I started building my hooch on Wednesday May 8th at just before noon. Soon there were Marines all over the place. shower heads came out from the side Phu Loi Airbase Information by: Daniel Hanley, Phu Loi Airbase is 30 mile North of Saigon.I was with A Company, 1st Aviation Battalion, Infantry Division, October 1965-1966. of any of that. What the F is wrong with her? The fleet also managed logistic operations at these locations. Quite the contrary, African Americans frequently complained that they were disproportionately assigned menial duties, not promoted to the level they deserved, unfairly targeted for punishment, disproportionately drafted, assigned to combat units, and killed in Vietnam. Between 1969 and 1971 hundreds, if not thousands, of incidents of racial violence occurred in and around American military bases The shop door are between the 2 telephone poles. My barracks was an old French barracks at Camp Tien Sha near Da Nang. march in columns of two over to that building. One rocket struck this barracks, but the man in this room survived by . They were waiting for electricity and to get more beds from Catholic Charity . In July 1966 the "Bridge Cargo Ramp" (160307N 1081352E / 16.052N 108.231E / 16.052; 108.231) began operations increasing NSA's supply capability. Whatever, I was very Probable a pissed of old farmer getting off a couple round while drinking his morning coffee. [1] In November 1965 500 men moved into the old French Army camp, Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. Was I scared ? A sad day because we were no longer a Seabee Team ! things. The memory of this little girl and the events at the Children's hospital are the reason I never had children of my own. good times in the "duty jeep". The poor farmer had stepped on a mine. camp tien sha danang, vietnam 1968 - seven10solutions.com I was shocked when he told me she was only 15 years old! On May 13,1968 we took 6 122mm rocket rounds as explained in my May 15,1968 leter. I was given our 2 new carpenters to help with the concrete pour, 3rd class builder Calabresy and builder CN Craig Taylor. Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965. I took this photofrom the stern of YFU 80 which was docked at SCRF, looking across Da Nang harbor at sunset. The Gunny Sargent assured me that the cost of the 782 gear would come out of their final pay check! T is a history of NSA in Vietnam, which by 1969 was the Navy's largest overseas command with the largest public works department in the world. That night at the mess hall it was, " did you hear about the 2 grunt that got shot and killed at the Skivvy house last night"! this place, wearing only "shower May 1. While base facilities were under construction, the fleet deployed to Danang LSTs, a Landing Ship Dock (LSD) and an Attack Transport (APA), the latter for quartering and messing NSA personnel. hair cutting all my time there aside at Camp Fay. The only answer I could give them that they would except was. I have absolutely no recollection of You'll see scenes filmed along the roads between Da Nang and Camp Tien Sha -- driving through villages and countryside, past ships in the harbor, port activity, etc. I got in the habit of sleeping with my right foot hanging off the edge of my cot so I would always be pointing towards the bunker. This is my Poem about the farmer who stepped on the mine. I stretched it to it's Stephen Marcoux Obituary (1947 - 2017) - Hoosick Falls, VT - Legacy loading the LSTs and loading onto trucks. Technicaly they were out side the perimeter so were not recorded, I guess. In other words, if you could drive a Corvair fast and survive you I think Naval Support Activities in the I Corps, the northern-most theatre of war in South Vietnam. Chapel? and their 155 and 175 guns. Vietnam War Home Movies Tien Sha & Da Nang 1969 ammo dump explosion, freedom hill VintageFilmArsenal 2.48K subscribers 37K views 8 years ago Go to vintagefilmarsenal.com to purchase a. The new pier facility allowed deep-draft ocean-going vessels to unload cargo directly onto trucks instead of offloading into Lighters while anchored in the harbor. On Sunday most of my team mates loaded up our flat bed truck with building materials from our salvage yard. I was one of the unlucky ones who ended up shoveling a lot of shit! Dearest Rita, I just finished a quick letter to my folks first one since I've been here. Well I had 11 months to go and it was going to be a very long 11 months ! Keep exploring. What has stuck in my mind all these years is how much that bullet hole in the blond guys head looked like the bullet hole in the back of the head of a very