In trying to recall certain things that happened in Vietnam while I was attached to the USS Litchfield County, I decided to relate an event. I'm curious if anybody else remembers this incident and can tell what they remember about it, as well. Now that I have everyone completely confused, here’s the event I’m referencing.
In 1968, the USS Litchfield County was making shuttle runs from DaNang to Cua Viet. I don’t remember what month it was; but, I think it was close to Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19th). We were beached at the Da Nang ramp close to the bridge that separates Da Nang. We put the LCVP out in the water so we could run patrol during our stay to protect the ship from possible swimmers. Myself and 2 other guys were in the LCVP for the night. I believe Bob Gay might have been one of the other men. During the night patrol we ran into some things floating in the water that could have had swimmers under them; and, they were heading toward the ship. We engaged these items with machine gun fire and threw 1 or 2 hand grenades which blew up a raft. If we did get a swimmer, he must have sunk because we didn’t see anything after that.
Later on, we were patrolling close to a sand bar that was close to the bridge. Each of us saw what appeared to be 5 or 6 human like images coming out of the water onto the sand bar and heading toward the bridge. We decided we needed to do something about these possible enemy contacts, so I got out of the boat onto the sand bar. My plan was to make contact with these subjects and try to take them out one at a time. The other guys were going to patrol around the sand bar in case things went badly and I needed back-up. I was armed with a 45 caliber pistol, a couple of hand grenades and a combat knife. We had a 30 caliber machine gun and 2 carbines on board the LCVP.
The sand bar had some large blocks of concrete which had been part of the bridge before it had been blown up a year or so earlier. There was a long clearing between the blocks of concrete and the bridge someone would have to run across before they could reach the bridge. Thus, I decided I needed to get to the blocks to start my search for the enemy. After getting out of the LCVP, I started running toward the blocks when, all of a sudden, somebody shot up a parachute flare that lit up the entire area. If the enemy had been looking out, there is no doubt they would have spotted me out in the open. I dove for the sand and laid there until the flare went out and it got dark again. I was quite surprised some of those guys on the bridge didn’t open up on me. I guess they saw me get out of the LCVP and wondered what I was doing.
I continued on towards the blocks. Once I reached the first blocks of concrete, I looked to my right and saw an opening in the blocks that went back under the blocks. It seemed the opening was big enough someone, especially of the generally smaller physical stature of the enemy, could crawl into and hide. This scared the hell out of me. To be certain, I would need to crawl in there and search it out. I tried not to make any noise whatsoever. I also spent some time just listening for any noise I might hear coming from in there. Then, I slowly crawled under the block. The sand was uneven under there; and, at places it would touch the underside of the blocks I was trying to crawl under. I thought once about throwing a grenade into some of the pockets I found in there; but, I realized that wouldn’t be wise as the concussion would probably blow my ears out. I just crawled in and out of the pockets.
As I was doing this, it became clear to me that if anyone had crawled into these spaces I could tell because the sand would have been disturbed. After checking the blocks, I started looking around the blocks and the area nearby to see if anyone might be laying down and hiding. I couldn’t make contact with anyone so I made my way back to the shore where the others could pick me up. At the time, we all discussed what we think we saw. At the time, we were certain we had seen these images. Where did they go and what were they?
In 1968, the USS Litchfield County was making shuttle runs from DaNang to Cua Viet. I don’t remember what month it was; but, I think it was close to Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19th). We were beached at the Da Nang ramp close to the bridge that separates Da Nang. We put the LCVP out in the water so we could run patrol during our stay to protect the ship from possible swimmers. Myself and 2 other guys were in the LCVP for the night. I believe Bob Gay might have been one of the other men. During the night patrol we ran into some things floating in the water that could have had swimmers under them; and, they were heading toward the ship. We engaged these items with machine gun fire and threw 1 or 2 hand grenades which blew up a raft. If we did get a swimmer, he must have sunk because we didn’t see anything after that.
Later on, we were patrolling close to a sand bar that was close to the bridge. Each of us saw what appeared to be 5 or 6 human like images coming out of the water onto the sand bar and heading toward the bridge. We decided we needed to do something about these possible enemy contacts, so I got out of the boat onto the sand bar. My plan was to make contact with these subjects and try to take them out one at a time. The other guys were going to patrol around the sand bar in case things went badly and I needed back-up. I was armed with a 45 caliber pistol, a couple of hand grenades and a combat knife. We had a 30 caliber machine gun and 2 carbines on board the LCVP.
