Marines were trained for jungle warfare in Vietnam, but Captain Ron Christmas found himself in a house-to-house urban battle in Hue. What he and others didn’t know was that the North Vietnamese Army had infiltrated the entire city.
What Marine Captain Ron Christmas knew, as he assembled a relief convoy, was that action was reported in Hue. There was no uprising, but Ron Christmas would see some of the nastiest fighting of the war as a result. Giap planned a general offensive for the Tet New Year in 1968. Westmoreland decided to move around and reinforce certain units in Operation Checkers, Captain Ron Christmas found himself just outside of the city of Hue in a camp where hostiles owned the high ground.īelieving there would be an uprising among the populace, Ho Chi Minh and Gen. This was something he could fix because he loved training, that and his 106mm recoilless rifle. New Company commander Ron Christmas found lax discipline when he arrived at An Hoa base. H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division | When he arrived in country, he reluctantly took the command of a service company. When Ron Christmas was assigned to Vietnam, he was so excited to be going that he studied the Vietnamese language at his own expense. Service Company, HQ Battalion, 1st Marine Division |
It was there that he met Blackie, a most unusual member of the garrison. When Ron Christmas was assigned to the Marine Barracks in Washington, he was surrounded by tradition at the Marines' oldest post. From the Mediterranean, he went to the Caribbean, where a beautiful sunset changed his life. Platoon leader Ron Christmas was a stickler for training, even on his first deployment, and all his men who were up for promotion passed their test. Another, unique to the Marines, is that everyone is trained as a rifleman. One is that you share all hardships with your men. Naval ROTC graduate Ron Christmas took a Marine commission and headed to Camp LeJeune where he learned basic facts of leadership. 3rd Marine Battalion, 2nd Marine Division |
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