13 from Mayaguez Incident laid to rest today in Arlington

Cross posted from my paying gig.

From Stars and Stripes:

Thirteen servicemembers who were killed when their helicopter was shot down during the final battle of the Vietnam War will be buried together Wednesday in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Their CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter — known as Knife 31 — had been among those tasked with rescuing the American merchant vessel SS Mayaguez and its crew, who were detained by Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces several days earlier in what became known as the “Mayaguez Incident.”

The chopper, with 26 servicemembers aboard, crashed in waist-deep surf just east of Koh Tang — a Khmer Rouge-controlled island in the Gulf of Thailand about 60 nautical miles from mainland Cambodia — as it approached to offload Marines on May 15, 1975.

A lot of folks don’t know much about the Mayaguez Incident.  Here’s an old TV News account about the basics:

Last year at National Convention we honored the survivors of that battle:

Those who survived the battle that etched the last 41 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington were recognized onstage Tuesday at the 94th National Convention of The American Legion in Indianapolis.

The president of the Koh Tang/Mayaguez Veterans Organization, Dan Hoffman of Columbia, S.C., told thousands of Legionnaires the story of the deadly, unexpected combat mission in mid-May 1975 to rescue the S.S. Mayaguez and its crew from the Khmer Rouge. The communist guerrillas had seized the American cargo ship in international waters on May 12 and played a bloody three-day game of cat and mouse with the American military.

Here is an awesome video (about 10 mins) about the Incident:

 And although this video is fairly long, Mr. Hoffman had an absolutely incredible address on Mayaguez that should be watched in its entirely.

Category: Politics