Young Blood: A history of the 1st Battalion, 27th Marines in 1968

Young Blood: A history of the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines in 1968

The Seventeen and Eighteen year old Marines, the Youngest Marines:

While the Vietnam War accelerated near its peak in casualties and troop strength and the Communist forces strategically prepared to launch large scale attacks against major cities and military installations in Vietnam in the early part of 1968, a Marine Corps “Force in Readiness” battalion was simultaneously undergoing rigorous jungle warfare training in the densely-foliaged mountains and sandy beaches of the Hawaiian Islands. The 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines was a “Reactionary Force,” which was competently prepared to depart for combat duty on a moment’s notice. However, there was no known indication that this would likely occur. Unlike all other military units in the year 1967, the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines was truly a unique Marine force in more than one respect. It consisted of two distinct groups of Marines. Virtually half of the Marine force were combat hardened Marines who had recently returned from combat duty in Vietnam. They had flown to Hawaii under the pretense that they would assume easy roles as Military Policeman in the tropical Hawaiian paradise and bask in the sun on the soft sandy beaches. But much to their dismay, many of the combat vets quickly found themselves in another “grunt” unit, which was intensely involved in training youthful inexperienced Marines in the ways of combat until they individually transferred out for a tour of duty in Vietnam.

The first group of mostly young combat savvy veterans, who were under 21 years of age, were initially reluctant to become mentors and instructors for the second group of Marines in the Marine battalion that consisted of seven-teen (17) year old Marines who had recently completed boot camp and according to military regulations, they were not eligible for combat duty. After months of rigorous unrelenting combat training, the combat experienced Marines and the younger Marines excelled together and rapidly developed cohesive combat teams. The Marines anxiously planned for upcoming training exercises, which were to be conducted on several islands in the Pacific. Less than three days after the Marines departed Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, during the height of the Communist “Tet Offensive” in Vietnam on February 10, 1968, their troop ships were unexpectedly diverted from what was though to be a jungle warfare and amphibious training operation in the Pacific. However, the original objective was abruptly modified when President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lieutenant General “Brute” Krulak ordered the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marine “Reactionary Force” to proceed to Vietnam at full speed.

Although the adolescent Marines were not technically eligible for combat duty in Vietnam until they reached the magical age of eighteen, they surprisingly found themselves on the decks of troop ships, gazing out across the sparkling light blue waters surrounding Da Nang Harbor, Vietnam in February of 1968. Since Da Nang was located inside the combat zone, the seven-teen year-old Marines were eligible for the $65.00 per month hostile combat pay-allowance. Though they were eligible for combat pay, none of the youthful Marines were eligible to vote or purchase alcoholic beverages. In fact, they were not even old enough to be required to register for the draft. How then did these fine specimens of American youth become one of America’s finest fighting machines when their counterparts were still in high school, dating and cruising the blocks of small town and big city night- spots? Hell bent on finding adventure and excitement, the patriotic seventeen year old Marines, while still in their junior or senior year in High School, somehow successfully convinced their parents to sign the necessary mandatory papers, allowing them to enlist long before they were of legal adult age. The Marine Corps recruiters had persuasively convinced the parents that their sons would come out of boot camp disciplined young men and that they would receive the best of care and guidance by the finest military organization in the world. The parents were assured that their sons would not be sent to combat because of their age. However, the young well-trained and disciplined Marines later became superb warriors in the Vietnam War despite their young age.

The young Marines in the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines were hastily thrust into the heat of battle for seven long torturous months. They gallantly fought the Communist forces with extraordinary intensity during the bloodiest and costliest time period of the Vietnam War. The youngest Marines were guided by the combat experienced Marines and soon became masters of death or victims of death themselves. They were no longer inexperienced innocent adolescents. Death, destruction and everyday hardships took their toll. They lived one day at a time, attempting to survive as best they could, never being without weapons for protection. The youthful Marines soon took on the look of old men with the thousand-yard stare in their eyes after having logged thousands of patrols and ambushes as well as company and battalion size major search and destroy operations and bravely battling the enemy.

The day-to-day chronological history of the courageous Marines is documented in “Young Blood: a history of the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines in 1968.” The title Young Blood was pensively selected since it is a reflection of the fact that nearly half of the Marines that were killed in action in the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines were only eighteen years old. Many died before their high school classmates graduated from high school. Others found themselves in military hospitals, recovering from combat wounds. All were in combat.

Instead of sitting in a safe high school classroom daydreaming, the youthful Marines were fighting valorously and with unrivaled tenacity against a ubiquitous numerically superior, heavily armed and well-equipped Communist forces. Many nights were spent staring out in the darkness, wondering if the enemy was lurking in the black star-lighted or rain-filled nights. Frequently thoughts of the simple things of home in the USA would float through their minds: a cheese burger, a high school sweetheart, racing through the streets in a hot rod or what would it be like to be in school with out a care in the world. To the young Marines just surviving through the day alive was an extraordinary accomplishment. Each day was mentally etched out as being one day closer to returning to the USA if you could survive the next day too. The reality of “life and death” suddenly became more than philosophical concepts. While their classmates received high school diplomas, many of the Marines’ families received Purple Heart Medals and an American flag at a military funeral ceremony.

Before the colors of the combat weary battalion departed the shores of Vietnam, the Marines incurred casualties (killed and wounded) equivalent to four out of four of all four of the Rifle Companies in the battalion, which resulted in an influx of replacements during each month. Without replacements, the battalion could not have functioned. Conversely, enemy casualties were much higher than Marine casualties. Large numbers of Communists were killed and wounded and the enemy was forced out of their enemy dominated strongholds.

The seventeen and eighteen year-old Marines in the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines represented a unique and gallant segment of the youth of America during an era of tremendous turmoil. As patriotic Americans, the Marines were thrust into the flames of war. They rapidly evolved into masters of death and destruction who generally emerged as decisive victors. However, it did not take long for vicissitudes of invincibility to be replaced by acquiescence to death. Unfortunately, very few Americans knew of the exploits of the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines in Vietnam in circa 1968. In conclusion, the history of the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Marines was a legacy of adventure, sacrifices, hardships, humor amidst death defying combat, atrocities and a rapid transition from adolescence to adulthood in a horrific world of death and devastation on foreign soil thousands of miles away from the comforts of home.

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