1st Searchlight Battery (United States)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 1st Searchlight Battery


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country=United States
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branch=USMC
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command_structure= 12th Marine Regiment
3d Marine Division
current_commander=
garrison= MCAGCC 29 Palms
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colonel_of_the_regiment=
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mascot=|battles=Vietnam War
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1st Searchlight Battery was a United States Marine Corps unit formed during the Vietnam War to monitor the "Electronic Wall of Defense" that was set up along the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. They fell under the 12th Marine Regiment and the 3d Marine Division

History

1st Searchlight Battery was a new unit organized, supervised and controlled by the United States Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara and was part of the "Electronic Wall of Defense". The Battery began at Marine Corps Base Twentynine Palms, California. It was the first unit in the history of the Marine Corps with infrared/xeon arc technology searchlights. There were 122 men in the Battery. 6 Officers, 113 Enlisted and 3 Enlisted U.S. Navy Corpsmen.
Commanding Officer was Captain Victor B. Snider. Deployed to Vietnam on the USS "Paul Revere" (APA/LPA-248), departing the continental limits of the United States from National City, California on May 31 1967. All personnel had "Secret" security clearance.

Vietnam

On June 27, 1967 the Battery arrived in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. At 0530 on June 28 it departed Da Nang for Dong Ha. Arrived in Dong Ha on June 29. The Battery HQ was built in Dong Ha. Attached to 12th Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division (Rein) FMF

Equipment

There were 18 M274 Mechnical Mules converted with generators and the searchlight. Each searchlight had a 23" Dual Blade. They had infrared (viewed with M-18 binoculars) and white light capability.The white light had a Xenon Arc, with 75 million candlepower. On apx. July 3 the Battery began deployment of the 3 platoons to seven areas of the Quang Tri/ICorps (Con Thien, Cau Viet, Khe Sanh, Gio Linh, Dong Ha, Cam Lo, Camp Carroll and Thua Thien Provinces (Phu Bai & Camp Evans). The primary use of the searchlight was for perimeter defense. The lights were also used in six major combat operations with excellent results.

Combat history

Record keeping in 1967-69 was done manually. The Operations [indented] were in the Command Chronology from the Battery Command Officer. These records have been scanned and are located on the 12th Marine Regiment Association (URL on page). The other Operations are from later records.

Significant operations participated in:

Currently

The members of the battery had their first reunion on June 10th-12th (2005), at The Leatherneck Club, in Las Vegas, Nevada.Of the 120 men originally in the battery, 50 were located and 18 members attended the reunion.The 2nd reunion was June 13th-17th in Quantico, Virginia.The next reunion will be in 2009 in San Diego, California.

External links

* [http://12thmarinesassoc.homestead.com/1stSearchlightBttry-A.html About the group]