Dominican Republic 1965
JeffLPH sends – this was the USS Okinawa ‘Family Newsletter’ from 15 May 1965. May not ring bells with many of you, but we got ourselves briefly involved in another hot spot then, half-way around the world from Vietnam.
He notes that the deployment went so rapidly that they had trucks piling up on the piers and chains of all the enlisted basically just hauling the supplies onto the ship and into the reefers.I am guessing like the proverbial bucket brigades? The chopper pictured on the lower right, caught ground fire and injured the co-pilot, during Operation Power Pack and has a Purple Heart painted on the side of the fuselage.
On 24 April 1965, young military officers rose in revolt in the Dominican Republic. Four days later US troops invaded the country. It was the first US military intervention in Latin America in more than three decades. These dramatic events brought to center stage a small, backward Caribbean republic where until 1916 civil war and dictatorship had been the rule, democracy and honest government the fleeting exception. Then the United States invaded, and the eight-year US occupation paved the way for the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, which stretched from 1930 until his assassination in May 1961.
In December 1962 the Dominican Republic held its first free elections in almost four decades. The victor, Juan Bosch, established a government characterized by administrative probity, political freedom, and the promise of social reform, but the Kennedy administration decided that he was soft on Communism. Bosch was overthrown in September 1963, and the de facto government that replaced him indulged in an orgy of corruption. As long as it ruled, there would be no social reforms and no free elections. When young officers rebelled on 24 April 1965 and announced that they would return Bosch to the presidency, the population responded with relief and enthusiasm.
Note that only two months later would be November 22 1963… a date which distracted us nationally.
Urged on by Washington, “loyalist” generals attacked the capital, the stronghold of the revolt, only to be defeated by thousands of armed civilians and hundreds of rebel soldiers. On 28 April the US embassy warned, correctly, that it was a matter of days before the rebels took control of the entire country. It also alleged that Communists had gained control of the revolt. President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in the troops. A four-month stalemate ensued in the glare of the international press, with the rebels holding out in downtown Santo Domingo while the United States and the Dominican government it had created controlled the rest of the country. Oxford Bibliographies.com
Took till 1965 for a provisional government to be set up. Supposedly touted as a fair compromise, later document declassification showed it to be pretty much a mandate of the US government.
60 years ago.. a bit of history many of you don’t know, and that 20 year old Jeff experienced it first-hand.
Interesting
Yeah, LBJ was adding to that whole “…adventurous abroad and despotic at home..” thing that Bobby Lee warned us about.
:…only to be defeated by thousands of armed civilians and hundreds of rebel soldiers.” And that is what our despots fear the most, except in our case it would be millions of armed civilians.
Had a brother-in-law former Marine (Embassy Guard) that was involved in some of this.
Thankyou Dave for the 60 year post on the 1965 Dominican Republic Op Power Pac. the pic of our ships familly newsletter was also put up in 2020 for the 55th year. If I remember, TAH Commentor SJ was on standby and if I remember, an 82nd Airborne trooper was involved in the bridge fight. On Friday April 30 1965, I was over in fleet landing with a couple of non rated Squids on the cleanup detail mopping up the mess on the deck from drunken Sailors when our E6 postal PO shows up in one of our trucks and tells us to get into the truck because we were getting underway. PO running the place had a shit fit over us leaving. We get down to the pier and the semis just pulled up and we were members of the working party bringing the stores to the reefers and other storage areas. We were at pier 12 Norfolk NOB and one of the last heavy 8 inch gun Cruisers USS Newport News CA-148 berthed next to us left for the D R the day before us. Around 5 PM, we were under way with no tug assistance. We headed down the east coast and the Marine BLT’s were brought in on helos from Moorehead City while we were still moving. Arrived off shore at Santo Domingo on Tuesday May 4th. Ammo was distributed to the Marines whom were ready to go ashore and then the landing op was cancelled due to the troops making progress. All ammo and ammo cans were dumped on the fantail and then the tax payers paid ammo was dumped overboard and I was able to grab 2 cans for storing small things. A Portsmouth Naval Hospital surgical team was flown in and now we were a Hospital ship. The 13 casualities were put in our frozen reefer untill they could be removed and taken back. The Co-Pilot took the round that went through the bottom of the helo, through his seat and into his upper thigh. The ship stayed in condition 111 wartime cruising… Read more »
And thank you again for your post David on the 1965 Op. Amazing how I could remember some of the stuff we did 60 years ago.
RIP to the Troopers that didn’t make it back.
Wow, 60 years ago, I was a Spc 5 medic with the 304th Medical Company, we arrived in the middle of the night after sitting on the ramp pretty much most of the day at Pope. I was part of a team a few months later that took some sort of a landing party from the USS Newport News made up of seamen and on Ensign out along Red Beach for weapons training. One guy had a BAR, first one I had seen outside of a museum, one with a M-1 which wouldn’t eject. Fun times, I was just getting used to the M-16, the unit I was with in Germany still had M-14, which I loved. Spent 9 months there and then back to Bragg and then off to Vietnam. I am feeling old. If I remember we lost somewhere around 43 US troops total.
Wow, 60 years ago, your right Mild Bill we are feeling old after 60 years, but not when 60 years pops into my head. We carried all WW2 small arms on board the Okinawa LPH 3 and if you read any of my comments you may have heard me tell about my M-1 Thumb when I didn’t pull my thumb fast enough out of the follower. Thumb turned red lighting up the hanger bay while the Comphibron Flag was aboard in front of us in the honor guard. I heard about the amount of the troops we lost but we only had around 13 aboard which could have come from the on board surgical team and the others stayed onshore for removal.