When two understrength Marine corporations pushed north alongside Freeway 561 on the morning of July 2, 1967, they walked straight into hell. Alpha and Bravo Corporations of 1st Battalion, ninth Marines—numbering almost 400 males—have been about to face what would change into the worst single day for Marines in the complete Vietnam Struggle.
The ambush close to a spot known as “The Market Place” almost obliterated each corporations. North Vietnamese forces used flamethrowers for the primary time within the battle, forcing Marines into the open the place artillery, mortars and small arms lower them down. By dusk, 84 Marines lay lifeless, 190 have been wounded, and 9 have been lacking.
It was Operation Buffalo—only one brutal combat in a battle that will give 1st Battalion, ninth Marines the darkest distinction in Marine Corps historical past.
47 Months of Fight: The Strolling Useless Earn Their Title
The first Battalion, ninth Marines arrived in Vietnam in June 1965 as a part of the early troop surge. By August, they have been already engaged in offensive fight operations throughout Operation Blastout, a search-and-clear mission south of Da Nang. Inside their first yr, the battalion carried out a whole bunch of company-sized or bigger missions, shedding over 100 Marines killed in motion.
The battalion rotated out briefly in October 1966, however returned in December to face an escalating battle. They deployed to areas close to the Demilitarized Zone that Marines grimly dubbed “Leatherneck Sq.” for the staggering casualties sustained there. Marines referred to their responsibility there as “time within the barrel.” As casualties mounted, they started calling the DMZ the “Useless Marine Zone.”
The battalion would spend 47 months and 7 days in sustained fight in Vietnam. It was first deployed from June 15, 1965, to Oct. 19, 1966, then returned on a everlasting foundation from Dec. 11, 1966, to July 14, 1969. This represented the longest fight deployment of any Marine battalion throughout the battle as Marines cycled by on 13-month excursions.
Of the two,892 Marines and Navy corpsmen who handed by the unit, 747 have been killed in motion—a casualty charge of 25.89 %. It stays the very best KIA charge of any Marine battalion in historical past.
“Nobody needs to go to that battalion,” a personnel officer reportedly advised then-1st Lt. Wesley Fox when he requested project to 1/9 in 1968. “Secondly, if you happen to do—no matter rank—stick round lengthy sufficient, you may find yourself the commander.”
The battalion’s nickname has disputed origins, although most accounts level to North Vietnamese management. Some rumors counsel the Marines of 1/9 killed Ho Chi Minh’s nephew in fight—he needed revenge. In response to historians, North Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap allegedly promised he would annihilate the battalion as a birthday current to the North Vietnamese chief. His use of the time period “Di Bo Chet,” translated as “The Strolling Useless,” steered the Marines needs to be thought-about lifeless already—simply not but buried.
Fairly than wince on the identify, the Marines of 1/9 embraced it. “They by no means acquired the job accomplished,” Charlie Firm Marine Jim Stogner would later say. Stogner later earned the Navy Cross for killing a number of NVA troopers together with his knife throughout an ambush. If the enemy noticed them as lifeless males strolling, they might show that even the lifeless may nonetheless combat.
Operation Buffalo: The Bloodiest Day for the Marines in Vietnam
Gen. Giap’s ambush towards the Marines on July 2, 1967, highlighted the brutality 1/9 confronted all through the battle. As Alpha and Bravo corporations moved north close to Con Thien, North Vietnamese forces from the ninetieth Regiment, 324B Division, triggered a multi-directional ambush that just about worn out each models.
The enemy’s use of flamethrowers created a hellish scene as burning vegetation compelled Marines into open killing zones. A single North Vietnamese artillery spherical exploded inside Bravo Firm’s headquarters group, wiping out the complete command component. Machine weapons and snipers lower down any Marine who stood as much as return fireplace.
Lt. Col. Richard Schening, commanding 1/9 at Con Thien, confronted a dire state of affairs. By mid-afternoon, he radioed the ninth Marine Regiment to report that each one his corporations have been hard-pressed, he had no models left to commit, and the state of affairs was vital. He dispatched Charlie and Delta corporations with 4 tanks in a rescue mission, however heavy fireplace slowed their advance.
Marines fought by the afternoon to achieve the survivors. When the taking pictures stopped, the toll from simply that first day was staggering: 84 Marines killed, 190 wounded, 9 lacking—virtually all from Alpha and Bravo corporations.
Lance Cpl. Derl Horn, a mortarman with Bravo Firm, survived the ambush and later chronicled the battalion’s ordeal in his e book “Blood, Sweat and Honor: Memoirs of a ‘Strolling Useless’ Marine in Vietnam.”
Marines who arrived days later to recuperate our bodies discovered a number of the lacking had been shot at point-blank vary. Others have been booby-trapped. Some had been mutilated.
Operation Buffalo continued for almost two weeks. By the point it ended on July 14, the complete operation had value 159 Marines killed and 845 wounded.
Operation Kingfisher adopted instantly in the identical normal space, lasting by October 1967. Throughout this operation in Leatherneck Sq., Marine forces suffered one other 340 killed and greater than 1,400 wounded, with 1/9 bearing many of the casualties.
