine, 10:2 (August 1997), pp. 26-32. A slightly different version is online at the author's web site.

Peter Brush, "What Really Happened at Cam Ne?" Vietnam Magazine, 16:2 (August 2003), pp. 28-33. Reporting by Morley Safer, of CBS, showing the 1/9 Marines burning peasant homes in the village of Cam Ne, near Danang, caused a major controversy. The text has been placed online at HistoryNet.com. Peter Brush has also placed a slightly different version, with footnotes, online.

William L. Buchanan, Full Circle: A Marine Rifle Company in Vietnam. Bay Laurel Press, 2003. 264 pp. Buchanan was in Vietnam 1966-67; he commanded a platoon in G Company, 2/5 Marines. The book includes documents, and interviews with other men from the unit.

Col. Richard D. Camp, Jr., with Eric Hammel, Lima-6: A Marine Company Commander in Vietnam. New York: Athenium, 1989. xvi, 295 pp.  Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Press, 1999.  xvi, 295 pp.  Camp served in the area near Highway 9, from Dong Ha to Khe Sanh, from June 1967 to January 1968.

Thomas Campbell, "Facing the Enemy." Naval History, February 1996, pp. 42-45. Cambell became an adviser to RVN Marines late in 1965. Interesting items include an incident of a PAVN soldier who only appeared to be chained to his machine gun.

Philip Caputo, A Rumor of War. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1977. Pb New York: Ballantine, 1978. xxi, 328 pp. Memoirs of a Marine Corps Lieutenant who arrived in Vietnam at the very beginning of the U.S. buildup there, in March 1965, with C Company, 1/3 Marines. He served for about a year, and ended up getting court-martialled for the killing of a Vietnamese civilian. A very good account.

Tom Clancy, with General Tony Zinni (Ret.) and Tony Koltz, Battle Ready. New York: Putnam, 2004. 450 pp. General Anthony C. Zinni collaborated with Tom Clancy in writing his life story. Chapter 2 (pp. 23-111) covers his two tours in Vietnam. He arrived in Vietnam for his first tour in March 1967, as a Marine 1st lieutenant. He was an adviser first briefly with the Vietnamese Marine Corps (VNMC) 4th Battalion in the Rung Sat, then with the VNMC 5th Battalion in Binh Dinh, then in various other areas. He was evacuated from Vietnam, dangerously ill, in December 1967. He arrived in Vietnam for his second tour around the beginning of September 1970, and was given command of Company A, 1/5 Marines. He was badly wounded in November 1967, and evacuated.

Clair William Clark II, Land, Sea and Foreign Shore: A Missileer's Story. Xlibris. 410 pp. Describes Clark's training as a Marine officer, and his service in Vietnam March-August 1969 with the 1st Light Anti-aircraft Missile Battalion, a Hawk missile unit at Danang.

Johnnie M. Clark, Guns Up!. pb New York: Ballantine, 1988. 357 pp. Rev. ed. with new epilogue: New York: Ballantine, 2002. vii, 354 pp. Clark, a USMC machine gunner, arrived in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive and was assigned to the 1/5 Marines, then engaged in the fight for Hue.

James P. Coan, Con Thien: The Hill of Angels. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004. 360 pp. Coan himself, as a tank platoon leader in Alpha Company, 3d Tank Battalion, 3d Marine Division, was at Con Thien (an important position just south of the DMZ) for a while, I think 1967-68. But the book covers more than the period Coan was there.

Charles Coe, Young Man in Vietnam. 1968. Reprinted with new preface: New York: Scholastic, 1990. viii, 115 pp. Intended for young readers but not euphemized. Coe was a Marine lieutenant, who arrived in Vietnam probably about August or September 1965, and left, seriously wounded, before the end of the year.

Michael R. Conroy, Don't Tell America.  Red Bluff, CA: Eagle Publishing, 1994.  iii, 499 pp. Operation Dewey Canyon.  Conroy was a scout with the 1/9 Marines.

Lieutenant General Charles G. Cooper, USMC, Ret., with Richard E. Goodspeed, Cheers and Tears: A Marine's Story of Combat in Peace and War. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada: Trafford Press/Reno, Nevada: Wesley Press, 2002. vi, 233 pp. The Introduction describes a meeting in November 1965, at which the Joint Chiefs recommended decisive action against North Vietnam, and President Johnson cursed them out. Chapters 19-21 cover his 1969-70 tour in Vietnam, initially as secretary for III MAF, then as commander of the 1/7 Marines.

Victor J. Croizat, Journey Among Warriors: The Memoirs of a Marine. White Mane Publishing, 1996. 248 pp. Croizat arrived in Vietnam in 1954, and became in 1955 the first U.S. adviser to the Vietnamese Marine Corps. But he had a diverse life; I wouldn't assume that this memoir (which I have not seen) is devoted mainly to Vietnam.

John J. Culbertson, Operation Tuscaloosa: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, at An Hoa, 1967. New York: Ivy, 1997. xii, 243 pp. Culbertson arrived in Vietnam at the end of December, and was assigned to H Company, 2/5 Marines. The book covers his first month in combat, January 1967: Arizona Territory, Song Thu Bon, and nearby areas.

Delano Cummings, Moon Dash Warrior.  Signal Tree, 1998.  282 pp.  Cummings, a Lumbee Indian from North Carolina, served as a Marine.

Robert P. Dodd, Dragon in the Bamboo. AuthorHouse, 2005. 135 pp. Dodd served the the 1st Marines, 1968-1969.