large possum that I had shot in the back of the head when I was about 16 years old. It was an opportunity to get off the Hospital ships and see a little bit of the real Vietnam. What ever it was we were done by shortly after 1600 hr. This is the day I started my real job. a small cargo plane in the middle of the night, all I Because I was just getting situated it was just mass confusion for me . The VC had taken their 782 gear (combat gear, weapons and ammo) and bugged out. with Calif. The Post office took a close hit and there was damage to 3 ambulances by sick bay and a bunch of trucks at the motor pool. Every morning I was stripping floors and then in the afternoon waxing and buffing and cleaning the showers, normal Navy grunt work. [6], In April 1972 all US Navy facilities in Danang were transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy.[1]. course. there. painting rocks. Didnt take long to figure out that everyone could see that you were a FNG. Soon, the fleet dispatched Naval Beach Group One Cargo Handling Battalions 1 and 2, nucleus port crew, Mine Force, Service Force, Underwater Demolition Team, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units to Danang. The rocket attacks after that the would be on target! We hopped in his truck and he took me down to H&S company supply to get bedding and mess gear. sat idle. Military personnel learn some of the basics in other training, but this is the course for the big boys. In March 1965 when United States Marine Corps combat troops landed at Danang, the support establishment was rudimentary. Friday was an interesting day. It took until 2000 hours to finish that first slab. At the moment it happened, my buddy Dave Lozier and I were at Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. Some times a lot of shit happened . On 27 February 1969 a People's Army of Vietnam rocket hit LCU-1500 while it was loading at the Bridge Cargo Ramp killing 13 crewmen. The I was in Danang less than a month when the Vietcong used rockets to attack the Danang Air Base for the first time in the war, on the morning of February 27. I was probably in as much in shock as the farmer. I held that little girl sitting on my tool box and in a short time she was used to me and clutching onto the front of my shirt. I dreaded standing that watch but ever 5 and then 7 days I was going to get it! They had been covered with poncho liners but they had blown off. Then of course there was the dreaded incoming 122mm and 140mm incoming rocket. while we were starting the wall framing we heard the sound of a UH-1 helicopter. Drinking black coffee trying to stay alert. A half inch pipe Most of them would be dead by now as most of the men were in their mid forties then . I don't remember when I stopped doing work at the Children's clinic, Maybe the end of June or early July. ( Short timers uniforms were your oldest most faded fatigues but always clean and well kept.) There were at least 500 RVN Sailors, 6 American Sailors, and two Koreans who worked for Philco Ford. Fay, although it must have happened. He expired nine days later. Select the period (starting by the reporting year): precomm - 1967 | 1968 | 1969 - now Register and add yourself to the Crew List of the Naval Support Activity Danang. C Chi tunnels. I went to my CO and asked to help. The crew truck got there about 1745 hr or so and the doc was still busy. changes to : THE WALL OF FACES - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund I am not sure what possessed me to write poems there. delivering warm water was good [1] In November 1965 500 men moved into the old French Army camp, Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. The causeway was a floating pier that extended about a 100 yards into Da Nang bay and was used to off load ammunition and bombs. map and make modifications, please email your I stood there wondering how I was going to drive wood stakes into that hard ground. Yes that's puppy and our new steel worker (Calhoun). She giggled a bit (talk side was a area called Bridge Ramp which was where the Navy LSTs would pull in Danang had become the largest fuel complex in South Vietnam capable of holding over 500,000 barrels. The Marines slept 12 to 14 men in a hootch. It took six and one half days to finish that hooch (later with a full crew it would usually take us four days to build a hooch). at Camp Fay, never. layout - (07-07-02) Some times she would get so drunk that she couldn't walk anymore, was really funny watch her four legs going in different directions! If your lost and want These positive relations were largely a reflection of the fact that black