This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Charles, John George, ADJAN.
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.
Contact Info
Last Address Minot, ND
Date of Passing Feb 17, 2008
Location of Interment North Dakota Veterans Cemetery - Mandan, North Dakota
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
CHARLES, JOHN G
ADJAN US NAVY
VIETNAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 05/10/1949
DATE OF DEATH: 02/17/2008
BURIED AT: SECTION J SITE 1138
NORTH DAKOTA VETERANS CEMETERY
1825 46TH STREET MANDAN, ND 58554
(701) 667-1418
Other Comments:
John's tour with HA(L)-3 was from 12/3/1969 to 10/31/1970.
Headstone Photo courtesy of Find A Grave Member Brian Backes (#47148484)
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase VII Campaign (70-71)
From Month/Year
July / 1970
To Month/Year
June / 1971
Description This Campaign was from 1 July 1970 to 30 June 1971. In July the Vietnamese Navy assumed sole responsibility f or the Ready Deck operation, which was given a Tran Hung Dao designator like the other former SEALORDS areas. Also in July, the U.S. Navy ceased its combat activity on I Corp's Cua Viet and Hue Rivers. The Americans then transferred the last combatant vessels of Task Force Clearwater to the Vietnamese. A final turnover of river craft at the end of 1970 enabled the Vietnamese Navy to take charge of the Search Turn, Barrier Reef, and Breezy Cove efforts deep in the Mekong Delta. Except for continued support by HAL-3 and VAL-4 aircraft and SEAL detachments, the U.S. Navy's role in the SEALORDS campaign ended in April 1971 when Solid Anchor (previously Sea Float and now based ashore at Nam Can) became a Vietnamese responsibility.
The Vietnamese Navy, which grew from 18,000 men in the fall of 1968 to 32,000 men at the end of 1970, instituted organizational changes to accommodate the new personnel, material, and operational responsibilities. The Vietnamese grouped their riverine assault craft in riverine assault interdiction divisions (RAID) and their PBRs into river interdiction divisions (RID) and river patrol groups (RPG). They also augmented the existing RAGs and coastal groups, the latter now consolidated into 20 units for lack of sufficient patrol junks.
This dramatic change in the nature of the allied war effort reflected the rapid but measured withdrawal from South Vietnam of U.S. naval forces. NAVFORV strength dropped from a peak of 38,083 personnel in September 1968 to 16,757 at the end of 1970. As Admiral Zumwalt transferred resources to the Vietnamese Navy, he disestablished U.S. naval commands and airlifted personnel home. With the redeployment of the Army's 9th Infantry Division and the turnover of 64 riverine assault craft in June 1969, the joint Mobile Riverine Force halted operations. When the Riverine Assault Force (Task Force 117) stood down on 25 August 1969, it became the first major naval command deactivated in Vietnam. By December 1970, COMNAVFORV had transferred to Vietnam the remaining river combatant craft in his command, which included 293 PBRs and 224 riverine assault craft. That month, the River Patrol Force was disestablished and the Task Force 116 designator reassigned to Commander Delta Naval Forces, a new headquarters controlling SEAL and naval aircraft units still in-country.