Jerome Doherty, A Civilian in Green Clothes. Raleigh, NC: Ivy House, 2007. xvi, 206 pp. Doherty was commissioned in June 1963. In April 1964, he was assigned to H Company, 2/7 Marines (p. 45). He landed in the Danang area March 8, 1965 (p. 64). The bulk of the book covers his Vietnam tour.

Captain Joseph B. Drachnik was Chief of the Navy Section, Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam (chief adviser to the Vietnamese Navy), from December 1961 to January 1964. The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, has begun to place online, in the Joseph Drachnik Collection, some documents from his files. I don't know how large this body of material will eventually become, but I am optimistic. Some of the documents also deal with the Vietnamese Marine Corps, and the U.S. Marine advisers attached to it, since the Marine advisers were under the Navy Section of MAAG.

W[illiam] D[aniel] Ehrhart, Ordinary Lives: Platoon 1005 and the Vietnam War. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999. 333 pp. Ehrhart traces what happened, through service in Vietnam and after the war, to the men of the training platoon with which he himself underwent Marine Corps basic training at Parris Island in 1966.

W.D. Ehrhart, Vietnam-Perkasie: A Combat Marine's Memoir. (hb Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1983?) pb New York: Zebra, 1985. Ehrhart did intelligence work as a private, later corporal, with the 1/1 Marines in Vietnam from early 1967 to early 1968; was wounded in Hue February 1968.

Jack Estes, A Field of Innocence. Pb New York: Warner, 1990. 277 pp. Estes arrived in Vietnam June 1968, assigned to 3/9 Marines, 3d Division.

Kenneth W. Estes, Marines under Armor: The Marine Corps and the Armored Fighting Vehicle, 1916-2000. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. xvi, 267 pp.

Arthur C. Farrington, Pacific Odyssey: Connections. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press, 2003. 313 pp. Covers Farrington's USMC service in WWII, Korean and Vietnam. He did explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) for 2nd Marine Air Wing at Chu Lai in late 1967, then was sent to Khe Sanh.

Ron Flesch, Redwood Delta (New York: Berkley, 1988). Flesch served with the 1/9 Marines near Danang, June 1965 to March 1966.

Col. Wesley L. Fox, USMC (Ret.), Marine Rifleman: Forty-Three Years in the Corps. Washington: Brassey's, 2002. xv, 395 pp. As a 1st Lieutenant commanding Company A, 1/9 Marines, 3d Marine Division, Fox won the Medal of Honor in February 1969, near the border between Quang Tri province and Laos, in Operation Dewey Canyon.

Danny M. Francis, The Last Ride Home. American Book Publishing, 2004. 296 pp. Mostly deals with Francis' first tour, 1965-66 with the 2/1 Marines, including Operation Harvest Moon, December 1965, in which the unit suffered heavy casualties.

Albert French, Patches of Fire: A Story of War and Redemption. New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1997. 304 pp. Memoir of service in Vietnam, and recovery from trauma, by a black Marine who was with E Co., 2/7 Marines, until badly wounded in December 1965.

Gerald R. Gems, Viet Nam Vignettes: Tales of the Magnificent Bastards. St. Johann Press, 2006. 147 pp. Gems served 1967-68 with the 2/4 Marines.

Oscar Gilbert, Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam. Casemate, 2007. 304 pp.

Doyle D. Glass, Lions of Medina: An Epic Account of Marine Valor During the Vietnam War. Coleche, 2007. 450 pp. Company C, 1/1 Marines, 1st Marine Division, with particular emphasis on Operation Medina, October 11-20, 1967, in the Hai Lang National Forest (PAVN Base Area 101), south of Quang Tri.

Mac Gober and William R. Kimball, Unchained. Gober, a Marine, returned from Vietnam very violent, joined a motorcycle gang.

Don W. Griffis, Eagle Days: A Marine Legal/Infantry Officer in Vietnam. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2007. xiv, 174 pp. Griffis, a Marine lawyer, arrived in Vietnamm June 1968, assigned to the legal office of Force Logistics Command, in the Danang area. But he quickly took on a second job as commander of the Provisional Rifle Company, an infantry unit made up of Marines who like Griffis had other jobs, but who served part-time as combat infantry, strengthening local security. Served until June 1969.

Richard A. Guidry, The War in I Corps. New York: Ivy, 1998. 243 pp. Guidry, a black Marine, arrived in Vietnam April 1967, was assigned to B Company, 1/4 Marines near the DMZ, and served until May 1968.

Eric Hammel, Ambush Valley: I Corps, Vietnam--The Story of a Marine Infantry Battalion's Battle for Survival. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1990. ix, 335 pp. 3/26 Marines near Con Thien, September 1967.

William H. Hardwick, Down South: One Tour in Vietnam. New York: Presidio/Ballantine, 2004. xviii, 204 pp. Hardwick arrived in Vietnam in September 1968, an artillery second lieutenant. He was attached to M Company, 3/7 Marines, as a forward observer for I Battery, 3/11 Marines. This was in the 1st Marine Division, a bit south of Danang. From January to March 1969, he was the fire support coordinator for the 3/7 Marines, on the battalion staff. Later, other jobs.

Roger L. Helle and William R. Kimball, Pointman. Helle, a Marine, served three tours and was severely wounded.

E. Michael Helms, The Proud Bastards. New York: Zebra, 1990. pb New York: Pocket Star Books (Simon & Schuster), 2004. 273 pp. Helms served with the 2/4 Marines near the DMZ, from 1967 until he was seriously wounded early in 1968.

Charles Henderson, Marshalling the Faithful: The Marines' First Year in Vietnam. New York: Berkeley, 1993. 460 pp.

