Monday, April 3, 1972
Last Navy Combat Unit Gone
SAIGON (UPI) --The U.S. Navy withdrew its last combat forces from Vietnam Saturday as part of a big new 2,140-man pullout announced by the U.S. command.The Navy said it was sending home Light Attack Sq. 4, a unit that flew OV10 Bronco counterinsurgency planes, better known as "Black Ponies," in the Mekong Delta.The 180-man unit flew reconnaissance and air support patrols from Binh Thuy Air Base.Navy spokesmen said the 5,000 land-based American sailors remaining in South Vietnam were fighter advisers or members of the U.S. command staff.The bulk of the rest of withdrawals announced Saturday were small Army units scattered around the country, most of which had been performing support missions including transportation, construction, communications and medical operations."Last Navy Combat Unit Gone", by Saigon (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Monday, April 3, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.