U.S. sends first combat troops to South Vietnam

A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da Nang. President Johnson had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.

This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of U.S. involvement in the war. Predictably, both communist China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the United States continued to apply its military might on behalf of the South Vietnamese. In Moscow, some 2,000 demonstrators, led by Vietnamese and Chinese students and clearly supported by the authorities, attacked the U.S. Embassy. Britain and Australia supported the U.S. action, but France called for negotiations.

SSG William Jones Samantha S. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft LTC Stephen F. ] Alan K. SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Douglas Bolton Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Randy Wilber MSgt John McGowan Cpl (Join to see) PO3 John Wagner PO3 Bob McCord SGT Jim Arnold SPC Margaret Higgins