Charles Henderson, Goodnight Saigon: The True Story of the U.S. Marines' Last Days in Vietnam. New York: Berkley Caliber (Penguin), 2005. xvii, 420 pp.

Charles Henderson, Jungle Rules: A True Story of Marine Justice in Vietnam. New York: Berkley Caliber (Penguin), 2006. xii, 479 pp. Centers on a legal case that occurred in the period 1967-1968. A black Marine, subject to racial harrassment, killed one of his white tormenters. Henderson says that although names and backgrounds of individuals have been changed, the events in the book are true, based on investigation records, court transcripts, and his conversations with a Marine Captain who was assigned to the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, First Marine Aircraft Wing, Danang, at the time of the events. There is a pretty good subject index. But the sources Henderson cites could not have given him a lot of the details in this book, including many conversations. Those have to have been invented, so I would classifiy this as semi-fiction.

Michael A. Hennessy, Strategy in Vietnam: The Marines and Revolutionary Warfare in I Corps, 1965-1972. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. 232 pp. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Michael C. Hodgins, Reluctant Warrior: A True Story of Duty and Heroism in Vietnam. New York: Fawcett, 1997. Lt. Hodgins served 1969-70, first in H Co., 2/26 Marines, then in C Co., 1st Recon Bn, 1st Marine Division.

Thomas J. Holtzclaw, Letters from Tommy J.: A Marine's Story, 1966-1967. Compiled by Connie C. Hughes and Terri C. Walker; edited by Gina Webb. Walker Press, 2007. 128 pp. Letters written by PFC Holtzclaw, Fox Company, 2/1 Marines, who was killed in Operation Union, late April 1967.

Edward Hymoff, First Marine Division, Vietnam. New York: Lads, 1967. xiv, 130 pp.

Howard Jablon, "General David M. Shoup, U.S.M.C.: Warrior and War Protester." Journal of Military History, 60:3 (July 1996), pp. 513-538. Shoup retired from being Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1963; within a few years he was a public opponent of the Vietnam War. If you browse the Internet through an institution that has subscribed to JSTOR, you can access the text directly or go through the JSTOR Journal of Military History browse page.

Howard Jablon, David M. Shoup: A Warrior Against War. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. xix, 140 pp.

Richard D. Jackson, Yesterdays Are Forever: A Rite of Passage Through the Marine Corps and Vietnam War. Protea, 2000. 244 pp. Jackson commanded a company, probably around 1968.

Jack W. Jaunal, Vietnam '68: Jack's Journal. San Francisco: Denson Press, 1981. iv, 164 pp. Memoir by an NCO who served in the Third Amphibian Tractor Battalion, and the First Reconnaissance Battalion supporting the First Marine Division, in the Danang area.

Ronald John Jensen, Tail End Charlie: Memoir of a United States Marine in the Vietnam War. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. 180 pp. Jensen was in Vietnam April 1969 to March 1970, with K Company, 3/26 Marines.

James R. Kelly, Casting Alpha: Amtracs in Vietnam. 1stBooks. Kelly served with A Company, 3rd Amtracs, 1966-67.

Jeff Kelly, DMZ Diary: A Combat Marine's Vietnam Memoir. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992. Kelly was in 3/3 Marines 1968, as a forward air controller.

Chuck Ketterman, The Nature of the Beast. Authorhouse, 2004. 319 pp. Ketterman served 1967-68 with the 2/3 Marines; he was severely wounded during the Tet Offensive.

James J. Kirschke, Not Going Home Alone: A Marine's Story. New York: Ballantine, 2001. xiii, 298 pp. 1st Lieutenant Kirschke arrived in as commander of the mortar platoon of the 3/5 Marines, part of the Special Landing Force. His first landing was DECKHOUSE I in June 1966. After a few months he became commander of H Company, 2/5 Marines. He was in that position briefly, then became company XO for two days, then commanded a rifle platoon in the company until very severely wounded by a mine in January 1967.

Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Kovic was a Marine, whose wounds left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Lt. Gen. Victor H. Krulak, First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1984. 252 pp. 43 pages are devoted to Marine Corps operations in Vietnam and to US policy (of which Krulak is rather critical) for the period, 1964-68, when Krulak was commander of Fleet Marine Force Pacific.

Lt. Colonel Gerald F. Kurth, Walk with Me: A Vietnam Experience. Leawood, KS: Leathers Publishing (Squire Publishing), 2000. xxii, 265 pp. Kurth, a Marine Captain, was in Vietnam August 1967 - September 1968, initially as Assistant S-3 Operations Officer of the 2/26 Marines in the Hue-Phu Bai TAOR, almost immediately bumped up to Operations Officer. Later in northern Quang Tri, including Khe Sanh.

Captain R.G. Lathrop, USMCR, "Eternally at War." Unpublished, undated manuscript. 129 pp. The Title page says "I Corps - Vietnam, January 1968 ~ April 1969, A4 Skyhawk Pilot" In fact the date January 1968 appears simply to refer to his flying into Danang as a ferry pilot, delivering an aircraft and promptly departing. His actual tour, flying A-4s based at Chu Lai, began in March 1968. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University, in four parts: pp. 1-39, pp. 40-77, pp. 78-108, and pp. 109-129 covering his last months, early in 1969, when he was at Danang, and in charge of a company of the Marines on perimeter defense in addition to his duties as a pilot.

Leatherneck: Magazine of the Marines. This monthly magazine is published by the Marine Corps Association, which is nominally a private organization, but has its offices on the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia. Recent issues of the magazine have contained several articles about the role of the Marines in the Vietnam War.

