November 1967

[39mto39g]

Was a very tough month in the history of Vietnam.
!/35 was with the 173/101/1st cav all in this month
Sometimes I thought we were going to wear a Screaming Chicken on our shoulder we were with the 101st so much. Although I would bitch about the 101 taking over our freshly redecorated bunkers, Tell you the truth, being attached to the 101 was kinda nice. They had lost of guys in reserve to send to a fight. And when they got there you didn't have to think about the people that were sent, You knew they were at least as good as we were. You didn't have to tell them to move after firing a round at night, That was good, You didn't have to tell them not to fire there gun unless they seen a NVA/VC as this is an invitation for other VC and NVA to fire on that position. You didn't have to tell them noise discipline was important, a safety "click" can be heard for a long ways in a jungle. First time I ever experienced someone looking at me around a corner was a 101 guy and all I could see was One eye, Now that?s cover.
To there credit the 173 were just as good, there just weren?t as many of them and the Cav had a bunch more helicopters , so each unit had its pluses , I never even looked at the minus?s. Although I never new even one of there names (except for call signs) I knew a lot of Cav/173/101 guys and they drug our sorry ass's out of more that a few scrapes that aren't on any "order of Battle" I Know if it wasn't for some Cav APC gunner I wouldn't be hear today, I have no idea what unit or who the guy was but he cleared a NVA Machine gun bunker that we were walking toward and didn't see. We kept moving and BN sent a team to clean up and assess, what ever the hell that is.
So hears to the boys of NOVEMBER

Ron

[Gimpy]

I remember those "boys of November" very well. I was in the Army Hospital in Tokyo on ward # 7 (orthopedic ward) during the last part of November and most of December 1967. The ward was designed to have about 28 beds in it. But during late November they started bringing in a shitload of troopers from the 173rd and the ward went from 28 beds to about 40 or 50 something real fast!

They were just about stacking them on top of us for about three or four weeks during that time. I had the honor of meeting and getting to know many of the finest young men of our generation during my 7 week stay at that hospital in the land of the rising sun!

God bless'um all!

[onesix]

Battle of Ap Bau Bang, 2/2 Infantry (mech) cited, and the Quarter Cav. The first significant actions on Highway 13 a.k.a. "Thunder Road".