River

[39mto39g]

PHO
In 1967 the only people north of Khe Sahn FB were NVA and a few Marines. , Things change in a year or so?
What arty unit was in the City of Khe Sahn ?
What was left of Lang Vei when you were there?
When I was over on the Veterans.com site I said I was at Lang Vei and Col Murph said it got over ran, That was the first I heard about it.
Lang Vei wasn't your tipical SF camp, It was several small camps each with a defencive perimiter.
We got choppered in and were told to help this Duster that was just outside one of there perimiters, There were only about 10 , more like 6 of us and we set up right next to the duster.
I went to the SF camp one day to get some 30 cal ammo for this M2 I got. While there we were hit by some big old telephone pole looking rockets, The Camp was built up a little, I could see were they were comming from, The duster started fireing , tracers were hitting right where the rockets had come from. When I got back to our area, I told the duster guy that I could see his tracers hitting right where the rockets were comming from and how did he do that, He had a radar unit on his tank that let him see where incomming rounds were comming from,
About the 3rd of Feb 68 we left the area heading for Hue, Col Murph said that Lang Vei was over ran on the 5th , I think he said. Those guys in that duster didn't have a chance outside the perimiter, I guess being inside the perimiter didn't help.
Ron

[DMZ-LT]

I didn't meet Pho till about 20 years ago. We were both in Lam Son 719. Doing research we found out we were near each other. One day my platoon was going to help another platoon that had been ambushed. They had left their platoon leader and a couple other guys in the kill zone and we had to go get them. I was calling in the world for fire power. I lost two KIA. Pho was firing for me ( I didn't know it then )The gooks had arty in Laos that would fire on Pho. Since he was firing for a unit in contact they stayed on the guns even though they were getting counter battery fire. He had two KIA that day too. We got them out of the kill zone and to a LZ. The platoon leader was wounded and had shit in his pants and wanted some new pants. Told him they would change his pants later. Small world . I never got to Lang Vei , worked north of Khe Sanh

[PHO127]

I was not with SF at Khe Sahn and never got down to Lang Veigh. When I left the 25th after their standdown I went to the 23rd ID. Then to opn Lam Son 719. I was with the 1/82nd Arty which was based in Chu Lai but had "B" battery opconed to the 101st for Lam Son. B1/82 155 towed was in Khe Sahn City which was about 2 or 3Ks SE of the runway at Khe Sahn. The Day LT was Talking about was in Late March of 71. I started taking artillery fire from the Co Roc Mountains and additional mortar fire closer in. I had to split 2 tubes off of LT to fire on the mortars firing on me. The artillery was out of my range. Gun 5 took a direct hit killing 2 and 3WIA and disabling the tube. Don't know if it was hit by arty or mortar fire. We pulled out of Khe Sahn shortly after that back to FSB Vandergrift, spent about a week there shooting then convoyed from Vandergrift back to Chu Lai. Was in Chu Lai for just long enough to be in a Typhoon then rotated back to states.

[39mto39g]

LT, PHO.
I don't think I ever set foot on the North side of RT 9 except to pee that is.
That area was probibly the only time that we were NOT in our own Mortors or Arty range, The Marines were no help either, I could never get them to talk to me on the radio. I could hear them talk to each other, Even talked about me trying to call them, but never answered me? Maybe I was useing to big of Silabols , HAY!
Can You Understand the words comming out of my mouth?

Ron

[A.B]

Sir's!

I assume most of you know about Lang Vei, and Lam Son 719. But for anyone reading this post-followup by me, whom does not know about Lang Vei, please see and read for example:

By USARMY Center of Military History -Battle of Lang Vei + Lam Son 719:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vietnam/7-ff/Ch6.htm
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vie...hapter7.htm#b7

There is a lot more to be found online, regarding the SF-camp in Lang Vei. So the above link is just 1 example of info-source.

T G C!

Sincerely
A.B

[lcpd24]

Oral History Interview - James P. Wollner
Vietnam War oral history interview
Date: June 14, 2001
Veteran: James P. Wollner
Cpl. E-4, US Army 1967 ? 1969
Interviewer: Carol Fowler
Summarizer: Joseph Bilby

James P. Wollner was born in February, 1945 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Prior to being drafted into the army in April, 1967, he worked as a truck driver. Following basic and advanced training in the United States, Wollner was assigned to Vietnam, where he served with the 2nd Airboat Platoon of the 15th Engineer Battalion of the 9th Infantry Division. The 9th was assigned to the Mekong Delta, where the extensive wetlands and river and canal system made amphibious mobility a necessity. Since Special Forces advisors had used airboats prior to the arrival of the 9th Division, Wollner was trained in the use of the airboats by Special Forces personnel. His unit was the first ever army line unit to use airboats.

The Mekong Delta was the ?rice basket? of Vietnam, the most fertile area of the country in both crop and animal production. Delta peasants not only grew vast amounts of rice, but also kept large flocks of ducks as a meat source. They used water buffalo as beasts of burden to plow, haul carts and perform other labor intensive tasks. The Vietcong (VC) were well aware of the Delta?s agricultural productivity and were particularly active in the area, where they maintained control of many villages by both portraying themselves as leaders of a popular uprising as well as threatening and implementing drastic penalties on those locals who would not cooperate with them. The VC demanded a ?tax? of as much as 70% of the local rice crop. The sons and daughters of Vietnamese village chiefs who would not cooperate were often maimed in retribution and to serve as an example to others.

January 30, 1968 marked the start of Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Although Tet had been a time of truce in previous years, in 1968 it was the occasion of a massive surprise attack by VC and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops on American and South Vietnamese forces. There were attacks throughout South Vietnam, concentrating on the country?s large towns and major cities, including Saigon, the capital. VC agents infiltrated Saigon and other cities prior to the Tet offensive, smuggling in large amounts of weapons and ammunition and thousands of mines for use in the attack. The 9th Division was actively engaged in combat during Tet, which proved a defeat for the VC in the long run, although it is often misinterpreted as a victory.

A typical airboat operation would involve sending the eight airboats up a canal to establish a blocking position into which another force would drive the enemy. Wollner?s platoon spent much of its time in an environment of water and mud, attempting to ambush the VC and destroy both them and their weapons, many of which dated back to World War II. The airboats were made of fiberglass and foam and, traveling slowly along rivers and canals, were particularly vulnerable to attack by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) fire. Some of the boats were hit by enemy fire, but fortunately for him, Wollner?s was not, although his platoon sergeant was killed in one attack. During these operations, the platoon lived on C-Rations and beer for 15-20 days in the field. On one occasion the VC destroyed their supplies.

Wollner recalled Vietnam as a beautiful country with striking beaches, intense green rice paddies and fields of reeds, as well as trees and plants bearing a wide variety of fruits, some familiar and some not, including pear-shaped grapefruits. North and South Vietnam had different lifestyles and standards of living. The South?s agriculture was more productive and living conditions were much better.

[Beau]

Originally posted by DMZ-LT Cau Viet River ran from Danang to Dong Ha. Guy named Beau ran that route bringing ammo up. It ran on both sides of route 9 When we crossed going North the pucker factor went up a lot. Think that was at Cam Lo

He gwanged a few years back ... 35 years ago in fact ...

[Beau]

no smoking section ... will you please extinguish your drifting flares ... we got 150 tons of black powder cake ...

[Beau]

... any one order fresh Shells ?

[DMZ-LT]

Thanks for the bullets 35 years ago and thanks for the drawings I got hanging in my house today.