Vietnam's Operation Dewey Canyon, Victory Betrayed
Donation protected
Operation Dewey Canyon Rescue
This is a not-for-profit endeavor to bring to light the heroics and effectiveness of the US Marine Air/Ground Team in one of the Vietnam war's most effective battles against the communist forces, including a cross-border incursion into Laos that blocked the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Despite being commissioned by the USMC History and Museums Division, and ready for print after extensive research and interviews with the warriors who fought this battle, modern-day bureaucrats have decided to scrap this project and several others like it. Please help publish the story that some who weren't even born when the battle was fought, don't want the public to see.
Background: In 2014 the Marine Heritage Foundation, in conjunction with the US Marine Corps History and Museums Division, commissioned award-winning journalist and author Ronald Winter to write the definitive history of Operation Dewey Canyon as part of its 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemorative series. Winter, who flew 300 missions as a Marine helicopter machine gunner in Vietnam, served with two Marine helicopter units, HMM-161 and HMM-164, both of which supported Operation Dewey Canyon.
For nearly three years after being hired for this assignment, Winter traveled thousands of miles and interviewed scores of participants in that battle, from the ground, artillery, and air units that fought under horrendous monsoon weather and terrain conditions. By 2017 the manuscript was finished, including dozens of never-before-published photos taken by Marines who fought the battle, on the ground and in the air.
The result is is a scholarly work, replete with personal accounts of the fighting gleaned from personal interviews, melded with information available through official publications such as After Action Reports and other sources. The manuscript was fully edited and ready for production when a newly hired director of the History and Museums Division, abruptly and unceremoniously scrapped the entire project; not just the Dewey Canyon manuscript, but other works by former Marines who also had fought in major Vietnam battles.
After discussing the issue with numerous participants in the battle and trusted advisers, we have decided that the educational value of the work far exceeds any bureaucratic efforts to stifle it, and that we will bear the production costs so it can be printed and widely distributed in a timely manner. This fund-raising campaign is intended to help defray the costs of publishing this manuscript - now entitled Victory Betrayed, US Marines in Operation Dewey Canyon - have copies available through a nationwide lecture campaign for audiences with educational and historic interests, and offset the costs of traveling to venues including high schools, colleges and universities, military and historical societies, as well as meeting the general public to reflect on this work.
The Battle: From January to March 1969, US Marines from the 9th Regiment, backed by artillery from the 2nd Battalion 12th Marines, artillery and infantry from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), plus Marine and US Army helicopters from throughout I Corps, launched a massive assault, named Operation Dewey Canyon, on a major communist infiltration route from Laos into South Vietnam through the A Shau and Da Krong River valleys. It was the first Marine operation in that war supported entirely by helicopters, due to the remoteness of the heavily jungled and mountainous area.
In February, 1969 the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines crossed into Laos, legally and entirely within the confines of the Rules of Engagement, where they routed communist forces on the Ho Chi Minh Trail who were sending a constant stream of reinforcements, and an estimated 1,000 trucks a day, down the trail to resupply communist units. The communists were stunned by the ferocity of the Marine attack, and the fact that it happened at all.
At the end of the operation in March, 1969, the North Vietnamese forces had been soundly defeated. Yet news accounts of the time either downplayed or simply didn’t mention the Marines’ successes. Worse, at the end of March 1969, the US ambassador to Laos apologized to his Laotian counterpart for the Marines' actions. The full story of this battle has never been told, particularly from the viewpoint of those who did the fighting.
In addition to describing the battle, this book sets the story straight on the interference from US diplomats, politicians, and the news media that sided with the communists, and were directly responsible for the deaths of more than 3 million Southeast Asians after Saigon fell in 1975. It is way past time to tell this story – for the veterans who served, for family members and loved ones who should know the truth about these heroes, and so the general public can fully understand the betrayal of US fighting forces by their own government during the Vietnam War. But some of those interviewed for this book have died, and we all are aging. This is literally the last opportunity to tell the true story of Dewey Canyon, and to honor the veterans of that campaign, as well as all who served in the Vietnam War.
