Episode 147: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part VII

In the years following the Mayaguez Incident, several memorials have popped up. As is was considered the final combat action of the Vietnam War (despite taking place after the officially recognized end of the war and in Cambodia, not Vietnam) those killed in action were engraved in the final panel of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.

In 1996, Arizona Senator and former Vietnam POW John McCain helped dedicate a memorial to those killed on Koh Tang on the grounds of the US embassy in Phenom Penh, Cambodia.

In 2013, a memorial marker for those killed in the Knife-31 crash off Koh Tang's east beach. It is in Section 60, Site 10360.

Two Marines killed in action during the Mayaguez Incident, who were originally listed as missing in action and whose statues was officially changed in 1976 to killed in action (body not recovered) were eventually located, recovered, repatriated, and ultimately interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Second Lieutenant Richard Van de Geer is interred in Section 66, Grave 6027 - he was 27 years old.

Private First Class Walter Boyd, Jr. is buried in Section 66, Grave 5686 - he was 19 years old.

 

Episode 146: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties of Vietnam, Part VI

 

The crew of the SS Mayaguez is released by the Khmer Rouge, but it is too late to stop the US rescue attempt. Now President Ford wants to pull out the troops, but since information flowed a lot slower in 1975 than it does in 2025, the second wave of US Marines was already on site. Will they follow presidential orders or will they disregard their commander-in-chief and extricate their comrades under siege in enemy territory?

While those decisions were being made, the destroyer USS Henry B. Wilson came across the survivors of the Knife-31 crash that happened in the opening minutes of the attempted invasion of Koh Tang and was able to rescue them after they had survived more than two hours treading water in the ocean 

Yet Another Podcast Announcement

I am having no luck with these end of the year holidays. I was back in the ER on New Year's Day thanks to a complication from my appendectomy. This is why there was no new episode this week. Sheesh, after these last two weeks, my New Year's resolution is to stay out the hospital in 2025!

 

Podcast Announcement

 

I had my appendix removed unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, and while I was released from the hospital in time to enjoy most of Christmas Day with my family, this why there is no new episode this week. I hope everyone else's Christmas was better than mine!

Episode 145: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part V

     

As things were falling apart on nearby Koh Tang, 1/4 Marines from the frigate USS Harold E. Holt brings 1/4 Marines from the Philippines along side the stricken SS Mayaguez.

Believing the commercial ship to be held by an unknown number of armed Khmer hijackers, US aircraft engulfed the Mayaguez in tear gas before the Marines boarded.

By the time the Marines returned to the Holt, it was clear that only a few Khmer Rouge fighters had stayed on the ship and they abandoned the vessel when the tear gas was dropped.

The SS Mayaguez, retaken without a shot fired, was hooked up to the Holt and towed away from Koh Tang.

Episode 144: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties of Vietnam

Bad intelligence plus bad timing equals a bad plan. Last week we saw the bad intelligence when no photos of the objective were available so the Marine making the plan flew over the site at 4500 feet with his personal 35mm camera. This week we see the bad timing I've been eluding to. The bad intelligence and bad timing come together for a disastrous first fifteen minutes of the battle for the Mayaguez and her crew.

Aside from losing three of the first four helicopters that tried to insert Marines onto the beaches of Koh Tang island (two of which can be seen in the first photo on east beach) the forth bird was so damaged that the pilot abandoned the mission, taking her 20 Marines back to Thailand. It was likely the right call as it didn't make it back to U-Tapao Royal Air Base in Thailand before it had to be abandoned.

Episode 143: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part III

US reconnaissance planes lost track of the Mayaguez crew when the trawler they were on arrived at the port of Kompong Som on mainland Cambodia. Because of that, US planners continued to plan for a rescue under the assumption that the crew was split between the Mayaguez itself and Koh Tang island and their estimate of how many Khmer soldier were on Koh Tang was off by 90%. Both of which led to a rescue plan that would not be well suited for the reality on the ground.

Oh, and the reconnaissance photos the Marines used to plan the operation was taken with one of their officer's personal 35-mm camera from 4500 feet above the island because apparently no other photos of Koh Tang existed in Thailand where the planning was taking place.