Up north along the Demilitarized Zone, they defended against never-ending artillery bombardments and ground assaults launched from North Vietnam, four miles to the north. But McNamara had ordered Marines to hold the line, a temporizing strategy that cost thousands of American lives. Farther to the south, in the higher-populated lowlands, the Marines were fighting a different war. There, a combined action platoon, or CAP, of 15 Marines and 30 P.F.s was trying to control five hamlets containing 5,000 Vietnamese. We Marines and the P.F.s (including the village chief) all slept on cots in a one-room schoolhouse.

Source: New York Times December 16, 2017 00:00 UTC