Operation Union

Part of the Vietnam War

Date	April 21 – May 16, 1967
Location	Que Son Valley, South Vietnam
Result	U.S. victory

Belligerents

United States

North Vietnam

Commanders and leaders

Lt. Col. Peter Hilgartner

Unknown

Units involved

2nd Battalion 1st Marines
3rd Battalion 1st Marines
1st Battalion 1st Marines
1st Battalion 5th Marines

2nd Division

Casualties and losses

110 killed, 2 missing, 473 wounded

865 killed

Operation Union was a search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley carried out by the 1st Marine Regiment from 21 April to 16 May 1967. The object of the operation was to engage the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 2nd Division.

The Quế Sơn Valley is located along the border of Quảng Nam and Quảng Tín Provinces. During the Vietnam War it lay in the southern part of South Vietnam's I Corps. Populous and rice-rich, the valley was viewed as one of the keys to controlling South Vietnam's five northern provinces by the communists and by early 1967 at least two regiments of the PAVN 2nd Division had been infiltrated into the area.

The 5th Marine Regiment minus its 2nd Battalion, an experienced force that had fought in Vietnam since their arrival in the Summer of 1966, was assigned to the valley in 1967 to support the outnumbered Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces in the area, the 6th ARVN Regiment and the 1st ARVN Ranger Group.

Since mid-January 1967 Foxtrot Company, a reinforced company of the 2nd Battalion 1st Marines (F/2/1), had manned an outpost atop Nui Loc Son (Loc Son Mountain), which dominated the southern Que Son Valley. Although the PAVN and Vietcong forces operating in the valley did not initially take much notice of the Marines, on April 15, 1967 the Foxtrot company commander advised Colonel Emil Radics, the commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, that enemy units appeared to be preparing for an all-out assault on the outpost.

Radics developed a plan for a multi-battalion assault and sweep aimed at clearing PAVN units from the vicinity of the mountain. The plan was approved as Operation Union by Major General Herman Nickerson, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division on April 20 and was put into action the following morning.

...
Wikipedia