Operation Starlite (also known in Vietnam as Battle of Van Tuong) was the first major offensive action conducted by a purely U.S. military unit during the Vietnam War from 18 to 24 August 1965. The operation was launched based on intelligence provided by Major general Nguyen Chanh Thi, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) I Corps commander. III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) commander Lieutenant General Lewis W. Walt devised a plan to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Viet Cong (VC) 1st Regiment to nullify their threat to the vital Chu Lai Air Base and Base Area and ensure that its powerful communication tower remained intact.
The operation was conducted as a combined arms assault involving ground, air and naval units. U.S. Marines were deployed by helicopter insertion while an amphibious landing was used to deploy other Marines. The VC used a variety of tactics to counter the Marine assault, fighting from prepared positions and then withdrawing as the Marines gained local superiority and ambushing a lost supply column. The VC were unable to withstand the weight of the Marine assault and U.S. firepower.
Background
The United States had been providing material support to South Vietnam since its foundation in 1954. The Vietnam War effectively began with the start of the North Vietnamese backed VC insurgency in 1959/60 and the U.S. increased its military aid and advisory support to South Vietnam in response. With the worsening military and political situation in South Vietnam, the U.S. increasingly became directly involved in the conflict. U.S. Marines were the first ground troops deployed to South Vietnam, landing at Da Nang on 8 March 1965. In May the Marines and ARVN forces secured the Chu Lai area to establish a jet-capable airfield and base area.
On 30 July, COMUSMACV General William Westmoreland told III MAF commander General Walt that he expected him to undertake larger offensive operations with the South Vietnamese against the VC at greater distances from his base areas. Walt reminded Westmoreland that the Marines were still bound by the 6 May Letter of Instruction that restricted III MAF to reserve/reaction missions in support of South Vietnamese units heavily engaged with a VC force. Westmoreland replied "these restraints were no longer realistic, and invited Walt to rewrite the instructions, working into them the authority he thought he needed, and promised his approval." On 6 August, General Walt received official permission to take the offensive against the VC. With the arrival of the 7th Marine Regiment a week later, he prepared to move against the 1st VC Regiment.
In early July, the 1st VC Regiment had launched a second attack against the hamlet of Ba Gia, 20 miles (32 km) south of Chu Lai. The ARVN garrison was overrun, causing 130 casualties and the loss of more than 200 weapons, including two 105 mm howitzers. After the attack on Ba Gia, US intelligence agencies located the 1st VC Regiment in the mountains west of the hamlet. Reports indicated that the regiment was once more on the march. Acting on this intelligence, the 4th Marine Regiment conducted a one-battalion operation with the ARVN 51st Regiment, 1st Division in search of the 1st VC Regiment south of the Trà Bồng River. Codenamed Thunderbolt, the operation lasted from 6 to 7 August, and extended 7 km south of the river in an area west of Route 1. The ARVN and Marines found little sign of any major VC force in the area and encountered only scattered resistance.
Eight days after Thunderbolt, the Allies finally confirmed the location of the 1st VC Regiment. On 15 August, a deserter from the regiment surrendered to the ARVN. During his interrogation at General Thi's headquarters he revealed that the regiment had established its base in the Van Tuong village complex on the coast, 12 miles (19 km) south of Chu Lai and planned to attack Chu Lai. The prisoner told his interrogators that the 1st VC Regiment at Van Tuong consisted of two of its three battalions, the 60th and 80th, reinforced by the 52nd Company and a company from the 45th Weapons Battalion; approximately 1,500 men in all. Thi, who personally questioned the prisoner and believed the man was telling the truth, relayed the information to Walt. At about the same time, the III MAF intelligence section received corroborative information from another source. Convinced of the danger to the airfield, Walt's subordinates advised a spoiling attack in the Van Tuong region. Walt flew to Chu Lai and held a hurried council of war with his senior commanders there: Brigadier general Frederick J. Karch, who had become the Chu Lai Coordinator on 5 August, Colonel McClanahan of the 4th Marines and Colonel Oscar F. Peatross, the newly arrived 7th Marines' commander. Walt then decided to proceed with an operation.
Planning
In a hectic two-day period, the III MAF, division, wing and 7th Marines staffs assembled forces and prepared plans for the attack. The concept for the operation dictated a two-battalion assault, one battalion to land across the beach and the other to land by helicopter further inland. The division reassigned two battalions previously under the operational control of the 4th Marines to Peatross as the assault battalions, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph R. Fisher's 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Muir's 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines. Walt, who wanted a third battalion as a floating reserve, requested permission to use the Shore Landing Force (SLF) which Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr. approved immediately. At the time of the request the amphibious task force was located at Subic Bay Naval Base, 720 miles (1,160 km) away. Based upon its transit time to the operational area, the planners selected 18 August as D-Day. The operation was originally called Satellite, but a power blackout led to a clerk working by candlelight typing "Starlite" instead.
