US Coast Guard Cutter Point Banks Vietnam Patch

[otter42]

Traded for this patch the other day on a trip back from the coast. It is different then the ones I have seen in my books, due to the fact it has the boats name on it.

Some history:

On the night of 21 January 1969 while on patrol south of Cam Ranh Bay, Point Banks intercepted radio transmissions from the shore requesting assistance in evacuating several ARVN troops that were surrounded by Viet Cong units. After receiving permission to attempt a rescue, she launched her small boat with two crewmen and came to the aid of nine stranded ARVN troops with the help of two Navy Swift boats and an Air Force AC-47 gunship. Point Banks assisted by lobbing mortar fire along the shoreline. Gunner's Mate Second Class Willis J. Goff and Engineman Second Class Larry D. Villarreal were awarded the Silver Star medal for their heroism under fire.

 

 

 

At the request of the United States Navy, in April 1965, she was alerted for service in Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation Market Time along with 16 other Point class cutters. While the crew completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and Camp Parks, California, Point Banks was loaded onto a merchant ship, and transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refit for combat service.Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, additional sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of four M-2 machine guns. The original bow mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50 caliber machine gun/81 mm trigger fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast Guard for service in Vietnam.For service in Vietnam, two officers were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of interdicting vessels at sea.

Point Banks was assigned to Division 11 of Squadron One to be based at An Thoi, a small fishing village on the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island along with Point Clear, Point Comfort, Point Garnet, Point Glover, Point Grey, Point Marone, Point Mast and Point Young, . After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Phú Quốc on 17 July 1965 in the company of USS Floyd County (LST-762), their temporary support ship. Point Banks was the only cutter to experience an engine casualty during the transit to Vietnam. Repairs were made underway to one of the main drive engines and the division was not delayed in route. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station on 1 August and began patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cà Mau Peninsula. Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on board. During September 1965, USS Krishna (ARL-38), a repair ship outfitted for the repair of WPB's relieved the USS Floyd County. Also during this time, the WPB's were directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.

 

On 17 November 1969, Point Banks was turned over to the South Vietnamese Navy as part of the Vietnamization of the war effort and recommissioned as HQ-719

[otter42]

Some pictures I found on the net.

 

 

[1st Sgt CES]

What a Great patch !!!!--You don't see Coast Guard stuff that offen-------Blue Skies 1st Sgt CES