This is a not-for-profit endeavor to bring to light the heroics and effectiveness of the US Marine Air/Ground Team in one of the Vietnam war's most effective battles against the communist forces, including a cross-border incursion into Laos that blocked the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Despite being commissioned by the USMC History and Museums Division, and ready for print after extensive research and interviews with the warriors who fought this battle, modern-day bureaucrats have decided to scrap this project and several others like it. Please help publish the story that some who weren't even born when the battle was fought, don't want the public to see.
Background: In 2014 the Marine Heritage Foundation, in conjunction with the US Marine Corps History and Museums Division, commissioned award-winning journalist and author Ronald Winter to write the definitive history of Operation Dewey Canyon as part of its 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemorative series. Winter, who flew 300 missions as a Marine helicopter machine gunner in Vietnam, served with two Marine helicopter units, HMM-161 and HMM-164, both of which supported Operation Dewey Canyon.
For nearly three years after being hired for this assignment, Winter traveled thousands of miles and interviewed scores of participants in that battle, from the ground, artillery, and air units that fought under horrendous monsoon weather and terrain conditions. By 2017 the manuscript was finished, including dozens of never-before-published photos taken by Marines who fought the battle, on the ground and in the air.
The result is is a scholarly work, replete with personal accounts of the fighting gleaned from personal interviews, melded with information available through official publications such as After Action Reports and other sources. The manuscript was fully edited and ready for production when a newly hired director of the History and Museums Division, abruptly and unceremoniously scrapped the entire project; not just the Dewey Canyon manuscript, but other works by former Marines who also had fought in major Vietnam battles.
After discussing the issue with numerous participants in the battle and trusted advisers, we have decided that the educational value of the work far exceeds any bureaucratic efforts to stifle it, and that we will bear the production costs so it can be printed and widely distributed in a timely manner. This fund-raising campaign is intended to help defray the costs of publishing this manuscript - now entitled Victory Betrayed, US Marines in Operation Dewey Canyon - have copies available through a nationwide lecture campaign for audiences with educational and historic interests, and offset the costs of traveling to venues including high schools, colleges and universities, military and historical societies, as well as meeting the general public to reflect on this work.
The Battle: From January to March 1969, US Marines from the 9th Regiment, backed by artillery from the 2nd Battalion 12th Marines, artillery and infantry from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), plus Marine and US Army helicopters from throughout I Corps, launched a massive assault, named Operation Dewey Canyon, on a major communist infiltration route from Laos into South Vietnam through the A Shau and Da Krong River valleys. It was the first Marine operation in that war supported entirely by helicopters, due to the remoteness of the heavily jungled and mountainous area.
In February, 1969 the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines crossed into Laos, legally and entirely within the confines of the Rules of Engagement, where they routed communist forces on the Ho Chi Minh Trail who were sending a constant stream of reinforcements, and an estimated 1,000 trucks a day, down the trail to resupply communist units. The communists were stunned by the ferocity of the Marine attack, and the fact that it happened at all.
At the end of the operation in March, 1969, the North Vietnamese forces had been soundly defeated. Yet news accounts of the time either downplayed or simply didn’t mention the Marines’ successes. Worse, at the end of March 1969, the US ambassador to Laos apologized to his Laotian counterpart for the Marines' actions. The full story of this battle has never been told, particularly from the viewpoint of those who did the fighting.
In addition to describing the battle, this book sets the story straight on the interference from US diplomats, politicians, and the news media that sided with the communists, and were directly responsible for the deaths of more than 3 million Southeast Asians after Saigon fell in 1975. It is way past time to tell this story – for the veterans who served, for family members and loved ones who should know the truth about these heroes, and so the general public can fully understand the betrayal of US fighting forces by their own government during the Vietnam War. But some of those interviewed for this book have died, and we all are aging. This is literally the last opportunity to tell the true story of Dewey Canyon, and to honor the veterans of that campaign, as well as all who served in the Vietnam War.
Organizer
Ronald Winter
Organizer
Hebron, CT