Operation Keystone Eagle was the withdrawal of the initial units of the

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

from

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

and their redeployment to

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, taking place from 29 June to 30 August 1969.

Background

Following from the policy of

Vietnamization Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same ti ...

, U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

sought to reduce U.S. forces in South Vietnam. After a visit to South Vietnam in March 1969, Secretary of Defense

Melvin Laird Melvin Robert Laird Jr. (September 1, 1922 – November 16, 2016) was an American politician, writer and statesman. He was a U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. congressman from Wisconsin from 1953 to 1969 before serving as United States Secret ...

recommended that planning begin for the withdrawal of 50-70,000 U.S. troops in 1969 with further withdrawals in 1970.

MACV U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) was a joint-service command of the United States Department of Defense. MACV was created on 8 February 1962, in response to the increase in United States military assistance to South Vietnam. MACV ...

began planning for the withdrawal of 50,000 troops or approximately two Divisions plus support units in late 1969. In late May the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

presented Laird with a plan for the phased withdrawal of 244,000 of the total 549,000 U.S. personnel in South Vietnam with the withdrawal of 50,000 troops in late 1969 comprising one Marine Division and one Army Division. Laird forwarded the plan to Nixon in early June with the recommendation that 20-25,000 troops be withdrawn starting in July. MACV had determined that the first units to be withdrawn would be the 3rd Marine Division and the 9th Infantry Division. On 8 June, Nixon met South Vietnamese President

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, Republic o ...

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

and Nixon convinced Thiệu to accept the fact of U.S. force reductions, following the meeting Nixon announced the beginning of unilateral U.S. troop withdrawals. The initial withdrawal named Operation Keystone Eagle was the withdrawal of one Regimental Landing Team, however the selected Regiment, the

9th Marine Regiment The 9th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War II, it served until 1994, when it was deactivated during the post Cold War drawdown. Battalions of the Ninth Marine Regiment, but not the ...

and its supporting units did not meet the 8388-man level mandated by MACV and so additional support and miscellaneous units were added to make up the numbers.

Operation

3rd Marine Division commander MG William K

On 14 June the 9th Marine Regiment was notified of its redeployment. On 23 June after completing its involvement in

Operation Utah Mesa Operation Utah Mesa was a United States Marine Corps, United States Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) operation in northwest Quảng Trị Province, South Vietnam from 12 June to 6 July 1969. Background In late May, intelligence gai ...

, the

1st Battalion, 9th Marines The 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9) was an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War I, it served until the mid-2000s when it was deactivated to make room for one of three light armor reconnaissance battalions ...

stood down at

Vandegrift Combat Base Vandegrift Combat Base (also known as FSB Vandegrift and LZ Stud) is a former U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) base north of Ca Lu in Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam. History 1968 LZ Stud was originally ...

. On 14 July following a farewell ceremony at

Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one ...

, the 1/9 Marines boarded the , becoming the first U.S. battalion to be withdrawn. The Keystone Eagle redeployments took place as follows:

Aftermath

Operation Keystone Eagle concluded on 30 August 1969, it was immediately followed by

Operation Keystone Cardinal Operation Keystone Cardinal was the withdrawal of the 3rd Marine Division from South Vietnam, taking place from 30 September to 27 November 1969. Background Following the withdrawal of the 9th Marine Regiment from South Vietnam in Operation Keyston ...

. 1/9 Marines and 3/9 Marines would return to South Vietnam in April 1972 during the

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ('' vi, Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972'') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted b ...

and in April 1975 during

Operation Frequent Wind Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saig ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:KeystoneEagle, Operation Keystone Eagle United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1969 History of Quảng Nam province