HHC

199th Infantry Brigade

     The 199th Infantry Brigade (Sepa-         at Chu Lai. In June Army Engineers      
rate) (Light) was ordered formed at         started construction on the huge faci-      
Ft. Benning, Ga., suddenly but not         lities at Cam Ranh Bay needed to      
unexpectyedly, with destination un-         support the projected logistical in-      
known. The Brigade's first command-         crease neccessary for more troops.      
er, Colonel George D. Rehkopf, got              In July the Marines landed 8,000      
orders April 8, 1966 to form the         more men at Da Nang and Qui Nhon;      
Brigade and, from the first educated         the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Divi-      
guesses to jungle and swamp field         sion, and the 1st Logistical Command      
training at Camp Shelby, Miss., the         landed at Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau      
concensus was "Vietnam."         and Qui Nhon. Later that month, the      
     The previous year had seen the         1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne      
greatest debarkation for a foreign         Division came in-country and U.S.      
country by the U.S. armed forces         military strength here became 30,000.      
since the Korean War's early days in         The first elements of the 1st Air      
1950 and 1951. January 1 U. S.         Cavalry Division came here in Sep-      
strength was 23,000 in RVN. Follow-         tember, the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry      
ing a Viet Cong attack on the Ameri-         Division arrived in December, and      
can compound at Pleiku and nearby         what with other combat and support      
Camp Holloway Feb. 7, 1965 Presi-         elements arrivees, our strength by      
dent Johnson ordered the first air         years's end was 181,000, including all      
strike against North Vietnam. The fol-         services.      
lowing day he ordered withdrawal of              Despite the increase of about 800      
all U.S. dependents and the decks be-         percent in total strength in less than      
gun to clear.         a year, the final total for 1965 would      
     Among other build-up highlights         still increase by nearly 200 percent in      
of 1966 were: First elements of the         the coming two years to bring figures      
173rd Airborne Brigade landed in         to above the 500,000 level deemed ad-
early May, as did Marines and Sea-         visable by military and civilian com-      
bees to begin building their big base         manders.  



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