Last U.S. units our of Vietnam?

[mcmike]

Although U.S. combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam in '73, some Marine units and possibly Army units stayed as embassy guards, advisors, etc, until the last mass exodus in April, '75. Does anyone know which units were the last out?

Thanks,
Mike

[dogman68]

29 April 1975 - Marines of the 9th MAB executed Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Americans, foreign nationals and various Vietnamese officials and citizens associated with Americans from Saigon to ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.

Significance: This ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The 9th MAB, in effect, conducted the last U.S. troop operation of the Vietnam War. The following day, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese troops and organized South Vietnamese resistance to the Communist forces of North Vietnam ended. The Communists unified Vietnam under their regime.

[dogman68]

L/CPL Darwin L. Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, during the Fall Of Saigon he was killed along with CPL Charles McMahon of Woburn, Massachusetts while on guard duty at Ton Sun Nhut Airbase on the morning of April 29, 1975. May we never forget that freedom has a price.

[mcmike]

Dogman: thanks for the info, and the sidelight on the men who must have been the last casualties of that war.

Mike

[ppsh41]

[ppsh41]

[kammo man]

I have a grouping including all the flight gear worn by LT,COL,F.H.Heins who was the commander of the USMC air effort for the FW operation that was worn on those fateful last moments.
HML-367 .


owen

[Jack_Frost]

Originally Posted by ppsh41

Beautiful Image. Love the Air America.

[D. Michael Kim]

A related subject is what was the last combat action of the war. Google, the Mayaguez incident between the Khmer Rouge and the United States from May 12–15, 1975, was the last official battle of the Vietnam War.

Talk about a major cluster F..K, this was it. Too many cooks getting into the joint action.

[MikeP]

Never forget the Marines abandoned on Kho Tang Island.

Sometimes enthusiasts forget this stuff was about real people and not just their artifacts.

[mcmike]

Originally Posted by MikeP

Never forget the Marines abandoned on Kho Tang Island.

Sometimes enthusiasts forget this stuff was about real people and not just their artifacts.

Mike & Michael Kim:

Thank you for bringing that sad event up. Although I am old enough to remember the Mayaguez Incident, I did not remember this tragic ending. For those interested, 3 Marines were left behind on the island, subsequently captured, and executed in a brutal fashion. For more information please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaguez_incident.

Mike

[mcmike]

Originally Posted by kammo man

I have a grouping including all the flight gear worn by LT,COL,F.H.Heins who was the commander of the USMC air effort for the FW operation that was worn on those fateful last moments.
HML-367 .


owen

Owen: Would like to see a pic of the outfit, if possible. I recently acquired a helmet cover complete with graffiti, indicating the soldier's time in Vietnam was to be completed in April, '75; so I'm trying to narrow down to which outfit he may have been in. No name unfortunately.

Mike

[dogman68]

Although the Mayaguez was fought and considered part of the Vietnam war, why I do not know, the last combat fought by American troops on Vietnamese soil was in and around Saigon. As for the Mayaguez seems we under estimated the Khmer Rouge, as mentioned a giant C___F. Amazing is that after the first 1968 tet offensive General Giap could not believe we did not invade the North, he himself admitted that he did not have troop strength capable to hold us off and he believes they would have surrendered withinn 3 weeks. VC main force units were annihilated, and NVA units were severely shredded. However they did regroup for a second offensive in May and once again met disastrous results. He said after the second offensive that we could have walked into Hanoi. However we let them regroup for a third offe nsive late in the fall of 68 were once again they were soundly defeated. During the bombing campaign of 72 they caused massive casualties to our aircraft buy eventually they ran oout of Sam missles and other ordinance. Once again by their own admission if Johnson would have continued the bombing they were within days of surrendering, but no, for whatever reason he orderered a stop. We should have never been there in the first place, should have let them fight their own civil war.

[hochiminhtrail]

what was the last division leaving vietnam in 73.

HCMT

[Longhorn92]

what was the last division leaving vietnam in 73.

I think the last fully intact division that left Vietnam was the 101st, which began redeployment in the winter of '71 and was gone by Feb/March of '72.

The 3rd BDE of the 1st Cav stayed behind when the rest of that division left. The 3rd BDE stayed until June/July of '72.