Operation Prairie III and a Sergeant’s Sacrifice
Simply three months earlier than Operation Buffalo, the battalion witnessed extraordinary heroism throughout one other brutal engagement.
On March 24, 1967, throughout Operation Prairie III within the Gio Linh District, Sgt. Walter Ok. Singleton’s Firm A got here beneath intense small-arms, automatic-weapons, rocket and mortar fireplace from a well-entrenched enemy drive close to the village of Phu An.
Singleton, serving as provide sergeant, was in a comparatively protected place within the rear. However seeing his lead platoon taking heavy casualties, he moved ahead by the enemy killing zone, making quite a few journeys to evacuate wounded Marines.
Noting that a big a part of the enemy fireplace was coming from the tree-line, he seized a machine gun and assaulted the place, delivering devastating fireplace as he charged. He compelled his method by the vegetation straight into the enemy robust level.
Though mortally wounded, Singleton’s fearless assault killed eight enemy troopers and drove the rest from the sphere, fully disorganizing their ambush and saving the lives of many Marines.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Secretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius offered the medal to his mother and father on Sept. 4, 1968, at a ceremony on the Marine Barracks in Washington.
Khe Sanh: 77 Days Below Siege
In January 1968, the battalion bolstered Khe Sanh Fight Base simply as North Vietnamese forces launched one of many battle’s most notorious sieges. The first Battalion, ninth Marines arrived Jan. 22, becoming a member of roughly 6,000 Marines and South Vietnamese troops who would endure 77 days of day by day shelling and shut fight.
North Vietnamese artillery fired as much as 1,300 rounds day by day. Marines defended not simply the bottom however the surrounding hills, preventing off repeated assaults. One of many battalion’s hardest battles throughout the siege occurred once they have been tasked with charging up Hill 689. They drove the NVA off the hill at the price of over 30 casualties.
The siege was lifted on April 8 with Operation Pegasus. Official Marine casualties for the siege reached 205 killed and 1,662 wounded throughout all models at Khe Sanh.
After the siege ended, 1/9 continued operations within the space by Operation Scotland II, which lasted till February 1969. That operation alone value 435 Marines killed throughout all taking part models.
Operation Dewey Canyon: The Final Main Offensive
In early 1969, the battalion participated in Operation Dewey Canyon, the Marine Corps’ final main offensive in Vietnam. The operation pushed into the A Shau Valley and areas close to the DMZ, concentrating on North Vietnamese Base Space 611.
On Feb. 22, 1969, 1st Lt. Wesley Fox’s Firm A, transferring by dense jungle, got here beneath intense fireplace from a hid enemy drive. Fox, already wounded by shrapnel to his shoulder, maneuvered beneath fireplace to evaluate the state of affairs and coordinate together with his platoon leaders.
When his govt officer was mortally wounded and one other lieutenant injured, Fox discovered himself the one officer able to main. He reorganized his firm and directed his males as they hurled grenades towards the enemy and drove them away. He known as in artillery and airstrikes as he led his males towards enemy strongpoints.
Wounded a second time, Fox refused medical consideration. He established a defensive place and supervised the evacuation of his casualties. His firm killed 105 enemy troopers that day however misplaced 11 Marines.
President Richard Nixon awarded Fox the Medal of Honor in a White Home ceremony on March 2, 1971. Fox, who had risen by enlisted ranks in Korea earlier than turning into an officer at age 35, would serve one other 22 years and retire as a colonel in 1993.
Operation Dewey Canyon lasted from January by March 1969. Your complete ninth Marine Regiment obtained a Presidential Unit Quotation for the operation. Throughout all taking part models, the Marines suffered 130 killed and 932 wounded.
The Strolling Useless’s Legacy in Vietnam
The battalion’s service file consists of most of Vietnam’s bloodiest operations: Buffalo, Leatherneck Sq., Dewey Canyon, Khe Sanh, and dozens extra.
Sgt. Walter Ok. Singleton and 1st Lt. Wesley Fox each earned the Medal of Honor whereas serving with 1/9 in Vietnam. Marines of the battalion additionally earned quite a few Navy Crosses and Silver Stars for his or her actions throughout the battle. The battalion itself earned 13 unit commendations for its service throughout the battle.
The Strolling Useless left Vietnam in 1969 for Okinawa, having participated in 44 main operations. The battalion then rotated between Camp Pendleton, California, and Camp Hansen, Okinawa, by the Eighties and early Nineties earlier than being deactivated in 1994 as a part of post-Chilly Struggle drive reductions.
As Marine veteran John Musgrave, who served with 1/9, would later replicate, the battalion “fought close to nonstop battles and is believed to have misplaced extra males than every other American unit preventing in Vietnam.”
For 1/9’s Marines, the battalion nickname was an indication of defiance, not defeat. Their experiences in Vietnam are a number of the clearest examples of sustained sacrifice that few army models have ever suffered.
The Strolling Useless’s colours can be cased for a decade. However their story was removed from over.
