U.S. Marine Corps Publications and Documents

U.S. Marines in Vietnam. Of the four major branches of the U.S. armed forces, the Marine Corps moved by far the fastest on publication of a comprehensive multi-volume history of its involvement in the Vietnam War. The Marines finished this project in 1997; of the other services, only the Air Force seems finished or close to finished.

Capt. Robert H. Whitlow, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era, 1954-1964. Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1977. viii, 190 pp. The text is available online at Hathi Trust.
D 214.13:V 67/954-64

Jack Shulimson and Major Charles M. Johnson, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Landing and the Buildup, 1965. Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1978. xiii, 261 pp. The text is available online at Hathi Trust.
D 214.13:V 67/965

Jack Shulimson, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: An Expanding War, 1966. Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1982. xii, 390 pp. Front matter and pp. 1-198;   pp. 199-390.
D 214.13:V 67/966

Maj. Gary L. Telfer, Ltc. Lane Rogers, and V. Keith Fleming, Jr., U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese, 1967. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1984. xi, 338 pp. Front matter and pp. 1-195;   pp. 197-338.
D 214.13:V 67/967

Jack Shulimson, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year, 1968. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1997. xiv, 805 pp. If your computer has trouble downloading a huge file, you may be better off using the almost complete text that has been placed online by eHistory.com. This includes all chapters of the main text, with maps, illustrations, and appendices (though the last two appendices do not show in the table of contents; just click on the last link, which looks as if it is going to take you to one appendix, and it will actually take you to appendices H, I, and J), but not the index. There are probably some scanning errors.
D 214.13:V 67/968

Charles R. Smith, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: High Mobility and Stand-down, 1969. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1988. xii, 403 pp.
D 214.13:V 67/969

Graham A. Cosmas and Terrence P. Murray, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Vietnamization and Redeployment, 1970-1971. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1986. xii, 487 pp. Very nearly the whole text has been placed online by eHistory.com. The online version includes all chapters of the main text, with maps and illustrations, and appendices A-E, but not appendices F and G, or the index. There are some scanning errors. Better to use the version the Marine Corps has placed online.
D 214.13:V 67/970-71

Charles D. Melson and Curtis G. Arnold, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The War that Would Not End, 1971-1973. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1991. xi, 311 pp.
D 214.13:V 67/971-73

George R. Dunham and David A. Quinlan, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Bitter End, 1973-1975. Washington: History and Museums Division, 1990. x, 315 pp. Very nearly the whole text has been placed online by eHistory.com. The online version includes all chapters of the main text, with appendices, but the last time I checked it did not have the maps, illustrations, or index. There are some scanning errors.
D 214.13:V 67/973-75

The Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1973: An Anthology and Annotated Bibliography.  Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1974.  viii, 277 pp.

The Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1973: An Anthology and Annotated Bibliography, 2d ed.  Washington: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1985.  xii, 373 pp. Essays by various officers, summarizing the history of USMC operations in Vietnam, followed by a 23 pp. bibliography, in which the typical entry is an article from either the Marine Corps Gazette or the Naval Institute Proceedings, with a one-sentence summary. Front matter and pp. 1-193, pp. 194-373.
D 214.13:V 67/954-73
D 214.13:V 67/954-73/85

Cdr. Herbert L. Bergsma, Chaplains with Marines in Vietnam, 1962-1971.  Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1985.  xiii, 240 pp.
D 214.13:V 67/962-71

Shawn P. Callahan, Close Air Support and the Battle for Khe Sanh. History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2009. 179 pp. The text is available online at Hathi Trust.

A Chronology of the United States Marine Corps.

Ralph W. Donnelly, Gabrielle M. Neufeld, and Carolyn A Tyson, A Chronology of the United States Marine Corps, Volume III: 1947-1964. Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1971. v, 73 pp.

Gabrielle M. Neufeld, A Chronology of the United States Marine Corps, Volume IV: 1965-1969. Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1971. vii, 41 pp.

Lt. Col. Kenneth J. Clifford, Progress and Purpose: A Developmental History of the United States Marine Corps, 1900-1970. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1973. viii, 156 pp.

Colonel Alphonse G. Davis, Pride, Progress, and Prospects: The Marine Corps' Efforts to Increase the Presence of African-American Officers (1970-1995). Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, United States Marine Corps, 2000. ix, 54 pp. Contains only a little about Vietnam.

