spring 1969 until its departure from the country, the 7th Marines had scoured the Que Son Mountains and Valley and killed over 2, 300 enemy.

It took another two weeks after the farewell ceremony for the 2d and 3d Battalions of the 7th Marines to actually leave Vietnam. In the same period, all the other remaining combat and support units scheduled for Keystone Robin Alpha also embarked for destinations in the United States and the Western Pacific. On 13 October, the amphibious cargo ship USS Saint Louis (LKA-116) pulled away from the dock at Da Nang carrying detachments of the 7th Marines; MAG-13; the 3d Battalion, 11th Marines; the 1st Motor Transport Battalion; and the 1st 175mm Gun Battery. Her sailing brought to an end the Marines' part of Keystone Robin Alpha. The redeployment had reduced III MAF's strength from 39, 507 officers and men in July to 24, 527 on 15 October.42

On 15 October, the last Marines finally moved out of An Hoa. Throughout September and into October, Marines of the 1st Engineer Battalion and helicopter support teams of Company C, 1st Shore Party Battalion had worked to dismantle the base, protected by elements of the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines. While the engineers rearranged the base with bulldozers, the helicopter support teams rigged the many watchtowers of An Hoa for helicopter relocation to other bases using CH-54 heavy lift helicopters and the Army's "Flying Cranes." Division headquarters viewed the slow progress of the job with increasing anxiety, as the heavy rains of the fall monsoon had begun. Any day, flood waters might make the single road and bridge out of An Hoa impassable for the heavy artillery and engineer equipment still there.

On 11 October, work had reached the point where division headquarters could finally issue withdrawal plans. The operation, coordinated by the 1st Marines, was to emphasize secretly scheduled and heavily guarded movement of the road convoys. The infantry would hold their positions covering Liberty Road and Bridge until the last Marine vehicle rolled onto the north bank of the Thu Bon. They would then turn protection of the bridge and road over to RFs and PFs of QDSZ and board helicopters for movement to LZ Baldy. Even then, five bulldozers, their engineer crews, and a rifle company, were to be left behind for final cleanup.43

Worsening weather cancelled plans for leaving Marines at An Hoa any longer. On 15 October, early in the morning, with Typhoon Joan approaching and heavy rains and flooding threatening, the division ordered immediate removal of all Marines and equipment from the base. Evacuation of the vehicles by road and the personnel by helicopter went forward through a stormy day in what the 1st Marines' report called "an orderly and expeditious manner." By 1900, An Hoa belonged entirely to the South Vietnamese.44