Timeline, March 3rd

[David]

SECOND INDOCHINA WAR:
March 3-10, 1965 (1st through 8th days of the 2nd month, Year of the Snake [At ti]) (US Advisory): "Representatives from MACV, the U.S. Navy, and the South Vietnamese Navy hammered out details of the establishment of a combined coastal patrol. The operation, named Market Time, was intended to complete the cordon being drawn around the South Vietnamese battleground. The decision for American forces to join in combat with the enemy in South Vietnam was also reached during this period. At first, ground troops were considered only as protection for the vital American air and naval installations at Danang against Viet Cong and regular North Vietnamese attack At 0600 on 8 March 1965, Rear Admiral Donald W. Wulzen, commander of the Seventh Fleet's Amphibious Task Force, issued the traditional order to "land the landing force." Soon afterward, Vancouver (LPD 2), Mount McKinley (AGC 7), Henrico (APA 45), and Union (AKA 106) began disembarking Marines for the movement ashore. When the 3d Battalion, 9th Marines crossed the beach between 0902 and 0918, it became the first battalion-size American ground combat unit deployed ashore in the extended Southeast Asian conflict. Even before the full 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade had been deployed to Danang, American leaders were considering the use of these Marine and following Army units in active operations against the Viet Cong."

March 3, 1966 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Cocoa Beach begins in III Corps.

March 3, 1966 (12th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Horse [Binh Ngo]) (US Counteroffensive): Operation Black Horse update.

March 3, 1967 (23rd day of the 1st month, Year of the Goat [Dinh Mui]) (US Counteroffensive Phase II): Operation Junction City update: A company of the 173d Brigade makes contact with an estimated enemy company east of Katum. In an intensive fire fight which lasts only thirty minutes, the enemy loses 39 killed and the U.S. 20 killed and 28 wounded.

March 3, 1968 (5th day of the 2nd month, Year of the Monkey [Mau Than]) (US Tet Counteroffensive): Operation Samurai IV missions start in I Corps.

March 3, 1969 (16th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): In Quang Tri Province Company M, 3/9th Marines, is attacked while returning to Fire Base Cunningham after a RIF mission.

March 3, 1969 (16th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): In Kontum Province NVA and American armor confront one another near the Ben Het CIDG Camp for the first and only time during the war.

March 3, 1969 (16th day of the 1st month, Year of the Rooster [Ky Dau]) (US Tet69/Counteroffensive): Heavy fighting for Americal at Landing Zone Liz and Landing Zone Professional.

March 1972 (1st month, Year of the Rat [Nham Ty]): Early in the month, the ARVN 1st Infantry Division clashes with NVA units along Route 547 west of Hue.

THIRD INDOCHINA WAR - OTHER:
March 3, 1978 (25th day of the 1st month, Year of the Horse [May Ngo]): Vietnam announces that 90% of those placed in re-education camps since 1975 (a total variously estimated at between 40,000 and 400,000) have now been released.