and white soldiers in combat were heavily dependent on one another. Khoi Tran and Hong Th Hin faved this 3,723 views 2 faves 0 comments Taken on March 17, 2017 Some rights reserved Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED The Doc told me to help tie the farmer down to the desk. Nang officers billeting ! Read their name tag,don't look at their face, it was a hell of a lot easier to pick up the pieces or load up a stretcher of some one you don't know than to deal with a friend ! navy was the hair thing. As tired as I was I never got much sleep. It might be inaccurate in some details, suffice to say, I [2] The camp was quickly expanded to include 25 new barracks able to accommodate an additional 1700 men, together with a barber shop, post exchange and milk plant. The two crew members jumped out just under the flames .They carried their M-60 machine guns. On the left We are the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1122, based in Collin County, Texas. YFUs and LCUs such as the 62 were assigned to Lighterage Div of the Naval Support Activity, DaNang, and were based at Camp Tien Sha Annex. The cot had a broken leg so I had to prop it up with a sand bag and it was missing one end piece so it just wanted to fold up on me when I laid on it. I always had hot meals and a warm bed. The nurse laid across the farmers upper thighs to hold him in place. Detachment Chu Lai - 1964 - 1971. So there I would be for over a week trying to keep the mosquitoes off of me by covering with the sheet and putting my head in the pillow case. in Subic and got a pro hair cut. On Monday morning Bet returned the snorkeling gear to Special Service and noticed that they had two sets of double 70 scuba tanks with Mark-2 regulators. He always seemed happy and smiling and the whole time he was around the clinic I never heard him speak a single work. It had been a very busy month with a lot of things happening. I had my parents send me my Scuba diving lesson book and in what little spare time we could find we would hold Scuba study sessions. K-9 Security Unit-1 (Navy Sentry Dog Unit) Det Cua Viet 1st Naval LARC Division. building. technical and supply stuff. Besides the concrete hospital was a large concrete and stone ward building which had not even been started in early June. Once at the PTF base the jeep and Captain David A . He was transported in critical condition to the NSA Hospital in Da Nang with a massive head injury. kms.) China Beach, Vietnam. About a mile out the crew started kicking boxes out the doors. For African Americans soldiers serving in the armed forces during the Vietnam War the domestic scene loomed large. In your time in the CBs did you decide to be the opposite and do the right thing with newbies? to my new cubicle and dressed in my slightly used green utility working standing duty after working hours you were pretty much alone. Don't try to cross in to the base as there were mines. Looking back, have The road was closed to civilian traffic at night so there would be no other vehicles on the road. If I wanted something I had to have Bet or Ski pick it up. As soon as they caught on they would take on that task and I would move on to the next. During my research I found an entry in the Diary of Marine Lieutenant Don Griffis who was CO of the Provisional Rifle Company who operated patrols out of Camp Books. camp tien sha danang, vietnam 1968. You have destroyed my country and my family! I wish I would have known about it then! Well I answered once about the FNGs. It had been built the end of April so was brand new. the bus to Camp Tien Sha (the one with chicken wiure on the windows) world in a land that nobody cared about , I was sitting in a Continental I shook my head when the CO sent you to Red Beach to exercise your idealism, knowing no one would want you there in the CB team already established. The building site was about 150 yards outside of the north perimeter and the perimeter had not been opened up yet. a lot in Vietnam. What we finally did was a one man 12 hour watch. That was my first time seeing dead Marines. Guard shacks along the pipe line to the ESSO fuel plant, Oil Tanker off loading at the ESSO fuel plant. U.S. MARINES IN VIETNAM THE DEFINING YEAR 1968. by. Retro. Then I could triangulate my frames ,run some string lines, pound in the rebar stakes. quarters. [5], In July 1966 the "Bridge Cargo Ramp" (160307N 1081352E / 16.052N 108.231E / 16.052; 108.231) began operations increasing NSA's supply capability. The green building upper right is the hooch that I built for our Vietnamese workers. Danang Vietnam 1966 1967 Camp Tien Sha was an old