The sand bar had some large blocks of concrete which had been part of the bridge before it had been blown up a year or so earlier. There was a long clearing between the blocks of concrete and the bridge someone would have to run across before they could reach the bridge. Thus, I decided I needed to get to the blocks to start my search for the enemy. After getting out of the LCVP, I started running toward the blocks when, all of a sudden, somebody shot up a parachute flare that lit up the entire area. If the enemy had been looking out, there is no doubt they would have spotted me out in the open. I dove for the sand and laid there until the flare went out and it got dark again. I was quite surprised some of those guys on the bridge didn’t open up on me. I guess they saw me get out of the LCVP and wondered what I was doing.
I continued on towards the blocks. Once I reached the first blocks of concrete, I looked to my right and saw an opening in the blocks that went back under the blocks. It seemed the opening was big enough someone, especially of the generally smaller physical stature of the enemy, could crawl into and hide. This scared the hell out of me. To be certain, I would need to crawl in there and search it out. I tried not to make any noise whatsoever. I also spent some time just listening for any noise I might hear coming from in there. Then, I slowly crawled under the block. The sand was uneven under there; and, at places it would touch the underside of the blocks I was trying to crawl under. I thought once about throwing a grenade into some of the pockets I found in there; but, I realized that wouldn’t be wise as the concussion would probably blow my ears out. I just crawled in and out of the pockets.
As I was doing this, it became clear to me that if anyone had crawled into these spaces I could tell because the sand would have been disturbed. After checking the blocks, I started looking around the blocks and the area nearby to see if anyone might be laying down and hiding. I couldn’t make contact with anyone so I made my way back to the shore where the others could pick me up. At the time, we all discussed what we think we saw. At the time, we were certain we had seen these images. Where did they go and what were they?
My First Day In-Country
When you’re young, your emotions often cause you to make hasty decisions for which you could find yourself in a hell of a situation.
The black & white TV was on the news showing demonstrators burning the American flag. This, of course, angered me something horribly. I decided to go and talk with the U.S. Navy recruiter. Well, they were glad to see me and offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse. This was in 1966; and, I was in a trade college at the time. When I graduated, I went to boot camp in San Diego, California. I then spent a year in the reserves before going on active duty in 1967. While I was in transit in San Diego waiting to get my orders to a duty station, they offered me a wish list. I was told I could pick my duty station and what job I wanted to do as well as a home port and overseas port. This sounded good so I wrote down I wanted to work in the printing shop in San Diego and overseas in Japan.
As time went on, we all were getting our check-ups and shots. Then our orders were put on a list tacked on to a bulletin board outside the personnel office. Everybody was there looking for their assignments. You had to fight just to get close enough to find out what your future career in the U.S. Navy was going to be. As I read my orders, I had to read them twice. It appeared there must have been a mistake made somewhere as these orders stated I was to go to Guam and catch a ship called an LST - whatever in hell that was. - and I was to report to the Deck Department. Well, I found out the U.S. Navy didn’t much care that I thought there had been a mistake made. I was shipped out to Guam.
After 2 or 3 days on Guam, I realized my ship wasn’t coming in and I was sent to the Philippines to catch it. I waited in Subic Bay for 2 days and caught a flight to Vietnam. I flew on a C-130 cargo plane heading to the DaNang Air Base. The trip on this c-130 was an experience I will never forget. That was the roughest airplane ride I had ever had. There were 16 of us going to DaNang on that plane. We were seated against the sides of the plane on wooden slat type benches that had been pulled down for us to sit on. In front of us were some large fuel tanks that are used on airplanes. They were the primary cargo the C-130 was hauling. The crew chief was checking on us every so often and had told us this was a 12 hour trip. After what seemed like hours of unreasonable torture riding in this plane, the crew chief came back and told us we were fixing to land at the DaNang Air Base. He said we would be coming in low over the tree tops so for us to hang in there and we would land soon. While flying over the tree tops, we began to hear unusual sounds. We weren’t sure what was going on. About that time, the crew chief came running back and asked if we were all okay. We checked ourselves and said, “Yes.” He said we had just received incoming rounds from automatic weapons. He pointed to the side of the plane where we could see holes in the plane as evidence we were under enemy fire. This, of course, was a major set back to my belief that I need to be there.
The crew chief to us we were now going to land. He told us when they normally come in for a landing they don’t go over the tree tops. Rather, the plane drops to the runway and touches down; but, it continues to roll until all the cargo is dropped out the back, which doesn’t take long. Then we take off right away. In his words he basically said, “It keeps the enemy from hitting us with their mortar rounds. But now, with you men on here, we have to come to a complete stop to let you out so that means the enemy is going to try hitting the plane with their mortar rounds. This is how it’s going to go. When we land and come to a stop, I will open the side door so you can get out. I will then drop my cargo after which we are immediately going to take off. Make sure when I open the side door you all get the hell off my plane; because, if you’re not off my plane when I’m done dropping the cargo, you will be going back to Subic Bay.” Needless to say, this crew chief’s language was more colorful than I’ve written.
