little more than a few trenches doug in a hilltop tooen still green and unscorched, manned by 300 south vee aetna piece civilian regulars advised by a dead. 200 of them like this one. north vietnamese regulars. the enemy had struck with a force of 1200 men. captured enemy weapons would gadhafi frer all over the perimeter. the cost to the americans included 124 wounded, ever these 110 were marines. the rest special forces men. and there were our own dead, 44 americans all-together, all of them marines. the first to fall at con thien. for the next few months, there was less action than preparation for action. the marines had come to stay, to it take control of con thien from the south vietnamese. the plan was to establish a post on the hill stop that could be more easily defended. that meant more bunkers and well protected gun emplacements. the expectation was for another ground assault. enemy artillery was fairly inactive until july when it got busier. the americans retaliated with air strikes. for the rest of july and august, the marines at con thien used their own l. own guns to good effect. the