This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.

Overview: The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. A Path to War is the first in a series dedicated to the Marine Corps' involvement in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s until 1975. This commemorative publication covers the period from 1961 to 1965, a time when the Marine involvement in the region deepened from an advisory and supporting role to the amphibious landing near Da Nang in March 1965, which marked the first major commitment of U.S. ground forces to the war in Vietnam. Contains five color maps and numerous black and white photographs.

Overview: The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. A Path to War is the first in a series dedicated to the Marine Corps' involvement in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s until 1975. This commemorative publication covers the period from 1961 to 1965, a time when the Marine involvement in the region deepened from an advisory and supporting role to the amphibious landing near Da Nang in March 1965, which marked the first major commitment of U.S. ground forces to the war in Vietnam. Contains five color maps and numerous black and white photographs.

The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The First Fight is the second title in a series dedicated to the Marine Corps' involvement in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s until 1975. This commemorative publication focuses on Operation Starlite, the first significant engagement between Marines and the Viet Cong with regimental-sized forces. It lasted from 18 to 24 August 1965, and in many ways foreshadowed the experience of American forces in Vietnam.

This narrative chronicles the activities of the U.S. Marine Corps in Southeast Asia from January 1961 to March 1965. Includes maps and photographs in color and black and white.

The Air Force instinctively disliked the slow, gradual way the United States prosecuted its war against the Vietnamese communists. While Americans undoubtedly delayed a communist victory in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia long enough to spare Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries a similar fate, the American public grew very tired of this war years before its dismal conclusion. Due to questionable political policies and decision-making, only sporadic and relatively ineffective use had been made of air power's ability to bring great force to bear quickly and decisively. The United States and its Air Force experienced a decade of frustration made more painful by the losses of its personnel killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Fighting resolutely and courageously, the Air Force played the decisive role in forcing North Vietnam to the peace table in 1973. The demands of the Vietnam War forced new developments such as laser-guided-bombs that would eventually radically transform the shape of air warfare.

This publication is the eighth in the series The U.S. Navy and the Vietnam War. The publication focuses on the sealift and logistic operations during the war and includes a number of photographs as well as sidebars detailing specific people and ships involved in the logistic operations. This historical pictorial reference would be of interest to students, historians, members of the military, specifically the Navy, and military leaders, veterans, Vietnam War veterans, and the U.S. merchant marines.

This book was donated as a part of the David H. Hugel Collection, an archival collection of the Special Collections & Archives, University of Baltimore.

General Wallace M. Greene Jr. was the 23d Commandant of the Marine Corps, serving from 1964 to 1967, a period in which American involvement in Vietnam increased dramatically. The Greene Papers: General Wallace M. Greene Jr. and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, January 1964-March 1965 contains more than 100 documents from the personal papers of General Greene and is the first edited volume of personal papers to be published by the Marine Corps History Division as a monograph. Produced by a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Greene's notes provide readers with a firsthand account from one of the main participants in the decision-making process that led to the commitment of a large-scale American expeditionary force in Southeast Asia. Because of President Lyndon B. Johnson's reticence to regularly consult the Joint Chiefs on military matters, however, the notes also give readers a second point of view: that of a frustrated advisor kept on the outside and forced to look in, observe, and reflect on major military decisions often made without his input or support. Also apparent are the tensions between Greene and President Johnson's aggressive and domineering Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. This volume begins in January 1964 and ends just before the landing of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Da Nang on 8 March 1965, a pivotal moment that marked the official transition from the United States' advisory mission to a more active combat mission. In doing so, it traces Greene's growing frustration with McNamara's and Johnson's equivocation and uncertainty about Southeast Asia. Along with a series of commemorative pamphlets, this book is part of the Marine Corps History Division's effort to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Vietnam War. Other publications avaialble from the United States Marine Corps can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/922 Other publications about the Vietnam War can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/us-military-history/battles-wars/vietnam-war