operation report information
for 1 MARINES
1 MAW
For date 681120
1 MARINES was a US Marine Corps unit
1 MAW was a US Marine Corps unit
Primary service involved, US Marine Corps
Operation MEADE RIVER
Quang Nam Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Dodge City area
Description: Early on the 20th, seven Marine battalions, under the control of the 1st Marines, began moving into prearranged positions to form a ring around part of Dodge City. Using 72 aircraft, the 1st MAW lifted four battalion (one from amphibious shipping offshore). Trucks moved another and two marched in. By 0825, the cordon was in place. In the initial hours, the Marines encountered light resistance. During the assaults, two helicopters were shot down and several others damaged. On the ground, a truck was destroyed by a command-detonated mine killing one Marine and wounding 23 Marines and two ARVNs. Clockwise around the cordon starting with the 1/1st Marines on the Song La Tho were BLT 2/26th, 2/5th, 3/5th, 3/26th, BLT 2/7th, and the 1/7th Marines. Helicopters lifted in two towers to help the 1/1st Marines on the northern edge of the cordon.
About noon BLT 2/7 began the next phase of the operation by attacking from the western side toward the railroad berm. By 1640, its H and G companies had made heavy contact with NVA regulars at a large bend in a stream called the "Horseshoe." Under fierce fire from mutually supporting bunkers, Company G withdrew one kilometer leaving behind six Marine KIAs.
That evening, artillery and aircraft illuminated with flares while the PsyOps teams worked the area.
The source for this information was 1968 USMC History P:425+
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org
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Last updated
12/26/1999
Date posted on this site:
08/17/2025