The Fifth Cruise
(From January 1963 to December 1965)
1963 saw more of the same activities in store for the tank landing ship. Port visits to Tsoying,Taiwan (12 to 14 March 1963)
This was followed by a port visit to Hong Kong (16 to 22 March).
 | The next port vist was to Osaka, Japan (8 to 15 April) |
| These port visits and another to Taipei, were interspersed with local operations out of Yokosuka. |  |
| Tom Green County participated in Operations"Flagpole" (16 to 28 June) and "Bayonet Beach" (31August to 9 September) along the eastern coast of South Korea, transporting embarked marines and vehicles to landing beaches and putting them ashore. |  |
 | Following her return to Japanese home waters with a visit to Kagoshima from 9 to 15 November, the ship proceeded to Sasebo for three weeks of upkeep. |
Many of my shipmates do not know it but the Captain was a Mustang and came from Tom Green County in Texas.
We referred to our ship as the Tom Green, but at one of the ports we visited, following an incident with the local police by one of our crew, the locals referred to our ship as "Binjo Maru" I guess they were unhappy with us because this means "toilet ship". - Ken Budd
Conducting type training in Buckner Bay, she on-loaded
marines for transport to Numazu and subsequently arrived
home at Yokosuka on 20
December.
| As the situation in Southeast Asia worsened, the United States Navy Seventh Fleet began to take a more active part in the Vietnam conflict. As part of this increased activity, Operation "Jungle Drum," towards the end of 1965,landed marines in southern Thailand. |  |
A return to Yokosuka marked the end of the fifth cruise of the Tom Green County.
People have visited this pageBill Haack's Photo Album
Cruise 5 Ships Roster - September 1965
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