I was on board from mid 67 till Dec 68. I was on board for the rescue of the Habib Mirakia (sp?), a merchant ship that got hit by a typhoon.

I wonder if you can help me out. I am trying to fill in some blanks from an operation we were on with a Marine “ready group.” It is my memory that we had a landing outside a village that was just over a sandy bluff. I was assigned as aft hook on an LCVP. From my memory (such as it is) a NVA set off a smoke flare causing the first wave to get stuck on a sand bar. The heavy equipment was stuck on the bar. The Marines that went in were met with strong resistance and many were killed. I also recall that marines had been stuck just off of the beach inland and suffered more casualties that night from NVA troops that came through.

Am I crazy? Can you help me….

Thanks,

Ed Long, EM-3
Edward.Long@va.gov
edlong1247@aol.com

PS: I now work as a substance abuse therapist at the VA in Asheville , NC .

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure that I'll get this completely correct, however, I, too, was on board during those dates. The ship in questions was a Brittish Merchant with Red National Chinese and Brittish Officers. As I recall, we were enroute from Chinhae, Korea to on-load our Marine emergency supplies (L-Form) and then report to Ready Group Bravo for duty off the Coast of Viet Nam. On our way to Okinawa we received an SOS from this ship. It just happens that I was on the Bridge and had the CON when Captain Whitmire came up and ordered our couse to intercept the ship in distress. She had gone aground on Lincoln Island in the Paracell Islands and was listing badly to Starboard. The seas were teriffic. I was taking ocean spray all the way up onto the Flying Bridge. Every time the Navarro would crest, she would vibrate and then crash back bow down. We arrived at Lincoln Island to find a bad situation. There were 3 or 4 other ships that answered the SOS as well. They requested permission to proceed on duties assigned, but, Captain Whitmire required them to stand fast. We put our Mike Boats in the water and started the rescue of these people. It was reported to me that the Sailors on that ship just leapt off their ship and into the Mike Boats, a pretty far jump. That day, we rescued 43 of 44 persons. One drowned when he slipped out of his life vest. They were taken down the the Coast of Viet Nam and off loaded.
We then sailed to the Phillipines before returning to our previous destination. By-the-way, the Typhoon was Typhoon Emma! Navarro made the New york Times and the Navy Times with this rescue.
Now, as to the landing of which you speak, I believe the facts are as follows. We had already been assigned duty with Ready Group Bravo. One night the seas became extremely rough. We took the Navarro down into Tin Shea Landing (sp) at Da Nang to ride out the weather. During the night we were informed that the VC had over ran the city of Quaviet (sp). We hauled up the anchor and got under way to a point approximately 1 mile off the coast and 1/2 mile south of the DMZ. One Company of Marines were transferred to the Valley Forge, an LPH and our Flag Ship. They went in aboard helos and landed on the West side of the city. They suffered 50% casualties. Our 2nd Company of Marines went in by our LCVPs, going up the river channel (Quaviet, I believe) and landed on the south side of the city. We didn't know it at the time, but, 2 or 3 other companies came from inland and attack the VC from the West. They accomplished their mission, but, at a very high cost. The city was retaken. I was, also, the Helo Safety Officer. Since we didn't have a landing pad for the Helos, they had to hover over the fan tail in order to transfer the KIA's Sea Bags to the Valley Forge. This was a particularly dangerous opperation as the ship's fan tail was rising and settleing in the rough seas. Had any of the Rotor Blades hit the ship, many of our personel could have been injured or killed. I recall that our Dentist, Doctor, and several Corpmen were assisting with imbalming procedures aboard the Valley Forge. It was not one of our better days.

Pardon me for giving more details than you probably wanted. It is, however, etched in my memory.

In loving memory of those who gave their lives for our freedom.

Ltjg Steve K. Bivin (during this period)
Cdr. Steve K. Bivin, USNR-Ret

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I left Navarro after three years in January 1965. I was Comm Officer. I returned to my home in South Carolina and shortly after that moved to North Carolina where I worked for four years before entering law school in Tennessee . I returned here (home) in 1971.
I heard that Navarro went to Vietnam in April 1965 but I really never heard anything further. Your story is fascinating. I lived through the horrible Vietnam years and like everyone else it changed my life. I was one of the fortunate ones. We “landed” troops in Bangkok in 1962 that were being sent into Laos . That’s the closest we got. Those were the Cold War years. Things got progressively worse and worse over there. Seems like history is repeating itself today.