As dawn broke over Quang Nhai Province on Aug. 18, 1965, the political officers of the 1st Viet Cong Regiment looking on from the village of Van Tuong were startled to see an American naval force anchored just off the South China Sea coast. Within an hour, landing craft began disembarking riflemen from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment onto the shore—dubbed Green Beach—adjacent to the small fishing village of An Cuong.
Four miles west, on a swath of land pummeled by artillery, airstrikes, naval gunfire, and napalm, Marines from 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment were lifted by helicopter into three north-to-south landing zones at one-mile intervals. The 3rd Battalion’s M Company moved south from the Marine air base at Chu Lai and established a mile-long blocking position north of the engagement area by 4 a.m. that day.
With his “anvil and hammer” pieces in place, Lt. Gen. Lewis Walt’s Operation Starlite was underway. Attacked and pursued eastward, the Viet Cong would be unable to escape by sea. They would have to stand and fight or attempt to escape and evade.
Operation Starlite took place when it did for two reasons. Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), had made it clear by early August 1965 to Walt, commander of III Marine Amphibious Force, that he expected Marine infantry units to conduct “major combat operations” against communist forces throughout the I Corps Tactical Zone without delay. A 17-year-old deserter from the 1st VC Regiment surrendered on Aug. 15. This man was personally interrogated by Maj. Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi, commander of I Corps. Thi was convinced of the deserter’s claims that the 1st VC Regiment was based in Van Tuong and planned to attack the air base at Chu Lai, and he immediately notified Walt. When American intelligence confirmed the presence of insurgents in the area, Walt acted immediately, leaving Aug. 16-17 for planning and preparation. He planned the attack for 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 18.
Not all the deserter’s claims
