Shore Duty: A Year in Vietnam’s Junk Force

Three million men served in Vietnam and each has a story to tell. Shore Duty is the unique account from author Stewart M. Harris who served as senior advisor to Coastal Group 16 in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. It is the tale of a small outpost in eastern Quang Ngai Province. From a fort built of coconut logs and mud, four Americans and eighty to ninety Vietnamese operated eight wooden junks in an area surrounded by a local population numbering in the tens of thousands. There were no schools, no doctors, no police, and no customs or civic officials. There was no one except these few Americans and Vietnamese trying to accomplish all of the duties a government should. What makes this story different is that these men were sailors. During the course of the Vietnam War, the sailors who rotated through the four-man team at Coastal Group 16 were awarded many commendations, including the Navy Cross, at least one Silver Star, a half dozen Bronze Stars, and ten Purple Hearts, four of them posthumous. This was not a typical Navy tour.