The Importance of Remembering and Honoring the Fallen
In May 2015, VFW Post 11575 Mayaguez Chapter will commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the last battle of the Vietnam War and honor the dead and wounded of the battles around Koh Tang Island in Cambodia. The VFW Post is requesting the support of all veterans, U.S. companies and organizations to honor this historic date and the sacrifices of so many.
The year 1975 was a busy year for Southeast Asia. In April, the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and started their reign of terror. In April, Vietnam was also in turmoil and on April 30 Saigon fell but this did not end the Vietnam War. The final chapter of the Vietnam War occurred from May 12-15 in Cambodia in the only reported direct battle between the US Military and the Khmer Rouge.
On April 12, the USS Mayaguez, a U.S flagged container ship captained by Charles T. Miller, was traveling in international waters heading for Sattahip, Thailand. On this day, small, maneuverable Khmer swift and other boats swarmed out from islands near Cambodia. They fired on the ship with small arms, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, forcing it to stop. Before being boarded by a small group of seven heavily armed soldiers, the unarmed crew managed to broadcast an SOS and mayday calls which were picked up by a nearby Australian ship.
After boarding the ship, the Mayaguez proceeded to a point off Poulo Wai Island and at approximately 16:00 a further 20 Khmer Rouge boarded the vessel and indicated that the Mayaguez should proceed to Ream on the Cambodian mainland. Captain Miller was able to convince the Khmer Rouge that this wasn’t possible and the commander of the Khmer Rouge was apparently instructed by his higher command to initially stay at Poulo Wai.
Word of the hostage situation rapidly was reported to Washington where President Ford and Henry Kissinger rapidly moved to deal with the crisis. They first tried diplomacy. Because the United States had no diplomatic relations with Cambodia, diplomats worked to negotiate the ship’s release through Chinese diplomats who were one of the few nations to have relations with the Khmer Rouge. This soon failed and President Gerald Ford ordered U.S. forces to prevent the Mayaguez from moving to Cambodia by force. U.S. aircraft sank multiple Khmer ships and fired shots in front of and behind the Mayaguez over the next days, forcing Khmer forces to move the hostages to nearby Koh Tang, which had been reinforced and fortified not against the Americans but against the North Vietnamese who were extending their control over all nearby islands in the aftermath of the Fall of Saigon.
The nearest US military was in Thailand but these were not combat troops but a mix of US Air Force and other support personnel. The nearest Combat forces were Marines and located both in the Philippines and in Okinawa. An alert order was sent to 1st Battalion, 4th Marines and they were ordered to assemble at Naval Air Station Cubi Point for airlift to Thailand, while an 1100 man Battalion Landing Team (BLT) was assembled at Okinawa. Additionally, the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea, the USS Harold E. Holt, a destroyer escort, and the USS Henry B. Wilson, a guided missile destroyer, were all ordered to proceed to the area off Cambodia.
Nine USAF HH-53 Jolly Green helicopters of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron and 10 CH-53 Knifes of the 21st Special Operations Squadron were stationed at Nakhon Phanom in Thailand where they had supported operations in Vietnam.
On May 13, General Burns and his Seventh Air Force staff developed a contingency plan to retake the Mayaquez using an assaulting volunteer force composed of men of the Air Force 56th Security Police Squadron. In preparation for this assault, five of the HH-53 and seven of the CH-53s were ordered to proceed to U-Tapao Airbase on the coast in Thailand. At approximately 21:30, one of the CH-53s crashed killing 18 U.S. Air Force security police and its five-man crew.
The President and the NSC then cancelled the Air Force plan for a US Air Force led assault and proceeded with a Marine assault on the Mayaquez and recovery of the crew. On May 14, US forces prevented movement of the Mayaquez and sank several Cambodian boats around the larger container ship.
A rescue attempt was then hastily planned and Marines from Okinawa, Japan, who were being moved to Thailand, were tapped for the operation. Intelligence on conditions on the island was very limited. The Marines were told they would be facing only 20-30 Khmer Rouge and weren’t informed knowledge that there was heavy anti- aircraft fire coming from Koh Tang and that there also were several Khmer Rouge gunboats patrolling nearby. On May 15, after pre-staging in Thailand, Marines boarded helicopters and proceeded to assault Koh Tang island where they would face not 20 but about 100 well-dug-in Khmer fighters who had mortar positions, heavy machine guns and large ammunition dumps. Meanwhile, at sea, Marines with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, covered the Mayaguez in tear gas before boarding the ship, not knowing that the entire crew had been moved to Koh Tang. The ship was seized and towed further to sea.
