Ocean View, Viet Nam

Oceanview was a U.S. Marine Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) observation post located on the coast some 10km north of the Cua Viet River and just south of the DMZ^[1]. It was a very isolated spot and could be reached only by Amtrac or helicopter.

The primary reasons for its existence were to prevent infiltration of troops through the DMZ into I Corps and to direct counterbattery fire against North Vietnamese artillery. Navy ships would unload supplies at Cua Viet and these would be taken up the Cua Viet River to Dong Ha. Typically ships would begin to unload and North Vietnamese guns would open fire either from North Vietnam or the DMZ. The observers would calculate the North Vietnamese artillery positions and call in the coordinates to Navy ships and then adjust the rounds onto the target.

Oceanview was defended by 32 Marines from the 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion^[2], plus 11 Army crewmen manning two M42 Dusters from 1st Battalion 44th Artillery, 108th Artillery Group at Dong Ha, assigned to the 3rd Marine Division.

That Oceanview was somewhat successful was demonstrated by the NVA attempting to overrun the position at least twice: once on August 2, 1968 and on February 22, 1969.

On 2 August 1968, several squads of NVA attacked Oceanview, but were driven off by fire from the Amtracs, Dusters and naval gunfire killing 8 NVA. Later that day a platoon of NVA was seen moving nearby and naval gunfire was again called in, resulting in a further 2 NVA killed^[3].

On the night of 22 February 1969, an estimated 500 NVA troops attacked Oceanview. The battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) was on station nearby and it fired 16 inch and 5 inch rounds over a period of 6 hours to break up the attack^[4].

Footnotes

1. ^ Shulimson, Jack (1997). U.S. Marines in Vietnam: 1968 The Defining Year. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. pp. 386–387. ISBN 0160491258. 
2. ^ Shulimson, p.391
3. ^ Shulimson, p.387
4. ^ "1969 Narrative History of USS New Jersey (BB-62)". USS New Jersey Veteran's, INC. http://www.ussnewjersey.org/1969_narrative.htm. Retrieved 2005-05-31.