Royal Thai Volunteer Regiment
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The Royal Thai Volunteer Regiment ( th, กรมทหารอาสาสมัคร), or the Queen's Cobras (จงอางศึก) was a unit of the
military of Thailand The Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) ( th, กองทัพไทย; ) are the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand. The nominal head of the Thai Armed Forces (จอมทัพไทย; ) is the King of Thailand. The armed forces are ...
which served in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The unit of some 2,000 troops served alongside the American 9th Infantry Division from 1967–1968, when they were replaced by the
Royal Thai Army Expeditionary Division The Royal Thai Army Volunteer Force ( th, กองพลทหารอาสาสมัคร), or the Black Panthers (กองพลเสือดำ) was a unit of the Royal Thai Army which served in the Vietnam War, replacing the Royal Th ...
("Black Panthers"). Organizationally, the unit consisted of a headquarters company with a communications platoon, an aviation platoon, an M113 armored personnel carrier platoon, a psychological operations platoon, a heavy weapons platoon with a machine gun section, and a four-tube 81mm mortar section; a service company consisting of a personnel and special services platoon and supply and transport, maintenance, and military police platoons; four rifle companies; a reinforced engineer combat company; a medical company: a cavalry reconnaissance troop of two reconnaissance platoons and an M113 platoon; and a six-tube 105mm howitzer battery. The deployment of the regiment to South Vietnam was divided into four phases. Acting as the regiment's quartering party, the engineer company left
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
by
Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy ( Abrv: RTN, ทร.; th, กองทัพเรือไทย, ) is the naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known as ...
Landing Ship, Tank Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with ...
(LST) on 11 July 1967 and arrived at Newport Army Terminal on 15 July. After unloading its equipment the company traveled by convoy to
Bearcat Base Bearcat Base (also known as Bearcat, Camp Martin, Camp Cox or Long Thanh North) is a former U.S. Army base near the city of Biên Hòa in Đồng Nai Province in southern Vietnam. History Bearcat was originally a French airfield, later used by ...
, where it began work on the base camp. The advance party traveled by air to Bearcat on 20 August. The main body of the Regiment arrived during the period 19–23 September 1967. The last unit to arrive was the APC platoon, which had completed its training on 25 September and was airlifted to South Vietnam on 28 November. The area of operations assigned to the Thais was characterized by a low level of
Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...
(VC) action because the land was used by the VC primarily as a source of food and clothing. Moving constantly and constructing new base camps, the VC had little time for offensive action. As a result, VC operations conducted in the Thai area were not as significant as elsewhere. Following a series of small unilateral and larger combined operations with Vietnamese units, the regiment launched Operation Narasuan in October 1967. In this, their first largescale separate operation, they assisted in the pacification of the Nhơn Trạch District of
Bien Hoa Province Bien may refer to: * Bien (newspaper) * Basic Income Earth Network BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was c ...
, killing 145 VC. The Thais built a hospital, constructed 48 kilometers of new roads, and treated nearly 49,000 civilian patients through their medical units. On 25 June at 07:55 two
UH-1 Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helico ...
collided west of Bearcat Base killing 12 U.S. Army personnel, 16 Thai soldiers and one ARVN soldier.


References

{{reflist Military units and formations of Thailand in the Vietnam War