The plane touched down, came to a stop, and we quickly jumped off the plane with our sea bags. As we started around the back of the plane, I heard a sound I had never before heard. It was an explosion coming from the end of the air strip. Then, I saw more explosions coming our way. Someone said we were receiving incoming rounds. I said to myself, “Oh crap.” I saw what appeared to be sand bags at the edge of the run way. I started running towards them and dove over the sand bags into an area that seemed a lot safer than the airplane. All the time we could hear mortar rounds hitting close to the sand bags and the airplane. I took a short peak over the sand bags to see if the C-130 had made it; and I saw it lifting off the runway. This whole episode lasted about 5 minutes. Then it was over.
We were told we would be going to Camp Tien Shaw. We needed to get across the river and there was a boat that would take us. We got our sea bags and went down to the river where we boarded the boat. When we reached the other side of the river, we saw a guard shack and 2 Marines, with guns, standing guard. The Marines told us a truck from Camp Tien Shaw would be there soon. When the truck arrived, we all got in the back with our sea bags. I noticed the 2 Marines driving the truck each had 45 cal. pistols and each had a rifle. We started moving down the road toward Camp Tien Shaw. After about 15 or 20 minutes, the truck came to a quick stop; and, we could hear gun shots. It appeared bullets were hitting the side of the truck and the road. The driver and the guy riding “shotgun” jumped out of the truck and began yelling at us to get off the truck and take cover.
We were under fire from an ambush. We jumped off the truck and ran towards the ditch on the other side of the road from the shots were being fired. When I got close to the ditch, I dove into the ditch. Right after I was airborne it hit me there were punjy sticks in the ditch. I figured I had really screwed up this time; but, it was too late to do anything about it. When I landed in the ditch, I realized I was one lucky sailor as there were no punji sticks - just leaves filling the ditch.
We were then lined up along the ditch waiting for the VC to come on in and do their thing. We figured it wouldn’t be too long before they realized on 2 of us, the Marines, had weapons. Right next to me was a kid who couldn’t have been more than 18 years old. He was shaking so badly he was actually moving all over the ground. I grabbed him and told him to reach down and get a rock that was on the side of the road. I told him to hold that rock in his throwing hand and when the VC come over the road we would jump up and hit them between the eyes with these rocks. The guy look at me like I was crazy; but, he settled down to the idea this might be the only thing we could do. I was glad he felt a little more secure because I was just as scared as him. He just didn’t know that. About the time we figured we were in deep trouble a truck loaded with several Marines showed up. That was the best sight I have ever seen as we knew we were going to be alright. These Marines went into the wooded area; and, all we could hear was gun shots that sounded like a war was going on. The driver of our truck told us to get back on board; and, we started down the road again.
We arrived at Camp Tien Shaw not too long after the ambush. We got off the truck and reported to the guards at the gate. We were then taken to the barracks. We were told to pick out a bunk as this is where we would stay until we were sent to our units. I asked if there was a place I could some laundry and I was directed to the end of the barracks. I took my dirty clothing to the laundry and began to wash it. After an hour or so, I heard a very familiar noise that sounded like incoming mortar rounds. I looked towards the mountain at the end of the camp and saw explosions where mortar rounds were hitting. Just then a round hit the EM club across from me. It blew a hole in the roof and debris went everywhere. I saw a Marine Gunnery Sergeant come out of the club grabbing stuff off of himself and throwing it to the side. I could tell he was really upset. He headed toward the gate; but, I stayed right where I was as I had no idea where to go, anyway. The mortar attack stopped not too long after it had started.
I was thinking to myself, “Boy, did I screw up. I shouldn’t have gotten so mad at the flag burners; and, I should have taken a little time to think my decision over before I enlisted.” Then I said to myself, “Why the hell did I get off that plane? I have been here less than one day and I have been under attack 4 times.” Later on I was told the Gunnery Sergeant had gone to the front gate, got a rifle from the gate guards, and went into the area by the mountain where he killed 3 or 4 enemy VC. Then, he came back, returned the rifle to the guards, and went back to the EM club and began drinking. Now that was one tough SOB. I decided at that time that maybe there is a John Wayne.
The next morning I was taken to the pier where I was picked up by an LCVP from the USS Litchfield County (LST-901). I was so glad to see that ship. I thought at least I wouldn’t have to be shot at again.