Chet Decker, "Operation SHUFLY". Leatherneck, LXXXV:4 (April 2002), pp. 36-39. HMM-362, under Lt. Col. Archie J. Clapp, the first Marine helicopter squadron to go to Vietnam in 1962.

David H. Hugel, "Covering Early Marine Corps Operations in Vietnam." Leatherneck, LXXXVI:4 (April 2003), pp. 36-40. Hugel, a Marine photographer, was attached to the Shufly detachment at Danang, 1963-64.

R.R. Keene, "So Doc, You Wanna Be in Recon?" Leatherneck, LXXXIV:10 (October 2001), pp. 50-55. Story of Robert G. Buehl and Edward Henry Jr., hospital corpsmen who volunteered in 1968 to serve with the 1st Recon Battalion.

Col. Ralph E. Wetterhahn, USAF (Ret), "Secrets of Koh Tang--Where the Search for MIAs, and How They Died in the Last Action of the Vietnam War, Continues". LXXXIV:5 (May 2001), pp. 28-33.

Lt. Col. Alex Lee, Utter's Battalion: 2/7 Marines in Vietnam, 1965-66.  New York: Ballantine, 2000.  355 pp.  Has an index, which makes it more usable for historical purposes than most such books.

Otto J. Lehrack, The First Battle: Operation Starlite and the Beginning of the Blood Debt in Vietnam. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2004. xix, 212 pp.

Otto J. Lehrack, No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam, An Oral History. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992. The 3/3 Marines, 1965 to 1969. Lehrack, as a Captain, commanded a company in this battalion, 1967-1968.

Patrick J. Lisi, My Time in Hell. Port Washington, NY: Ashley Books, 1977. By a private (later corporal) who served in I Corps with the 2/5 Marines from mid 1968 to mid 1969.

Robert C. McFarlane and Zofia Smardz, Special Trust. New York: Cadell & Davies, 1994. xiii, 399 pp. This is mostly about McFarlane's service in the Reagan administration in the 1980s, but one chapter deals with Vietnam. McFarlane arrived in Vietnam in March 1965, commanding Battery F (105mm howitzers), 2/12 Marines, but was there for only about a month. His second tour began in the fall of 1967; he was a fire support coordinator for the 9th Marine Divison near the DMZ. He gives few details about his experiences, but some interesting opinions (with which I do not agree) about the general patterns of the war.

Jim McGarrah, A Temporary Sort of Peace: A Memoir of Vietnam. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 2007. 251 pp. I believe McGarrah served 1967-68, and I think he was probably in a CAP team for part of his tour.

Randall K. McGlone, Guts and Glory. pb Pocket Books, 1992. McGlone was a forward artillery observer with the 3/1 Marines 1967-68; much of the book apparently deals with the reopening of the road to Khe Sanh in 1968.

Len Maffioli, with Bruce H. Norton, Grown Gray in War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996. pb New York: Ivy, 1997. Master Gunnery Sergeant Maffioli served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam (1967-68, with the 1st Tank Battalion near Danang).

Charles D. Melson, US Marine Rifleman Vietnam, 1969. Osprey, 1998. ISBN 185532542X.

John Grider Miller, The Bridge at Dong Ha. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press. How a U.S. Marine destroyed a crucial bridge to delay the NVA thrust into Quang Tri province during the Easter Offensive, April 1972.

John Grider Miller, The Co-Vans: U.S. Marine Advisors in Vietnam.  Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000.  xvi, 195 pp.

Allan R. Millett and Jack Shulimson, eds., Commandants of the Marine Corps. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. xx, 580 pp.

Edward F. Murphy, The Hill Fights: The First Battle of Khe Sanh. New York: Presidio (Ballantine), 2003. 284 pp.

Edward F. Murphy, Semper Fi--Vietnam: From Da Nang to the DMZ, Marine Corps Campaigns, 1965-1975. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1997. xii, 356 pp.

John P. Murtha, with John Plashal, From Vietnam to 9/11: On the Front Lines of National Security. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003. 244 pp. The first chapter includes Murtha's Vietnam service. In 1966, he was a major in the Marine Corps Reserve. He volunteered to return to active duty and go to Vietnam, where he was made the intelligence officer of the 1st Marine Regiment; he held that job for a year. In 1974, he became the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to Congress; he travelled to Vietnam early in 1975 to evaluate the question of supplementary aid, which as a Democratic Party hawk he supported, and again in 1978 in connection with the search for MIAs.

Donald F. Myers, Your War, My War: A Marine in Vietnam. Indianapolis: Marine Corps League, (1995?). 398 pp. Myers served for an extended period in the 3d Marine Divison, ending when he was wounded in the A Shau in February 1969.

William L. Myers (ed.?), Honor the Warrior: The United States Marine Corps in Vietnam.  Lafayette, LA: Redoubt, 2000.  294 pp.

Keith W. Nolan, Operation Buffalo: USMC Fight for the DMZ. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1991. A bloody battle that began July 2, 1967 with the 1/9 Marines, then drew in the 3/9, the 1/3, and the 2/3.

Oliver L. North and David Roth, One More Mission: Oliver North Returns to Vietnam. HarperCollins/Zondervan, 1993. Includes an account, apparently more detailed than in North's previous book Under Fire, of his 1968 tour in Vietnam as a USMC second lieutenant.

Richard E. Ogden, Green Knight, Red Mourning. New York: Zebra Books (Kensington Publishing Corp.), 1985. By a marine private who arrived in Vietnam in 1965. Interesting, but spotty and incomplete; either it was carelessly written, or the original manuscript was too long and the publisher chopped sections out of it.

