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Casualty Info
Home Town Clarion, PA
Last Address Clarion, PA
Casualty Date Sep 11, 1970
Cause Non Hostile- Died of Illness, Other Injury
Reason Vehicle Loss, Crash
Location Vinh Long (Vietnam)
Conflict Vietnam War
Location of Interment New Rehoboth-Greenville Presbyterian Church Cemetery - Strattanville, Pennsylvania
On 1 March 1966, the 5th Transportation Company was reactivated
at Fort Eustis as a heavy boat company. Over the next year it came
up to strength with personnel and equipment and trained for
service in Vietnam. It received the LCU 1466 series. These were
old boats but went to the factory to be rebuilt for Vietnam. They
came out looking almost brand new.
The personnel of the company deployed to Vietnam in an advance
party and main body. The company arrived in Vietnam on 20
February 1967 and operated out of Vung Tau on the mouth of the
Saigon River. Two Norwegian vessels, Teresa and Terra,
transported the 12 LCUs. The vessels arrived at Vung Tau in
April. A floating crane came down, lifted the LCUs off the ships,
and placed them in the river. Vung Tau became the home base for
the 5th Heavy Boat Company.
The LCUs delivered cargo up and down the Saigon and Mekong
Rivers. Primary destinations were to the terminals at Newport, Vin
Long, Cat Lai Co Ji do, Can To and the 9th Infantry Division at
Dong Tam. They also delivered cargo to the island on the southern
tip of South Vietnam. On occasions, the LCUs delivered men and
tanks on amphibious operations.
On 17 July 1968, LCU 1577 Sunset Strip took the wrong turn up
the Mekong River into Cambodia. The Cambodian government
detained the vessel and its crew for nearly five months. Since
Cambodia was neutral, the crew became simply detainees and not
prisoners. The Cambodian government treated them very well but
detained them longer than any other Americans who had fallen into
Cambodian hands. The Cambodians hoped to negotiate a trade for
the crew and boat, but the American government would not give
in. Consequently, they released the crew but retained the boat.
In 1969, the 5th and 329th Transportation Company headquarters
combined at Vung Tau under Captain Murphy. The combined
companies had 27 LCUs, two J-boats, four reefer barges and five
tugs. In early 1970, the company headquarters moved to Cat Lai.
On 29 April 1972, the 5th Transportation Company returned from
Vietnam to Fort Eustis. The company received campaign credits
for Counteroffensive, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV, Phase V, Phase
VI, Tet Counteroffensive, Tet/69 Counteroffensive, Sanctuary
Counteroffensive and Consolidation I and II.
At Fort Eustis, the 5th Heavy Boat became part of the 10th
Transportation Battalion of 7th Transportation Group and had ten
LCUs. In the Spring of 1976, the 5th Heavy Boat had received
orders to deploy to Hawaii. It arrived in Hawaii in June 1976 and
fell under the control of the 45th Support Group. The company was
the primary means for shuttling cargo to the other islands. It
supported the 25th Infantry Division training on the island of
Hawaii, the Navy bombing area on Kohu Lave, and US Marine
Corps training on the island of Hawaii.
In 1979, the 5th Heavy Boat turned in four of its LCU 1466s to the
dead fleet to free up enough crew billets to crew the BDL John U.
D. Page. This was the largest vessel in the US Army that had also
seen service in Vietnam. The Page arrived in August 1979 and
made regular runs to Johnson Island. By that time the 5th Boat had
the Page and six LCUs: 1525, 1526, 1527, 1534, 1549, and 1563.
On 11 June 1986, the 124th Transportation "Make A Way"
Battalion reactivated at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, under the
command of LTC Kindred as part of the Army Chief of Staff's
initiative to convert the 24th Infantry Division to a light division.
The battalion assumed command of the combat service support
elements of the 45th Support Group to include the 5th Heavy Boat.
In 1987, 5th Boat received instructions to decommission the Page.
The Page, skippered by CW4 Gerald Gaskill, set sail for its last
voyage on 13 October 1987 enroute for Charleston, South
Carolina, by way of San Diego, California and the Panama Canal.
It arrived at its final destination in November and turned in at the
Army depot. The crew then went to Pascagoula, Mississippi, on
the operation of the LSV. Gaskill's crew picked up LSV-2 CW3
Harold C. Clinger. It self deployed to Hawaii in April 1988 and
was the first ocean going voyage of an LSV. The crew, by
authorization of the Army, was to be designated a detachment but
the 45th Support Group commander did not want a warrant officer
to have UCMJ authority. It was later designated 605th Detachment
on 16 April 1988. The detachment, originally activated during
World War II on 10 November 1942, earned honors for
participation in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and
Central Europe Campaigns. It inactivated in January 1945, then
reactivated from 1948 to 1950, again from 1952 to 1957 and then
again in Vietnam from 1965 to 1972 earning credit for all the
campaigns during that period.
In September 1988, LSV-2 sailed to Funafuni Island in the Tufalu
island chain. The Soviet Union had their eyes on this island and
the United States Department of State decided to send in a
humanitarian aid package. LSV-2 with Gaskill at the helm
delivered engineering equipment to build roads and ten
prefabricated tanks to catch rainwater. While there, a flu epidemic
broke out on one of the islands. The inter-island vessel was
broken, so the Clinger hauled the medical supplies to the island at
night. On their return to Hawaii, LSV-2 stopped by Samoa for
food, fuel and water. A hurricane developed between the Clinger
and Hawaii. They sailed under the control of the Maritime Sealift
Command, but by the time, US Coast Guard instructed them to
navigate around it, they had already plotted their new course.
Upon their return in October, Admiral Crowe, Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a letter of congratulations to the crew.
The LSV-2 also sailed to Guadalcanal, the site of heavy fighting on
the Solomon Islands during World War II. The Army had the task
to clean up unexploded ordnance from the island. The Clinger had
to haul that cargo back to Johnson Island.
Since Pacific Command had responsibility for all US military
operations in the Pacific Rim, the commander wanted to use Army
watercraft for missions beyond the islands of Hawaii. The plan
was for the 5th Heavy Boat to trade in its LCU 1466s for the newer
LCU 2000s. However, the Chief of Transportation felt that the
LCU 2000 was not safe to sail solo in the open ocean. He decided
to send an LSV instead. In 1990, the 5th Boat turned in the
remainder of its LCUs to have enough men to crew the LSV-5,
Major General Charles P. Gross. It arrived on 11 July 1990.
CW4 Michael Spiro was its first skipper. The Gross operated out
of Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. The crew became 163rd Detachment
on 10 December 1990. This detachment, originally activated on 4
December 1944 and inactivated in January 1946, earned credit for
the Japan Air War. It reactivated in Vietnam in August 1967 and
served until June 1970.
The 5th Transportation Company (Heavy Boat) became
redesignated the 5th Transportation Company (LSV Support) in
December 1990.