The 27th Marine Regiment was activated on January 10, 1944, as a result of the massive increase in the Marine Corps during World War II. The regiment first saw action during the Battle of Iwo Jima. During the course of the battle they suffered 566 killed, 1,706 wounded, and had 4 Marines receive the Medal of Honor. After the surrender of Japan the regiment was inactivated on January 10, 1946.
The 27th Marines was again reactivated during the Vietnam War on January 1, 1966, but was mainly used as a pool for new replacements before they went overseas. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. The 1st Battalion was at Marine Corps Air Station at Kane'ohe Bay in Hawaii. During the Tet Offensive in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized an increase in U.S. troop strength in South Vietnam and the 27th Marines was one of the units sent. The 27th Marines became the first Marine regiment to fly into a combat zone. Their deployment overseas put a severe strain on manpower in the Marine Corps and they were returned to the United States before the close of 1968.
A homecoming parade was presented as a Memorial Ceremony downtown San Diego to the lives the regiment had given in Vietnam. The unit was then reassigned to MCB Camp Pendleton within the area of the base called Camp Margarita or the 33 Area.
Notable Persons
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
PFC Robert Charles Burke
Private First Class Robert Charles Burke (MCSN: 2359360), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a machine gunner with Company I, Third Battalion, Twenty-Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action at Le Nam (1), Go Nai Island, southern Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam on 17 May 1968.
Description
This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.