Captain David A. Dawson, USMC, The Impact of Project 100,000 on the Marine Corps. Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, United States Marine Corps, 1995. iv, 239 pp.

Robert Emmet, A Brief History of the 11th Marines. Washington, D.C.: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1969. 58 pp. The operations in Vietnam of the 11th Marines (an artillery regiment) are covered in pp. 46-48. Notable for the comment (p. 48) that the Marines made much more use of artillery fire from the Tet Offensive onward than before Tet.

Stephen S. Evans, ed., U.S. Marines and Irregular Warfare, 1898-2007: Anthology and Selected Bibliography. Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University Press, 2008. ix, 343 pp. The text is available online at Hathi Trust.
D 214.13:W 23

Robert M. Cassidy, "Back to the Street Without Joy: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Vietnam and Other Small Wars"
Lawrence A. Yates, "Vietnam: A Feather in their Cap? The Marines' Combined Action Program in Vietnam"
Dale Andrade and James H. Wilbanks, "CORDS/Phoenix: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Vietnam for the Future"

Lt. Col. William R. Fails, Marines and Helicopters, 1962-1973. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1978. ix, 262 pp.
D 214.13:H 36/962-73

Colonel Andrew R. Finlayson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), Marine Advisors with the Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units, 1966-1970. Quantico, VA: History Division, United States Marine Corp, 2009. vii, 71 pp. Finlayson as a Captain was an advisor to the Tay Ninh PRU in 1969.

FMFM 8-2 was the Marine Corps field manual on counterinsurgency, published under various titles at various dates beginning in 1964. It was derived from Operations Against Guerrilla Forces, FMFM 21, issued in 1962.

Operations Against Guerrilla Units. FMFM 8-2. Washington: Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps and GPO, 1964. v, 135 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in three parts: front matter and pp. 1-36,   pp. 37-84,   pp. 85-135.

Counterinsurgency Operations. FMFM 8-2. Washington: Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps and GPO, 1967. vi, 151 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in three parts: front matter and pp. 1-44,   pp. 45-94,   pp. 95-147, and pp. 148-201, including index on pp. 195-201.

There was a 1973 edition.

Counterinsurgency Operations. FMFM 8-2. Washington, DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1975. v, 150 pp. This is the 1973 edition with modifications dated November 14, 1975. The text has been placed online by Hathi Trust.

A later edition of FMFM 8-2 was published in 1980.

Colonel George R. Hofmann Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), Operation Millpond: U.S. Marines in Thailand, 1961. Quantico, VA: History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2009. vii, 36 pp. Marine Air Base Squadron-16 (MABS-16) was at Udorn, Thailand, March to October 1961, supporting CIA operations in Laos. [I had previously seen the project name "Millpond" used for a single operation into Laos planned for April 1961, but apparently the name had a broader application.] Hofmann was an enlisted Marine in the unit.

George R. Hoffman, Jr., The Path to War: U.S. Marine Corps Operations in Southeast Asia, 1961-1965. Washington, DC: Marine Corps University Press, 2014. 97 pp.

First Lieutenant Brett A. Jones, A History of Marine Attack Squadron 223. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1978. vii, 39 pp. The Vietnam tours of VMA-223 ("Bulldogs"), between December 1965 and January 1970, are covered on pp. 21-36. Flying A-4 Skyhawks; based at Chu Lai.

Marine Corps History magazine, formerly Fortitudine, published quarterly. The new version has more pages per issue, and more per article, than the old. Current and past issues are available though Marine Corps History and Fortutudine web pages at Marine Corps University.

Fortitudine 37:3 (2012).

Beth L. Crumley, "Trial by Fire: Donovan Earns Multiple Medals as Sea Knight Aviator in Vietnam," pp. 16-20. 1LT Joseph P. Donovan, flying the CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter with HMM364, early 1969.

Second Lieutenant Sivasubramaniam Ambikapathi and Stephanie Washburn, "Cobra: The Evolution of the Attack Helicopter," pp. 23-24.

Marine Corps History 1:1 (Summer 2015).

Charles D. Melson, "Vietnam Marines and the Defense of Quang Tri in 1972," pp. 73-49.