The CH-53s and HH-53s proceeded to the East and West beaches of Koh Tang island where they were met by heavy machine gun, automatic and RPG fire. Shortly after 6 a.m., as the pilots attempted to put Marines on the sand, four helicopters were badly damaged by machine gun and RPG fire, including one code-named Knife 31. As it came in to the beach it was hit by multiple RPGs and went down in the ocean killing a pilot, five Marines and two Navy corpsmen on impact. Another Marine drowned, three others were gunned down as they swam for the beach and a 10th died of wounds while floating on wreckage. The other 10 Marines and three airmen aboard Knife 31 swam out to sea and tread water for two hours before being rescued. Four other CH-53s either crashed on the beach, crash landed after scrambling for Thailand or turned back without delivering their personnel.
Eventually, more than 100 Marines would land on the island, but command and control was not effective and they largely fought in isolated groups without proper reinforcement in an intense, confusing battle for their lives.
Fearing the greater American firepower and demonstrated intention to use it, Khmer forces eventually put the Mayaguez crew aboard a Thai fishing boat and freed them. The crew was rescued at sea by the U.S. Navy and Marines were ordered by the White House and Military Headquarters to withdraw. By then 15 had been killed and 41 wounded. The Khmer Rouge had also sustained substantial casualties. In the confused withdrawal, three Marines were left behind still alive and later were hunted down and executed by the Khmer Rouge with two of them being beaten to death after being moved to the mainland.
Attempts to collect the dead soon after the battle were unsuccessful. The Khmer Rouge were deposed in 1979 but efforts to repatriate the remains didn’t show much progress until the 1990s. Between 1991 and 1999, U.S. and Cambodian investigators conducted seven joint investigations, led by Joint Task Force - Full Accounting. On three occasions Cambodian authorities unilaterally turned over remains believed to be those of American servicemen. In October and November 1995, U.S. and Cambodian specialists conducted an underwater recovery of the Knife 31 helicopter crash site. During this search numerous remains, personal effects and aircraft debris associated with the loss were recovered. A U.S. Navy Salvage vessel was employed and enabled the specialists to conduct their excavation offshore. In addition to the support provided by the Cambodian government, the Government of Vietnam also interviewed two Vietnamese informants in Ho Chi Minh City who turned over remains that were later positively identified. As a result of these investigations the remains of 2LT Richard Vandegeer, LCPL Gregory S Copenhaver, LCPL Andres Garcia, PFC Lynn Blessing, PFC Walter Boyd, PFC Antonio R Sandoval and PFC Kelton R. Turner were identified. In 2012 the remains of PFC James Jacques, PFC Richard W Rivenburgh and PFC James Maxwell were identified. Twelve of the 13 missing were recovered between 2000 and 2004; the 13th was found in January, 2013.
On May 15, 2013 the commingled remains of the following were buried and honored in a military funeral at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC. The service honored: Privates 1st Class Daniel A. Benedett, Lynn Blessing, Walter Boyd, James J. Jacques, James R. Maxwell, Richard Rivenburgh, Antonio R. Sandoval and Kelton R. Turner; Lance Cpls. Gregory Copenhaver and Andres Garcia; Navy Hospitalmen Bernard Gause Jr. and Ronald J. Manning, and Air Force 2nd Lt. Richard Vandegeer. A plaque honoring the fallen was also dedicated at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh in a ceremony presided over by the Ambassador and Senator John McCain.
On May 12, 2015, VFW Commander John Muller and the VFW post in Cambodia plus veterans of the battle and of preparations in Thailand leading to the assault plus others wanting to join, plan to further honor the fallen by visiting the site of their final battle - Koh Tang Island. If you would like to join this group or to help in supporting this event please contact: VFW Commander John Muller, VFW Post 11575 Mayaguez Chapter Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the organizing committee at vfwpost11575@gmail.com
About the Author:
Christopher W. Runckel, a former senior US diplomat who served in many counties in Asia, is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark Law School. He served as Deputy General Counsel of President Gerald Ford’s Presidential Clemency Board. Mr. Runckel is the principal and founder of Runckel & Associates, a Portland, Oregon based consulting company that assists businesses expand business opportunities in Asia. (www.business-in-asia.com)
Until April of 1999, Mr. Runckel was Minister-Counselor of the US Embassy in Beijing, China. Mr. Runckel lived and worked in Thailand for over six years. He was the first permanently assigned U.S. diplomat to return to Vietnam after the Vietnam War. In 1997, he was awarded the U.S. Department of States highest award for service, the Distinguished Honor Award, for his contribution to improving U.S.-Vietnam relations.
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