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SGT Rick Dunn
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Widner, Danny Lee, SSG.
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Posted by: Vicki Gannon
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Relationship: He is my brother
Monday, November 12, 2001
A Note from The Virtual Wall
Staff Sergeant Danny Widner
is one of the 37 Americans still missing from the battle at Kham Duc
WITHDRAWAL FROM KHAM DUC
The Kham Duc Special Forces camp (A-105) was located on the western fringes of Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. The only village in the area, located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers and merchants. In the spring of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal), based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province. Kham Duc had several outlying camps; of particular interest is Ngok Tavak, about 5 miles distant.
In the spring of 1968 the North Vietnamese Army's 2nd Division was enroute to South Vietnam, moving down the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. By early May, the division's advance regiments - the 1st and 2nd Regiments - had entered South Vietnam using the French-built Route 14 which passed by the old French fort at Ngok Tavak. The NVA commanders decided that Ngok Tavak and the main camp at Kham Duc had to go.
Beginning at about 0300 on 10 May 1968, Ngok Tavak came under heavy attack by a North Vietnamese Army infantry battalion, an element of the 2nd NVA Regiment. In a pitched battle, the small force of defenders staved off immediate defeat, but by noon on 10 May it was clear that Ngok Tavak would have to be abandoned. Surrounded on three sides by the 2nd NVA Regiment, it was clear the withdrawal would have to be by foot moving to the north - the attacking force had made a helicopter evacuation impossible. After destroying equipment and supplies which could not be carried out, the survivors began the move to the main camp at Kham Duc, proceeding along a lane flanked by near-continuous air strikes. They were picked up by helicopter midway to Kham Duc, arriving at the camp at about 2100 (9 PM) on 10 May. The defending force at Ngok Tavak had incurred numerous losses in both known dead and missing soldiers and Marines.
Kham Duc itself had been under attack by other elements of the NVA 2nd Division since the early morning hours of 10 May and the situation there was deteriorating rapidly. The camp was under constant attack through 11 May. Although additional Allied troops were airlifted in, the 1st NVA Regiment also entered the battle and by the morning of 12 May there was serious doubt if the camp could be held in against an enemy force of some ten to fifteen thousand men. By noon, the US 23rd Infantry Division commander had decided to withdraw entirely from Kham Duc. The evacuation was disorderly and, at times, verged on complete panic.
The first large aircraft used in the evacuation was a C-130 HERCULES transport (tail number 60-0297) assigned to the 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron but being flown by a crew on temporary duty from the 774th TAS based at Mactan Airbase, Philippines. The C-130E landed in the midst of the continuing battle and immediately began taking aboard passengers, primarily civilians from the village of Kham Duc. The pilot began his take-off after loading between 150 and 200 passengers, but his aircraft was heavily hit by antiaircraft fire, exploded in flight, crashed in heavy jungle, and burned. There was no hope of survivors.
The evacuation continued and by nightfall of 12 May the vast majority of Allied troops and Vietnamese civilians had been evacuated from the camp. Kham Duc, the last border outpost in northeastern South Vietnam, had fallen to the enemy.
Two years and two months later, on 4 Sep 1970, the Americal Division recaptured Kham Duc. While the remains of a number of "missing in action" personnel were recovered, the wreckage of the C-130 could not be located and the remains of its crew have not been recovered.
At least 39 Americans and an unknown number of South Vietnamese military and civilians died as a result of the fighting at Ngok Tavak and Kham Duc. Of the 39 Americans, seven have come home ... the remaining 32 men are still in Quang Tin Province:
KHAM DUC
May 12, 1968
Although very little has been written about it, the events of May 12, 1968 are among the most heroic of the Vietnam War, in fact of any war. On that day, a handful of American US Air Force C-130 and US Army and Marine helicopter crewmembers literally laid their lives on the line to evacute the defenders of the Civilian Irregular Defense Corps camp at Kham Duc, an outpost just inside the South Vietnamese border with Laos.
For years, the camp at Kham Duc had served as a base for intelligence gathering operations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and in the spring of 1968 the Communists decided the time had come to take it out. By early May Allied intelligence sources realized that a large number of North Vietnamese were gathering in the mountains around the camp. On May 10 the camp was reinforced with members of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade who were flown in from their base at Chu Lai. The following day an outlying camp at Ngoc Tavok was attacked; apparently some of the Vietnamese troops in the camp turned their guns on their American allies. That evening General William C. Westmoreland determined that the camp was indefensible and, wishing to avoid the headlines of a camp being overrun, decided to evacuate the camp, beginning at dawn the next morning.