Dr. Nicholas J. Schlosser, "Counselor of War: General Wallace M. Greene Jr. and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, 1964-65," pp. 50-66.

Charles D. Melson and Wanda J. Renfrow, eds., Marine Advisors with the Vietnamese Marine Corps: Selected Documents prepared by the U.S. Marine Advisory Unit, Naval Advisory Group. Quantico, VA: History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2009. 187 pp. "Standing Procedures for Marine Advisory Unit" (no date visible, but must be between late 1968 and 1972) makes up most of this volume.

Lt. Col. Gary W. Parker, A History of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1978. vii, 47 pp. The Vietnam tours of HMM-161, between May 1965 and August 1970, are covered on pp. 21-36.

Captain William D. Parker, U.S. Marine Corps Civil Affairs in I Corps, Republic of South Vietnam, April 1966 - April 1967. Washington: Historical Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1970. v, 131 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in three parts: front matter and pp. 1-44, pp. 45-94, and pp. 95-147.

Professional Knowledge Gained from Operational Experience in Vietnam, 1965-1966, NAVMC 2614. Washington: Headquarters USMC and GPO, 1967. vii, 509 pp.

Colonel Charles J. Quilter and Captain John C. Chapin, A History of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 531. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 2001. viii, 100 pp. The Vietnam tour of VMFA-531 ("Grey Ghosts"), between April and June 1965 (VMFA-531 was the first Marine fighter squadron sent to Vietnam), is covered on pp. 43-51. Flying F-4 Phantoms.

James S. Santelli, A Brief History of the 7th Marines. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1980. vii, 83 pp. The Second Indochina War is covered in pp. 52-70, 79.

Nicholas J. Schlosser, ed., The Greene Papers: General Wallace M. Greene Jr. and the Escalation of the Vietnam War, January 1964–March 1965. Quantico, VA: History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2015. xxxviii, 366 pp.

Captain Moyers S. Shore, II, The Battle for Khe Sanh. Washington, D.C.: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1969. xi, 203 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in five parts: front matter and pp. 1-38,   pp. 39-88,   pp. 89-138,   pp. 139-188, and pp. 189-203.
D 214.13:K 52

Ltc. Gary D. Solis, Marines and Military Law in Vietnam: Trial by Fire. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1989. xi, 295 pp.
D 214.13:V 67/3

Russel H. Stolfi, U.S. Marine Corps Civic Action Effort in Vietnam: March 1965-March 1966. Washington: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1968. 96 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, in eight parts: front matter and pp. 1-6,   pp. 7-21,   pp. 22-35,   pp. 36-49,   pp. 50-63,   pp. 64-76a,   pp. 77-90 (endnotes begin on p. 91), and pp. 91-96, maps.
D 214.14/2:V 67/2/965-66

Col. Mary V. Stremlow, A History of the Women Marines, 1946-1977. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1986. x, 250 pp. "Women Marines in Vietnam" is pp. 83-87, and there are a few references to the Vietnam War elsewhere. A few women Marines (probably 28 enlisted and 8 officers) served at various dates from March 1967 onward. Front matter and pp. 1-108,   pp. 109-250.
D 214.13:W 84/2

Ray W. Stubbe, Aarugha! Report to Director, Historical Division, Headquarters, Marine Corps, on the history of specialized and force-level reconnaissance activities and units of the United States Marine Corps, 1900-1974. Washington: US Marine Corps and GPO, 1989. v, 323 pp. May be a reprint of a 1981 original. Slightly more than half of this deals with the Vietnam era.
D 214.9/6:12-21

Capt. Francis J. West, Jr., Small Unit Action in Vietnam: Summer 1966.
D 214.13:V 67/2/966
 

Many Marine Corps unit documents, some of which used to be listed on this page, can now be found under Marine Corps Unit Reports and Documents,   Marines in Recon and Special Operations,   Marine Corps and Navy Helicopter Unit Reports,   Marine Corps Fixed-Wing Air Squadron Reports,   Documents: Army Armored Cavalry, Marine 1st Tank Battalion,   and Microfilmed collections of Marine Corps records.

The Marines: Private Sector Publications

History Division, United States Marine Corps

Return to Table of Contents

Next section: U.S. Navy Publications

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2016, Edwin E. Moïse. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Revised August 4, 2016.