Delta Company 3/21st 196th Light Infantry Brigade AMERICAL DIVISION Vietnam

[White Oak]

yes I did,Thanks

[sn-e3]

Danny the story and pictures are very good and very interesting. thank you for sharing with us....chris

[White Oak]

I have two photo's that were taken of me one afternoon on LZ Center,what I would like to explain is in the background.Bunker duty on LZ Center.Every nine or so days we would come out of the jungle and pull bunker duty on LZ Center.One infantry company was always on duty at the bunkers.LZ Center was a little town,mostly under ground or surrounded with sandbags.Men who operated the commo shack,the Aid-Station,the mortar tubes,the messhall,the battalion Commander and his staff,don't know how many.The first line of bunkers that you come to coming up the hill were where the infantry companies guarded.In front of our bunkers were razor wire,rolls and rolls of razor wire.If they come to take LZ Center they have to go through us first,if they go through us how long do you think it will take to overtake the guys in the radio room with their shiny pistols.Behind me is bunkers made for 5,one always on guard at that bunker,at night one up and 4 sleeping.behind me to left are ammo boxs under lean to,that's M-16 ammo.We stacked our packs on top of lean to,our bunker also had a fighting position made on top.Just 4by4 nailed together and sandbags packed around it.The fighting position is in front and I will post next photo about it.No lights were allowed on LZ Center at night.Any light gives them a target to aim for and remember what I said"you can't fight mortars"The poncho over the door is in case you wanted to light a cigarette.Inside two long shelves,sleeps 4 men and 20 rats.

[White Oak]

This is taken in front of our bunker,at our fighting position,all of our clickers for our claymore mines,all our frag grenades and flares were placed here.Wire fence across front of bunker is to pre-detonate RPG rockets,1st detonation at the wire 2nd detonation at the bunker wall,beat's hell out of 1st detonation bunker wall 2nd detonation back wall inside bunker.Someone is always awake at this position at night.Notice the burnt spots in the open area in background,it was burned when parachute flares landed.There were two helmets and two flak jackets at every bunker.The reason I am wearing them is because you could not eat at the messhall unless you had a helmet and jacket on.I was coming or going to messhall.This is the only time I put the things on,it was to hot.A few guys wore helmets but none wore a flak jacket.Red flare at night means perimeter under attack,Green flare means enemy in perimeter.Every night at different times they will have a "Mad Minute",mad minutes was when you fired up in front of your position,just fire away for a minute and stop.The enemy don't know when you are going to pull a mad minute so it keeps him away from the wire or at least makes him think about it a little longer.Mostly we guarded the LZ and pulled details like unloading and loading choppers,working at the ammo dump and any other labor producing jobs they had.I think most of us would have rather stayed in jungle and worked around Center.I can not remember a ground attack while I was there but we had our share of mortars rounds.

[White Oak]

Every boot had to have a dog tag,AMERICAL regulation 1969,they tried to make us wear one around the neck but it was noisy and it kept getting caught on everything so they backed off on that.I must have had last guard the morning I took this photo.Everybody was still sleeping.Some took their boots off at night,I didn't.Air mattress helped a lot.I pulled off the top of the sleeping hootch because it was getting daylight.It makes me appreciate my bed more nowadays.

[White Oak]

I forgot to introduce Philip Baker,he is sitting(My band of brothers photo) in front on right side and I forgot him,He's from Ohio and works for Airborne Express.This is a photo of us a couple years ago up in West By God Virginia(near Lewisburg)from left to right William"John Wayne"Sadler,Gary Cochran,myself and Philip Baker we could all still hump a pack but we would have to take a whole lot more breaks and sleeping on that ground may pose a problem.

[frisco-kid]

Dangerous men back in the day, and men to be reckoned with today. I hope the years have been good to each of you.

WELCOME HOME, BOYS .

[formergrunt70]

Wow Danny! This is just like it was yesterday. I can remember every scene in it's entirety. Even saw Myself in one of the pictures
I never thought it would turn out this way. You did a great job! I
hope to see You in the next 30 days. Maybe We can stroll through the woods in peace for a change. Folks! Danny and I went through all of this together. One hell of a friend! "1st shirt"

[White Oak]

Sometimes we would come across enemy bunkers and we would have to call the dogs to come out.These dogs were not used on point,they were called in whenever we come across a lot of bunkers.Somethings we missed but not the dog.People in Vietnam didn't get to see a dog this big and were very afraid of him(I was also!)Handler and dog would stay 2 days maybe 3.Most handlers carried CAR 15,shorter version of M-16.

[White Oak]

In this valley called Hiep Duc sat LZ Center.About 40 miles east of Chu Lai,Chu Lai was home to the Americal Division.Going north from there you will come to Tam Ky,few miles outside is Firebase Hawk Hill,home to the 196th Light Infantry Brigade.Chu Lai is also home to the 3rd Marines.