French army base. As time passed and I saw all of these kids sick and broken I realized that most of what this clinic was doing was trying to repair the damage done to these kids by the war itself. This comment has been removed by the author. They made runs north to Cua Viet at the mouth of the river (80 miles north of DaNang and 6 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone) and then upriver eight miles to Dong Ha to haul cannon ammunition to the marines. Level the frames and tie them to the stakes and I would have my concrete forms complete. He was really short, only six more days and a wake up and he would be out of Vietnam, back to the world and his girl friend Judy. Do the job, get it done right and then sign off the work order and move on to the next one. line. The Marines on the perimeter were yelling at them to run parallel to the wire. Very often our flares would land in Hoa Kahn or Dog Patch burning down many Vietnamese huts providing more damaged children for the clinic. I had my broken leg cot and was living out of my sea bag. Because of the rocket attack on May 13 (rockets hit with in 50 yard of this building) some of the officers there wanted escape doors out the back of the building where they were starting to build their own bunkers. [3] NSA Danang originally operated from a commercial pier on the city side of the Hn River and this "Museum Ramp" (160300N 1081328E / 16.05N 108.2245E / 16.05; 108.2245) near the Cham Museum began operation in November 1965 off-loading LCU's and LST's. That was the LTs first rocket attack and he didn't react fast enough. Local Page TIMES-MIRROR and OBSERVER Section B WARREN, PA., WEDNESDAY. These detachments decentralized the support function and improved the logistic flow. My first assignment was YFU-54, then The Doc narrated as he worked, what he was doing, what he was going to do, when I should be prepared for the farmer to go ballistic! They had decided to spend the night at the Skivvy house (whore house) in Dog Patch. First I had to do a couple hour job at the 1st MP Quonset hut. Naval Support Facility DaNang (1970-1972), and the Detachments. It is just to heart breaking to see the suffering of the children in this world who are caught in a war! The other important thing we had to do was to check the Red Beach causeway at 2400 hr. didnt get shot at and we safely landed and taxied off the run way. He was wearing his best short timers uniform. Well it scared the crap out of me and probably took a few months off my life ! to LCU-1498 (same routine). from Danang, Republic of Vietnam. I guess that is why there were a lot of E-2 in the Marines. camp tien sha danang, vietnam 1968 - precisionlearning.com I noticed an old gray hair lady,just a skeleton in the hospital bed and asked the doctor about that. I have nothing but respect for those that were. We had an air conditioner in the office and because I worked out side all day I was not used to air conditioning! I can still hear the snip of the scissors as the Doc cut away the flesh. She was wearing light blue pajamas with little lambs printed on it. . This is the near miss at our Post office. Didn't get any meals so after we were finished we ate sandwiches with the mid watch Marines at the mess hall. Then after thinking about it I realized how wrong I was. Nights in Vietnam were uncomfortable at best. So after the 2400 check in I would jump in the truck with M-16 and ammo. Jack Shulimson . as soon as they were installed. Relive & share the memories of your service time with your brothers & sisters in arms today. The new pier facility allowed deep-draft ocean-going vessels to unload cargo directly onto trucks instead of offloading into Lighters while anchored in the harbor. The following information was emailed in to Our generators were not even running yet so I heard the rocket coming in. Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots . Surprise, I think that was normal precaution . The bunker in back was the Korean bunker that I slept in while I was building my hooch. I spent 33 years configured jeep. There was a Marine listening ambush set up outside the perimeter in that area. Honorably Discharged as a QM2(SS) in 1971ish. and drop their bow ramps. It wasn't a normally These truck convoys would run from Danang to Quang Tri Marine base every few days and would spend nights or off time either at Quang Tri or Phu Bi or Danang. I have no significant memories "Sorry that's all we have!" Jeep parts? Everyone was busy as hell and I didn't have any idea as to what was going on. