Description

Originally published in 1970. The history of Marine operations in the Dominican Republic in 1965 is a publication which has had a long but restricted life and it now appears that it would be useful to give it a wider audience interested in an excellent example of the force in readiness concept. The history had its origin in the request of the then-Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., that an account be compiled shortly after the event, when the command diaries of the units involved became available, in the summer of 1965. A classified chronology was prepared using the diaries, message traffic, and other material then available, mostly obtained through the Headquarters Marine Corps Command Center. A narrative was begun once the chronology was completed and several first-hand accounts of the operation had appeared in service publications. Particularly useful were the articles "Ubique" by Major General Rathvon McC. Tompkins, the senior Marine officer directly involved, and "Dominican Diary" by Captain James A. Dare, USN, who served as commodore of Amphibious Squadron 10, the Navy organization which transported and landed the 6th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the first American troops ashore. The first account appeared in the Marine Corps Gazette (September 1965) and the second in the USNI Proceedings (December 1965).