This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Collins, Michael Raymond, LT.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Martinez, CA
Last Address Martinez, CA
Casualty Date Mar 04, 1971
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Location Kien Hoa (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Description Operation Game Warden, Task force 116, was an operation to deny Viet Cong access to the resources in the Mekong Delta which was conceived of in December 1965. U.S. naval forces, backed by Marine artillery on the ground, launching a rapid surprise attack on the dozens of small Viet Cong ports which were scattered around the Delta. Unprepared in the face of intense U.S. firepower, which included U.S. F-4 Phantoms dropping special illumination bombs which blinded the Viet Cong deck gunners, leaving to them being unable to accurately return fire on the attacking U.S. craft, the Viet Cong were incapable of mounting a stiff resistance. Much the Viet Cong fleet and its operators were destroyed.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1969
To Month/Year
December / 1970
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories SEALs continued to make forays into North Vietnam and Laos, and unofficially into Cambodia, controlled by the Studies and Observations Group. An organization that was solely comprised of SEALs. The SEALs from Team Two started a unique deployment of SEAL team members working alone with South Vietnamese Commandos (ARVN). In 1967, a SEAL unit named Detachment Bravo (Det Bravo) was formed to operate these mixed US and ARVN units, which were called South Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRU). By 1970, President Richard Nixon initiated a Plan of Vietnamization, which would remove the US from the Vietnam conflict and return the responsibility of defense back to the South Vietnamese. Conventional forces were being withdrawn; however, SEAL operations continued.
