Gallantry and Intrepidity:

"SEND IN THE 26TH MARINES"

     The Tet Offensive, Khe Sanh, and the battle for Hue City are important and defining moments of the Vietnam War in 1968. Marines carried out countless other less remembered, less publicized, operations throughout that year. Many of these battles, though shorter in duration and smaller in scale, proved consequential to the United States military’s broader plans for success.

     The warriors of 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines fought in many such lesser known engagements. If 1968 had been a busy year for the Marine Corps, 3/26 was no exception. In fact, the battalion had been busy ever since their arrival to Vietnam two years earlier. The battalion continuously found itself wherever they were needed, parceled out to any division in any sector calling for support at the time.

     “Every time something came up, they said ‘send in the 26th Marines,’” remembered Lee Solomon, a veteran from Lima 3/26. “We lived in the jungle. We didn’t have an area of operations. We were nomads in country and everywhere we went, we were in a fight. I spent 19 months in combat there and that’s all I did the whole time.” They fought through numerous smaller operations and played central roles in large scale engagements such as the battle of Con Thien and the siege of Khe Sanh.

     Experiences in the bush ranged from hilarious to harrowing. These shaped the battalion’s spirit and cemented the Marines’ dedication to each other through every succeeding operation. During one example from late summer 1968, the battalion found itself on the side of a mountain, in the middle of a typhoon, moving through the Hai Van pass. After several days soaked and submerged with trench foot now a common ailment, the Marines began hiking out. Staff Sergeant Karl Taylor of India Company moved up and down the column encouraging everyone on foot. “Come on Marines! This is no worse than anything you experienced in boot camp!” Gunny T, as Taylor was affectionately known, had been a drill instructor at both enlisted boot camp and Officer Candidates School. He knew how to properly motivate a group of Marines. The battalion made it to Da Nang, adding a typhoon to their ever-growing list of Vietnam life experiences.

     Like Gunny T, everyone had a nickname. “Muddy Boots”, “Tumbleweed”, “Stretch”, and “Bambino” to name a few. Some were earned and some were bestowed unwillingly on the recipient. Many times the nicknames were intended to make things less personal, just in case the Marine was killed. Other times, the nickname originated as a term of endearment that bonded the Marines closer together.

     By November 1968, 3/26 was a battle-hardened brotherhood of infantrymen. Their warfighting skills were soon called upon to help clean out a notoriously bad area known to the Marines as “Dodge City.”

DODGE CITY

    The area occupied less than fifteen square miles of ground Southwest of Da Nang. The terrain was flat, bounded by rivers, and covered in rice paddies and elephant grass. The most prominent feature was a high railroad berm running like a spine straight across the entire sector. Considering its relatively small size, Dodge City held a disproportionately large number of bad guys. The region acted as a staging area and command post for Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units moving towards the US installations at Da Nang. Over the years, the enemy turned the landscape into an intricate network of dug in bunkers, connecting underground tunnels, hidden spider holes, and innumerable other concealed positions. Given the terrain advantage afforded to the enemy, Marines in Dodge City were usually taking fire before they ever even saw where it came from.

     Marines had been there many times before. Even 3/26 had fought there just a few months earlier in July 1968 during Operation Mameluke Thrust. Every time, Dodge City proved its reputation as a wild, free fire zone always full of action. Marine commanders finally had enough and decided to clean it out for good.

    The operation, called Meade River, was set to commence on November 20th. Generally, the plan was straightforward: surround the area, squeeze the circle tight, and kill every bad guy they found until the Marines met in the middle. To conduct this massive cordon and search, six infantry battalions from three Marine regiments, and a Battalion Landing Team under Navy control, were brought together. Enough helicopters to create the largest Marine air assault of the Vietnam War were not enough to move everyone into place. Some battalions were trucked into position, still others humped on foot. 

     Commanders designed the cordon to place a Marine every 15 to 20 meters all the way around Dodge City. Inch by inch, hole by hole, the Marines would shrink the cordon, thoroughly searching every place to hide and eliminating any threats. In the early morning hours of November 20th, the operation commenced. Shortly after 0800, Marines had sealed off Dodge City and snapped the cordon shut.

