First U.S. Coast Guard Deaths in Vietnam
August 11, 1966
U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly attack the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Point Welcome while it is patrolling near the mouth of the Cua Viet River in support of Operation MARKET TIME. The incident kills Point Welcome’s commander, Lieutenant JG David C. Brostrom, and Engineman Second Class Jerry Phillips. They are the first Coast Guardsmen killed in Vietnam. The attacks wound several of the other crewmen plus a journalist and a South Vietnamese liaison officer.1