James, the son of Bradley L. Batson and Betty L. Batson of Hebron CT, enlisted in the US Marine Corps on March 31, 1966 in Hartford CT. He arrived in Vietnam , and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st MARDIV (Rein) FMF on September 25, 1966. Marine units were being formed and paired with Vietnamese self-defense units , PFC Batson was assigned to CAC (Combined Action Company), CAC-Lima 5. under the operational control of the 7th Marine Regiment. On January 31, 1967 all the Marines assigned to the various CAC units were transferred and placed under the control of Sub Unit #2, HQ Co., HQ Bn, 1st MARDIV (Rein) FMF.
On the morning of March 26, at approximately 9:30H sixteen men a mixture of Marines and PF's (Popular Force Vietnamese) left the CAC LIMA-5 compound in Phuoc Thuan village to visit the community and administer medical help to the local population. About an hour's march from their compound in open rice paddy's dotted with hedgerows the men were ambushed by a superior force of Viet Cong near the hamlet of Van Thuong. A mine was detonated and the patrol was caught in a deadly cross fire raked by machine-gun, automatic weapons and rifle grenades, the men returned fire with small arms and M-79 grenades.
A Call for assistance when out, but by the time the friendly forces arrived to the scene of the ambush, the VC had melted away into the heavy brush covered terrain. Eight Marines were dead as well as their US Navy Corpsman, five of the PF's were also dead, of the survivors, a lone Marine was clinging to life, somehow, the Vietnamese PF platoon leader who escaped the carnage only sustained a wound to his hand. All the bodies were within fifteen paces of each other, stripped of any usable equipment and shot in the head at close range after having being killed or severely wounded during the initial attack.
The dead and wounded were removed from the blood soaked terrain and evacuated, an intensive search for the Viet Cong attackers continued for most of the day with no results. This Easter Sunday was never forgotten by the man who survived or the men who recovered the living and the dead forever remembered by the Marines as "the Easter Sunday Massacre".
Casualties:
PFC James Charles Batson
LCpl Robert Thomas Brinkley
PFC Clarence John Burley
LCpl David Estrada
LCpl Barry Francis Price
LCpl James Adrian Setter
LCpl Terry Dean Shauver
HN Cyril Jeffrey Westly
PFC Charles Henry White
On the morning of March 26, at approximately 9:30H sixteen men a mixture of Marines and PF's (Popular Force Vietnamese) left the CAC LIMA-5 compound in Phuoc Thuan village to visit the community and administer medical help to the local population. About an hour's march from their compound in open rice paddy's dotted with hedgerows the men were ambushed by a superior force of Viet Cong near the hamlet of Van Thuong. A mine was detonated and the patrol was caught in a deadly cross fire raked by machine-gun, automatic weapons and rifle grenades, the men returned fire with small arms and M-79 grenades.
A Call for assistance when out, but by the time the friendly forces arrived to the scene of the ambush, the VC had melted away into the heavy brush covered terrain. Eight Marines were dead as well as their US Navy Corpsman, five of the PF's were also dead, of the survivors, a lone Marine was clinging to life, somehow, the Vietnamese PF platoon leader who escaped the carnage only sustained a wound to his hand. All the bodies were within fifteen paces of each other, stripped of any usable equipment and shot in the head at close range after having being killed or severely wounded during the initial attack.
The dead and wounded were removed from the blood soaked terrain and evacuated, an intensive search for the Viet Cong attackers continued for most of the day with no results. This Easter Sunday was never forgotten by the man who survived or the men who recovered the living and the dead forever remembered by the Marines as "the Easter Sunday Massacre".