THE HORSESHOE

     Marines of 3/26 settled into position on the southwest side of the cordon near the junction of the railroad berm and Route Four. On their left flank, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines began the opening moves to shrink the cordon. For 3/26, the first two days were relatively quiet. The battalion maintained its portion of the line while 2/7 moved into the attack and South Vietnamese troops worked to evacuate the remaining civilians from Dodge City. At night, VC and NVA fighters attempted to escape the trap. Numerous times the enemy was seen moving through the darkness and fired upon by the Marines. Sometimes they fell, and their bodies were found the next day. Other times the figures melted back into the shadows. The Marines of Kilo and India Companies engaged in nightly firefights, taking sniper rounds, grenades, and 60 millimeter mortars. Casualties were sustained on both sides.

     On the 23rd, 3/26 began pushing north and east from Route Four into an area known as “the Horseshoe.” The size of one grid square, and named for the distinctive "U" shaped stream that bounded the area, the Horseshoe proved to be the first enemy stronghold met in Dodge City. 2/7 hit resistance here almost immediately on the opening day of the operation, and had been thrown back multiple times. Now the Marines of Lima 3/26 were sent in direct support of the next assault. Lima encountered the same stiff resistance, suffering four killed and more wounded.

     The following day, Marines made their 5th attempt to overrun the enemy dug into the Horseshoe. Kilo 3/26 was now pulled to support 2/7 in the assault alongside Lima. Intense machine gun and sniper fire raked the Marines as they moved less than 200 yards from where they began. Under fire and moving through dense foliage, the attack stalled yet again. Kilo received the brunt of this round, sustaining half the overall casualties of the day.

     Resistance in the Horseshoe had been tougher than anticipated. If this opening act of Meade River was any indication of how the entire operation would go, it did not bode well. Clearly more VC and NVA occupied Dodge City than had been anticipated, and clearly they were not going to surrender. 

     Recognizing the futility of another infantry assault, the Marines pulled back from the Horseshoe and let loose an artillery barrage. Howitzers decimated the area the entire morning of the 25th. In the afternoon Marines finally overran the Horseshoe and reached their objective at the railroad berm.

     The battalion had been bloodied early and quickly, finding itself in the middle of the hottest action. Unfortunately for them, this would not be the last enemy stronghold they encountered, or the last time they found themselves in the middle of the action. Their path to the center of the circle would be unlike any other participating battalion.

TIGHTENING THE NOOSE

     Over the next few days, Marines all over Dodge City shrank the cordon inch by inch. Many Marines carried probes to locate the enemy beneath their feet. These slender metal canes, three feet long with a “T” handle on top, were stabbed into the ground everywhere as the Marines walked. If the probe slid easily into the dirt, the Marine knew he was standing on top of an enemy tunnel, spider hole, weapons cache, or any one of the numerous dwellings the NVA had burrowed into the landscape. The battalion’s Command Chronology for this period noted that supporting arms fire was often ineffectual and, “It was found that the enemy had to be ferreted out by individual Marines, using tactics similar to those used during World War II during the Island Campaigns.”

     Air support was difficult to coordinate. With Marines closing the cordon on an already cramped area, any bombs or napalm dropped were considered danger close. Also, many of the enemy fortifications were deep in the ground, reinforced with concrete, and covered in several feet of dirt and railroad ties stolen from the berm running through Dodge City. From these fortifications the enemy could wait out any barrage and come up to ambush the infantry as they passed through the open rice paddies.

     Despite the challenges, 3/26 pushed on. Probes revealed weapon stocks, tunnels, booby traps, shallow enemy graves, and spider holes. Often times the enemy revealed themselves only after the Marines had unknowingly walked right over their position. Sometimes the only good way to locate the enemy was for a Marine to expose himself, wait to be shot at, and look for the muzzle flash.

    Some Marines had their own methods for finding the enemy. At one point during the operation, Cpl Felipe Torres and other India Company Marines were moving through elephant grass scouring the ground. Torres stopped India’s Forward Observer, Larry “Beaver” Gore. 

    “Beaver,” he said, “I think I smell them.” 

     “You smell them?” Beaver replied.

     “Yeah, they’re over there in that brush.” Said Torres.

     “Well, go get them!” said Beaver.

     With the platoon leader in tow, Cpl Torres low crawled into the brush. After several meters, he stumbled upon two Viet Cong creeping out of a spider hole. They were in the process of handing up a grenade to throw at passing Marines. Startled at the sight of the VC popping out of the ground right in front of him, Torres yelled, “Hey dude!” and immediately shot both enemy soldiers at point blank range with his pistol. Torres back peddled through the brush as fast as he could into his platoon leader, who opened up over his head with a submachine gun. The enemy fighters fell back into their hole dropping the grenade. 

