operation report information
for 3/26 MARINES
4 ARVN CAV
1/1 MARINES
BLT 2/26 MARINES
For date 681208
3/26 MARINES was a US Marine Corps unit
4 ARVN CAV was a Vietnamese Army unit
1/1 MARINES was a US Marine Corps unit
BLT 2/26 MARINES 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: The 3/26th Marines continued its attacked with five companies plus 2/4th ARVN Cav, which had arrived the previous evening with 12 APCs. They found 79 NVA dead on yesterday's battlefield. The NVA troops, hidden in a treeline, trapped one Marine company in a paddy. On the other side of the bunker complex, the Marines could actually see the 1/1st Marines. Both units applied all the supporting arms they could but the enemy bunkers kept firing. Finally, their combat engineers jerryrigged a satchel charge consisting of C-4, hand grenades, two 3.5-inch rockets, and a five second fuze. Two Marines carried the charge to the top of the bunker, lit the fuze and flipped it in. The Marines reported 39 enemy dead and 1 prisoner from the vicinity of the bunkers. Meanwhile, two other Marine companies overran enemy fortified positions containing 12 bunkers and 30 covered fighting holes with 47 NVA dead. Several hours later they killed another 20 NVA while losing 6 Marines KIA and 12 WIA. In another short but fierce encounter, another Marine company killed 15 NVA at a cost of 5 Marines KIA and 11 WIA. Some senior Marines called this the fiercest fighting they had ever seen. That night Staff Sergeant Karl G. Taylor of I/3/26th led a rescue effort for the company's lead platoon that was cut off by enemy fire and later was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Meanwhile BLT 2/26 Marines reembarked on SLF Alpha shipping for a one week rest.
The source for this information was 1968 USMC History P:425+ and P:639
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
11/06/1999
Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023