Leatherneck Square was an area just south of the

Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone The Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone was a demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel north, 17th parallel in Quang Tri province that was the dividing line between North Vietnam and South Vietnam from 21 July 1954 to 2 July 1976, when Vietnam was off ...

that separated

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

and

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

The corners of the square were

Con Thien Con Thien (Vietnamese: Cồn Tiên, meaning the "Hill of Angels") was a military base that started out as a U.S. Army Special Forces camp before transitioning to a United States Marine Corps combat base. It was located near the Vietnamese De ...

and Firebase Gio Linh in the north,

Đông Hà Combat Base Đông Hà Combat Base (also known as Camp Spillman, Camp Red Devil or simply Đông Hà) is a former U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army base northwest of Quảng Trị in central Vietnam. The base was first used by the 4th Marines in late April ...

and

Cam Lộ Cam Lộ is a township () and capital of Cam Lộ District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about ...

, in the south, making it about wide (east to west) and about deep north to south). Some of the heaviest fighting of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

was fought in this 54+ square mile area. The official figures on losses in all operations in this area from Operation Prairie III/ IV, through Hickory, Cimarron, Buffalo,

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, i.e., from March 1967 to February, 1969 were 1,419 Marines and Navy Corpsmen killed in action and 9,265 Marines and Corpsmen wounded in action.

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...

losses were put at 7,563 killed, wounded unknown.

References

{{reflist Vietnam War sites