Combat· Vietnam War
Op OSAGE
Operation Osage was a Marine search-and-destroy operation in the lowlands of the Da Nang area, one of the numerous local operations the Marines mounted to clear Viet Cong forces from the districts surrounding their principal base.
The Marines swept the assigned area to root out enemy units and their fortifications, fighting the scattered, evasive actions characteristic of the lowland war against an opponent who relied on concealment, mines, and the cover of the villages rather than open battle. Operations like Osage were the everyday substance of the Marine effort to extend and secure control around Da Nang, less dramatic than the great border battles but essential to protecting the enclave and its population. The operation contributed to the Marines' continuing campaign in the Quang Nam lowlands, the grinding, unglamorous work of contesting the heavily populated coastal districts that lay at the heart of the Marine pacification mission.
Record no. 869