This narrative chronicles the activities of the U.S. Marine Corps in Southeast Asia from January 1961 to March 1965. The period witnesses increasing Marine Corps involvement in the region as our nation's leaders responded to Communist aggression and sought to protect the United States national interests. Individual Marines saw duty as early as 1954 when a Marine lieutenant colonel was assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Saigon, South Vietnam. The first involvement of a Marine Corps operational unit came in March 1961 with the deployment to Udorn, Thailand, of approximately 300 Marines from Marine Air Base Squadron 16 (MABS-16). The squadron's mission was to provide aircraft maintenance and flight-line support operations for Air America, a U.S. company flying missions in support of the pro-Western forces in Laos. MABS-16 remained in northeast Thailand for seven months, not returning to its home base at Futema, Okinawa, until Air America had become self-supporting in October 1961. The situation in Laos continued to deteriorate, and in early 1962 Communist aggression was threatening to spill over into neighboring Thailand. President John F. Kennedy's administration, determined to protect this vitally important Asian ally and Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) member, ordered the 3d Marine Expeditionary Brigade (3d MEB) to deploy to Thailand in May 1962 as a show of force and as a demonstration of American resolve to halt the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia.


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    Titel :

    Path to War: U.S. Marine Corps Operations in Southeast Asia 1961 to 1965


    Beteiligte:
    A. J. Anderson (Autor:in) / S. H. Vreeland (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2014


    Format / Umfang :

    102 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch