Home»History and Legacy»Timeline»1966-1967: Taking the Offensive»Operation JACKSTAY

Operation JACKSTAY

March 26, 1966

1966-03-26_OpJackstay_428-K-31451
1966-03-26_OpJackstay_428-K-31451
U.S. Marines approach the beach during an amphibious assault in the Rung Sat Special Zone, the target of Operation JACKSTAY, March 26, 1966. (National Archives)

The United States and South Vietnam launch Operation JACKSTAY, which is intended to reduce Viet Cong attacks on merchant ships approaching Saigon on the Long Tau River. U.S. Navy and U.S. and South Vietnamese Marine Corps forces make an amphibious landing in the Rung Sat Special Zone bordering the river. By the end of a 12-day effort, the allies kill or capture dozens of Viet Cong soldiers and destroy multiple Viet Cong bases and supply caches. JACKSTAY is the first combined U.S.-South Vietnamese amphibious operation in Vietnam. It successfully curtails enemy operations in the area, though only temporarily. It also illuminates some key problems with the efficiency and doctrines for joint operations involving U.S. and South Vietnamese troops.1

1Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Escalation, 1962–1967, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 314; Jack Shulimson, An Expanding War, 1966, U.S. Marines in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, 1982), 300–303; Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 542. Complicated command and control between MACV and the U.S. Navy Special Landing Force characterized the planning in the joint operation JACKSTAY.