The battle of the Mississippi River involved conventional naval tactics of overpowering Confederate forts and defeating Confederate forts alo and installations along the river banks, and once this these were defeated, to control thew die x wide es expanses of the river until the next fort could be over-run. Navy’s task 1500-man task force 116 with Head quarters at Binh Thuy on the outskirts of Cau Tho, the capital of the Mekong Delta and South Vietnam‘s second most popular cityx.Įven America’s last river war, in the conflict between the states, conflict, during the Civil War a century ago, did not see river patrolli inland – patrolling of such magnitude and energy. TheOperation Game Warden is conducted by U. for the past_21 months by 120 riverraft Has been deemed successful enough to expand its size to 200 patrol boats

The operation conduced conducted round the clock. The operation, codenamed Game Warden, is designed to block Viet Cong movement of men and supplies across the major branches of the Mekong Re River. Navy Naval history.įor the first time in the 193-year it’s its 193-year history, American Naval forces are conducting inland “muddy-water” patrolling in nose-to-nose combat with its enemy forces. The remarkably successful operation Game WĪmerican “little boat” patrolling along the major fingers of the Mekong River is unpprecedented in the annals of U. This last article describes the unparalled unparalleled patrolling operation called Game Warden, conducted xkx by the crews of the “Unsinkable River Dragones.) Dragons”). This three-part report examines America’s Rice Paddy Navy in South Vietnam. Navy is again involved in river warfare–for the first time since the American Civil War. Though these Vietnam War photos have not yet pierced the public consciousness in the same way that civilian photojournalists' images have, the historical record is truly not complete without them.(The U. These Vietnam War photos are a key part of understanding soldiers' experiences during the conflict and provide insight into operational specifics that were unknown to the press. They place as much emphasis on the thrill and terror of combat as they do on the agonizing waiting periods that fall between the action. Though the images rarely focus on the carnage of war, they offer surprisingly frank depictions of search-and-destroy missions and prisoner-of-war camps. It is neither a gritty, unfiltered depiction of combat nor a highly censored attempt to make Americans look honorable. The result is an extensive and nuanced body of work. Instead, military photographers were often simply told to 'go find some action,' and were allowed to use their discretion when it came to documenting things like violence and gore. In interviews, Vietnam War-era military photographers have revealed that they do not recall being told to depict any subjects in a way that favored the U.S. However, the fact that these Vietnam War photos were not intended for publication suggests that photographic units and their commanders perhaps had less incentive to misrepresent or sanitize American military actions in conflict zones. When acknowledged in popular media, however, military photography is often written off as a public relations mouthpiece for the U.S. They were created to document operations, equipment, and people, as well as to create a visual record of the conflict. The United States military has had designated photographic units since the Signal Corps began taking photographs in the 1880s. This pattern is not unique to the Vietnam War. In the rare cases where they were published or broadcast, the photographers were rarely credited. Though their works have been declassified over time and physical copies are carefully preserved at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, it is estimated that less than a quarter of military images from Vietnam were ever made available to the press. Given how large the canon of Vietnam War photojournalism is and the level of infamy much of it has achieved, it may be surprising to learn that a wellspring of Vietnam War photos from a source other than photojournalists has been largely ignored: the works of military photographers. Shocking images such as Nick Ut's 'Napalm Girl' and Eddie Adams' 'Saigon Execution' have become synonymous with the widespread outrage and disapproval of the war in the United States. Photographs, and visual media generally, play an especially important role in this process of shaping collective memory of an event.ĭuring the Vietnam War, for example, photographs and footage brought the conflict home to the American people. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate.

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