"Operation Starlight: A Sigint Success Story." Cryptologic Spectrum, 1:3 (Fall 1971), pp. 9-11. Operation STARLITE, the first major action by U.S. Marines in Vietnam, August 1965. Originally classified Secret. A moderately sanitized version of the text is online at an NSA web site.

J. Michael Orange, Fire in the Hole: A Mortarman in Vietnam. San Jose and Lincon, NE: Writer's Club/iUniverse.com, 2001. xxii, 218 pp. Orange was in Vietnam March 1969 to March 1970 with H&S Co., 1/1 Marines, 1st Marine Division, in Quang Nam. Includes several chapters on events after his return to the United States.

Robert E. Peavey, Praying for Slack: A Marine Corps Tank Commander in Vietnam. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press (MBI Publishing), 2004. 304 pp. Peavey served a February 1968 to March 1969 tour with B Company, 5th Tank Battalion. He arrived by sea aboard the Thomaston. Part of the time he was with the 1st Marine Division, and part of the time with the 3rd Marine Division.

David Warren Powell, My Tour in Hell: A Marine's Battle with Combat Trauma. Modern History Press, 2006. 190 pp. Powell served 1966-68 with Company D, 1/7 Marines. Ended up with PTSD.

Donald L. Price, The First Marine Captured in Vietnam: A Biography of Donald G. Cook. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. USMC Captain Donald Cook, attached as an observer to an RVN Marine unit, was captured December 31, 1964, in the Battle of Binh Gia. He died in captivity in 1967; he was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while a POW.

Lewis B. Puller, Jr., Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Grove Weidenfeld, 1991; pb New York: Bantam, 1993. Lt. Puller, USMC, lost both legs to a booby trap in October 1968, less than two months after arriving in Vietnam. The bulk of the book apparently describes his post-Vietnam experiences.

Major James S. Rayburn, USMC, "Direct Support during Operation DEWEY CANYON." Cryptologic Spectrum, 11:3 (Summer 1981), pp. 16-21. Previously published in The NAVSECGRU Bulletin, XXIV: 11 (Nov/Dec 1980). Originally classified Secret Spoke. Operations by elements of the 9th Marines in the western part of Quang Tri province (with some spillover into Laos, though the article does not mention that), January-March 1969. A moderately sanitized version of the text is online at an NSA web site.

David Regan, Mourning Glory: The Making of a Marine. Devin-Adair, 1981.

Daniel F. Ring, ed., "Notes Between Two Worlds: The Diary of Roger Lansbury, 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marines." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Summer 1985 (vol. CIX), pp. 257-297. Lansbury, a Navy corpsman (they were attached to Marine units because the Marines did not have their own medics), was in Vietnam 1968-69.

Craig Roberts and Charles W. Sasser, The Walking Dead: A Marine's Story of Vietnam. New York: Pocket Books, 1989. Roberts arrived in Vietnam in 1965 as a private with the 2/9 Marines. He served in line units, and also with the ARVN Rangers.

Richard Allen Russell, Hell in a Helmet: Memoirs of a Marine Infantryman, Vietnam, 1967. Milford, MI: privately published by Mr. Russell, 1989. Includes photos, newspaper clippings, letters written home while in Vietnam (some very pro-war in tone), etc. Russell was in 2/9, 3d Marine Division.

Christy Sauro, The Twins Platoon: An Epic Story of Young Marines at War in Vietnam. 2006. The story of a group of Marines from Minnesota, Sauro among them, who enlisted on June 28, 1967.

Jean Shellenbarger, The 9th Engineer Battalion, First Marine Division, in Vietnam: 35 Personal Accounts. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000.  vii, 231 pp. An oral history.

Robert A. Simonsen, Every Marine: 1968 Vietnam: A Battle for Go Noi Island. Heritage Books, 2005. 494 pp. Traces Company I, 3/27 Marines, from training in the United States onward. The company was sent to Go Noi Island, about 25 km south of Danang, in May 1968.

Den Slattery, From the Point to the Cross: One Vietnam Vet's Journey Toward Faith. 1st Books, 2004. 204 pp. Slattery served a 1969-70 tour with 3/7 Marines, and a 1972-73 tour with 8th Air Cavalry (which I presume must mean Troop F, 8th Cavalry). Heavy on religion.

Kenneth P. Sympson, Images from the Otherland: Memoir of a United States Marine Corps Artillery Officer in Vietnam. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1995. xii, 172 pp. 1LT Sympson was in Vietnam May 1965 to June 1966. The artillery units in which he served were 3/11 and 1/12 Marines; the infantry units to which he was attached as an artillery observer were 3/7 and 2/4 Marines. Operations included STARLITE, PIRANHA, DOUBLE EAGLE I, UTAH, and TEXAS.

W. Charles Truitt, Pop a Yellow Smoke and Other Memories! From a Combat Veteran Marine, Vietnam, 1969-1970. Ozark, Alabama: ACW Press, 2005. 222 pp. Truitt, a corporal, arrived in Vietnam in July 1969, and served with the 1st Radio Battalion. He was initially at firebases near the DMZ (Vandegrift, Fuller). Later he was at An Hoa, south of Danang.

William Van Zanten, Don't Bunch Up. Archon, 1993. xv, 208 pp. Memoir by a Marine who first arrived in Vietnam as XO of India Company, 3/7 Marines, on June 5, 1965, sent ashore from the USS Iwo Jima as part of Operation STARLITE. He soon became company commander, after the previous commander was seriously wounded. Last operation mentioned in the book is TEXAS, March 1966.

