On the morning of March 8, 1965, the men of the United States Marine Corps prepared to land on Red Beach II in the Republic of Vietnam. The resulting conflict became the most protracted war of the Corps' history. The Marines evolved through early, nervous attempts to fend off the North Vietnamese enemy to hearts and minds programs with the local population and the larger operations Hastings and Dewey Canyon, where fighting resembled some of the worst in the Pacific arena of World War II. As the last Marines were evacuated by Communist-overrun Saigon in 1975, the countless battles, skirmishes, and hill fights had seen the Marines account for a third of all U.S. casualties in Vietnam.