     Several yards away, India’s Company Commander, Captain Ron Hoover, was talking on the radio. Without warning, he heard Torres’s shout, immediately followed by the “BANG BANG” of a .45, the staccato “DA-DA-DA-DA-DA” of a submachine gun, and finally the “BOOM” of a grenade. Still trying to absorb the events of the last few seconds, a bootless foot tumbled through the air and landed on the ground next to where Hoover was standing. “Great,” he thought, “I’ve lost another Lieutenant.” 

     Much to his relief, both Torres and the lieutenant emerged unscathed from the brush. Cpl Torres would later be awarded the Silver Star for heroic actions demonstrated throughout Meade River, and eventually rose to the rank of Colonel. 

     Thanksgiving Day came and passed as a brief respite for the battalion. On their right flank, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines prepared to punch into the heart of Dodge City. Their objective was a parcel of land bounded by a bend in the Suoi Co Ca River. Occupying less than a third of a grid square, the Marines didn’t know this tiny pocket of land housed the NVA command center for the whole Dodge City area. To the Marines, it was simply, “the Hook.”

THE HOOK

     For two days, 3/5 battled for position. An entrenched enemy repulsed each new assault wave, leaving the battalion with many casualties. The type and number of enemy bunkers within the Hook were unlike those faced in the Horseshoe, and defended even more tenaciously. On December 3rd, 3/26 was called in to replace 3/5 on the front line. 

     The previous assaults had demonstrated two things. First, an infantry assault into the Hook without air support was suicide. Second, the bunkers in the Hook were so well constructed, many of them could withstand artillery and air power. Given these facts, 3/26 chose a new, more risky tactic: bombard the Hook while the infantry assaulted. This was the only way to keep the NVA’s heads down long enough for the Marines to maneuver into position. “Danger Close” was redefined as 500 pound bombs and napalm began fell within 100 yards of the Marine line.

    Just across the river from the Hook, 2/5 and 2/26 had closed the cordon from the East up to the Suoi Co Ca’s banks. They watched as Marine F-4 Phantoms screamed in overhead unloading their ordnance. Showered in dirt and debris from the explosions, the battalions pulled back from the river trying to avoid friendly fire. 

      Into this maelstrom 3/26 surged.  From the ground, India Company 2nd Platoon leader Chris Tibbs watched as one F-4 flew in low and fast along the river. On its first pass, one tank of napalm tumbled to the ground and exploded on target. On the second run, Lieutenant Tibbs watched in horror as the Phantom’s remaining tank of napalm released from the front, but hung up on the back. Finally the tank released, overshooting the target and heading right at the Marines’ position. As Tibbs watched the tank barreling towards him, he was hit. Not by a bullet or bomb, but by Gunny T. At a sprint, Karl Taylor speared Tibbs to the ground, screaming, “Hold your breath Lieutenant!” Miraculously, the napalm exploded without harming the Marines.

      The battalion fought in along the south side of the Hook. Casualties began to mount and some platoons were reduced to squad sized elements. Enemy snipers and machine gunners took their toll ambushing Marines in the open as they advanced only 20 yards away. Hospitalman James Tarrance moved around the field performing first aid. When one Marine fell wounded, Tarrance came forward positioning himself in full view between the enemy and the injured man. He was quickly shot through the neck and killed. For his heroism, Tarrance was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

     Another Marine armed with a M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon stood to fire his rocket at an enemy bunker. Simultaneously, an enemy soldier stood and leveled his rifle to fire. The Marine adjusted his aim and managed to pull the trigger faster than his enemy, obliterating the soldier and his AK-47.

     The battalion continued fighting in this fashion for two more days before they finally overran the hook. On December 5th, the battalion found nearly 100 dead enemy soldiers as they consolidated and mopped up any remaining tunnels and bunkers. Some dead could not be counted as they were buried deep under destroyed fortifications. Less than ten prisoners had been taken.

THE CENTER OF THE CIRCLE

     The NVA and VC had proven they were not giving up and would not go without a fight. The cordon squeezed all remaining enemy into the center of Dodge City with their backs to the La Tho River. As 3/26 pushed them north out of the Hook, Marines from 1/1 along the north side of the cordon picked off any NVA who attempted to ford the river and escape the trap. The enemy knew the end was near, and prepared to fight to the death. This last holdout became known as, “the Northern Bunker Complex,” and proved to be the bitterest fighting of the entire operation.

