July 4th 1969 A Shau Valley

[Bill Farnie]

At dusk, Dco 1/506 Inf. is picked up after two weeks of humping in the A Shau and heads toward FSB Currahee for a well deserved "rest". As the first lift carrying the 3rd Platoon touches down , Currahee starts taking mortars. Because of the attack the rest of Delta didn't arrive until it was almost dark and it was decided that Alpha Co. 1/506, who were to replace us in the field , would CA out of the firebase at first light so D & A companies shared the duty of securing Currahee.

It was S.O.P. at Currahee to have at least one mad minute during the night and since it was the 4th of July the two Infantry companys made up their minds to also make it a 4th of July celebration. The appointed time for the mad minute came and it was spectacular as the two company's did their best to salute the birthday of The United States of America. The different colored hand flares made excellent substitutes for roman candles. Also the firebases that ringed the A Shau had their own celebrations and gave us on the valley floor a great show. The same scene must have happened all over the RVN that night.

A short time after the firing ceased a tiny flicker of flame could be seen in what looked like the vicinity of the ammo dump that was primarily used to house the rockets of the gunships that were always on station at Currahee. Soon the flicker became a fire and indeed it was in the ammo dump and spreading to the area where two large bladders of fuel for the gunships was located. Lt. Cook , the 3rd platoon leader , came to the bunker we were staying in with an arm full of D-handle shovels so some of us led by the Lt. started towards the fire when the real fireworks began. First the Cobra's took to the air as fast as they could and the wash from their rotors only fanned the fire. We started to hear pop-pop-pop sounds as SA ammo started to go off and noticed that the bladders of fuel were now engulfed with the fire. As we were running as fast as we could away from that side of the perimeter the first bladder blew up with a loud whooshing sound and the heat was so intense I thought I was being burned alive. The second bladder went up a few minutes later.

Then the real fun began as rockets started to go flying every which way and all sorts of rounds M-16 , M-60 , M-79 and the minigun ammo were going off. It must have been quite a sight for the Brigade TOC up at FSB Berchesgarden for they called down to ask if we were being overrun { don't know how our CO explained this one }.For what seemed like an eternity men were crowded into bunkers and fighting positions made for just one company as rockets and rounds were whizzing all over the place. Rocket explosions were everywhere. I remember that Doc Daniels, the combat medic from my platoon, had a close encounter with a rocket as he was trying to get to a wounded man. It went thru his legs skipping along the ground.

It all seems kinda funny now but at the time it wasn't. To this day I've never heard as much praying as I heard that day and that includes my church packed wall to wall at Midnight Mass at Christmas. A very memorable 4th of July to say the least!!!

On the morning of the 5th both company?s had to police the FSB and my company didn?t get its rest. We CA?ed out with Alpha company. I?m sure it was our punishment for the celebration the night before.


PS...I know how the fire got started but I'll never tell.

Hope everyone has a great and safe 4th of July

[The Cooler King]

Great story Bill.

Have a great 4th of July my friend and God Bless!

Mike

[frisco-kid]

Excellent story, Bill. Thanks.

A safe, happy 4th of July to you and yours.

P.S. You'll have to tell me how the fire started the next time we talk .

[39mto39g]

Good thing NVA didn't know how low on ammo you were. Throwing rocks would not have made a good stand.
Ron

[Robert Ryan]

Good read Bill, happy 4th to you and all the other brothers and sisters who post on this site.

[DMZ-LT]

Welcome Home Homie ! HAPPY 4TH to all !

[Bill Farnie]

I had sent out an email wishing my brothers a happy 4th of July and this is the reply I recieved from Ron "Gumby" Kane who was our field first.


Happy 4th to all. Remember the 4th in the Ashau Valley??

What a night

GUMBY


----- Original Message -----
From: Frisbee1506@aol.com
To: Ashau1@aol.com ; brentano@qcsn.com ; Jrapp@netsync.net ; Eaglegg101@aol.com ; EglMlbx@aol.com ; gmcurtis@basicisp.net ; Bandbicenhour@aol.com ; jim@bikemart.com ; ken.sollman@attglobal.net ; LRFUQUA@aol.com ; Lenard.O.Burdine@ArvinMeritor.com ; maccarmack@yahoo.com ; meit@labcorp.com ; rkane22@peoplepc.com ; slg2k@optonline.net ; dale.t.vonstein@us.army.mil ; TerryD48@aol.com ; timothy.q@snet.net ; tnjmorley@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2006 7:02 AM
Subject: 4th of July


Hi all, Hope everyone has a great and safe Independence Day.

Frisbee

[Bill Farnie]

Just a bump for today

Have a safe and great 4th of July

[exlrrp]

Originally Posted by Bill Farnie

Just a bump for today

Have a safe and great 5th of July

happy 4th, Bill

'Minds me of a time when my team was out on radio relay, west of Ban Me Thuot. We were on a hill in the middle of rolling hills, gras covered. Our teams worked so far out they had to put terams in the middle to relay the messagges--thats what we we dong.
radio relay was kind of a break for us, the only kind of lrrp patrols where you could take out beer. You'd just sit there for a few days relaying messages and watching the grass grow.
Mind--there's still plenty of Chucks prowling around---this was "Indian Country.".

One of the guys-- not me, but i know the name--- set off a parachute flare, just because he had never done it before---kind of a Fugazi.
This started a grass fire that burned for days!! All around us. It came up our hill and we had to fight to keep it from sweeping over us. During this, I slid right through the fire! Did I say we had Claymores planted out front? Yr boy was about shttin a square trd THAT time!

for miles around us the was nothing but charred countryside--except right at the top of our hill was green. Might as well have a big arrow pointing towards us. They evacced us the next day after extracting the teams. The fire was still burning when we left.

Happy 4th, all
James

[Robert Ryan]

Guess Ron must have been with a different Batallion and Brigade then I was in the 4th, my unit never went to the A Shau Valley, C-1/22, however my unit did make it to Ia Drang Valley in July 1969, had a mad minutes also, but nothing like yours. Just a lot of hand flares, and flares from the thumpers, and 81mm's. Fired our M-16' and sixties. It was fun.