During the summer, elements of the 7th Marine Regiment entered two major large-scale operations. Pickens Forest, a search and clear mission which centered in the Thu Bon River valley, generated little reaction from the enemy and ended on 24 August. Imperial Lake was undertaken a week later. The 2nd Battalion and elements of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, combed the central Que Son Mountains, looking for the evasive enemy. Units of the 7th Marines captured a NVA battalion command post and found the bodies of four senior commanders in a destroyed bunker. Imperial Lake, as it turned out, was the last operation of the war for the regiment.

Withdrawal from Imperial Lake was caused by the redeployment of the regiment. Standdown procedures began on 6 September 1970 with the 1st Battalion transferring to the port of Da Nang two days later. The regimental Commander and his staff left LZ Baldy and moved there on the 20th, leaving the 2nd and 3rd Battalions under the control of the 5th Marines, subsequently the rest of the regiment followed. The 1st battalion departed first from Vietnam, sailing on 23 September for Camp Pendleton, the 3rd Batttalion began deprature on the 26th and the 2nd Battalion on 2 October.

On 1 October a ceremony was performed at the 1st Marine Division Headquarters. The colors of the regiment, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were paraded for the last time while the 1st MAW band played "Auld Lang Syne". At 20:00 Headquarters left by air on the same day, and the last elements of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions sailed for home on 13 October, thus ended the war in Vietnam for the 7th Marine regiment.

7th Marine Regiment
Commanding Officer