The original plan called for a helicopter evacuation, but when intense ground fire brought down the first helicopter into the camp, all evacuation plans were put on hold. Over the next few hours there was a lot of waffling - there was going to be an evacuation, then there wasn't, then there was. During the morning a C-130A flown by Lt. Col. Daryl D. Cole and his 21st Tactical Airlift Squadron crew landed at the camp with a load of cargo, apparently not knowing that it was to be evacuated. A flood of Vietnamese civilians rushed aboard the airplane, so many that the loadmaster was unable to off-load the cargo. The airplane was shot full of holes and a tire was flattened, but Cole attempted a takeoff. The overburdened airplane would not fly, so they returned to the ramp, where the Vietnamese leaped off and into ditches. Cole's crew worked feverishly to cut away the remains of the tire with a bayonet and a blow torch. While they were working, a C-123 flown by Major Ray D. Shelton came in and picked up a load of Vietnamese and US Army engineers. Cole loaded all remaining Air Force personnel at the camp on to his badly-damagedC-130 and managed to take-off, and flew to Cam Ranh Bay. There the members of the 3-man airlift control team who were aboard were told that they should have stayed in the camp. They were put on another C-130 and sent back.
During the morning, a battle had raged around the airfield. Several airplanes and helicopters had been shot down, including an Air Force Foward Air Controller, who managed to crash-land his shot-up O-2 on the runway. In the early afternoon General Westmoreland notified Seventh Air Force to commence a C-130 evacuation. The first airplane to land was a C-130B flown by a crew from the 774th TAS, commanded by Major Bernard Bucher. Major Bucher landed and loaded his airplane with more than 200 Vietnamese, mostly civilians. As his airplane lifted off, it flew through the apex of fire from two .50-caliber machine guns, trembled, then crashed into a ravine and exploded. A C-130E flown by Lt. Colonel Bill Boyd landed behind Bucher. Boyd took off in the opposite direction and, in spite of more than 100 hits, managed to make it to safety. The third C-130 was an A-model from the 21st TAS, commanded by Lt. Colonel John Delmore. The airplane was hit repeatedly by automatic weapons fire that ripped out the top of the cockpit and shot away the engine controls. Delmor had no choice but to feather the engines - he crash-landed the shot-up C-130 and managed to steer it clear of the runway. Meanwhile, airstrikes had been directed at the guns that brought down Bucher's airplane and other strikes laid down protective fire alongside the runway. The fourth C-130 crew got in and out safely, and was followed by three others.
While the C-130s were landing, Army and Marine helicopter pilots took advantage of the distraction - the Communists were concentrating their fire on the larger transports - and got in to make pickups of their own. Within a few minutes, some 500 of the camps defenders were evacuated, although the bulk of the Vietnamese were left to attempt to exfiltrate through the enemy forces. But as the last C-130 came out of the camp with the staff of the US Army Special Forces team, another C-130 was landing with the three members of the airlift control team who had been brought out earlier.
The camp had been evacuated, or had been declared so by the Special Forces team, at a cost of two C-130s and several other aircraft and helicopters, seven in all. What happened next is the event for which Kham Duc is most remembered, although in reality it was but a footnote to the day's events. The eighth C-130 flew into the camp and off-loaded the three men, Major John Gallagher, a C-130 pilot from the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing, and Sergeants Mort Freedman and James Lundie, both combat controllers with the 8th Aerial Port. The three men ran off the ramp of the C-130 and into the camp; the pilot, Lt. Col. Jay Van Cleef, waited several minutes then when no one came aboard his airplane, took off again. As he was climbing out he heard someone report that the evacuation was complete. No it wasn't! Van Cleef protested into his radio that three airmen were still on the ground. Those present later reported that there was a dead silence in the airways afterwards.
The next airplane in the quay to go into the camp was a C-123 flown by Lt. Col. Alfred Jeanotte. He landed but took off again when no one ran to the airplane. His crew spotted the three men hiding in a ditch, but they were too low on fuel to make another landing. It fell to the next C-123, flown by Lt. Col. Joe M. Jackson and Major Jesse Campbell, a Stan/Eval pilot from the 315th Air Commando Wing, to make the pickup. For the effort, Colonel Jackson was awarded the Medal of Honor.
