MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, VA -- Surrounded by a dense forest rich in vegetation and a tropical climate, a village and its guests spend all day training for what will come at night; U.S. Marines and Navy corpsman would teach the Vietnamese how to defend their territory and care for life-threatening injuries all while fortifying the village for a pending assault.
“In my village, we would stroll around during the day and chat with the people,” said Francis West Jr., a Combined Action Program member and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. “Then nightfall would come, and the villagers would go back into their hooch’s, and it was game on again.”
As dusk fell, the service members and the villagers took their positions. In this event, Sgt. Thomas Pearce, the team leader, six other Marines and villagers found themselves outnumbered by 70 Viet Cong. They weren’t gaining ground and their chances of overcoming the Viet Cong were slimming by the second, at least until air support arrived. Their AC-47 wiped out majority of the enemy forces, disorganized their assault, and emboldened the service members and their locals.
While these events occurred roughly 55 years ago, over 500 personnel who participated in the CAP came together with their families for a CAP monument dedication ceremony at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on Aug. 8, 2024.
“To have the monument out there and a brick with your name on it – that will be there forever—” said Pierce, with a pause.
“—Makes today a pretty important day,” he said proudly.
The CAP was a U.S. Marine Corps initiative during the Vietnam War designed to integrate American troops with local Vietnamese forces and civilians to provide security, support, and stability in rural areas as Viet Cong forces would disrupt the local populace.
“What they did and how they reached out and impacted the Vietnamese people is something most will never know,” said retired Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas, “except those who were there and witnessed the results of what they did.”
The men of the program who came together greeted each other as close friends, and their stories quickly filled the atmosphere of the room, each telling a rendition of the events such as those previously described.
Much of the fighting happened during the night, where the CAPs conducted their patrols in the dense, verdant jungles of Vietnam, finding themselves in firefight after firefight. The result was the loss of many lives, but with the sacrifice these men made, many lives were saved, too.
The monument stands silently on the grounds of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, serving as a tribute to those who supported the CAP and gave their lives during time of war, and a reminder of a program that most people were unaware of that heavily influenced the trajectory of Vietnamese lives.
If you are interested in visiting this monument or any others, you can schedule a tour or contact the National Museum of the Marine Corps for more information at https://www.usmcmuseum.com/.