In order to maintain the secrecy of the operation, none of the ARVN Joint General Staff were informed about the operation until after it had started. Only Generals Thi and ARVN 2nd Division commander General Hoàng Xuân Lãm had advance knowledge of the operation in order to keep ARVN forces out of the operational area.
Peatross and his commanders conducted an aerial surveillance of the area and selected the amphibious assault landing site, as well as the helicopter landing zones (LZs). They chose the beach north of the coastal hamlet of An Cuong, later designated Green Beach, for the landing. A force there would block VC avenues of escape to the south. Three LZs, Red, White and Blue, were selected 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Route 1 and roughly 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the coast. LZ Blue, about 2 km west of Green Beach, was the southernmost of the LZs. White was 2 km west northwest of Blue, while Red was 2 km north of White. From these positions, the Marines were to move northeast to the South China Sea.
On the morning of the 17th the plans were completed. 3/3 Marines was to land across Green Beach at 06:30, 18 August with Companies I and K abreast, K on the right. Company L, the battalion reserve, was to follow as the lead companies swerved to the northwest. The remaining company, Company M, was to make an overland movement from Chu Lai to a ridgeline blocking position in the northern portion of the operations area, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Green Beach and 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from the sea, closing off the VCs' retreat. Soon after H-Hour, UH-34s from HMM-261 and HMM-361 were to shuttle the 2/4th Marines into the three LZs. The two battalions were to join forces when Company H from LZ Blue linked up with Company I outside the hamlet of An Cuong, 1.8 km inland from Green Beach. From there, the Marines were to sweep to the sea through the Van Tuong village complex and over the Phuoc Thuan Peninsula. Artillery batteries at Chu Lai were to provide artillery support while two United States Navy destroyers, the USS Orleck and the USS Prichett and the cruiser USS Galveston were available for naval gunfire support. Aircraft from Marine Aircraft Group 11 and Marine Aircraft Group 12 were to fly close support for the operation.
Battle
At 10:00 on the 17th, Company M, 3/3 Marines boarded LVTP-5s at Chu Lai and moved along the coast to the Trung Phan Peninsula; then the company marched 4 miles (6.4 km) south where it established its blocking position. The Marines of Company M met only minor resistance, an occasional sniper and booby traps. Before dawn on the 18th, the company reached its objective and dug in. Marine patrols had been active in this area for some time and to the casual observer the company's activity was just another small unit movement. At 17:00 on 17 August, the rest of 3/3rd Marines, with Colonel Peatross and his staff, embarked on the three ships of the amphibious task group, USS Bayfield, USS Cabildo and USS Vernon County. Three M67 flame thrower tanks attached to the 7th Marines and a platoon of five M48 tanks assigned to Fisher's battalion boarded two LCUs, which then sailed independently towards the amphibious objective area, timing their arrival to coincide with that of the troop transports. The task force first sailed east to deceive any VC in sampans in the coastal waters. Once over the horizon, the ships changed course to the southwest, arriving in the amphibious objective area shortly after 05:00. There they were joined by the Galveston and the Orleck, which were to cover the landing.
At 06:15, 15 minutes before H-Hour, Battery K, 4th Battalion, 12th Marines, which had displaced to firing positions on the northern bank of the Trà Bồng River the night before, began 155 mm preparation fires of the helicopter landing zones. The artillery was soon reinforced by 20 Marine A-4s and F-4s which dropped 18 tons of bombs and napalm on the LZs. The Marines limited their preparation of Green Beach to 20mm cannon strafing runs by MAG-12 A-4s, because of the proximity of An Cuong to the landing site. As the air and artillery fires lifted, the ground forces arrived, Companies I and K, in LVTP-5s, landed across Green Beach at 06:30 and pushed inland according to plan. The troops quickly spread out and moved into An Cuong. After a futile search for VC, the company continued advancing to the west. Company K received sniper fire from its right as it crossed the northern portion of Green Beach. Two platoons quickly moved northward and the VC fire ceased. The third platoon secured the northern half of An Cuong. Fifteen minutes after H-Hour, Company G, 2/4th Marines landed at LZ Red. Company F and the command group landed at LZ White and Company H arrived at LZ Blue 45 minutes later. On the beach, Muir, who had moved his command post ashore, was joined at 07:30 by Peatross and his staff. Tanks and M50 Ontos rolled off the LCUs and landing craft mechanized (LCMs) and made their way forward to support the assault companies. Company L came ashore and established perimeter security for the supply area at the beach. Most of the Marine companies met only light resistance as they moved into the attack. Company G searched two hamlets in the vicinity of LZ Red and then advanced to the northeast and linked up with Company M without incident. At LZ White Company E encountered stiffer opposition from the VC. The VC manned firing positions on a ridgeline east and northeast of the LZ, employing mortars, machine guns, and small arms. After dogged fighting, the Marines cleared the hills. By midmorning, Company E began moving northeast. At one juncture, the Marines spotted about 100 VC in the open and asked for artillery fire. The 107mm Mortar (Howtar) Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines, helilifted into the position held by Company M, shelled the VC force killing an estimated 90 VC. Company E continued to push forward, finding only occasional opposition.