Operation Union was a military operation that took place in the Vietnam War. It was a search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley carried out by the Fifth Marine Regiment. Launched on April 21, 1967 the operation ended May 16. The Vietnam War was fought from 1957 to 1975 between communist and Vietnamese national forces and an array of Western and pro-Western forces, most importantly the United States. ... France Marines is the name of a commune in the département of Val dOise, France. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ...

The Que Son Valley is located along the border of Quang Nam and Quang Tin provinces. During the Vietnam War it lay in the southern part of South Vietnam's I Corps Military Region. Quảng Nam is a province of Vietnam with a population estimated to be 1,402,700 and an area of 10,408 km². ...

Populous and rice-rich, the valley was viewed as one of the keys to controlling South Vietnam's five northern provinces by the communists and by early 1967 at least two regiments of the 2nd Division of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN, known to the U.S. Army as the North Vietnamese Army or NVA) had been infiltrated into the area. The Que Son Valley was also recognized as strategically important by the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). The Fifth Marine Division (Reinforced), an experienced force that had fought in Vietnam since their arrival in the Summer of 1966, was assigned to the valley in 1967 to support the outnumbered the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) forces, the 6th ARVN Regiment and the 1st ARVN Ranger Group. NVA is a three-letter abbreviation for North Vietnamese Army Nationale Volksarmee, the National Peoples Army of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, Belgian political party. ... The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV, pronounced as mac vee) was the United States command structure during the Vietnam War from 1962 until the wars end. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was a military component of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as South Vietnam). ...

Since mid-January 1967 Foxtrot Company, a reinforced U.S. Marine company of the 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment, had manned an outpost atop Nui Loc Son (Loc Son Mountain), which dominated the southern Que Son Valley. Although the Communist forces operating in the valley did not initially take much notice of the Marines, on April 15, 1967 the Foxtrot company commander advised Colonel Emil Radics, the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, that enemy units appeared to be preparing for an all-out assault on the outpost. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ...

Radics developed a plan for a multi-battalion assault and sweep aimed at clearing PAVN units from the vicinity of the mountain. The plan was approved as Operation Union by Major General Herman Nickerson, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, on April 20 and was put into action the following morning.

Acting as bait, Foxtrot Company was ordered to leave its outpost to sweep toward Binh Son, the nearest enemy-held village complex. Contact with PAVN elements began around 7 a.m., shortly developing into a full battle. The Marine company was soon pinned down in a tree line near Binh Son, thereby fixing the PAVN forces who were soon subjected to a withering air and artillery bombardment. This allowed Foxtrot Company to attack into Binh Son as the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, arrived to support them in a "hot" helicopter assault.

The main body of the 3rd Battalion fought into the village to join Foxtrot in engaging the enemy while other elements of the battalion landed from helicopters east of the battlefield to block the enemy’s most likely escape route. During the afternoon, U.S. Army 175mm self-propelled artillery and Marine 105mm howitzers established separate fire bases near the battlefield, and that evening the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment landed atop Nui Loc Son. The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... A U.S. M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery vehicles mount a large howitzer (or alternatively mortar or rockets) and are used for long-range indirect bombardment support. ... Loading a WW1 British 15 in (381 mm) howitzer 155 mm M198 Howitzer A howitzer or hauwitzer is a type of field artillery. ...

By the morning of April 22 the PAVN had been driven out of Binh Son and withdrew to the north. From that time until the end of Operation Union on May 14 the PAVN was hotly pursued by the U.S. Marines and the 1st ARVN Ranger Group in a series of bitter engagements that were costly to both sides. April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). ...

The PAVN 2nd Division sustained hundreds of casualties and was left unfit for combat for several months. It is believed that Operation Union, together with the succeeding Operation Union II, inflicted over three thousand enemy casualties. Nevertheless although the PAVN had lost ground around Nui Loc Son it remained in firm control of much of the rest of the Que Son Valley and was steadily reinforced.

The 5th Regiment had also sustained casualties (over 300) and the entire regiment received the Presidential Unit Citation awarded by President Lyndon Johnson. The Presidential Unit Citation is a senior unit award granted to military units which have performed an extremely meritorious or heroic act, usually in the face of an armed enemy. ... For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ...

On May 26, Colonel Kenneth Houghton's 5th U.S. Marine Regiment, which had assumed control of the latter stages of Operation Union, kicked off Operation Union II. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ...

External links

Debbe Reynolds' Memorial Page (http://www.combatwife.net/unionIandII.htm) - Many contemporary photos and military documents