     With the cordon now significantly smaller in size, some participating battalions were sent home. The Marines of 3/26 thought they would be one of those homeward bound units, given the fierce fighting they experienced and their depleted numbers. This, however, did not materialize. Two battalions east of the Suoi Ca Co departed. 3/26, still in the center of the circle would remain in place to finish the job.

     To reinforce their dwindling numbers, 3/26 was given control over two additional rifle companies for their assault into the Northern Bunker Complex. On December 7th, the battalion began the 1000 meter drive north into this last enemy stronghold to complete the pacification of Dodge City.

     As expected, the initial assaults met heavy resistance. Moving through waist high brush and elephant grass, Marines could get within feet of an enemy position before they even knew it was there. By nightfall, the battalion was forced to halt and dig in. Many casualties were suffered, and Marines spent the night searching through the darkness for their fallen. The numerous bomb craters marking the landscape offered the only protection against the enemy emplacements.

     By this point, air support was impossible to coordinate. With 3/26 to the south and 1/1 across the river to the north, the enemy was confined to a very narrow strip of land. One attempted napalm strike went awry, hitting Lima company positions and burning four Marines. Eventually even mortars were forbidden due to the extreme likelihood of friendly fire. The Northern Bunker Complex would have to be taken by Marines on the ground with rifles, grenades, pistols, and Ka-bars.

     The Marines could sense the end of the battle was near and were ready to be done with it. A tree line concealing enemy bunkers stood less than 100 yards away from the Marine front across an open, dried up rice paddy. Just beyond that, the La Tho and 1/1 in their blocking position. In the late afternoon of December 8th, Commanders ordered the battalion into the attack, hoping to crush the remaining NVA with one final push. Preparing to dig in for the night, 3/26 hastily readied themselves instead to advance once more. They had not had time to attempt a recon of the area to determine what they were up against, but they knew it would be fearsome.

SUPREME SACRIFICE

     As the sun set over their left flank, all companies stood online and began the creep forward. Standing exposed, inching across the paddy, an eerie silence pervaded the battlefield. “It went dead quiet,” said Chris Tibbs, “there was not a round fired by the bad guys, the most quiet we’d had all day. Talk about foreboding!” Punctuated only by the ringing in their ears and the sound of their footsteps, the calm continued until the Marines moved around 30 yards ahead of their position. The crack of a single sniper’s bullet ripped through the air. Marines heard over the radio a platoon leader from India Company was hit. As the call crackled over the radio, all hell broke loose.

      NVA machine guns concealed in bunkers caught 3/26 in the open. Marines dove or fell into the numerous craters or against a small rice paddy dike. “Every time I’d lift my head that gun would open up and the rounds would come zinging,” remembered Mike “Diddybop” DiGiampaolo. “It’s like a weed whacker going through the bush.” 

     All over the field Marines were cut off and pinned to the ground. Chris Tibbs’s India Two, now barely a squad, occupied a bomb crater. Calling it their “Alamo”, Tibbs told the Marines to bring all the dead and wounded back the crater, where they would hold their position. 

     Hearing Tibbs’s order, Karl Taylor crossed the kill zone finding India CO Ron Hoover. 

    “Skipper, give me that blooper,” he said. “My men are in trouble. I’ve got to go help my Marines.” 

     Hoover handed him the single shot M79 grenade launcher they had found abandoned by its owner earlier in the operation. SSgt Taylor took off into the twilight. Turning to Larry Gore, Hoover said, “Beaver, don’t let him do anything stupid. Go with him.”

     Gunny T and Beaver moved from cover to cover, finding wounded Marines at each stop along the way. They directed those who could move, and assisted those who could not, back to the crater occupied by 2nd Platoon. As Beaver and the other Marines moved and carried the wounded, Gunny T lobbed a steady stream of grenades from his M79 into the enemy machine gun positions.

     Multiple machine guns pinned down the Marines that night, but one in particular wreaked the most havoc in India’s section. An NVA soldier skillfully operated a 12.7 millimeter heavy machine gun. “He was good with it,” said Beaver, “He knew enough to fire six inches off the ground and small bursts.” The gunner found SSgt Taylor in his sights as the Marine moved about the field. Taylor found him as well, and kept the gunner’s head down with the M79 as Beaver and the others rescued the wounded.

