3rd marine division

The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, was created between North Vietnam and South
Vietnam in 1954. The DMZ was supposed to be a temporary buffer zone that
would keep previously hostile forces away from each other. When the planned
unification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam stalled out, the DMZ stayed on
with an air of permanence. It was four to six miles wide and ran about 47 miles
from the coast to the border with Laos. Don’t believe the label though. The DMZ
was anything but demilitarized. It’s here in the DMZ that 3rd Battalion, 26th
Marines got into the fight for its life in September 1967. In four days 3/26 lost 56
killed and 290 wounded.

In April 1968 large elements of the North Vietnamese Army’s 320th Division crossed the Demilitarized Zone into South Vietnam.  They were advancing towards the 3rd Marine Division’s command post and major logistics hub at Dong Ha when they were engaged by the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.  Fighting raged in and around the village of Dai Do from April 30th until May 3rd.  This was some of the Vietnam War’s most intense combat.  The United States suffered 233 dead and 821 wounded.  Keith Nolan’s “Magnificent Bastards” tells the story.