Sunday, February 24, 2008

Saigon

Saigon was the first stop in country. It was quite a culture shock. Captain Willard the mythical Special Forces Assassin in Apocalypse Now may have said "Saigon, shit, I'm still in Saigon". But all of us who were there felt it. In less than two minutes, to avoid rocket attack, you drop from ten thousand feet to the ground in the big bird, then get whisked away from Ton Son Nhut to your barracks in Saigon. A letter home. "Hello Mom and Dad Oct 3, 1968

This is the first chance that I've had to write. I've been pretty busy getting checked in and standing watches. It's really hard to believe I'm in Vietnam. It's as bad as anything you might have heard. Just imagine living in the middle of a 4 mile square dump, imagine the smell. Imagine the sight. Then imagine what a city looks like after a flood, imagine the smell of damp clothing all around you. It's the rainy season here, it will be for another month after that it gets hot. It's hot now, I'm dreading what it will be like when it gets to it's peak. As for now our facilities are rotten. There aren't any showers, no toilets and no liberty. I'm staying in a transit hotel, the name of it is and get this, The Annapolis. I don't believe that it's like the original Annapolis. We are allowed to leave the hotel between 0500-0730, 1100-1300, and 1730-2000. that is so we can walk down the street to the mess hall. They have an Enlisted Men's Club every night between 1700-2000 a band plays. They're pretty good too. The beer they have there is brought over from the states. It was canned in 1962. The water is mostly undrinkable. The only water drinkable is what is purified which is in the hotel. It is purified with bleach or iodine and it tastes like it. In a couple of days I will be moving to my permanent base. Hope things are better there...."
A short movie on Saigon.


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Saturday, February 23, 2008

Saigon and Going to the Delta

Following a short stay at the luxurious Annapolis Hotel in Saigon we headed for the Delta.
This video is a short version of a two hour ride. Four of us took a U.S. Navy Chevy 1/2 ton pick up to find the Mobile Riverine Force at the coastal village of Vung Tau, which was an in country R&R center. The Riverine Force, as it turns out, wasn't there, and I was told, "they were here last week, who the hell told you they were here." We were lightly armed and armored and were told to drive real fast to avoid being shot by snipers. Like you have to tell a bunch of young men with a borrowed truck to drive fast.
Toward the end of the video, where I pan out to the South China Sea you will see a puff of smoke way off in the distance. That is an explosion and I have no idea what was blowing up other than that happened quite a bit in Vietnam.
Music: John Fogarty of Credence Clearwater Revival fame, "Hot Rod Heart."


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Oil Fields off Vietnam Coast


This map shows early oil field mapping off the Vietnam Coast. For more of the story go here.


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Friday, February 22, 2008

The Mining of the Westchester County LST 1167

In the early morning hours of November 1, 1968 the USS Westchester County LST 1167, a U.S. Navy supply ship was mined on the Song My Tho.

The mining resulted in the death of 18 USN, 5 US 9th Infantry soldiers, and 2 Vietnamese soldiers. There were 27 wounded in action. This movie includes WESCO recovery pictures and YLLC4 work on WESCO and it's own mining two weeks later.

This video which I shot shows the departure of the ship from the Mekong Delta following emergency repairs at Dong Tam. Click here for a memorial page that details the fateful hours of this ship and crew on November 1, 1968.

















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Sunset on the Mekong Delta

An 8 second video taken by me in 1968 along the Song Ben Tre.


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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Romeo 112-1




These pictures illustrate what happens when you mix jet fuel with rockets. This is Refueler 112-1. The top one(at Dong Tam) was recently sent to me by Mike Harris who was with 151 Div. The bottom two are ones I took shortly after the attack. We were still on the river.
It is also referenced as Romeo 112-1 (phonetic alphabet). Refuelers were used to fuel the Zippo boats which had a flamethrower in the well deck and were used for clearing foliage and bunkers. This particular boat was hit by rocket fire on the Song Ben Tre April 16, 1969.Several boats were enroute to Fire Base Khan from Dong Tam. They received 5 recoilless rounds from the South Bank of the Ben Tre 8 miles S.E. of My Tho. Compare to the unburned boat next to it to see how much destruction occurred. between this boat and Monitor 92 1 there were 3 USN wounded. Riding one of these or being involved in escorting one lead to a huge pucker factor. Stop and think about it,one gets hit you have got to get off, so either another boat helps which exposes them to the same attack or you go swimming. So, which shore do you want to swim to? Chances are the attack would occur on a narrow river or canal and with a burning boat blocking the way you came in your choices of exit are suddenly limited.

During TET 68 the Mobile Riverine Force is credited with saving the Mekong Delta. In the process the City of Ben Tre was destroyed. An American Major is quoted as saying, "we had to destroy it so save it". A statement which the American Press played this quote to the hilt, using it to epitomize the seeming futility of the war effort. For the efforts of the Mobile Riverine Force it received one of several Presidential Unit Citations. The equivalent to this award on an individual basis would be the Navy Cross, the second highest award given for heroism. On a personal note: When I was in New York City volunteering post 9/11 I encountered a Vietnamese Restaurant owner who lived at Ben Tre during the war. He personally thanked me for our efforts. That meant a great deal to me. THERE IS A VERY SHORT VIDEO SHOWING THE BEN TRE AREA.


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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Served in the US Navy

"Any man who may be asked in this century what he did
to make his life worthwhile,
I think can respond
with a good deal of pride and satisfaction:
'I served in the United States Navy.'"
-John F. Kennedy
(Remarks at the United States Naval Academy, August 1, 1963


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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The Salvage and Detonation of Gentleman Jim YLLC 4 : A Day on the Song My Tho

This a day on the Song My Tho and Song Ham Luong. Music, Flame Turns Blue, by David Gray.

The explosion you will see is the result of US Navy Divers setting explosives to the partially sunk Gentleman Jim 1 (YLLC 4 aka Light Lift Craft), a US Navy salvage boat. The boat with the long arms sticking out is another Gentleman Jim (Gentleman Jim 2 (YMLC 2 aka Medium Lift Craft). The boat being blown up hit a mine about two weeks after the mining of the Westchester County, which occurred November 1, 1968. The total combined US KIA for both incidents was 27.The Westchester County mining occurred on the Song My Tho and the Gentleman Jim mining occurred November 15, 1968 on the Ham Luong River near the entrance to Ben Tre.


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