Opening slate reads: "Operation Rio Grande" and shows partial date of "11-2....." (The complete date is November 20-27, 1967, when this Search and Destroy mission was launched by the U.S. Marines 5th and 7th Brigades with South Vietnamese forces support during the Vietnam War.) A U.S. Marine jet aircraft dives low and drops a bomb on a Viet Cong position. View from overflying CH-46A helicopter of others maneuvering low over rice paddies, where smoke rises from some small fires, possibly from helicopter M60 machine gun fire. Helicopters parked with rotors turning on a large open field. Helicopters maneuvering low above the ground, and then climbing and departing the area.
Opening slate identifies this footage as from "Operation Rio Grande" which ran from November 20-27, 1967. It was a Search and Destroy mission which incorporated the U.S. Marines 5th and 7th Brigades along with Republic of Vietnam marines and Army units during the Vietnam War. Patrolling marines walk across a field. Next, marines are seen crossing a crude log bridge on a road through jungles. View from rear of a marine approaching a thatched roofed dwelling, where he joins other marines. Some weapons are seen on the ground. They gather at a low entrance to the house where another marine is searching inside. He comes out carrying an automatic pistol that he hands to another marine. The marines search other houses in the small cluster of homes. Several marines gather outside the huts. One speaks on a PRC-25 radio. They begin moving away from the area. In a different area, a marine pulls a cover off a hole in the ground which conceals an entry to a tunnel. He slowly crawls into it. He passes a large roll of paper, covered with plastic, to a marine standing outside the tunnel entrance. As he emerges from the tunnel he passes an orange-colored object to the marine outside.
U.S. Marines in Quang Ngai, Vietnam during Operation Rio Grand of the Vietnam War. Film opens showing a line of U.S. marines patrolling in area of rice paddies. A hut is burning in the background. Closeup of two marines consulting maps. One points in a direction. Camera pans from the burning hut to the marines with the maps. (Another one has joined them.) Camera focuses on marines leading two suspected Viet Cong men wearing nón lá (conical hats). Next, the marines are seen herding an entire family of suspected Viet Cong including women and children. A Viet Cong suspect, stripped to the waist during interrogation, puts on his hat and shirt. He is given a packet of documents. Closeup of Vietnamese woman. Marines relax taking a break.
Film starts showing two CH-46A helicopter in flight low over rice paddies during the Vietnam War. View is from another helicopter flying above. An M60 machine gun is seen sticking out of the overflying helicopter. White smoke is rising from some small fires on the ground. Several CH-46 choppers are seen on the ground with rotors turning. Glimpse of M60 machine gun protruding from the overflying camera helicopter. Small fire burning behind the parked choppers. Change of scene shows 4 U.S. jet aircraft in formation. One dives down and drops napalm on a target marked by white smoke. The bomb explodes in a fireball billowing dense smoke. Another jet drops a bomb in wooded area.