The m55 was never in RVN. There was one batallion of m53's that came in up near Phu Bai in 1965. All were junk by mid 68, but with one or two survivors. All Arty heavier than a 155 used by Marine units were actually Army m110/107 platforms. They didn't start training Marines on heavy stuff till early 68, and even then there was only two or three classes of about thirty men.
Gary

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The m55 was never in RVN. There was one batallion of m53's that came in up near Phu Bai in 1965. All were junk by mid 68, but with one or two survivors. All Arty heavier than a 155 used by Marine units were actually Army m110/107 platforms. They didn't start training Marines on heavy stuff till early 68, and even then there was only two or three classes of about thirty men.
Gary

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In "Tanks Illustrated" No.6, "Tank War Vietnam", there's a photo on p.23 that author Simon Dunstan captions as showing an M55 because of "the size of the propellant charge and the M106 HE shell in the foreground". In No.18 of that book series, "Self Propelled Howitzers", the same author states on p.12 that "Both the M53 and M55 saw action in the Vietnam War with the US Marine Corps."
Just telling - I don't know who's right.
Peter

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There was one batallion of M53'S that came in at Phu Bai. By 68, there were two or three left. That's all they brought in 1965! Marines were using Army units under their control for 8"/175gun. They did not do 8" or 175, but in early 68 they ran a couple classes of Marines thru Ft. Sill.
I might add that I saw two M53'S broke down on Highway One. They both had an odd ball barrel. We stopped to offer what help we could, and they said this was probably the end of the line for these two hull as there were few spare parts for them. They said Chu Lai was the only that could work on them, and that was about 125 miles each way!
Glt