This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Graham, Gilbert James, SN.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
This Sailor has an (IMO) In Memory Of Headstone in Carlton Cemetery, Lolo, Montana.
The U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam command history for September 1967 contains this account of the incident: "During the afternoon of 28 September, PBRs 86 and 100 were investigating sampan traffic in the Cai Coi Canal off of the Mekong River about five miles north of Vinh Long. While in the process of checking a sampan, PBR 100 was ambushed with a B-40 rocket and small arms fire. The PBRs evaded to the west to clear the ambush site. Four Navy UH-1B armed helicopters scrambled to escort the river boats as they transitted back through the enemy positions to reenter the main river. Upon approaching the ambush site, a B-40 rocket struck the lead boat, PBR 100, inside the coxswain's flat and exploded. Three U. S. sailors and one Vietnamese policeman were blown over the side from the explosion, which started a raging fire aboard the craft. PBR 100 went out of control and beached on the south side of the river, where it was completely consumed by fire. Meanwhile, PBR 86 recovered the three U. S. sailors from the water as the overhead helicopters made attacks into the ambush area to drive any looters away from the stricken PBR. The Vietnamese policeman could not be found initially but was later recovered in the main river by a passing sampan. Later that evening, Vietnamese Navy RAG units salvaged two .50 caliber machine guns and one gun mount from the demolished boat. The bodies of Engineman Second Class J. T. MUSETTI, Jr., and Seaman G. J. GRAHAM were not recovered, but a survivor's eyewitness account stated that MUSETTI was cremated aboard the boat, and GRAHAM was not seen after the first explosion. Pending further investigation, both of these men are officially considered missing in action. There were also four sailors wounded in this encounter."
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase II Campaign (66-67)
From Month/Year
July / 1966
To Month/Year
May / 1967
Description This Campaign period was from 1 July 1966 to 31 May 1967. The growing Coastal Force devoted most of its attention to amphibious raids, patrols of shallow inlets and river mouths, troop lifts, and blocking support for allied ground sweeps. For instance, during Operation Irving in October 1966, ground forces and junk units in II Coastal Zone killed 681 Viet Cong troops. In addition, the junkmen established a government presence among the fishermen and provided them with medical services and other assistance. Sometimes the Coastal Force sailors convinced Communist soldiers to desert their units.
The enemy, who often attacked the 27 vulnerable Coastal Force bases, overran the triangular-shaped fortifications of Coastal Group 15 at Cua An Hoa in July 1965 and of Coastal Group 16 at Co Luy in August 1967. Other bases, however, withstood repeated assaults. In doing so, these facilities played a part in the allied effort that denied the enemy easy access to the coastal regions.
Viet Cong mines also took their toll of the command's MLMS fleet, which worked to keep open the shipping channel to Saigon. In August 1966 and again in January 1967, enemy mines sank an MLMS in the Rung Sat. The River Force did not fully employ its strength. The political troubles of 1965 and 1966 in the Republic of Vietnam, in which high-ranking River Force officers figured prominently, damaged morale and distracted personnel from their military mission.
The navy and the army rarely launched joint amphibious assaults against the Viet Cong. Operations reflected the River Force's lack of technically skilled crewmen, the poor maintenance and repair of river craft, and the absence of inspired leadership. Usually, only half of the command's units were ready for combat action, and many of these boats were committed by the army to static guard, resupply, troop lift, or other nonoffensive duties.
The reliance on defense over offense reflected the historic Vietnamese strategy of husbanding resources until there was clear advantage over an enemy. The Vietnamese Navy's River Force sailors often fought hard and bravely, killing many of the enemy and suffering heavy losses of their own, but their valor and sacrifice was not rewarded with strategic success.
