Lz Carolyn....39 Years Ago Today

[Packo]

If he was 155, he was probably 1BN 30th artillery. If he was on the LZ during that time, there is so much info that the Army has, he should have no problem substantiating his claim. This was not an isolated ingagement. That whole area was hot for a long long time. All he needs to do is give his unit, the dates he was with them, and if it is the attack on the LZ on May 6th, and he was there, he'll have no problem. The thing is time...it takes the VA close to 2 years to have the Army reseach the records, and if he was there....should be no problem. Also show him the stuff Doc Fred posted. Doc remembers that night also being back at 15th Med. Somewhere on this site, I wrote up a report on May 6th that he might be able to also use. Not sure how to find it. It was a few years ago. He survived that night like I did. I'm sure he's been thinking about it for 39 friggin' years.

Pack

[DeadlyDaring]

Packo your last thread gave me a clue “May 6th that he might be able to also use. Not sure how to find it. It was a few years ago”.
So I went to the Archives clicked on Vienam War, ‘cause that’s what you are talking about and typed in “May 6th 1969 Packo” in the search box hit enter and up you came

6 May 1969
Sunday, May 05, 2002 (Vietnam)

http://www.patriotfiles.com/index.ph...rticle&sid=241


On the other hand I did a different search in Forum general search on "May 6th 1969 Packo"

The Patriot Files Forums > Conflict posts > Vietnam > 6 May 1969 > Packo

http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/se...earchid=275599
As you did say "a few years ago", I started with the oldest post

So! Friend here is your post of 2002


At 05-05-2002, 02:03 AM Packo Senior Member wrote

6 May 1969
________________________________________
In the early morning darkness of 6 May, the NVA retaliated with an intensive rocket and mortar barrage, followed by a massive 95th Regiment pincer grand assault against 2 sides of the base an hour later. LZ Carolyn's garrison was reduced by the absence of several line companies on patrol, and the withering defensive fires of the battalion's COMPANY C and E were unable to prevent the onrushing battalions from storming through the wire and into the LZ from both directions. Six perimeter bunkers were overrun, one of the medium howitzers was captured, and the enemy threatened to slice through the center of the base.

The Americans counterattacked with all available personnel, the officers involved being killed at the head of their troops. Artillerymen, supply and signal personnel, and engineers fought and died as emergency infantry reserves. The counterattacks were hurled agains both enemy penetrations, but the most violent fighting occurred on the northern side, where a seesaw battle raged for possession of the 155mm howitzer position. During the course of the battle, this weapon exchanged hands 3 times in hand-to-hand fighting deceded at close range with rifles and E-tools.

Overhead, rocket-firing AH1G Cobra helicopters rolled in, ignoring heavy flak, and blasted the NVA with rockets and miniguns. Air Force AC47 SPOOKY and AC119 SHADOW aircraft, supported by fighter-bombers, were employed against the numerous enemy antiaircraft weapons ringing the perimeter.

Controlled and uncontrolled fires were raging everywhere, and it seemed that the LZ was ablaze throughout its entire length. Waves of NVA infantry charging into the southern lines were met by defending troops who took advantage of the aviation gasoline storage area. They shot holes in the fuel drums and ignited them to create a flaming barrier, which effectively blocked further enemy penetration. In the LZ's opposite sector, a medium howitzer gun pit received 3 direct hits which touched off a fire in its powder bunker, yet the crew calmly stood by its weapon and employed it throughout the night.

Both 105's ammunition points were exploded by enemy fire around 0330, and shrapnel from more than 600 disintegrating rounds in the 2 dumps sprayed the entire LZ for more than 4 hours. LZ Carolyn appeared threatened with total destruction as the thundering conflagration tossed detonating arty projectiles to shower men and equipment with flying rounds and burning shell fragments.

END PART 1
__________________
BEAUTIFUL STREAMER.....PLEASE OPEN FOR ME! BLUE SKIES ABOVE ME....BUT NO CANOPY.


05-05-2002, 02:15 AM
PART 2
________________________________________
The defending artillerymen and mortar crews fought in desperation heightened by the loss of commo between most weapons and their fire direction centers. The initial enemy barrage destroyed commo from the 155 gun sections to their FDC, forcing crews to individually engage targets on their own volition by leveling tubes full of BEE HIVE or HE charges. When telephone lines from the mortar tubes to their FDC were severed, the direction personnel switched to a bullhorn to relay fire commands across the deafening noise of the battlefield. The battalion mortar platoon's four tubes fired 1500 rounds, ranging from critical illumination to searing WP. In all cases effective fire support was maintained.

