Previously Held MOS 1729-Combat Engineer Reconnaissance Sergeant
1542-Infantry Unit Commander
1745-Infantry First Sergeant
1745-Light Weapons Platoon Sergeant
1745-Rifle Platoon or Squad Leader
1514-Radar Chief Of Section
What started with a TWS invitation from Sergeant Don Shook has now turned in to a very time consuming project. At the present time I have 504 photos with many hours of narratives.
I've tried to keep the facts and stories about each picture as factual as possible. To keep continuity in the narratives, I've added pictures that are not mine from yearbooks that I own and from long Google sessions. To verify things that I do remember happening, I also have added quoted sentences and paragraphs that are not mine. In all cases I've added copyright credits to pictures and text that I've used.
All of the photos without � credits are my own. All the Photoshop titles and composite slides are my own.
Since many of the things I write about go back as far as sixty years, some quotes that I attribute to persons may, of course, not be verbatim. I've tried to make them at least, "words to that effect".
I am not doing this for self aggrandizement, it is in response to "What did you do in the War, Daddy?" I've found TWS to be a good medium for creating memoir type slide presentations.
In some cases, my recollections may be a little fuzzy. If anyone who looks through my profile and finds wrong timelines or gross inaccuracies, please email and so that I can make corrections. TWS has made editing very easy.
There will also be spelling, grammar and punctation errors. After hours of typing, I get lazy and quote marks, commas, grammar and spelling errors get dropped into the narratives. Sorry. Thanks TWS for building in a spelling checker and bless Google for their endless source of knowledge.
After many hours of work on my 1968 tour in Vietnam, I've just finished the Jump School assignment and am working my way down each subsequent assignment. Many of which have titles that don't mean anything, pictures out of order and bits and gibberish pieces of narrative in them. Bear with me, I'm working on them.
Note: In many cases, I refer to soldiers only as "men". I don't mean to denigrate the women who serve. It is just that men served in the combat arms units in the Army and women served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC). "It was the women's branch of the US Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942, and converted to full status as the WAC in 1943. It was disbanded in 1978" Quote � Wikipedia
I retired in 1973 and never had the pleasure of serving with women soldiers.
Description This campaign was from 23 February to 8 June 1969. From Tet 1969 through the month of June, the enemy again tried to sustain an offensive. His inability to do so can be largely attributed to aggressive allied ground operations. Between 23 February and 8 June 1969, a total of 70 significant named ground operations were terminated resulting in heavy enemy loss of life and materiel. The main operations concluded during this period were:
(1). The 3d Marine Division's Operation KENTUCKY aimed at preventing enemy infiltration through the Demilitarized Zone in central Quang Tri Province. Throughout the early part of January 1969, Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army forces continued to avoid major contacts with Free World Forces. Their continual movement to avoid friendly forces or to search for food and supplies contributed to a decrease in the enemy-initiated ground attacks and attacks-by-fire in Quang Tri Province.
(2). Operation NEVADA EAGLE, initiated on 17 May 1968 in Thua Thien Province, continued in 1969 as the U.S. 101st Airborne Division continued to defeat enemy personnel, and capture rice caches, material, and installations within its large area of operations, where it undertook offensive sweeps along Route 547 and around Song Bo.
(3). Two battalions of the 4th Marine Regiment were engaged in Operation SCOTLAND II. Initiated on 15 April 1968, this multi-battalion search and clear operation was centered in and around Khe Sanh.
(4). The IV Corps Tactical Zone Dry Weather Campaign began on 1 December 1968 in support of the overall mission to prevent Viet Cong units from interfering with pacification efforts. This operation, "Speedy Express," interdicted lines of enemy communication and denied him the use of base areas. In 1969 the 1st Brigade, 9th U.S. Infantry Division continued the operation in Dinh Tuong Province, using its highly successful night ambush tactics while the 2d Brigade continued its mission with the Mobile Riverine Force. Although engagements in Operation SPEEDY EXPRESS were typically small, the 9th Infantry Division fought several sizeable engagements with impressive results.
On 23 February U.S. Navy units and installations at Da Nang, Tan An, Ben Luc, Go Dan Ha, and Tra Cu came under numerous and widespread attacks associated with a new enemy offensive, but since many units in these areas were poised to meet these attacks they caused only minimal damage. April saw the heaviest cumulative enemy activity in the barrier interdiction camapign to date.