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Vietnam 1967-68 -LZ Gator
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LZ Gator - 19 Aug 1968
to 05 Sep 1968 - When I returned from R&R, I found that the section had moved from LZ
Professional to LZ Gator. Some people have called this a "rear" firebase. It was about 8 km
south of Chu Lai and accesible by road. I have read that snipers often shot at people driving on
the entrance road but I do not remember this happening to me or anyone else that I know. To me
this is one of the worst firebases that we were on. It was muddy, stinky, living conditions were
terrible and the food was worse. I suppose that it was a "safe" base but we longed to get back to
somewhere where we could do our jobs better. After about two weeks we got our wish and
moved back to LZ Young. We remained on LZ Young until I went home in December of
1968. I remember very little of our stay on LZ Gator. We lived in a fairly large but low ceiling bunker that had an uneven dirt floor, fairly tall near the entrance but only a few feet high at the other end. It was not lighted and there were few openings to admit light and fresh air. I do remember waking SSG Parks one night by shaking his shoulder. This is the WRONG thing to do to man who has recently returned from the field where he was a recon Sgt. I guess that he thought that he was still in the field because before he was fully awake he very quickly removed his 15" Bowie knife from it's scabbard and swung it at me. Fortunately my reactions were quick and I got out of the way before he sliced open my stomach. The incident scared both of us and he admonished me to wake him in the future from a distance by shouting. I do not remember that we were ever attacked while there. The third TET offensive began while we were on LZ Gator. Although we were not attacked, just about everyone else in the vicinity was hit. The Chu Lai airfield was hit with 6 to 8 rockets daily. We provided radar support to the South end of the Chu Lai base as well as numerous firebases and field units in our area almost every night. Because of our position on a hill at one end of a flat plain we were able to see a lot of the action that occured south of us. Bein Son was about 5km away and was probably the closest heavy and repeated action in the area. Contributing to the lack of attacks on LZ Gator might be the arsenal that was there when we were; two 105mm howitzer batteries, one 155 battery, one 8" battery, a number of mortars, 2 quad 50 machine guns and quite a few APCs sporting 20 and 40mm cannons. We had constant problems with the Radar while there and it took many hours of work to keep it at peak operating accuracy. While there we learned that a relatively new Q-4 Radar on nearby LZ O'conner had an unrepairable defect in the antenna and was going to be shipped back to the USA for rebuild. We made arrangements to swap computers and several other parts with it to bring our set back up to standard. Also while on LZ Gator, Mr.'T' acquired two metal 8x8x8 storage conexes, had one side of each cut out and then had them welded together. We turned this 8 ft x 16ft metal box into a portable operations center by adding wiring and lights and 'permanently' installed the Radar Control Unit stand, maps, telephones, coffee pot, radios and even a narrow bed. The box could easily be hauled under a helicopter to any location. We would now be able to be fully operational in less than an hour and 'bunkered' in just a couple of hours after arriving on a new LZ. In addition we would be able to haul all sorts of stuff in the Ops center. On 5 Sept. we packed our stuff and moved back to LZ Young in a driving rain. |
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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. This 31 year old Khaki
uniform shirt still fits. It is decorated as it was when I went on R&R from Vietnam to Hawaii in
1968. 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 'These Boots Are Made For Walking' a popular song from the 60s. |
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