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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.  

Episode 142: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part II

The last image of the Knife 13 casualties just before they took off

As the first day of the Mayaguez Incident was coming to a close, US officials were gathering Marines from The Philippines and Okinawa for a potential rescue attempt. Seventh Air Force Commander, on the ground in Thailand, tried to include his airmen but that... well, that did not go well. One of the helicopters moving to the staging area crashed - call sign Knife 13 - killing all 23 people aboard, 5 crew and 18 passengers. Just last month a monument was dedicated to honor those killed at the Air Force Security Forces Museum at Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland in Texas

The Knife 13 Memorial dedicated October 10, 2024 at Joint Base San Antonio - Lackland, Texas

As the second day of the incident dawned in Southeast Asia, the air force did all in its power, the the use of fighters and attack aircraft, the prevent the Cambodians from transferring their prisoners to the mainland were President Ford felt it would be much more difficult to get them back unharmed. 

Episode 141: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part I

The last US combat units left South Vietnam on March 29, 1973. The last US embassy personnel were dramatically evacuated on April 30, 1975, the same day that the People's Army of Vietnam entered Saigon, signally the defeat of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country by the Northern communists.

But those considered the final American casualties of the Vietnam War died the following month in neighboring Cambodia fighting soldiers loyal to the Khmer Rouge, not the government in Hanoi. This final unlikely battle was fought over a commercial container ship during the early chaotic days of significant political change in Southeast Asia.

Episode 140: Honored Return

 

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is the federal agency responsible for recovering the remains of previously missing in action service members and identifying them, and each year, DPAA strikes hundreds of names from the rolls of the missing.

To emphasize the importance of what DPAA does, this episode highlights four families who have received closure regarding their formerly MIA loved ones, and one family who received help from DPAA to get a cenotaph at Arlington for their Korea War MIA.

Army Private First Class Alfred Bordeau was captured on his first day in combat in the Korea War and subjected to many physical and mental hardships, and ultimately death, at the hands of his North Korean captors. DPAA helped his family get in touch with a POW who was held with Bordeau who was able to tell them about the brave things their loved one did while a captive to help others around him.

Some 70 years after his death, Bordeau's family celebrated his life and placed a cenotaph in his honor at Arlington in Memorial Section L, Site 88.

Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker was the commander of a bombardment squadron when his bomber was hit over Poland. Instead of returning to safety, he continued to pilot his plane to the target, leading his squadron's planes in the process, and successfully dropped his payload.

On the return leg of the mission, he was forced to drop out of formation and made a gallant effort to give his crew a chance to bail out. His bomber finally lost all power and he crashed behind German lines. He was awarded the medal of honor but his remains could not be recovered so his final disposition was unknown so his named was added to a wall of the missing at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy.

Thanks to many efforts by DPAA personnel, LTC Baker's remains were located, positively identified, and at the behest of his surviving family - several of whom are Addison in their hero uncle's honor - reinterred at Arlington in Section 78, Grave 403.

Navy Seaman First Class James Richard Ward was on the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was hit by multiple torpedoes and began to sink during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead of rushing out of the gun turret he was manning to escape, he led the rest of the crew to safety. Every member of the crew made it out except for S1 Ward who was awarded the medal of honor for all of the lives he saved.

Ward remained interred in the Oklahoma until that ship was refloated. His were one of dozens upon dozens of comingled remains recovered from the ship and buried in mixed graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His status as a medal of honor recipient also earned him a cenotaph at Punchbowl.

In 2015, DPAA began a special mission to disinter the comingled Oklahoma remains and identify each crew member still considered missing. Through these efforts, Ward's remains were identified and buried at Arlington in Section 81, Grave 1560 with many of his family members and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the Chief of Naval Operations, in attendance.

Marine Corps Captain Ronald Forrester was killed when the A6A Intruder he was piloting was shot down over Vietnam.

A cenotaph was placed at Arlington in his honor and stood in the cemetery for nearly sixty years. Just imagine how shocked and pleasantly surprised Forrester's daughter - who had only knew for father for a short time as a child - was when she got a phone call telling her that DPAA had recovered and identified Forrester's remains. His funeral service was two weeks ago so his headstone has not been placed yet, but when it is, it was rise over his remains in Section 47, Grave 29.

Navy Radioman Third Class Starring Winfield was also lost when the USS Oklahoma sank at Pearl Harbor.

Like S1 Ward, Winfield's remains were comingled, placed in a group burial at Punchbowl, and later disinterred and identified as part of the 2015 special Oklahoma project. His family chose to move his remains to Arlington and they now rest in Section 55, Grave 2085.