Combat· Vietnam War
Op IDAHO CANYON
Operation Idaho Canyon was a Marine operation in the rugged country of northern Quang Tri Province, near the Demilitarized Zone, mounted to find and fight the North Vietnamese forces operating in the hills and valleys close to the border.
Marine battalions ranged through the difficult terrain in a campaign of patrols and sweeps, clashing with enemy units that used the broken ground and the proximity of the zone to their advantage. The operation was part of the continuing effort to keep the North Vietnamese off balance along the northern frontier even as the American withdrawal gathered pace, denying the enemy freedom of movement in the border region. Idaho Canyon involved the hard, dangerous work of contesting the high ground and approaches near the zone, the kind of sustained pressure the Marines maintained on the northern border. It was one of the regiment's operations in the last full year of major Marine combat in Vietnam.
Record no. 701