b company

5 January During the period of 5 January to 26 January 1967, the 720th MP Battalion provided one platoon of 20, B Company MP’s to support Operation Cedar Falls. The platoon was committed to the operational control of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

173rd

Operation CEDAR FALLS

31 January members of 3rd Platoon, 4th Squad, gather to receive their mail by the squad tent on Long Binh Post. The photgograph was taken from the "Tree House" Fire Guard & Watch Tower. The showers and latrine bookend the water tank tower in the background.

17 March The following B Company personnel were promoted under Headquarters, 720th MP Battalion, Special Orders #47. SP/4 Joseph V. Berger to Sergeant E-5.

23 April, Operation Manhattan One Officer and 23 Enlisted Men from B Company were committed in direct support of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR), and 1 Officer and 37 Enlisted Men (believed to be A Company) in direct support of the 1st Infantry Division (1st ID). The Area of Operations was within the Michelin Rubber Plantation, near Dau Tieng, III Corps Tactical Zone. The 720th MPs were utilized in traffic control, village cordon and search, Prisoner Of War (POW), security, convoy escort, and general discipline, law, and order duties.

Operation MANHATTAN

11 May The B Company Detachment assigned to Operation Manhattan on 23 April stood down and returned to Long Binh Post.

B Company Members enjoyed a BBQ to celebrate a successful assignment by the detachment that worked Operation Manhattan 22 April to 11 May. Company Commander CPT Hector Lopez was the BBQ Chef.

A Historical First "Operation STABILIZE," an infantry mission and a Tactical Area Of Responsibility

20 October A, B, and C Companies were jointly tasked with the unique responsibility of fighting as infantry when required in support of operations in a 22 square mile Tactical Area of Responsibility (TAOR) to include; civic action programs; rapid reaction team; ambush and recon; village outpost duty; river patrol and transport.

Operation STABILIZE

The area contained four primary villages (hamlets) and each contained a Popular Forces village outpost that was jointly staffed with MPs from the battalion. The mission was designated as "Operation STABILIZE."

It was the first time in the history of the United States Armed Forces that a military police unit was assigned a purely infantry mission in a war zone. To insure the success of the operation all three companies including the 615th MP Company that was attached to the battalion, joined with elements of the 2nd Battalion of the 39th Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, and the Vietnamese National Police Field Forces (NPFF), under the name Operation CORRAL.

9th

11 September, Operation CORRAL The joint operation was undertaken and all the primary villages were thoroughly cordoned off and searched. Over fifty suspected Viet Cong and their known sympathizers were apprehended and turned over to combined MACV and ARVN Military Intelligence teams for interrogation. Enemy weapons, documents, and supplies were seized and confiscated without suffering any major casualties.

MACV

Operation CORRAL

During the early days of Operation STABILIZE B Company was responsible for providing men for the staffing of Outpost-1 An Xuan Village and Outpost-2 Long Hung Village, Ambush and Recon Teams, and the River Patrol Unit.

The remainder of the B Company staff were available to assist with Tay Ninh Convoy escort, post patrol in Xuan Loc and Blackhorse Base Camp of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and the Long Binh Post reaction team.

11th

15 October, PF Platoon Attached A 22 man Popular Forces [PF] platoon commanded by Army Of The Republic Of Vietnam [ARVN], Popular Forces, SGT Huynh Van Hai, was assigned to B Company.

SGT Van Hai and the platoon were to assist 2LT Robert S. Wilkerson, B Company, and his platoon of MP’s in their new operations in the 720th MP Battalion Tactical Area of Responsibility [TAOR].

4 December, VC Ambush B Company Recon and Ammo Barges Local Viet Cong (VC) ambushed a B Company day reconnaissance patrol and directed sniper fire at B Company River Patrol when they unknowingly surprised a planned ambush of several ammunition barges traveling north on the Dong Ni River.

19 December, Brothers Meet For First Time In 10 Years PFC Jeffrey B. Watt of B Company, 720th MP Battalion, and CPT David M. Watt of D Company, 9th Medical Battalion, 9th Infantry Division, last saw each other in 1957 when CPT Watt entered the army.

CPT Watts nomad existence as an army officer kept the two brothers separated for the next two decades. When CPT Watt returned home on leave in October 1967 he learned that brother Jeffrey had graduated MP school and was stationed in Vietnam. He arrived in Vietnam in November 1967 and through arrangements made by his younger brother was able to set up the long awaited reunion at the B Company compound on Long Binh Post.