Lewis W. Walt, Strange War, Strange Strategy: A General's Report on Vietnam. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1970. 234 pp. Walt was commander of the U.S. Marines in Vietnam 1965-1967, and assistant commandant of the Marine Corps when he published this book.

Jack Wells, "Hill 310: Marines and NVA Both Found It a 'Tough Nut' to Crack, 9-13 August 1968". Leatherneck, LXXXIV:4 (April 2001), pp. 32-37. In Hieu Duc district, Quang Nam province. Wells arrived in Vietnam at the beginning of August 1968. He was a lieutenant assigned to Battery G, 3/11 Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was made a forward observer, initially attached to Company A, 1/7 Marines, then shifted to Company B, which had a lot of new men in it, including a new commander. He describes heavy combat, and heavy casualties, as Marines assaulted the hill.

Jack Wells, "Sapper Attack on FSB Six-shooter". Leatherneck, LXXXV:9 (September 2002), pp. 30-34. Attacks of 23 February, 18 May 1969 on Battery H, 3/11 Marines in Quang Nam.

Mark W. Woodruff, Fox Trot Ridge: A Battle Remembered. Vandamere Press, 2002. 224 pp. The battle involving F Company, 2/3 Marines, not far from Khe Sanh on May 28, 1968.

Dave Zorn, Dinky Dau: Love, War, and the Corps: A Vietnam War Memoir. Xlibris. 138 pp. Zorn arrived in Vietnam (I think with the 2/7 Marines) in 1965.

The US Marine Corps Oral History Collection, a set of interviews mostly conducted by USMC sergeants, but some by officers. The United States Marine Corps History and Museums Division has given them to the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, which has placed them online. Interviews online include:

Corporal Walter E. Rupp, who served at Da Nang for a bit over a year, beginning January 1963, and earned two purple hearts on helicopter operations. The Interview was broadcast on a local radio station near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Sergeant Thomas MacDonald, who was in Vietnam (or possibly in the area of Vietnam, broadly defined?) for not quite one year with HMM 162. Dates are inconsistent; in one place his Vietnam tour seems to have begun about June 1965, in another it seems to be ending about June 1965. As far as I can tell checking information from other (fragmentary) sources, HMM 162 did a four-month tour in Vietnam beginning June 1964, then returned to Vietnam in March 1965.

Captain Dale Eddy, a helicopter pilot with HMM 163, based at Da Nang, February to March 1965.

Sergeant Floyd Miller, a helicopter crew chief with HMM 163, who arrived at Da Nang February 1965.

Sergeant Daniel Gage, an aircraft fire control technician working on F-4B Phantoms, who was in Vietnam for about 5 months ending November 1, 1965.

Major Edward Chester Tipshus, who arrived on Okinawa as a Captain early September 1964 for what he thought would be a 13-month tour there with the 1/12 Marines. Then suddenly a group of about 60 officers and enlisted were alerted for transfer to Vietnam as battalion advisors. He arrived Vietnam 12 October 1964. He was given a two week Military Assistance Training Advisor (MATA) course in Saigon, then made the advisor to the 2nd Vietnamese Artillery Battalion of the 2nd Vietnamese Infantry Divsion, in I Corps. The battalion's guns were spread across southern I Corps in two-gun platoons under the operational control of the units to which they were attached. In December 1964, he was moved south to become an advisor in the Rung Sat Special Zone. Left Vietnam August 1965. Interview conducted 12 January 1966.

Captain Joseph B. Knotts, in Vietnam September 1964 to May 1965. He was senior adivsor to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Regiment of the ARVN in Quang Tin province, later PsyWar Civic Action Advisor to the 2nd ARVN Division in Da Nang.

Captain Don Hannah, an intelligence officer and F-4B Phantom pilot with VMFA-531, 10 April to 6 June 1965. Operating almost entirely in South Vietnam; discusses one mission north of the DMZ.

Lt. Col. Jack K. Knocke, commander of 2/12 Marines, an artillery battalion, in Vietnam in 1965.

Captain Harvey J. Morgan, commander if I Company, 3/9 Marines, March to June 1965 in the Da Nang area. The interview, conducted 12 January 1966, was mainly concerned with the occupation of Hill 327 immediately after the unit arrived in Vietnam.

Captain G.F. Squilis (sic), the S-3 (operations officer) of 1/3 Marines, in the Da Nang are March to September 1965. Company D of the battalion was sent to Da Nang in late January to provide security. The main part of the interview deals with the plans for movement of the battalin to Vietnam by air, and the actual movement. His name is variously spelled Squillis or Squilis in the interview transcript; the relevant volume of the USMC official history of the war lists him as Gaetano F. Squillace.

Major William Dickison, who was in Vietnam July to October 1965, as division ordnance officer of the 3d Marine Division. 4 pp. Interview conducted December 14, 1965.

Colonel James B. Ord, Jr., arrived in Vietnam in October 1968 and initially was commander of the 5th Marines. Later assistant chief of staff, G3, 1st Marine Division. Interview conducted November 3, 1969.

Marine Corps Pacification: CAP, etc.

John Akins, Nam Au Go Go: Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War. Port Jefferson, NY: Vineyard Pres, 2005. 262 pp. Akins arrived in Vietnam in February 1968, served in E Company, 2/1 Marines during operation Pegasus (the relief of Khe Sanh), then was assigned to CAP 1-1-4, then sent for a month of Vietnamese language training, then sent to CAP 1-1-7.

