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After Action Report of U.S. Marine Corps Participation in Operation "New Arrivals" At Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California

 Collection
Identifier: SC041

Scope and Contents

Photocopied report titled "After Action Report of U.S. Marine Corps Participation in Operation "New Arrivals" At Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California" detailing three phases of refugee resettlement from Vietnam at the close of the Vietnam War. Report details period from 28 April 1975 to 15 November 1975, and covers the organization, camp construction, facilities, refugee processing and life, and drawdown of the refugee camp set up at Camp Pendleton, California. Report also contains photographs, lessons learned, reference data, and appendices. 87 copies of the report were originally created.

Table of contents for the report:

Preface

Part One - Phase 1 (28 April to 12 May 1975) 1. Introduction 2. Mission 3. Scope 4. Military Organization 5. Camp Construction/Preparation 6. Refugee Camp Military Organization 7. Camp Facilities 8. Refugee Organization within the camps 9. Refugee Accounting 10. Refugee Processing 11. Public Affairs 12. Summary 13. Chronology of Events Appendices

Part Two - Phase 2 (13 May to 31 August 1975) 1. Introduction 2. Refugee Services and Facilities 3. Education 4. Sanitation 5. Communications 6. Military Organization 7. Food 8. Significant Events 9. Religious Affairs 10. Discipline problems within the camp complex 11. Summary 12. Chronology of Events Appendices

Part Three - Phase 3 (1 September to 15 November 1975) 1. Introduction 2. Phasedown of the Refugee Center 3. Significant events 4. Port-of-Entry 5. Financial Management 6. Summary 7. Chronology of events Appendices

Part Four - Lessons Learned 1. Introduction

Part Five - Reference Data 1. Introduction

Part Six Pictorial representation of Operation "NEW ARRIVALS"

Distribution

Dates

  • ca. 1976

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research. The after action report has been digitized. Digital surrogates of the report should be consulted by researchers. The Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room is accessible by appointment only, Monday-Friday, 8am - 4pm. Final requests for materials must be made one hour prior to closing. Please submit requests for archival materials at least 24 hours in advance of desired appointment. Materials requested over the weekend will be available on the following Tuesday at the earliest. Please note that Special Collections and University Archives observes all campus holiday closures as noted in the Library Calendar. For more information, please send an email to archives@csusm.edu.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the university. These materials are creations of the federal government and thus are in the public domain. No permission is needed to reproduce or publish, though applicable Reading Room policies may apply. Please contact Special Collections at archives@csusm.edu if you need reproductions made. Please see the related “Preferred Citation note” for language on citing materials from this collection. Permission to examine Library materials is not authorization to publish or to reproduce the examined material in whole, or in part. Persons wishing to quote, publish, perform, reproduce, or otherwise make use of an item in the Library’s collections must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of the copyright holder.

The researcher assumes full responsibility for use of the material and agrees to hold harmless the University Library, and California State University, against all claims, demands, costs, and expenses incurred by copyright infringement or any other legal or regulatory cause of action arising from the use of the Library's materials.

In assuming full responsibility for use of the material, the researcher also understands that the materials they examine may contain Social Security numbers, other personal identifiers, and/or sensitive material on potentially living and identifiable individuals (e.g., medical, evaluative, or personally invasive information). The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found.

Historical note

In 1975, The People's Army of Vietnam intensified military efforts and making apparent that the collapse of the government of the Republic of Vietnam was imminent. The first public indication of President Richard Nixon that he was intending to conduct an evacuation program of the nearly 6000 Americans and tens of thousands of South Vietnamese employees of the United States government, news agencies, contractors, business owners, and their families involved in the war effort came during an address to a joint session of Congress on April 10th, 1975. The evacuation of Saigon begain on April 15th and took place over 15 days. In all 130,000 people departed Vietnam, including about 40,000 Vietnamese who left in small boats, ships, and comandeered aircraft. Evacutation of Americans and Cambodians from Phnom Penh also occurred.

Nixon appointed Ambassador L. Dean Brown on April 18th to head an Inter-Agency Task Force to coordinate all U.S. activities for evacuating refugees. Julia Vadala Taft of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was appointed Director of the Task Force on May 27th, upon Brown's resignation. The task force and constituent U.S. agencies directed their efforts towards:

  • Evacuating refugees from Southeast Asia
  • Selectin staging areas in the Western Pacific and reception centers in the United States
  • Arranging support for staging areas and reception centers
  • Overseeing migration of refugees and their permanent resettlement
  • Obtaining financial support for these activities.


Camp Pendelton was designated as the West Coast Reception Center for Vietnamese and Cambodians being evacuated from Southeast Asia with refugees expected to arrive on April 29th. Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, Califronia, was to be a Port-of-Entry. The refugee center was created and then drawn down over a period of months, from April 28 to November 15, 1975, and these efforts are detailed in the After Action Report.

Extent

1 folders

Language

English

Overview

Photocopied report titled "After Action Report of U.S. Marine Corps Participation in Operation "New Arrivals" At Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California" detailing three phases of refugee resettlement from Vietnam at the close of the Vietnam War.

Arrangement

Collection consists of one item, the report, arranged to the folder level.

Physical Location

small manuscripts

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Copy of the report was given to Special Collections from the Camp Pendelton Museum in 2022.

Existence and Location of Originals

Original report is located at the Camp Pendelton Museum.

Processing Information

Processed by Sean Visintainer, November 2023.

Title
Guide to the After Action Report of U.S. Marine Corps Participation in Operation "New Arrivals" At Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California
Author
Sean Visintainer
Date
2023-11-22
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the CSUSM Special Collections Repository

Contact:
California State University San Marcos Library
333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Rd
San Marcos California 92096-0001 United States
760-750-4312