Vietnam Stories
VIETNAM: MY EXPERIENCEMurrie Hubbard - Marines
Stars and Stripes
February 2, 2015
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "A CH-46 chopper from Marine Corps helicopter squadron HMM-165 that I took taking off from the flight deck of the USS Tripoli during the latter part of the Easter Offensive in July of '72. Our Battalion Landing Team (BLT 1/9) was aboard 4 US Navy Ships out in the Gulf of Tonkin just off the former DMZ at the time. This was one of many choppers flying in and out of South Vietnam from our ship in support of South Vietnamese Marines during that Offensive." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "A CH-46 chopper from Marine Corps helicopter squadron HMM-165 that I took taking off from the flight deck of the USS Tripoli during the latter part of the Easter Offensive in July of '72. Our Battalion Landing Team (BLT 1/9) was aboard 4 US Navy Ships out in the Gulf of Tonkin just off the former DMZ at the time. This was one of many choppers flying in and out of South Vietnam from our ship in support of South Vietnamese Marines during that Offensive." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "Pic I took at the White Beach docks in Okinawa, Japan, on or about June 16, 1972, as our Marine battalion was preparing to embark onboard 4 U.S. Navy ships; the USS Tripoli is one of those 4 ships in the background. We were headed for landing operations in the Philippines followed by Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam, in support of combat operations during the Easter Offensive." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "Picture of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (a.k.a. The Walking Dead) Communications Platoon taken on Camp Schwab, Okinawa, at some point in between going back and forth in support of combat operations just off the coast of Vietnam during 1972." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
Murrie Hubbard aboard the flight deck of the USS Tripoli during combat ops in Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, just off the coast of South Vietnam during June-July 1972. (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
![As described by Murrie Hubbard: "USS Tulare docked at White Beach, Okinawa, on or about Oct. 20, 1972, as our Marine battalion was once again headed to the Gulf of Tonkin in support of continued combat [operations]. Again, our battalion was split up on 4 U.S. Navy ships, the Tulare being the one I was assigned to this time. BLT 1/9 was then the very last Marine Battalion to depart from the combat zone 2 days after the peace treaty was signed in Paris on Jan. 27, 2973."](https://www.stripes.com/special-reports/vietnam-stories/327340.jpeg/alternates/LANDSCAPE_910/As%20described%20by%20Murrie%20Hubbard%20USS%20Tulare%20docked)
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "USS Tulare docked at White Beach, Okinawa, on or about Oct. 20, 1972, as our Marine battalion was once again headed to the Gulf of Tonkin in support of continued combat [operations]. Again, our battalion was split up on 4 U.S. Navy ships, the Tulare being the one I was assigned to this time. BLT 1/9 was then the very last Marine Battalion to depart from the combat zone 2 days after the peace treaty was signed in Paris on Jan. 27, 2973." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
Murrie Hubbard on a catwalk aboard the USS Tulare while it was in the Gulf of Tonkin, just off the coast of South Vietnam, in support of continued combat operations during the fall of 1972. ( Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard )
Picture of a Marine Corps Huey helicopter aboard the flight deck of the USS Tripoli out in Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of South Vietnam sometimes between June and July 1972. ( Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard )
As described by Murrie Hubbard: "Picture of me and my best friend, Marine Lance Cpl. Lee Fennema of Sparta, Mich., as we were just about to board the USS Tripoli at White Beach, Okinawa, on or about June 16, 1972. Our battalion was eventually headed to Vietnam in support of combat ops in the Gulf of Tonkin near the former DMZ." (Courtesy of Murrie Hubbard)
Being off the coast of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin with the 1st Battalion 9th Marines (BLT 1/9), a.k.a. "The Walking Dead," during July 1972, and waiting to see if President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were going to authorize us making a landing directly into the heartland of North Vietnam.
This was meant to be a very limited, diversionary tactic, in hopes that the NVA regiments, who had invaded South Vietnam during the Easter Offensive of '72, would return north believing that they needed to protect their homeland from an "invasion" by the United States.
However, the president and secretary of state failed to give the green light for this mission, and we stood down. Had this landing ever taken place at that time, we would've been the very first American ground troops sent into the country of North Vietnam during the entire war up to that point.
I've often wondered how this may have changed the course of the war, if at all, and also if we would've ever made it out of North Vietnam. ... The peace treaty was signed in Paris on Jan. 27, 1973, and we finally departed Vietnam on Jan. 29, 1973, for our home base on Okinawa, Japan.
I'm honored to have been a member of the very last battalion of Marines to have been within the designated combat zone when America's direct involvement in this war ended.