Thanks for the details.I was wondering how this rumor got started since I heard it time and time again after I told people I served with 1/9.Apparently the rumor persisted even up until the Gulf war.I told a former Marine I served with 1/9 and he said "Oh isn't that the unit that lost its colors in Vietnam?" I never knew the details of what happened in Vietnam that caused the rumor.The rumor I was told was that 1/9 lost its colors in Nam and was disgraced and had to stay in Okinawa for punishment purposes.They only thing I could think of if you say that the colors weren't taken to the field was the possibility the Hq was attacked and overrun at some point.Which I would see as highly unlikely. I'll agree with those that said a unit never carried their colors with them in Nam, I'd also say that I've never heard of a Marine battallion getting completely overrun in Nam, the only reason those 2 companies were roaming out there was the batt was at con thien and that was the routine there to keep the gooks away from the perimeter as much as possible I don't know if that ever happened but the 1/9 guys said that's how they got the walking dead handle. The rumor was then that the NVA was after them because they had gunned some water boo's and cattle that the gooks were using for food on the hoof. It was a like a butcher shop, some of the KIA's had their hands wired together with c rat wire and had been tortured before they killed them. It took us days to get in to the places where they got hit and get all of the body's back and by the end we had at least 3 batt's in the sh*t. I don't know how many KIA and WIA there were but there were more than I had ever seen in one place. I went in on the 2nd with C,1/9 and some of 3/9 on a relief op that went nowhere but down hill in a hurry. On July 2, 67 the Corps had its worst day in Nam 2 1/9 company's A&B were overrun and just about wiped out, north of the trace near rt.561.
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