Peter Brush, "Civic Action: The Marine Corps Experience in Vietnam" Viet Nam Generation, Vol. 5:1-4 (March 1994), pp. 127-132.

Robert Flynn, A Personal War in Vietnam. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989. xx, 139 pp. The author, a journalist, spent time with a company of the 2/5 Marines in the Combined Unit Pacification Program (CUPP, like CAP) in 1971.

Thomas Flynn, A Voice of Hope. Baltimore: American Literary Press, 1994. v, 184 pp. Flynn, a Marine, was in Vietnam from December 1966 to February 1968. He was quickly assigned to a CAP team, Papa Three, near Cam Lo just a few miles south of the DMZ. The story is supposed to be accurate in detail, except that names have been changed. A good account of what could happen to a CAP team in a high-risk area.

Barry L. Goodson, CAP Môt: The Story of a Marine Special Forces Unit in Vietnam, 1968-1969. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1997. xiii, 306 pp. Goodson served in a CAP team near Chu Lai.

Al Hemingway, Our War was Different: Marine Combined Action Platoons in Vietnam. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1994. xv, 189 pp. Oral history.

Edward F. Palm, "Tiger Papa Three," Marine Corps Gazette, January and February 1988. Palm, a Marine officer, served in a CAP Team, Papa Three, which he considers to have been a dismal failure, from August 1967 to January 1968, near Cam Lo just a few miles south of the DMZ.

Michael E. Peterson, The Combined Action Platoons: The U.S. Marines' Other War in Vietnam. New York: Praeger, 1989. The author served several tours with the CAP program.

"Survey of Hoa Vang District, Quang Nam Province," 4 May 1968. 46 pp. Written by the district senior advisor, who I believe was F.D. Elfers. Hoa Vang district directly bordered the city of Danang to the west and south. The American impact on the area was of course huge, quite a aside from the large number of CAPs in the district. The text of this report, and some memos commenting on it, and some unrelated documents on the CAP program, have been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.

F[rancis] J. West, Jr., The Village. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. 288 pp. Reprinted, with the author's name given as Bing West, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. 359 pp. A CAP team near the mouth of the Tra Bong, in the northernmost part of Quang Ngai province, beginning June 1966.

Marine Corps Snipers

John J. Culbertson, 13 Cent Killers: The 5th Marine Snipers in Vietnam. New York: Presidio/Ballantine, 2003. xiv, 272 pp. A collection of stories about various members of the sniper platoon of the 5th Marines, from 1966 through about April 1967. Additional volumes are planned.

Charles Henderson, Marine Sniper: 93 confirmed kills. Briarcliff Manor, NY: Stein and Day, 1986. Book about (not by) the champion sniper Carlos Hathcock.

Charles Henderson, Silent Warrior: The Marine Sniper's Story Continues.  New York: Berkley, 2000.  xvi, 286 pp. Sequel to the above.

Ed Kugler, Dead Center: A Marine Sniper's Two-Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War. New York: Ivy, 1999. 370 pp. Kugler arrived in Vietnam in March 1966, and promptly joined the 4th Marines' scout-sniper unit. After training, he was assigned to 3d Force Recon, eventually some other unit. Served two tours.

Chuck Mawhinney, interviewed by Marc Honorf, "Top Marine Corps Sniper." Vietnam Magazine, April 2003, pp. 18-25. Mawhinney trained as a scout-sniper, was sent to Vietnam in March 1968, served three months in L Company, 3/5 Marines before shifting to a scout-sniper unit.

Peter R. Senich, The One-Round War: USMC Scout-Snipers in Vietnam. Boulder: Paladin, 1996.

Joseph T. Ward, Dear Mom: A Sniper's Vietnam. New York: Ivy, 1991. Ward, a USMC scout sniper, arrived in Vietnam in April 1969.

Marine Corps Unit Reports and Documents

The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University is placing online a huge quantity of USMC documents, mostly in a collection titled "US Marine Corps History and Museum Division Vietnam War Documents Collection". You can check on what is available by entering that collection title, without quotes, in the "collection title" field in their search engine. A sample of what has been put up so far:

Headquarters Marine Corps, "Force Requirements and Long Range Estimates for I Corps Republic of Vietnam." October 1966. Front matter, main text, Annexes A and B;   Annex B continued; Annexes C, D, and E;   Annex E continued; Annexes F and G.
 

1st Marine Division (Rein) Command Chronology, 1-31 May 1966 (large file, slow to download). This file of about 200 pages could be the whole Command Chronology, but probably it is just the first of three parts; there are also a short file (a list of May 1966 sitreps from the 1st Marine Divison) and another long file (assorted May 1966 documents from the 1st Marine Division), that seem to be the second and third parts.

A collection of sitreps from the 1st Marine Division, dated October 11-16, 1966, covering Operations MACON, KENT, TETON, and perhaps others.

A collection of sitreps from the 1st Marine Division, dated October 16-21, 1966, covering Operations MACON, KENT, TETON, DOVER, KERN, MADISON, COUNTY FAIR, and perhaps others.
 

III Marine Amphibious Force, Command Chronology for August 1969.

III Marine Amphibious Force, Command Chronology for September 1969.
 

3d Battalion, 3d Marines, Command Chronology for January 1967. In Quang Tri province.
 

3d Battalion (Rein), 4th Marines (-) (Rein), Command Chronology for September 1965. A longer and more detailed report than I would expect at battalion level. Includes reports from the chaplain, the battalion surgeon, the Joint Action Company, etc.

