It was a joyous Marine landing Friday in Long Beach.
The first increment of Phase Iv redeployment from Vietnam came in with its equipment and vehicles aboard two Long Beach-based amphibious ships. The transport dock USS Juneau (LPD-10)and attack cargo USS St. Louis (LKA-116) brought in 246 Leathernecks and 394 vehicles.
At Camp Pendleton's Del Mar Basin, the Long Beach dock landing ship put off 64 men of the 7th Engineering Battalion and 187 vehicles while the tank landing ship Fresno discharged 27 of the Ist Bridge Co and 132 vehicles.
Units arriving in Long Beach were the 9th Engineering Battalion, 3rd Military Police and Headquarters Battalion (1st Division) detachments aboard Juneau. On the St. Louis were the 1st Force Reconnaissance Co., Companies B and C, 7th Engineers, Detachment Force Logistics and Detachment, 1st Bridge Co.

        THE 5TH MARINE Brigade Band from Camp Pendleton played sparkling tunes as the ships came in through a heavy fog at Pier E and the Marines were whisk off to waiting buses. Their homecoming was held in the  Pulgas area of Camp Pendleton.
The men coming back had all logged about 10 months in Vietnam, where U.S. forces are now below the 400,000 mark. A few Marine wives and families were on hand anyway, getting just fleeting glimpses of their loved ones. The Navy welcoming delegation waited in the background until the Marines had cleared.