In the days following Viet Cong attacks on Marble Mountain and Chu Lai airfields, forces around Da Nang remained on alert. South of Da Nang, members of I Company, 3d Battalion, 9th Marines had two days earlier successfully ambushed what was probably an advance party of a third attack force headed for Da Nang Airbase. In an effort to reduce tension, or perhaps as a show of macabre irony, a member of I Company put up a holiday reminder.