Combat· Vietnam War
Mayaguez Incident
The Mayaguez incident was the last official battle of the American war in Southeast Asia, fought when Khmer Rouge forces seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in the Gulf of Thailand and the United States mounted a hurried operation to recover the ship and rescue its crew.
Marines were sent to assault the island of Koh Tang, where the crew was thought to be held, and to retake the ship itself. The landing on Koh Tang ran into fierce and unexpected resistance from well-entrenched defenders, and the Marines were pinned down in a costly fight, several helicopters shot down or wrecked, before the survivors could be extracted. The merchant crew, as it happened, had already been released elsewhere. The operation recovered the ship and its men but at a heavy price in lives, including Marines killed on the island. Mayaguez stood as a bloody and controversial coda to America's involvement in the region.
Record no. 718