Casualties:
PFC James Charles Batson
LCpl Robert Thomas Brinkley
PFC Clarence John Burley
LCpl David Estrada
LCpl Barry Francis Price
LCpl James Adrian Setter
LCpl Terry Dean Shauver
HN Cyril Jeffrey Westly
PFC Charles Henry White
James, the son of Bradley L. Batson and Betty L. Batson of Hebron CT, enlisted in the US Marine Corps on March 31, 1966 in Hartford CT. He arrived in Vietnam , and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st MARDIV (Rein) FMF on September 25, 1966. Marine units were being formed and paired with Vietnamese self-defense units , PFC Batson was assigned to CAC (Combined Action Company), CAC-Lima 5. under the operational control of the 7th Marine Regiment. On January 31, 1967 all the Marines assigned to the various CAC units were transferred and placed under the control of Sub Unit #2, HQ Co., HQ Bn, 1st MARDIV (Rein) FMF.
On the morning of March 26, at approximately 9:30H sixteen men a mixture of Marines and PF's (Popular Force Vietnamese) left the CAC LIMA-5 compound in Phuoc Thuan village to visit the community and administer medical help to the local population. About an hour's march from their compound in open rice paddy's dotted with hedgerows the men were ambushed by a superior force of Viet Cong near the hamlet of Van Thuong. A mine was detonated and the patrol was caught in a deadly cross fire raked by machine-gun, automatic weapons and rifle grenades, the men returned fire with small arms and M-79 grenades.
A Call for assistance when out, but by the time the friendly forces arrived to the scene of the ambush, the VC had melted away into the heavy brush covered terrain. Eight Marines were dead as well as their US Navy Corpsman, five of the PF's were also dead, of the survivors, a lone Marine was clinging to life, somehow, the Vietnamese PF platoon leader who escaped the carnage only sustained a wound to his hand. All the bodies were within fifteen paces of each other, stripped of any usable equipment and shot in the head at close range after having being killed or severely wounded during the initial attack.
The dead and wounded were removed from the blood soaked terrain and evacuated, an intensive search for the Viet Cong attackers continued for most of the day with no results. This Easter Sunday was never forgotten by the man who survived or the men who recovered the living and the dead forever remembered by the Marines as "the Easter Sunday Massacre".
Casualties:
PFC James Charles Batson
LCpl Robert Thomas Brinkley
PFC Clarence John Burley
LCpl David Estrada
LCpl Barry Francis Price
LCpl James Adrian Setter
LCpl Terry Dean Shauver
HN Cyril Jeffrey Westly
PFC Charles Henry White
On the morning of March 26, at approximately 9:30H sixteen men a mixture of Marines and PF's (Popular Force Vietnamese) left the CAC LIMA-5 compound in Phuoc Thuan village to visit the community and administer medical help to the local population. About an hour's march from their compound in open rice paddy's dotted with hedgerows the men were ambushed by a superior force of Viet Cong near the hamlet of Van Thuong. A mine was detonated and the patrol was caught in a deadly cross fire raked by machine-gun, automatic weapons and rifle grenades, the men returned fire with small arms and M-79 grenades.
A Call for assistance when out, but by the time the friendly forces arrived to the scene of the ambush, the VC had melted away into the heavy brush covered terrain. Eight Marines were dead as well as their US Navy Corpsman, five of the PF's were also dead, of the survivors, a lone Marine was clinging to life, somehow, the Vietnamese PF platoon leader who escaped the carnage only sustained a wound to his hand. All the bodies were within fifteen paces of each other, stripped of any usable equipment and shot in the head at close range after having being killed or severely wounded during the initial attack.
The dead and wounded were removed from the blood soaked terrain and evacuated, an intensive search for the Viet Cong attackers continued for most of the day with no results. This Easter Sunday was never forgotten by the man who survived or the men who recovered the living and the dead forever remembered by the Marines as "the Easter Sunday Massacre".
Casualties:
PFC James Charles Batson
LCpl Robert Thomas Brinkley
PFC Clarence John Burley
LCpl David Estrada
LCpl Barry Francis Price
LCpl James Adrian Setter
LCpl Terry Dean Shauver
HN Cyril Jeffrey Westly
PFC Charles Henry White
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