THE COAST GUARD IN VIETNAMThe Coast Guard in Vietnam(Copied from The Coast Guard Reservist, November 1996 by Vern Toler)Editors Note: This is a thumbnail history of the Coast Guardin Vietnam with a detailed listing of the Coast Guard Cutters that were deployedthere.Vietnam is usually remembered as a war fought jungles and ricepaddies. But there was another conflict as well, a sailor's war, much of itfought from the decks of United States Coast Guard Cutters. The Coast Guardplayed a significant role in securing Vietnam's 1,200-mile coastline. Some 8,000Coast Guardsmen and 56 different combatant vessels were assigned to duty there.Coast Guardsmen destroyed enemy supply ships, supported ground units, rescuedAmerican and other friendly forces, and performed many more duties, includingcarrying out humanitarian roles which are common to the Coast Guard. Yet TheCoast Guard's involvement in Vietnam Was is still little known. So this year, asAmerica salutes its servicemen and women on Veterans Day, We pause to rememberin particular our Coast Guardsmen who served in a land thousands of miles fromhome, Vietnam, roughly three decades ago. Early in the Vietnam War, The Viet Cong and North Vietnameseobtained their supplies in many ways. Forces allied with the Republic of SouthVietnam could not stop the enemy's flow of men, arms andsupplies. During February 1965, A U.S.