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! . BBC News, Da Nang, Vietnam Da Nang is one of Vietnam's major ports, a city rich in history. aspects of it are certainly more memorable than the bad parts. maids walked in and started cleaning Bet coming down the trail by the ESSO Plant east wall. Same short blond bristly hair, same small bullet hole, and same very damn dead! It was common for the Marines to sneak off base at night for a couple hours in the Village. 10 Best Things to Do in Da Nang - What is Da Nang Most Famous For As usual US style plumbing, the readers. Another interesting point is the H&S Co. Rank Among Most Heavily Sprayed Provinces in Vietnam. Every month she would send a large box of candy, cookies and other goodies. Bruce Moore says he first returned from a 13-month stint in the Vietnam War to a "poor response." "We were at Norton Air Force Base. There was the real possibility of hitting a mine or being ambushed by the VC (it happened more often then I would like to think about) . Then a voice came from inside the Quonset hut." All of the rounds hit in swamp area between the main base and FLC command building . The guy on the right had black hair, he had been shot with a small caliber pistol right where the skull meets the spine. Memoir of my time served with the Navy at Camp Tien Sha, Da Nang, during the Vietnam war. "When I Joined VetFriends, I read about the email locator service, and sent an email to my old friend. One night I was called out for some lights on the west perimeter. the duty jeep normally delivered the crew to the base in the arrive there again.. Joe Witmeyer shares this 50th Well whenever I was working in that area I would sneak in the tent and find some dirty uniforms,still in good shape and steal them, put them in my crew tool box and take them back to my hooch and hand wash them ! maps) office in the White Elephant. submariines (SS) designated. Fish and Game, as a diver/biologist, and retired as the But I don't consider myself as one. The scarcity of lighterage and the heavy weather that often buffeted the harbor made ship-to-craft cargo transfers hazardous and inefficient. Great Discounts & More! We knew the helicopter was in trouble because of the trail of smoke and how fast it was flying. They were pissed off at him because they were sent out there that night when they had already done a day patrol, and they wanted to scare the crap out of him. But that only happened once as from then on I was ready. He didn't mince words. " He left me sitting there on the steps saying he would send Beerworth down at 1700 hr to get me settled in. [3] The camp was quickly expanded to include 25 new barracks able to accommodate an additional 1,700 men, together with a barber shop, post exchange and milk plant. Surprise, I think that was normal precaution . In 1997 I drove my motor bike through the gate while the guard was taking a nap at lunch time and was able to get to the main office and talk to a doctor. But the better Camp Horn is a former United States Marine Corps and United States Army base located in Danang, Vietnam. Under the supervision of the Doc , the Vietnamese nurse and I got him tied down. Select the period (starting by the reporting year): precomm - 1967 | 1968 | 1969 - now Register and add yourself to the Crew List of the Naval Support Activity Danang. Catecka Base Camp. The War - The Boy in the Apple Orchard [1][3]:2, In August 1967, the headquarters of NSA Danang was moved from downtown Danang to Camp Tien Sha. The port of Danang contained only three small piers, three Landing Ship, Tank (LST) ramps and a stone quay that were inaccessible to oceangoing vessels; even smaller craft had trouble approaching. I am a 20 year old US soldier and my country says I have to be here! On Tuesday May 14 I finished my hooch and settled into the corner right inside the door. Ok, I I turned 20 years old and of coarse it went un- noticed although I had gotten a care package from Annett Burrel, a couple surfing magazines from my brother Jay and a birthday card from my girl friend Linda! June 29, 2022; creative careers quiz; ken thompson net worth unix I pretty much walked the whole base then back to the EM club for a cold beer I was told to put it between the farmers teeth with the ends sticking out of the sides of his mouth and I was to gently but firmly hold on to the ends of the stick and hold his head down. Individuality, not. I heard the truth the next day at the mess hall. I was not prepared and he totally over powered me! Drive out the back gate and about 2 miles to the Navy Seabee base. They cut a hole through their new fence and cleared a path threw the tangle foot and mines wide enough for a 4 wheel drive mule.