Three United States Marine Corps battalions were protecting the air base at Phú Bài (approximately 16km southeast of Huế), Highway 1 and all western approaches to Huế, when there should have been two complete regiments.[4]:169 The Commanding Officer of the Marines in Huế was Colonel Stanley S. Hughes, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War who had already been awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star for action in World War II and was eventually awarded his second Navy Cross for Hue City.