~ 720th Military Police Battalion Vietnam History Project ~
November 1969 ~ Battalion Time Line
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Last Updated
25 October 2017
At the start of the month Battalion HQ Detachment, its letter companies and the 212th MP Company (Sentry Dog) were headquartered subordinate to the 18th MP Brigade, 89th MP Group, III Corps Tactical Zone, Bien Hoa Provence, Long Binh Post,  South Vietnam.
18th MP
Brigade
89th MP
Group
720th MP
Battalion
1 November

12th U.S. Campaign begins, Vietnam Winter-Spring 1 November1969 to 20 April 1970.
     At the start of the month Battalion strength was, 26 Officers, 1 Warrant Officer, and 754 Enlisted Men.
3 November
    
     President Nixon addressed the American people on the history of the Vietnam War through the presidential terms of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. The wars ramifications to the security of
southeast Asia against the spread of communism and his plans to use the Vietnamization program to bring U.S. troops home and the disinterested North Vietnamese government to the negotiations table to discuss an end to the hostilities.
Click on speaker above left for audio of speech.
10 November

     1LT Russell J. Baker was assigned to A Company as a Platoon Leader.

     CWO2 Carl M. Reel was assigned to HQ Detachment as Battalion Auto Maintenance Technician.

1LT Baker
12 November

    Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the My Lai massacre story and The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) published explicit photographs of dead villagers killed U.S. troops of the 23rd Infantry "Americal" Division at My Lai on 16 March 1968.

     On 17 March 1970 the United States Army charged 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident. U.S. Army 2LT William Calley was convicted in 1971 of premeditated murder in ordering the shootings and initially sentenced to life in prison; two days later, however, President Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison. Calley served 3 1/2 years of house arrest in his quarters at Fort Benning, Georgia and was then ordered freed by a federal judge.
Americal
Division

     Calley claimed that he was following orders from his captain, Ernest Medina: Medina denied giving the orders and was acquitted. There were no other convictions. This shameful incident precipitated by Calley would become the rallying cry of the anti war movement throughout the United States.

     Because of politics, Calley got away with mass murder, his superiors with the cover up, and it resulted in the worst damage ever to the image  and reputation of the American soldier in Vietnam.
14 November

     1LT 1LT Stephen D. Jeske is assigned to B Company as a Platoon Leader.

89th MP Group COL Angus B. MacLean, Commander 89th MP Group, issued a letter commending the commanders and troops of the 95th & 720th MP Battalions for commendatory and appreciative remarks given by CPT Robert C. Engram, U. S. Navy for their “superb display of military police professionalism” that “materially assisted CPT Engram and his construction crews with their expeditious repairs on the Newport Bridge. The traffic control measures which were implemented were truly out standing and indicative of the dedicated and responsive soldiers of the battalions.”

     Available records did not specify the reason for, type of repairs, or duration of construction first occurring sometime on or about 8 October.
22 November

     The Battalion and attached 212th MP Company (Sentry Dog) are awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) under General Order 4210, for the period covering 9 February 1968 to to 1 February 1969. This is the Battalion's fourth oak leaf cluster, and the first for the 212th MP Company. It was also the third and final MUC awarded to the Battalion in Vietnam.

A Company  CPT Jason R. Gettinger of A Company is assigned as Deputy Provost Marshal, III Corps North.

     During a state-side fund-raising tour for U.S. military deserters sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and representatives of the Black Panther Party, actress Jane Fonda is quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying;

     "I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist," and;

    "The peace proposal of the Viet Cong is the only honorable, just, possible way to achieve peace in Vietnam."
23 November

     CPT Arthur L. Huckabay of A Company departed as Deputy Provost Marshal, III Corps Tactical Zone (North).
24 November

     1LT Maurice L. Towle of C Company departed.
28 November

     1LT Gerald T. Phipps of B Company departed.
29 November

      1LT William R. Davidson, Jr. of B Company departed.
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