~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association Vietnam History Project ~
January 1971 ~ Battalion Timeline
   Regardless of MOS if you recognize or participated in any of the events listed on this Timeline page and would like to contribute any information, personal stories, documents, media articles, photographs, or, if you can provide information on any events not listed, please take a moment to contact the History Project Manager at the Email Link provided for you on this page. Your contributions are important to the recording of the Battalion history and always welcomed here.
   Please take the time to report any broken links on this page to the Webmaster via the Email Link.
    Send your photographs as .jpg via the Email Link of this page. Scan them as large as you can, one to an Email and include as much information as you can. Direct any questions via the Email Link.
Last Updated
22 February 2015
 

At the start of the year Battalion HQ Detachment, its organic letter companies (minus Bravo Company) and the 212th MP Company (Sentry Dog) were headquartered subordinate to the 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, III Corps Tactical Zone, Bien Hoa Province, Long Binh Post, South Vietnam.

Bravo Company was headquartered at Vinh Long, in Vinh Long Province, and the 22nd Provost Marshal Detachment at Can Tho in Phong Dinh Province, both in IV Corps Tactical Zone, Mekong Delta Region.

U.S. Troop strength in South Vietnam was 213,000 of which 3,500 were military policemen.
18th MP
Brigade
89th MP
Group
720th MP
Battalion
January

Exact Date Unknown  CPT Raymond F. Cox, Jr. of HQ & HQ Detachment is reassigned from the position of battalion adjutant to fill the vacancy as commander of C Company.

Wanted: Photographs and any stories related to the change of command ceremony. Please use the Email Link at the top of this page.

CPT Cox
Exact Date Unknown - Reflection  "I first arrived at C Company in January. When I arrived, there were two dogs there, "Willie" and "Gook," these two dogs had been in the company for quite a while maybe, 2-3 years, and Willie had been injured while out on a convoy escort. This is a picture of me and my dog "Herman" on the walkway behind the sleeping quarters at C Company. Let me tell you a story about the dogs of C Company.  

      SGT Stone who was in the company with me told me that they had a company formation and awarded Willie a Purple Heart. Those two dogs had control of the company area.

        Well when me and Herman showed up the other two dogs stalked him all day, and late that evening they jumped him behind the company area.

        Herman fought both of them, finally pinning old Gook to the ground and Willie stopped fighting. They immediately became a three-some. Herman always slept outside of my quarters, and loved to ride on top of my Armored Personnel Carrier.

       He went on some of the convoys with the guys, and everyone in my squad loved him. I thought I would mention these dogs as they were a fond memory of my serving with the 720th MP Battalion." SGT Joseph "Wayne" Thrower, C Company, 720th MP Battalion,  January-June 1971.
23 January

     MAJ Gerald C. Burns of HQ & HQ Detachment departs the Battalion.

MAJ Burns
27 January

Di An Detachment  The Battalion was tasked to provide twenty-four enlisted men and four V100 Commando Cars to the 95th MP Battalion for subsequent deployment under Operation LAM SON 719 with the 300th Military Police Company.

     Was a result of the 300th MP Company deployment, the Battalion was reassigned responsibility for discipline, law and order (DLO) at the Di An Base Camp A total of 15 enlisted men and 4 vehicles were committed from existing Battalion resources.

Wanted: Official information, photographs and personal stories from the 720th Battalion MPs deployed TDY to the 300th MP Company and those assigned to reopen the Di An Detachment. Please use the Email Link at the top of this page.

95th MP
Battalion
30 January
Operation LAM SON 719

     An all-South Vietnamese ground offensive, Operation LAM SON 719 was launched with 17,000 ARVN soldiers attacking 22,000 NVA inside Laos in an attempt to sever the Ho Chi Minh trail. Aided by heavy U.S. artillery and air strikes, along with American helicopter lifts, the ARVN troops advance to their first objective but then stalled thus allowing the NVA time to bring in massive troop reinforcements.

     By battle's end, 40,000 NVA pursued 8,000 South Vietnamese survivors back across the border. The South Vietnamese suffer 7,682 causalities, nearly half the original force. The U.S. suffered 215 kIA, over 100 helicopters lost, and over 600 damaged while supporting the offensive. NVA losses were estimated up to 20,000 as a result of the intense American bombardment.

     The operation was doomed from the beginning due to political restraints and puublic announcements as to the depth of the attack into Laotian territory. The NVA forces knew that the U.S. troops supporting their offensive would only be permitted to venture a set distance so they moved back beyond the U.S. limit and counter attacked at their convenience. The operation lasted from January through April.
31 January

LTC Robert P. Schmitz passed command of the Battalion to LTC Albert A. Ackerman.

Wanted: Photographs and any stories related to the change of command ceremony. Please use the Email Link at the top of this page.

LTC Schmitz
LTC Ackerman
One mans political ambitions forever stains the troops he served with.

On The Home Front  The Winter Soldier Investigation Sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against The War (VVAW) Inc., was conducted from 31 January through 2 February 1971 in Detroit, Michigan. During the “investigation” numerous witnesses appeared and gave testimony of U.S. and allied atrocities they witnessed and participated in against the Vietnamese people.

     The theme of the testimony andfocus of the investigation was that these atrocities were conducted on a routine basis and authorized by the chain of command from squad leaders in the field up through the military and to the office of the President of The United States.

     The stories of the alleged atrocities were later used by former Navy Lieutenant (jg.) and Viet Nam Veteran John F. Kerry (of late a former Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, 2004 Democratic candidate for President of the United States, and current Secretary fof State in the Obama Administration) in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 22 April 1971.. Kerry (spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against The War) would also admit that he personally participated in and witnessed the same type of conduct during his tour in Vietnam. Thus began the stereotyping of all Vietnam War veterans as drug addicted, disillusioned war criminals by the antiwar movement.

     Later investigations conducted into the testimony of the “witnesses” and their military background, resulted in exposing numerous frauds. Many of the witnesses not only didn’t serve in the military as they stated, many that did never served in Vietnam. When an official military investigation into the “atrocities” was conducted none of the witnesses would cooperate. In studying their testimony in the Winter Soldiers Investigation it was also noted that in none of the statements were names, dates, times, or places given for the incidents.

John F. Kerry VVAW National Spokesman

John F. Kerry Secretary of State

     The policy of the VVAW in 1970 -1971 was that anyone could join, there was no credentials check, no background verification that the person was an actual veteran. Even their Executive Director, and most prominent leader at that time, Al Hubbard, was discovered to be a fraud. Hubbard passed himself off as a decorated and wounded Air Force Vietnam War Captain. After being exposed he later admitted that he was only an Army Sergeant (E-5) and had never served in Vietnam. His alleged wounds were the result of sports injuries while in the service. It should also be noted that John F. Kerry still supported Hubbard, even after the fraud was exposed.

     The North Vietnamese gladly used the work product of the VVAW Winter Soldiers Investigation to boost morale of their troops fighting against the U.S. and allied troops in South Vietnam.

     Many true Vietnam veterans still feel to this day that the fraudulent VVAW debacle also contributed to additional deaths of U.S. troops still fighting in South Vietnam in 1971, 1972 and 1973.

Return To Top Of Page
Continue To February 1971 Timeline Page