Ammunition shortages quickly developed. As on-hand mortar ammunition beside the weapons was exhausted, volunteers dashed through fire-swept open areas to retrieve more rounds from storage bunkers. The destruction of the 105 ammo points caused an immediate crisis in the light howitzer pits. The cannon cockers were fored to redistribute ammo by crawling from one gun section to another under a hail of enemy direct fire and spinning shrapnel form the exploding dump. The crews continued rendering direct fire, even though they were often embroiled in defending their own weapons. One light howitzer section caught in an enemy cross fire between a heavy machine gun and rifles, until the artillerymen managed to turn their lowered muzzle and pump BEE HIVE flechettes into the enemy. All automatic weapons fire against the howitzer was instantly silenced. Cavalry counterattacks reestablished the perimeter, and the enemy force began withdrawing, breaking contact at 0600.



It was the longest night of my life. Thanks Doc Fred, many of us ended up with you. Thanks Air Force and thanks Red Team for the Cobras.

In Memory of all those brave Troopers that night!

Never Prouder to be a Paratrooper and a Sky Trooper!

Packo

C Co. 2nd Bn. 8th Cav (Airborne)
1st Air Cav Division (Airmobile)

C CO AND E WERE BOTH AWARDED THE VALOUS UNIT AWARD for that night.
__________________
BEAUTIFUL STREAMER.....PLEASE OPEN FOR ME! BLUE SKIES ABOVE ME....BUT NO CANOPY.


05-05-2002, 02:22 AM
Sorry, I forgot
________________________________________
the 8th Cav motto:

HONOR AND COURAGE!

That, I think says it all.

PS: This all happened during operation MONTANA SCOUT/MONTANA RAIDER series. We lost 567 troopers KIA and 3,555 wounded. This was from November of 68' to June 23rd of 69. Now, what's this THC was saying about us being loosers?

Packo
__________________
BEAUTIFUL STREAMER.....PLEASE OPEN FOR ME! BLUE SKIES ABOVE ME....BUT NO CANOPY.

[Packo]

You are a true friend/mate!

Haven't seen DMZ ENGINEER back on after we've tried to give him and his buddy a hand. Wonder what's up with that? These are very painful memories...and get sandy eyes when I read it. Hope he appreciates this.

Pack

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Tom, I have read this story several times before and it never ceases to terrify me. The only thing that comes close is the account of the sapper attack at Cam Ranh Bay and I'll be damned if you weren't there too. God bless you.

[DeadlyDaring]

Cam Ranh Bay-6th Convalescent Center Attacks
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubl2-OsMgcw[/media]


Commander Arthur R. Lee Recalls a Sapper Attack at Cam Ranh Bay During the Vietnam War
http://www.historynet.com/commander-...ietnam-war.htm


VC Turn Healing Into . . .

The Sapper Attack on Cam Ranh Bay from Pacific Stars and Stripes

11 August 1969 by S. Sgt. Jim White, S&S Staff Correspondent

http://www.illyria.com/women/vnwnamvet12.html

CAM RANH BAY, Vietnam- The cluster of buildings that is the 6th Convalescent Center here sits atop a sun-splashed slope on the Cam Ranh Bay peninsula overlooking the South China Sea.

At the foot of the slope transparently clear blue waves wash against a sugarwhite beach that stretches away until it becomes lost in the blue-green haze of the jungled mountains to the north.

It is a place where soldiers come to forget the war, to relax, and to recuperate. Clad in light blue pajamas, they congregate on the beach in small groups.

They swim in the warm water, or stroll in the damp sand, or they spread blankets and bask in the heat of the sun in a sky that is almost always cloudless blue. It is a peaceful place.

Or, rather, it was.

An hour after midnight Thursday morning, that peace was abruptly and savagely shattered. A barrage of 107mm rockets streaked upward on the mainland, arced across the bay, and slammed into the air base. At the same time, a small group of Communist sappers cut through the perimeter fence at the north end of the convalescent center and raced through the compound, flinging satchel charges into buildings as they went.

Halfway down the compound a GI on duty in the A Co. orderly room heard the first explosions and dived for the floor.

"I thought at first we were being hit by mortars or rockets," he said. "Then I crawled to the door and looked down the street. I saw somebody running toward me. He stopped, pitched something into a building, then turned and ran the other way. Then a bunch of satchel charges went off, boom, boom, boom, coming my way, and I knew that sappers had gotten in."

In "L" ward Pfc. Charles D'Hondt from Utica, Mich., woke up and started running from the direction of the explosions.

"Man, my mind may have been asleep, but my body was getting out there," he said, "I was headed for the back door, but about halfway there I saw somebody there trying to open the door.

"I knew he wasn't one of us, so I turned around and started the other way. Then I saw the flash of an explosion at the front of the ward, about six feet from my bed. so I crawled under a bunk. There was nothing else I could do. I didn't have anything to fight with."

