I'm partial to the AH-1 Cobra, myself. They gave Charlie his due the night 3rd Ordinance was attacked. Dummy me, I was sitting on top of 5,000 barrels of mogas watching the firefight from the safety of our POL yard.
I'm partial to the AH-1 Cobra, myself. They gave Charlie his due the night 3rd Ordinance was attacked. Dummy me, I was sitting on top of 5,000 barrels of mogas watching the firefight from the safety of our POL yard. I can just see it! I have been privy to see the Cobra in action too!
I just realised that tomorrow is the 44th anniversary of that attack against 3rd Ordnance Depot. Vietnam ceased to be a vacation and became a war on that date.
More please, David. Honest personal stuff like this from any war are of interest to me. Must confess I've been sort of intrigued for a long while as to how an Englishman from Grantham ended up in that particular conflict. Another Englishman (Cornish) who fought in Vietnam, was Rick Rescorla, of the Twin Towers attack. I'm caretaker of the school in Cornwall which he attended as a boy. He fought in the La Drang battle, and was nicknamed "hard core" by his companions.
Another Englishman (Cornish) who fought in Vietnam, was Rick Rescorla, of the Twin Towers attack. I'm caretaker of the school in Cornwall which he attended as a boy. He fought in the La Drang battle, and was nicknamed "hard core" by his companions. I didn't know Rick Rescoria but he is a particular hero of mine. He was a member of a Cavalry Regiment similar to the one who's aircraft is diplayed below.
I mentioned earlier about "Puff the Magic Dragon" that would give us support on our perimeter. Puff was a C47 (DC3 Dakota) with mini-guns installed in the doors. Puff would circle an area and lay down a field of fire that was awesome to observe. My photo will give you an idea, I wish I could replicate the sound of those beauties. Hello David added this if thats ok Flying my AC-47 Gunship In Viet Nam - YouTube
Hello David added this if thats ok Flying my AC-47 Gunship In Viet Nam - YouTube Thanks a worthy addition.
This is Tower 5. This is where we went the second lieutenant on his fruitless quest to find the source of the incoming fire. As I recall Tower 5 was manned by members of Headquarters and Headquarters company.
Something of a digression, but this thread has indirectly led me to spending several hours reading here: Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Some great stuff under 'War Stories', and the Unit Histories & after-action reports documents would doubtless be of interest to those looking for deeper stuff.
Here is a picture of me just after inspection prior to going on duty in the bunker I had been assigned to. I have my trusty M16 in my left hand and an M79 grenade launcher in my right. The barbed wire and minefield can be seen to my rear.
Sometimes I was assigned to the M60 machine gun. This picture must have been taken prior to inspection as I still have my jungle hat on.
The weapons we had available to us. I see an M16, an M14, an M60 machine gun and an M79 grenade launcher as well as various smoke grenades.
by way of a soundtrack, may I add "Radio First Termer. 69FM"? Scroll down to Saigon, South Vietnam, 1971. It was a pirate radio station, DJ'd by Dave Rabbit, an Air Force Sgt. Very 'doper', very very funny with some great music. One of the first pages I found when getting the internet in 1996. http://www.radiofirsttermer.com/ This is a great thread David, thank you for sharing your photos and stories
Just out of curiosity, how many civilians did you have working on the base? I think our hiring rate was two per hut, with the majority being women. Males were a scarcity, with the majority too busy fighting for whichever side was winning at the time. Tiger Island seemed to be the choke point for campaigns in our area.
Just out of curiosity, how many civilians did you have working on the base? I think our hiring rate was two per hut, with the majority being women. Males were a scarcity, with the majority too busy fighting for whichever side was winning at the time. Tiger Island seemed to be the choke point for campaigns in our area. I am going to do a thread about civilians on base as I have quite a few photos of them. As for numbers I don't recall but I can't imagine we had as many as two per hooch. Indeed males were a scarcity but I do recall the camp barber being shot dead when trying to infilrate through the wire.