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The Forgotten Tragic Last Gasp Of The Vietnam War (1975)
The Mayaguez incident
The last incident connected to the Vietnam war took place in 1975 between the United States and the Khmer Rouge’s Kampuchea state. Like many things during the wars in Southeast Asia, the incident was bloody and poorly planned. That aftermath smacked of senseless death and an exercise in futility. It was the perfect ending to the Vietnam War.
The Mayaguez Incident started on May 12th, 1975, when elements of the Khmer Rouge’s military seized the freighter Mayaguez off the coast. This was a typical play for a country attempting to assert its sovereignty. The Kmer Rogue had just captured the capital of Cambodia and was quickly consolidating control. That control extended to the maritime waters off the coast.
In order to drive home the point that the waters off the coast belonged to the Kmer Rouge, the SS Mayaguez was captured by small attack speed boats. The crew was taken hostage and shipped to a nearby island. The United States was outraged.
Still smarting from their embarrassing loss in Vietnam, the United States saw this as the perfect opportunity to reassert control over the region and remind the players that they were still dominant.
