Editing Mayaguez incident (section)

==U.S. Marines left behind and subsequent controversy==
Due to the intense direct and indirect fire during the operation, the bodies of Marines and airmen who were killed in action were left where they fell including LCpl Ashton Loney, whose body was left behind in the darkness during the evacuation of the West Beach.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|238–240}}

With each withdrawal, the Marines contracted their perimeter on the West Beach. Lance Corporal John S. Standfast, squad leader, 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Company E and his squad covered Company G's withdrawal during the reduction of the perimeter, and he then singlehandedly directed the pullback of his own squad. Before withdrawing to the safety of the new perimeter, Standfast and his platoon guide [[Sergeant#Marine Corps|Sergeant]] Andersen moved forward to the old perimeter to ensure that no member of the company inadvertently had been left behind, each time checking every foxhole. As the Company E commander Captain Mykle E. Stahl prepared to board ''Jolly Green 44'' he informed Captain Davis that all of his men were inside the perimeter, not realising that three Marines of an [[M60 machine gun]] team had set up a firing position behind a rocky outcrop beyond the right flank of the perimeter.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|239–240}}<ref name=Dunham/>{{rp|262}}

Even as ''Knife 51'' left the West Beach, there was confusion as to whether any Marines remained on Koh Tang. The pilot, First Lieutenant Brims, radioed the FAC that some Marines aboard claimed there were still fellow Marines on the ground, but this was soon contradicted by Davis who said that all Marines were off Koh Tang.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|248}} Two hours after the evacuation was completed, with the Koh Tang Marines dispersed among three Navy ships, Company E commander Captain Stahl discovered that three of his Marines were missing.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|254}}

The Marines checked all of the Navy ships but could not locate Lance Corporal Joseph N. Hargrove, [[Private First Class]] Gary L. Hall, and [[Private (rank)|Private]] Danny G. Marshall, members of a three-man machine gun team which had been assigned to protect the right flank of the constantly shrinking perimeter during the final evacuation.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|254}} Sergeant Andersen was the last member of the Marine force to see Hall, Hargrove and Marshall alive at about 20:00 when he ordered them to move back to a new position which was located to the left of the position occupied by Captain Davis.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|239}}<ref name=Dunham/>{{rp|263}}

Just after 20:20 USAF [[Staff sergeant#U.S. Air Force|Staff Sergeant]] Robert Velie on the ABCCC aircraft received a radio transmission from an American asking when the next helicopter was coming to extract them. After Velie received the authentication code from the caller to confirm this was not a Khmer Rouge ploy, Velie's commander radioed the ''Holt'' to advise that Marines were still on the island. ''Holt'' radioed back that the Marines should swim out to sea for rescue, but when Velie passed this message back to the caller he was told this wasn't possible because only one of the three could swim. Velie advised the caller to take cover as air strikes were about to hit the area. The caller confirmed this and no further radio contact was received.<ref name=Burke>{{cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/2017/02/03/us-marines-disappeared-mayaguez-last-battle-vietnam-war-547106.html|title=The Truth About the Lost Marines of the Vietnam War's Last Battle|author=Matthew Burke|publisher=Newsweek|date=21 January 2017|access-date=9 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112120013/https://www.newsweek.com/2017/02/03/us-marines-disappeared-mayaguez-last-battle-vietnam-war-547106.html|archive-date=12 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

A rescue operation was proposed using Marine volunteers aboard the only three serviceable helicopters. On ''Coral Sea'' the Commander of Task Force 73, [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[Robert P. Coogan]] met with Austin. Davis, McNemar and Coulter, who had just arrived from Subic Bay with a 14-man [[United States Navy SEALs|U.S. Navy SEAL]] team to consider possible options. Coogan asked Coulter to take ''Wilson''{{'}}s gig ashore in daylight unarmed under a white flag with leaflets dropped and ''Wilson'' broadcasting the crew's intentions to recover the American bodies and determine the status of the missing men if possible, but Coulter was sceptical and instead proposed taking his team ashore for a night reconnaissance, but this was refused by Coogan.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|254–255}}

Coogan had to weigh up the order from [[Seventh Fleet]] to cease hostile actions against the Khmer Rouge against the lack of evidence that any of the men were still alive, he decided that there would be no rescue mission unless there was some confirmation that the three Marines were still alive.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|254–255}} The following morning ''Wilson'' cruised back and forth between the West and East Beaches for three hours broadcasting messages in English, French and Khmer saying that they had no hostile intent, but simply wished to retrieve any U.S. personnel dead or alive on the Koh Tang and would send an unarmed boat ashore if the Khmer Rouge signalled them.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|255–256}}

