[rooter]

4 November 1969……A very unusual PSYOPS operation involved Seabees from CBMU-302 at Cam Ranh Bay when a large whale carcass estimated to weigh four tons washed ashore on the beach at the U.S. Naval Communications Station, Cam Ranh Bay. A request was made by the local villagers at Cam Ranh to bury the carcass near the village. The Seabees arrived at the beach with bulldozers, front-end loaders, dump trucks, and plenty of manpower. After fighting the heavy surf for three hours, the whale was finally loaded onto the trucks which the villagers draped with red bunting for the eight mile trip to the village. The whale was buried in a solemn ceremony attended by the entire village and the Seabees.
The Vietnamese fisherman consider the washing ashore of a whale carcass to be a very good omen and the village will prosper and have bountiful fishing year.