EVER HEAR OF THE "JUNK FORCE"?

[Vincennes]

Today at the flea market I bought a photo collection beloning to CDR Mark Van Voy NELSON who spent 30 years in the Navy and died last year. The collection contains 42 prints and 125 negatives. The negatives cover both family and military career but the prints are all from a tour of Vietnam in 1963-64. 19 of those prints are close-ups of Vietnamese people and 9 have messages, dates and locations written in English and Vietnamese on the reverse. The other 23 prints are of military subjects. All of those are blank on the back. 6 of the military prints are shown below.

 

Nelson was in Vietnam in 1963-64 as a US adviser for Operation "Junk Force". In 1956, the North Vietnamese began infiltrating men and arms into the Republic of Vietnam's territory by sea. In response the Vietnamese Navy created the Coastal Junk Force of junks manned by Regional Irregular Forces and local fishermen recruited for the occasion, to patrol the waters around the Demilitarized Zone. The force later came to be known as Coastal Groups, and patrolled the entire 1,200-mile coastline. This force was under the control of the regional military zone commands rather than the Navy, and was not incorporated into the Vietnamese Navy until 1965, by which time it numbered over 100 vessels. President Kennedy sent US Navy advisers into Vietnam to train and advise these operations. Nelson was one of those advisers. He later spent several more tours of duty in Vietnam. He was awarded several decorations during his tours in Viet Nam and elsewhere, including a Bronze Star, Meritorious Achievement Medal with Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal and Navy Achievement Medal with Combat "V".

 

Paul

 

[agate hunter]

Great grouping!

[swmdo]

Nice group.

[Mitch]

Very nice grouping !! Right up my alley.It looks like the Navy officer is wearing a SVN Junk Force beret badge as a pocket patch. That is cool!! Thanks for sharing.

Regards, Mitch

[gwb123]

Great photos!

[nguoi tien su]

Great photos. Nice to see the "Junk Force" badge worn on a shirt again.

[Vincennes]

For those of you who remaked about the "Junk Force" insignia, here is another picture from the collection. They put it on their jeeps also.

 

Paul

[swmdo]

Cool photo

[Salvage Sailor]

Junk Force, June 1965, Navy Combat footage

 

Firing on a sampan with M2 carbines and a thompson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Junk, firing with a Swedish K smg

 

 

 

 

Provenance

 

Junk Force An Thoi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Another day, another mission, this time in the rain...

 

Junk Force at An Thoi

 

 

 

June 1965, banging away with the carbines and M1's

 

Reloading

 

 

 

Their partner moves in, firing the .30 caliber on the bow

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Cleaning weapons at An Thoi, note the Junk Force badge on the Chiefs ballcap too

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Radiomen setting up the comms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

Back out to rendevous with 'Mother'

 

Minesweeper USS EXCEL (MSO-439) on Market Time patrol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tom arnold]

Great photos! What was the timeframe and location? I am guessing way north with the hills in the background?