On 15 Aug. 1965, Major General Nguyen Chanh Thi, commander of the South Vietnamese forces in I Corps, had urgent news for Marine Lieutenant General Lewis W. Walt, the commander of all the Marines in Vietnam. “I have,” said MajGen Thi, “the most important intelligence information of the war.”
A 17-year-old enemy defector had come into his lines and reported that the 1st Viet Cong Regiment was in the village of Van Tuong south of the new Marine base at Chu Lai. Shortly after MajGen Thi's departure, the Marines' 1st Radio Battalion intercepted radio traffic that confirmed the defector's information.
This development posed a threat to the Chu Lai base and, at the same time, offered an opportunity to close with and destroy the elusive Viet Cong (VC) unit. LtGen Walt had two choices. He could reinforce the base and wait for the enemy, or he could take the aggressive path and launch a pre-emptive assault. There was never much doubt about which course LtGen Walt would take. He held two Navy Crosses and a Silver Star from World War II plus combat awards from Korea and was a man of action. He decided to carry the fight to the enemy.
The Marine he chose to lead the attack was Colonel Oscar F. Peatross, also a Navy Cross winner and former member of Carlson's Raiders in WW II. Selecting the battalions was not as easy. The war was in its build-up phase, and there was a shortage of Marines everywhere. LtGen Walt finally decided on the two battalions at the Chu Lai base: the 3d Bn, Third Marine Regiment, commanded by the hard-driving, soft-spoken Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. “Joe” Muir, and the 2d Bn, 4th Marines, “The Magnificent Bastards,” commanded by the colorful and equally hard-driving Joseph R. “Bull” Fisher. Fisher had been awarded the Silver Star for action on Iwo Jima and the Navy Cross in Korea, where he served under then-Col Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller.
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