     After multiple trips from the crater into the field and back with wounded, Gunny T and Beaver crawled out a final time. They joined some of the Marines who were furthest ahead of the others and trapped close to the enemy bunkers. By this time, Gunny T had successfully silenced two enemy guns, and was out of grenades. The last remaining machine gun maintained a steady rate of fire. The Marines lie trapped on the ground, several already wounded. Taylor took all the M79 ammo the Marines with him had left, and ordered Beaver to get everyone else back to the crater with 2nd platoon.

      They began to fall back when suddenly, through the darkness behind him, Beaver heard the dueling explosions of grenades versus machine gun. “It was horrible just hearing that,” he remembered. “We said, ‘oh my God he’s still alive. He’s still alive.’ We kept hearing ‘BLOOP…BOOM,’ then, ‘BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW!’” Charging through the open rice paddy, Taylor assaulted the NVA heavy machine gun, firing grenades as he ran.

     The Marines heard the blooper fire once more and a final following retort from the heavy machine gun, then the field fell silent.  When they finally reached his position later, the Marines found Taylor dead, killed by the enemy machine gunner. They also found with his last shot, Taylor had simultaneously knocked out that machine gun.

     For his heroic actions, supreme sacrifice, and dedication to his Marines, SSgt Taylor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

    Following the duel, the Marines spent the remainder of the night engaged in hand to hand combat. The remaining NVA and VC in the area made their final attempts to break through the Marine lines and escape. They were not interested in surrender. They would escape or die. By day break on December 9th, few enemy remained to fight. 

      3/26 launched the final assault of the operation, overrunning the Northern Bunker Complex all the way to the La Tho River. The resistance encountered was determined, but lacking the scale and organization of the previous day. At 1800, Operation Meade River was officially declared complete.

EPILOGUE: A HERO AMONG HEROS

     The Marines fell back out of the Northern Bunker Complex and waited for their ride out of Dodge City. Helicopters dropped the remainder of the battalion back outside of Da Nang. Lieutenant Tibbs marched with his platoon through the gates. 

     “Who are you?” shouted a guard.

     “India Two,” replied Tibbs.

     The guard continued questioning. “Where is the rest of the platoon?”

     “This IS India Two!” Tibbs fired back. 

     Only ten Marines remained out of 44.

     Meade River dealt a tough blow to the NVA. Over 1000 enemy soldiers were killed. Just over 100 were captured. Nearly 400 fortified bunkers were destroyed, along with innumerable tunnels and spider holes. Meade River also exacted a high cost on the seven Marine battalions who participated. 108 Marines had been killed, and 510 wounded. Of those totals, 3/26 suffered 33 killed, and 141 wounded. For their gallantry and intrepidity, Marines from 3/26 earned ten Silver Stars, one Navy Cross, and the Medal of Honor. Richard Nixon awarded the battalion the Presidential Unit Citation for their role in the operation.

     The pacification of Dodge City minimally affected the long term goals of the US military in Vietnam. Following the operation, no Marine units were tasked to remain in the area and maintain the hard fought victory. The enemy quickly moved back into the area and regained strength.

     50 years ago, 3/26 wrote the story of Operation Meade River.  Today, for many of the veterans who fought there, its story continues writing them.

     “I saw the real Marines come out,” said Ron Hoover. “I did not have to tell them anything. We had a camaraderie there that I’ve never seen in any other infantry outfit that I was with in my 20 years. They were second to none. Karl [Taylor] was a hero that stood out among heroes. He was not the John Wayne type, but he had a dedication to the Marine Corps that all drill instructors have, and his troops were most important in his mind.”

     For the Marines of 3/26, Operation Meade River receives mixed reviews. To some, their time in Dodge City was no different from the rest of their tours. Living in the bush, in constant combat, the events of November and December 1968 blend in with the rest. 

     For others, Meade River remains the fight they will never forget. No span of time can erase the memories of the Hook and Northern Bunker complex. No other point of their time in Vietnam can be more meaningful than the night Karl Taylor gave his life for them.

     Author’s Note: To the warriors of  3rd Battalion, 26th Marines. Always on point. Thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and entrusting me with your stories. I wish you and your fallen all the honor you deserve. Semper Fidelis.

Originally published in Leatherneck Magazine, August 2017.