Half of ''Wilson''{{'}}s crew was on deck scanning the beaches and jungle for any sign of the missing Marines, but no signal was received from the Khmer Rouge or the missing Marines. With no indication that the three Marines were still alive and the certainty that more lives would be lost in any forced rescue attempt, a return to Koh Tang was ruled out and ''Wilson'' departed the area.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|255–256}} Hargrove, Hall and Marshall were declared Missing in Action and then on 21 July 1976 their status was changed to Killed in Action (Body Not Recovered).<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|265–266}}

In 1985, an eyewitness report indicated that a wounded American had been captured on Koh Tang after the assault and was subsequently executed.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|16}} The NSA intercepted Cambodian messages which referred to 'the American that was captured' with orders not to talk about this.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/vietnam_powmia_docs/reference_numbers/doc_1617.pdf|title=Cambodia Reports Capture of American Personnel|publisher=nsa.gov|date=5 May 1978|access-date=16 August 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918105645/https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/vietnam_powmia_docs/reference_numbers/doc_1617.pdf|archive-date=18 September 2015}}</ref> In 1999 Em Son approached the [[Joint Task Force-Full Accounting]] (JTF-FA) on learning that they were looking for further information regarding the events on Koh Tang.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|277}} Em Son advised that on the morning on 16 May he ordered his men to search the West Beach for any remaining Americans.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|281–286}}

About 100&nbsp;m from the beach one of the Khmer Rouge was hit by [[M16 rifle|M16]] fire. The Khmer Rouge then fired mortars and encircled the firing position, capturing one American with a leg wound. Em Son's description of the American matched that of Joseph Hargrove. The Khmer Rouge continued their search and located an abandoned M60 machine gun, various equipment and the covered body of a black American soldier. Em Son ordered the dead American (presumably Ashton Loney) buried and the prisoner taken to his headquarters. When Em Son was advised that the Khmer Rouge hit by M16 fire had died, he ordered the American to be shot.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|281–286}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Burke|first=Matthew M.|title=Fate of Marines left behind in Cambodia in 1975 haunts comrades|publisher=Stars and Stripes|url=http://www.stripes.com/fate-of-marines-left-behind-in-cambodia-in-1975-haunts-comrades-1.214568|date=4 April 2013|access-date=16 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404232213/http://www.stripes.com/fate-of-marines-left-behind-in-cambodia-in-1975-haunts-comrades-1.214568|archive-date=4 April 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

Approximately one week after the assault, Em Son's men noticed that their leftover food was being disturbed and on searching they found bootprints in the mud. They set up a night ambush and on the third night they captured two Americans matching the descriptions of Gary Hall and Danny Marshall. Em Son radioed Kampong Som and was ordered to deliver the Americans to the mainland. The following morning the two Americans were taken by boat to the mainland and then driven to the [[Ti Nean Pagoda]] above Sihanoukville where they were stripped to their underwear and shackled. After one week, on orders from Phnom Penh, each American was beaten to death with a B-40 rocket launcher. Hall's body was buried in a shallow grave near the beach. Marshall's was dumped on the beach cove.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|286–289}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/secrets-koh-tang|title=Where the Search for MIAs, and How They Died in the Last Action of the Vietnam War, Continues|work=Leatherneck|date=May 2001|author=Ralph F. Wetterhahn|access-date=2012-09-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506130541/http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/secrets-koh-tang|archive-date=2013-05-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Recovery efforts in 1999 by the JTF-FA later found bone fragments that might have belonged to Hall and Marshall, but [[DNA test]]s proved inconclusive due to the small size of the fragments.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|293–297}} Hargrove, Hall and Marshall all received [[Purple Heart]]s from the U.S. Marine Corps. Hargrove's family did not receive the award until 1999, after investigative journalist and author [[Ralph Wetterhahn]] published several articles in popular magazines about his findings.<ref name=Wetterhahn/>{{rp|268}}

In 2007, Hargrove's cousin, Cary Turner, began a campaign to have [[Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command]] (JPAC), the successor agency to JTF-FA, return to Koh Tang to search for Hargrove's remains. In October 2008 JPAC was reported to have found four sets of remains in an area indicated by Em Son as being where the American suspected to be Hargrove was buried. One of the sets of remains was said to be Caucasian in nature, but DNA analysis was needed before the identity could be confirmed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jdnews.com/news/hargrove-63609-left-spent.html|title=Left behind but not forgotten|publisher=JD News|date=13 April 2009|author=Molly DeWitt|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090518073348/http://www.jdnews.com/news/hargrove-63609-left-spent.html|archive-date=18 May 2009}}</ref>

In 2016 the [[Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency]] (DPAA), the successor to JPAC, announced that it had recovered Hall's ID card and other items from an empty grave on the island and later acknowledged having recovered a US radio and [[flak jacket]] from near where ''Knife 51'' had taken off.<ref name=Burke/>