The Amphibious Ready Group (TG 76.5) steamed from Okinawa on 10 April with HMM-362, its reinforcements, and HMM-261 embarked on the USS _Princeton_. The task group arrived off the coast of South Vietnam in the early morning hours of 15 April. At dawn Lieutenant Colonel Clapp, who had seen action as a fighter pilot during the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns in World War II, led the first flight of helicopters from the deck of the _Princeton_. The operation proceeded smoothly with aircraft from both squadrons ferrying HMM-362’s equipment inland to the Soc Trang airstrip. Far out at sea, jets of the Seventh Fleet orbited, ready to provide protection to the Marine helicopters. They were not needed, however, as the Viet Cong made no effort to oppose the movement. By mid-afternoon the airlift of HMM-362’s personnel and equipment to the Soc Trang airfield had been completed. HMM-261 returned to the _Princeton_ where it continued to function as the helicopter element of the Special Landing Force. The day after arriving at Soc Trang, Lieutenant Colonel Clapp’s squadron, nicknamed “Archie’s Angels,” was prepared to support the ARVN. Since the squadron’s combat support was not required immediately, the pilots and crews began flying missions to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings. They learned that their operations were to be conducted over the vast expanse of South Vietnam which stretched from just north and east of Saigon to the nation’s southernmost tip, the Ca Mau Peninsula, and from the South China Sea westward to the Cambodian border. Their initial flights over the Mekong Delta revealed a predominantly flat and monotonous landscape. Parched by the long dry season, the dusty brown rice paddies stood in sharp contrast with the verdant mangrove swamps which abounded near major streams and along the coast. Numerous hamlets, most enclosed by dense hedgerows and treelines, were scattered across the countryside. Thousands of canals and trails and a few crude roads completed the rural landscape in which the Viet Cong guerrilla thrived. Larger towns, such as Soc Trang, Can Tho (located about 80 miles southwest of Saigon), and My Tho (located about half way between the capital and Can Tho) were under the control of the Government of Vietnam.