presence in the Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Indian Ocean with Special Operations capabilities to routinely include a port call at Mombasa Kenya. The 31st MEU at this time was established as the only permanently forward-deployed U.S. This was followed by the 31st MAU's participation in Operation Frequent Wind on 29 April 1975 which was the final evacuation of Saigon as North Vietnamese forces entered the city. The 31st MAU was then directed to the Gulf of Thailand for Operation Eagle Pull, the American Embassy evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which took place on 12 April 1975. From June 1971 until April 1975, the 31st MAU conducted many deployments to the waters off Vietnam.
OPERATION PHANTOM FURY MARINES ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL SERIES
The 31st MAU performed presence missions and conducted a series of special operations through May 1971. This time, however, the 31st MAU would not be committed to overt land operations as the Vietnam War was winding down. Once more the unit returned to the Gulf of Tonkin. Special Landing Force Alpha was officially designated as the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) on 24 November 1970.
The unit participated in continuing combat operations ashore over the next three years, including the Vietnam Tet counteroffensive in 1969, while returning to Okinawa periodically for re-outfitting and the rotation of forces. It was during this period of intense combat that Special Landing Force Alpha earned the Presidential Unit Citation. The first operation actually conducted was on 14 April 1967, when the MEU conducted a rescue of the crew of the SS Silver Peak, a Panamanian vessel run aground by Typhoon Violet, in vicinity of Minami Ko Shima Island, Japan.ĭays later, it was committed to Operation Union, a search and destroy mission in Vietnam. It made the first of many amphibious deployments from Okinawa to the coast of Vietnam on 10 April 1967. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit was activated on 1 March 1967 as Special Landing Force Alpha, for operations in Vietnam.
Aviation Combat Element: VMM-262 (Reinforced).Ground Combat Element: Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines.The 31st MEU is the only permanently forward-deployed MEU, and provides a flexible and lethal force ready to perform a wide range of military, humanitarian, and diplomatic operations as the premier crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region.
The 31st MEU is based at Camp Hansen, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. The 31st MEU consists of a company-sized command element, a battalion landing team (BLT), (an infantry battalion reinforced with artillery, amphibious vehicles and other attachments), a medium tiltrotor squadron (reinforced), (which includes detachments of short take-off, vertical landing airplanes and heavy, light, and attack helicopters), and a combat logistics battalion. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 Marines and sailors. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit ( 31st MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units in existence in the United States Marine Corps.
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