3d Battalion (Rein), 4th Marines (-) (Rein), Command Chronology for October 1965. In the area of Phu Bai.

3d Battalion, 4th Marines, Command Chronology for May 1969. Operations Purple Martin and Herkimer Mountain in and near the DMZ; operations in the area of the Vandegrift Combat Base; rehabilitation at the Cua Viet R&R Center; move to Elliott Combat Base.
 

2d Battalion, 5th Marines, Command Chronology for August 1970.

Fifth Marines Command Chronology for November 1970.

Fifth Marines Command Chronology for December 1970.

Fifth Marines Command Chronology for January 1971, first part and second part.

Fifth Marines Command Chronology for February 1971.
 

1st Battalion, 7th Marines, Command Chronology for July 1967.

2d Battalion, 9th Marines, Command Chronology for August 1968. Participating in Operation Scotland II in the area around Vandegrift Combat Base.
 
 

Force Logistic Command. The Force Logistic Command was formally established March 15, 1966 (derived from the Force Logistic Support Group established in 1965, some reports of which are also available in this collection). It provided logistic support to the III Marine Amphibious Force, and to other U.S. and Allied units in I Corps. A huge quantity of Force Logistic Command documents have already been placed online. Not light reading, but there has got to be valuable information in this. A few examples of the available documents:

Force Logistic Command, Command Chronology for April 1966.

Force Logistic Command, Command Chronology, August 1966, in three parts: one, two, three.

Force Logistic Command, Command Chronology for period 1 December 1966 to 31 December 1966, in six parts: one, two, three, four, five (includes 7 pages on logistic support for the 2d ROK Marine Brigade), six.

Force Logistic Command, Command Chronology for the period 1-30 April 1969, in six parts: one, two, three, four, five, six.
 

Miscellaneous.

A substantial (34 pp.) collection of charts, compiler not specified, showing which Marine units were in Vietnam at what dates between 1962 and 1966.

A collection of documents on Operation TETON (a search-and-destroy operation in Quang Ngai province involving the 3/1 Marines), dated October 13-22, 1966, mostly coming from III MAF and FMFPAC.

A substantial (over 100 pp.) collection of the outgoing message traffic of Lt. General Lewis Walt, commander of III MAF, August 1965 to April 1967. Messages appear to be in reverse chronological order in this file. The message of 6 August 1965, about Cam Ne, is useful.

A substantial (over 200 pp.) collection of the incoming message traffic of III MAF, September 1965 to August 1966

A substantial (about 100 pp.) collection of the incoming and outgoing message traffic of III MAF, February to March 1966

A substantial (almost 200 pp.) collection of the outgoing message traffic of Lt. General Lewis Walt, commander of III MAF, March and April 1966

A substantial (over 100 pp.) collection of the incoming message traffic of Lt. General Lewis Walt, commander of III MAF, March to April 1966

A substantial (over 100 pp.) collection of the incoming message traffic of Lt. General Lewis Walt, commander of III MAF, April to June 1966

A substantial (over 200 pp.) collection of the outgoing message traffic of Lt. General Lewis Walt, commander of III MAF, May and June 1966

G-2 Section, III Marine Amphibious Force, Periodic Intelligence Reports (PERINTREPS). Weekly summaries of events in I Corps. For example, PERINTREP 7-69, 15 pp. main text plus a vey detailed order of battle of enemy forces (Annex A), and other annexes, covered the period 9-15 February 1969 and was dated 18 February 1969. PERINTREP 6-69, 9 Feb to 15 Feb 1969, cover sheet to page A-14; pages A-15 to A-49; pages A-50 to C-3-3; pages C-3-4 to C-3-15;   PERINTREP 8-69, 16 Feb to 22 Feb 1969, main text (pp. 1-15); pages A-1 to A-34; pages A-35 to C-6; pages C-7 to D-3;   PERINTREP 9-69, 23 Feb to 1 Mar 1969, pp. 1-15; pages 16-18, A-1 to A-30; pages A-31 to C-1; pages C-2 to C-2-5;   PERINTREP 10-69, 2 Mar to 8 Mar 1969, pp. 1-2; pages 3-17, A-1 to A-18; pages A-19 to A-53; pages A-54 to C-3-3.

A collection (99 pp.) of documents. Debriefing of BG Edwin H. Simmons, Viet Nam service 15 June 1970 to 24 May 1970 (12 pp.) Simmons was Assistant Division Commander, 1st Marine Division, 15 June 1970 to 14 April 1970. Then he was Deputy Brigade Commander, 3d Marine Amphibious Brigade. An orientation briefing by General Simmons, for junior officers beginning tours in the 1st Marine Division early in 1971 (48 pp.) General L. F. Chapman, Jr., MCBUL 5350: "Racial Relations and Instances of Racial Violence Within the Marine Corps," September 1969 (6 pp.) Maj. A. S. Painter, et al., "Race Relations in the United States Marine Corps," June, 1970. 4 pp. "Standard Aircraft Characteristics" sheets for several aircraft: the SH-3A helicopter, used primarily for hunting submarines; the R3Y-2 "Tradewind" flying boat; the HTE-2 Hiller helicopter.

Other Marine Corps reports and documents can be found in: Marine Reconnaissance Unit Documents;   Marine Corps and Navy Helicopter Unit Reports;   Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Air Squadron Reports; and Documents: Army Armored Cavalry, Marine 1st Tank Battalion.

Tet and the Battle of Khe Sanh includes several books by or about Marines.

Marines in Recon and Special Operations

U.S. Marine Corps Publications

Microfilmed collections of Marine Corps records

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Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Revised September 18, 2008.