Convoy

[39mto39g]

When I got to VN I was first in Cham Ran then on to Pleiku were this Old crusty officer got up on a table and told the 100 or so of us standing in that open are, he said "lok aroud you, 7 out of 10 of you wont be going home the same way" I thought what the fuck dude. any way we then got on 2 1/2 ton trucks and road a convoy to Duc Pho, Well not exacty there we first stopped of in Qui Nhon. About 3/4 the way there we stopped along the road and were told to "lock and Load" something about the lead vieicle hitting something or getting snippered at or something. I couldn't believe that we would stop along a road like that, but what did I know.
Later on in my tour I was thankful for the ride.

Ron

[splummer]

I had only been on a couple convoys my first week in Nam. I think NVA or VC were spotted moving toward our convoy on QL-19. They had us all [a few hundtred trucks] pull off the side of the road and lock and load. I thought 'great' I'll get to shoot at somebody. Nothing happened, an hour latter we just moved on. [strange]

[rotorwash]

Hey Ron, I made that run from Qui Nhon to Duc Pho once myself.

I got back to Qui Nhon from the hospital just in time to catch the last convoy north as our company was finishing its move to Duc Pho. Most of the ground elements of the company had gone up on an LST but there still was much of the supply and admin stuff that needed to go, so a convoy up Highway 1 from Qui Nhon to Duc Pho was planned, passing through such exotic locals as Phu Cat, Bong Son, past Uplift and English. Seating was tight, I was given a few options, none of them good, so I finally chose the high seat. Two storage containers had been loaded on a five ton truck and the counter from the supply room had been strapped on top, open side up. That was my seat. It turned out to be one of the best seats in the house, being on the lead truck, about twelve feet above the road. Padded with sandbags, it was quite comfortable.

Everything was going great until just past Phu Cat we observed a group of soldiers in open formation on each side of the road, a few guys on the highway itself. When we were about a mile away from them, it dawned on us that this was a mine sweeping detail and they were coming toward us. We stopped, and they stopped, and we stared at each other for a while, then with a wave from the guy in charge they continued their methodical, careful pace down the road in our direction. None of us wanted to get out of our trucks. Finally they reached our lead truck and swept past it. The GIC, a lowly 2LT, walked up to the truck and shouted at the driver, ?Whadaya guys think yur doin? This road could be mined.?
Sgt Davenport, who, as soon as he could get back to Tennessee, would return to his previous occupation of running moonshine and driving in NASCAR races, leaned out the window, spat Red Man past the 2LT, and drawled, ?It?s clear thataway, Lootenant,? indicating with a jerk of his thumb the way back to Phu Cat, then dropped the clutch and off we roared.

Rotor

[Jerry D]

That was a great report "Rotor" your Sgt Davenport obviously had many hours practice back home driving by Moonlight to prepare him for his MOS of Truck driver

When I was in Nam my third tour, did alot of convoy escort with the 716th MP's in V-100's. We escorted trucks that carried everything from ammo, food, beer, cigarettes, and whatever else from Long Binh to the various infantry unit base camps. Sometimes we would be ambushed along the route, especially right before Di An base camp where the Big Red one used to be, and a lot times right before Xuan Loc where the 11th Armored Cav used to be, most of the times though we would see a lot of Tanks and APC's providing road security by the Arvns.

[b3196]

RJR
Awhile back I posted a pic showing The MP's escorting our convoy in a V100
Bob K

[Packo]

Bob,

The Korean Unit I was with had a V-100 for when we would convoy in to get their supplies. It was there when I got my butt shot to pieces. They left it alone and went for the truck I was on. Think I got a slide of it somewhere. Be awhile before I look.

Pack

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by 39mto39g When I got to VN I was first in Cham Ran then on to Pleiku were this Old crusty officer got up on a table and told the 100 or so of us standing in that open are, he said "lok aroud you, 7 out of 10 of you wont be going home the same way"

Ron

Ron
that was the army for you, always some crusty old asshole around who wants to brighten your day.
Am i getting this right? are yo talking about driving from Pleiku to QN and then to Duc Pho?
Me and Tom went part of that way when we went back to the Nam in '03. That was the 2d most important part I wanted to see.
(the first: the road from Ban ME thuot to Pleiku)
the road From Pleiku east through mangYang Pass just has to be about the toughest road of the war. The gooks used to sit on the hills and just blast away with mortars and rockest. As far as I know, that area was never pacified.
but not for lack of trying. My lrrp platoon worked the Mang yang pass area for many patrols and we got into a fight EVERY time. When you drive the place again you understand why--they couod see us from AN YWHERE going in, no surprise to them. They even had commo wire strung out openly all around here, we took wire cutters along, the only place we did
Ive told the story about the our one "last Light" entry--the time the heavily armed hostile peasant weeweed on your boy hiding in the bushes, haven't I. that took place right here.
this was also the site of my last patrol--we never got off the helicopter, they shot us up as we were settling donw.
That last happened right between these 2 little hilles in the picture which was about 20 miles east of Pleiku, just after you go down the steep part of the road.
Tom will tell you--I recognized the place as soon as I saw it. It was really something to look at a place where I was actually in a firefight. Really something for me personally
The road from there leading to Anh Khe (enormous base camp of the 1st Cav) was what they called the Green Line-- a bunch of bunkers strung out along the road. This was where they sent the guys who couldn't make it in the field. I wanted to ccheck out wjat was left of the old sin city but we couldn't find it and we had our old ladies along--not much sinning while theyre around. (Darn it! See why I want to go just us next time Tom?)
I'd REALLY like to do this road in a Mercedes, throwing old MPCs and Piasters out the windows to the deserving populace
Next time for sure
from there wwe turned South. I have no urge to go to Duc Pho, the people there hated us and for good reason. I'll skip Quang Ngai for the same reason. I hav e gone on a convoy fron Duc Pho North to Quang Ngai and Chu Lai and it wasn't much to look at.
Stay good
James

[Andy]

In ?68-?69 the 716th had a company of infantry attached to them, Co ?C? 52nd Infantry. I was in the Mobil platoon, gun jeeps. We were sort of the swat team for the 716th
Worked from 6 PM to 6 AM. That was January threw September ?69. When were you there? I saw the V-100?s quite often but usually they were being operated by the White Mice. Were you stationed in Saigon or Long Binh? We did several escorts for mini convoys, usually VIPs going FAST from Saigon to LB. Why they didn?t use choppers I have no idea. My favorite was Miss America and her court. When they inspected us I was completely in a state of attention.

Stay healthy,
Andy

I was with the 716th MP's from December 1971 through December 1972. Remember when the 1st ID left Nam in 1970, and the 11th ACAV I forget the date but believe in late 1970 sometime.