In the next ward, Spec. 4 Renard Hainesworth sat up in bed just as a satchel charge went off outside the door, 10 feet away. A door hinge buried itself in his locker, inches away from his head. He dived for the floor and rolled under his bunk.

"I just couldn't believe it" he exclaimed. Being here was like being on a vacation, everything was so peaceful and quiet. You almost didn't feel like you were in Vietnam, and now here was Charlie, blowing up our wards."

Near the north end of the compound, in her trailer quarters, 1st Lt. Dianne Houser from Sandusky, Ohio, heard the exploding satchel charges and raced to a window.

"I could see the flashes of the explosions and flames coming from the bachelor officers' quarters across the street," she recalled. "All I could think about was, "My God, those men are going to be burned alive."

Then as more explosions rocked the trailer, she dove under her bed. Something smashed into the window.

"I saw sparks on the floor," she said, "but they didn't register. I thought the window had been broken by the concussion of the explosions outside. I didn't find out until later that four sticks of TNT together with a detonator and a fuse, were lying on the floor about three feet from Margaret (1st Lt. Margaret Cohee, of Denton, Md., a second nurse living in the trailer) and about 10 feet from me. Somehow, the fuse went out."

But for 100 other patients and staff members of the convalescent center, the fuses burned too long. Ninety-eight were wounded., some seriously. One man sleeping within 10 feet of the spot where a satchel charge-exploded, died instantly. Another died on the way to the 12th USAF Hospital for treatment.

In all, the sappers hit 19 of the 94 buildings in the compound. Four of the - one unoccupied patient ward, one patient and one staff officers' quarters, and a latrine - were burned to the ground.

The day after the attack, the question in everyone's mind was "why?"

"It just doesn't make sense," Lt. Houser said bitterly. "Why blow up a hospital? The men here were already sick and hurt. There's nothing here that could have harmed the VC. I knew that they don't abide by the Geneva conventions . . . but this?

Particularly galling to the GIs in the wards was the fact that they had no means of fighting back. Here - in theory, safely away from the fighting - they were without their weapons.

"A lot of the infantry guys wanted to go after them," one patient said, "but you can't fight rifles and satchel charges with your hands."

Nonetheless, one sergeant gave it a try. Clothed only in pajama bottoms and unarmed, he ran after a sapper escaping over a hill only to trip in the darkness and break a leg.

Ironically, until the day before the attack, volunteer patients who were well enough stood guard duty around the perimeter, supplementing regular security forces. But due to a policy change, no patients were on guard duty in the Thursday morning darkness.

The 15 damaged buildings, in the process of being repaired, are already back in partial use; the ashes and scorched metal debris of the burned buildings are being removed.

The same sun shines on the same beach. The Idyllic surroundings of the 6th Convalescent Center are unchanged, but the sense of peace and security is gone.

[Packo]

not to take these attacks personally....but then again, those of you that know me, know what a wise-ass I can be at times. Musta really pissed off some NVA/VC with my humor.

Rough days.

Thanks DD for the help....Thanks Doc for everything!

Pack

[DMZ ENGINEER]

Hi Guys...I Haven't Got This Message Forum Procedures Down Yet, I Must Have Sent Three Messages And I Hope THIS ONE Will Appear After Packo's Asking What Happened To Me.I Was Searching High And Low For This Friend Of Mine, Charlie. I Found The You Tubes Video Of The Battle For LZ CAROLYN From The Major Networks And Sent It To Charlie. He Used It To File His Claim With The Va And THEY Told Him It Wasn't Enough!
Yes Charlie Was Manning The 155s At The Battle, The 1st of the 30th Arty.

[Packo]

This is kinda weird to me. If he was there, the Army records would also verify this. His just being in the 1/30 on May 6, 69 puts him right there. Of course nothing surprises me with the VA. If he is not getting any treatment for is problems, they will also turn him down for having no evidence of the problem he is claiming. As I said in the pm...just tell him to keep trying and provide as much evidence as he can. Also, make sure he is being represented by one of the Service Orgs....i.e. DAV, PVA, VFW, who are a tremendous help in being able to see why he is being turned down and assist him in getting the evidence he nees. Good Luck.

Pack

[DMZ ENGINEER]

Hi everyone, say I've got a question for you guys....this friend of mine at Lz Carolyn has a BSM and ARCOM on his dd214 and he told me he thought everyone got one.
Did you grunts and cannon cockers get a BSM just for being there?

[Packo]

I was not awarded a BSM. ARCOM, yes, but not a BSM. In WWII everyone with a CIB was retro'ed a BSM but not heard that for Vietnam. A bunch got ARCOM'S w/V for their actions on Carolyn, and a VUM, although that is not on my DD214. ARCOM is, VUM isn't.

Pack