25/03/2020
With Bill McGinnis from H Company 2/1 Marines back to the area below the former Demilitarized Zone where he fought for 3 days in the late operation Hastings. Hastings was the largest coordinated offensive operation launched by the Marines in Vietnam by that time. In a 2 and a half week operarion ( July 15 to August 3 of 1966 ), the Marines neutralized the area but the NVA 324B Division came back soon. It was a tactical sucess for the Marines but they paid a price of 128 KIA.
At a place called Marketplace just beyon Con Tien where 86 men from B Company of 1/9 Marines were killed in an ambush on 2 July 1967 in operation Buffalo, we ran into a former NVA reconnaissance sapper who operated over a large area from the DMZ to the A Shau valley. They exchanged a very interesting conversation about the experience of their side in the fighting. Very emotional day!