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Vietnam 1967-68 - LZ Young - second trip, part 2
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On Sept. 27 during the daily strafing of the valley one of the 2 jets, a Phantom F4 I think, was
shot down. Within 30 minutes there were 5 jets with very angry pilots flying them out there
'working over' the valley. Jets don't get shot down very often in this area, but when they do the
other pilots redouble their efforts to get 'Charlie'. Oct. 2 - Mr. Cook, Mr.'T's replacement, has arrived now and Mr.'T' has gone home. Our generator has also given out and we are unable to operate at all because they seem to be unable to get us a replacement. Even though we are not operating we are still tired because there is harassing fire at night and enough sniper fire during the day to make it difficult to sleep at either time. Mr.Cook went in to Chu Lai to try to get us a 'stand down' for a few days but instead got a promise that a generator would arrive in 2 days. With the generator should be new cables which we need since a mortar round yesterday landed 8 feet from the radar and destroyed the cables. The wall around the radar took most of the shrapnel. The radar itself got a few superficial hits but the cables have shrapnel embedded deep inside. We could possibly repair the cables but since new ones will come with the generator we decided not to. We really do need the generator badly. Charlie has been hitting us and LZ Bowman daily apparently from the same place. We know approximately where it is but because of the mountains cannot get an accurate visual location. With the Radar operating we could have a location in 2 minutes. On Oct.6 our generator still had not arrived. We were mortared again during the wee hours of the morning, and because we did not have an operating generator could not locate and dispatch the attackers. At first light Sgt Parks boarded a helicopter bound for Chu Lai vowing to return by nightfall with a new generator. He quickly located a generator and arranged for it to be brought to us slung beneath a large Chinook helicopter. On the return trip Sgt. Parks rode inside the same helicopter which was flying at some 5000 feet altitude. A sniper using a 51 caliber sniper weapon fired several rounds at the chopper. One round penetrated the bottom of the helicopter, in one of the few areas covered by the thin aluminum skin only and directly below where Sgt. Parks was sitting. The bullet entered his abdomen and proceeded upwards towards his chest doing severe damage to his internal organs. The helicopter immediately turned around and headed for the 27th Surgical Hospital at Chu Lai. Although he was on the operating table within 15 minutes his internal injuries were so severe that he died within a few days. It is ironic that this brave career soldier, who had already survived a tour as a recon platoon sgt. (a very dangerous job), was killed while in a much safer radar unit. | |
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We got our generator the next day and resumed operations. After locating several mortars during
the next couple of days Charlie stopped hitting us daily. The monsoons had also begun in
earnest. Our bunker was leaking badly and the only way that we could stay dry was to hang
sheets of plastic over our cots or wherever we were sitting so that the leaking water would drop
on the floor instead of us. Oct. 11- LZ Young or now more appropriately, Forward Support Base Young has become very crowded. Besides the Engineers, Infantry and original 105 howitzer battery, there is also a Self Propelled 175 howitzer battery, an 8 inch gun battery and an additional 105 battery. The operation that is about to begin has the objective of eliminating the 2 NVA regiments that are now operating out of this valley. Shortly after the arrival of the 175s our resident sniper decided to take a couple of shots at an arriving helicopter. As usually he missed the chopper but this time one of his bullets richoted off of a rock and hit someone in the leg. Enough is enough. One of the 175s was bore sighted onto his close-in suspected location and fired several times with charge 3 and a delay fuse in the hopes that the round would penetrate the ground far enough to blow him out of his hole or tunnel. The area was also sprayed with a Quad 50 that was on the LZ at the time. About an hour later the sniper fired a single shot at an arriving "chow" chopper, apparently just to let us know that he was still there! | |
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Soon after the monsoons began, our bunker began to "list" as well as leak. By now we had replacements for the guys who DEROSed and since Charlie was leaving the LZ alone we decided that we better replace it before it collapsed on us. We were able to get some of the materials right here on the LZ - 105 ammo boxes, empty 55 gallon drums. For the rest we did some trading with the Navy at Chu Lai and during a break in the weather brought out a cargo net full of 4x8 timbers, plywood and PSP. It was a lot of hard work but when we finished it we were the envy of the LZ. It was spacious, completely dry and very strong. Because of our refrigerator and the ability to have cold drinks, a dry place to sleep and even television we had infantry troops just in from the field constantly volunteering to pull guard duty on our roof for us. We took advantage of that while we could and did some sleep catch-up ourselves even though we were operating 24 hours a day. | |
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After we completed the bunker the rains let up and it began to appear that this was going to be a
dry monsoon season. For the remainder of my time on LZ Young and in Vietnam we got no
more ground attacks. We did get sniper fire and mortar rounds almost every day and night but
never more than 2 or 3. Apparently Charlie had learned that if he fired more than that without
moving, we would locate him and the artillery would get him. The NVA were also being kept
very busy by the various infantry "sweeps" that were taking place in the valley. We provided
support for all of these operations as well as other firebases within our 12.5 click (km) range and
got fairly frequent mortar locations when troops in the field were mortared. On Nov. 12 I got my DEROS reassignment orders. I was to be assigned as Cadre to the Artillery Combat Leader Battalion at Ft.Sill, OK. The Ft.Sill part was OK but the unit was not. I was fairly certain that I would be able to get them changed and be reassigned to the Radar school as an Instructor once I was back in the USA. The weather was also turning bad, or really normal, and it rained all day almost every day. Usually it stopped at night but the fog was so thick that you could barely see. this made me very nervous as it seemed an ideal time for another ground attack and with less than a month left "in-country" I did not want that! | |
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On Nov. 20 my replacement, Spec4 Henry Hudson, arrived. He had arrived in pretty much the
same way that I did. He had his orders changed several times and wound up at Americal Divarty
as a general electrical flunky since they still did not have that TPS25 Radar that they were going
to get when I arrived almost a year ago. He heard about us and the fact that I was due to leave
and got himself reassigned to us as my replacement. He seemed to know his stuff well as a
Radar
Tech but had no clue about operation. I spent the next few days teaching him how to operate and
bringing him up to date on the idiosyncrasies of our equipment and then on the last of November
headed to Chu Lai to begin my trip home. My Port Call was not until Dec.3 but I found when I arrived at Company Headquarters that if I could get everything done by noon the next day I would be able to leave immediately. I did so and was on my way. We flew back via Japan and then to Seattle, WA and then I went on to Washington, DC. I encountered none of the problems of criticism that some say they encountered and was welcomed back home by everyone. |
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No. I am not still in the army; I was
discharged in November of 1969 after completing my 3 year enlistment. I don't have a set of
Jungle Fatigues so these Stateside Fatigues from 1969 will have to do here. The shirt fits; the
pants....Oh well.... Click here to contact me by
Email. This site is best viewed with a maximized 800 x 600 size and a high color display setting. Placing your cursor over any of the pictures will display a description for that picture. The music that is playing on this page is 'Wooly Bully', a song from the 60s that was used in Full Metal Jacket, a movie about Vietnam. |
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