After our three big generators and fuel tank were up and running that area became a target for the VC. I was later assigned to the Monkey Mountain Patrol. My big problem was how to build those damn concrete forms without using wood stakes. Suddenly dozens of tracer rounds started ricocheting off the wall about 20 feet in front of the truck! seating along the sides of the rear area. On February 10, 1970, SN Robert T. Sudduth, a sailor assigned to the camp, was traveling in truck from the Camp Tien Sha Annex to the Tien Sha Ramp when he accidently fell from the vehicle. Some times a lot of shit happened . They were waiting for electricity and to get more beds from Catholic Charity . They had been covered with poncho liners but they had blown off. You forget the bad things and you remember the good Anniversary story of his trip back with Calif. had to man the perimeter during I am not sure what possessed me to write poems there. At the base of Monkey mountain was Camp Tien Sha, the main Navy base. One of them used to take me to the MACV Club located by the USS Repose. There was always something interesting to watch at Camp Books. It must have been about 1100 hr. That's danger close to the shop! A regular jeep would accommodate 5 people, while in this She wanted to send care packages and letters to me as part of a High School project. maps) office in the White Elephant. On Friday May 17 I was sent out on another job. May 27 was my birthday. shoes" and one of the Vietnamese I dreaded standing that watch but ever 5 and then 7 days I was going to get it! K-9 Security Unit-1 (Navy Sentry Dog Unit) Det Cua Viet 1st Naval LARC Division. I don't remember when I stopped doing work at the Children's clinic, Maybe the end of June or early July. Just to the right of any old charts, photos or drawings of the PTF snakes and other items of entertainment. Message is: I am looking for members that served at Tien Sha Ramp in 1968 through 1969. Alan Select the period (starting by the reporting year): precomm - 1967 | 1968 | 1969 - now Register and add yourself to the Crew List of the Naval Support Activity Danang. Then we saw a little dot far up Elephant Valley. Chu Lai Base Area. that's one of our generators upper left. I went to the "motor pool" at least The Doc took a big syringe and needle and shot both legs up with anesthesia. It was not exactly what you would call a state of the art mental hospital ! We were not part of the Marine Civil Affair but worked independent of them. As he cut them off he threw them in the corner beside the shelf and I can remember how strange they looked leaning against the wall! The other time was that day in boot Bet coming down the trail by the ESSO Plant east wall. care of the base. [1], In mid-October 1968 the Deep Water Pier complex (160712N 1081250E / 16.12N 108.214E / 16.12; 108.214) on the Tien Sha peninsula was completed, beginning operations in September 1968. Lieutenant Colonel Leonard A. Blasiol, U.S. Marine Corps . There were other things to screw up the nights. The Gunny Sargent assured me that the cost of the 782 gear would come out of their final pay check! BU 3 Beerworth s crew took over and finished the walls and roof on Saturday May 18. My station when The lumber and wood crates in upper right was the start of our lumber yard. The new wood frame building that I did was behind the camera. The Marines would open that up and would also be extending the perimeter and adding watch posts . Any damage at FLC was my teams responsibility to asses , clean up and repair or replace so I had direct involvement in all rocket and mortar attacks at FLC. The Monkey Mountain Patrol. The guy on the right had black hair, he had been shot with a small caliber pistol right where the skull meets the spine. [4]:2, By 1969 NSA Danang was the Navy's largest overseas shore command and third largest supply depot after Norfolk and Oakland Naval Supply Depot and Camp Tien Sha had grown to accommodate over 6000 personnel. There was the real possibility of hitting a mine or being ambushed by the VC (it happened more often then I would like to think about) . vietnamandmilitary $6.00 Original, In Wrapper P-38 Vietnam War vietnamandmilitary $175.00 Naval Support Activity, Da Nang 1968 Cruise Book vietnamandmilitary Seller Information Seller vietnamandmilitary Contact Seller The doc explained that she had been burned by napalm and had gotten gangrene and that was the smell. It became the headquarters for all U.S. She giggled a bit (talk Vietnam veterans, age 60+, American. He lets fly with 8 or 10 rounds then he is done for the day. This combined attack, executed jointly by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese People's Army, was a series of coordinated surprise attacks launched against both military and civilian targets. ( We called the Army Republic Of Vietnam police white mice because they were small, wore white helmets white web belts, white pistol holsters and white spats.) The firemen loaded foam canister on a mule and were able to get to the UH-1 and finally put the fire out. The crew truck got there about 1745 hr or so and the doc was still busy. and went on Just keep on working in the rain. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Welcome! She would be down on her hands and knees crying and waling. such a small vehicle. Despite the repeated assurances uttered by our senior non-commissioned petty officers that Camp Tiensha's location on the peninsula that juts out from the City of Danang, and with the location of the Danang airbase on the opposite side of the city itself, generally put our base beyond the purported 7 mile range of the Russian-made 122 millimeter Katyusha rockets . My friend and his dog Rusty had cornered a very large possum against a tree and I went around the back of the tree and shot that possum at the base of the skull at point blank with a 22 cal short. we took twelve 122mm rocket rounds, there was damage again at the motor pool. What I really They did hit the fuel bladders at truck company several time so I knew there would be a nice warm fire if our fuel tank got hit. I dropped the log book on the microphone button and yelled AWC#5 -INCOMING ROCKETS! We needed to replace the awning over the entry door that was about to fall off. Our group that was sent to MST1 landed in New customers can download this image at no cost with a risk-free trial. It was at maximum power and flying very fast. New customers can download this image at no cost with a risk-free trial. to LCU-1498 (same routine). Hi Dan, I've always march in columns of two over to that building. there. He had a little Vietnamese kid with him about 8 years old. two parts, right and left, I have to was the building directly adjoining C Chi tunnels. I went back to my cubicle crawled into bed, ending my from Danang, Republic of Vietnam. [3]:8, In April 1972 all US Navy facilities in Danang were transferred to the Republic of Vietnam Navy.[4]. I wanted to go back and see that little girl before she died but all that next week I was to busy to get off early ( or maybe I was just to scared and heart broken). He didn't mince words. " We are the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1122, based in Collin County, Texas. I think Craig Tailor is on the left and on the right is Carl Rice who came on board about the same time as the new Chief. So over time it was easier to just not know anyone. You'll see scenes filmed along the roads between Da Nang and Camp Tien Sha -- driving through villages and countryside, past ships in the harbor, port activity, etc. (The Doc had a black medical bag that was exactly like the one Doc Holiday on Gunsmoke carried around. I remember one time showering in Trying to locate: Navy member at Tien Sha Ramp, 1968 - 1969 Branch of Service: Navy Unit was: Navy Support Danang Where served: Tien Sha Ramp When served: 1968 - 1969 . sucked and the barber dissed me for $10 of that came from me. map to the right is intended to be used as a I would like to help you with your content on your website. I asked about the little girls gangrene and the doc told me that she would die in a week or so. once. The helicopter crew sat down a couple hundred feet from their UH-1 and waited. I didn't think about the danger but was aware of it. John Wayne mode is when you still think you are invincible, nothing can hurt you because you are the good guy with the white hat and shit only happens to some one else. Fish and Game, as a diver/biologist, and retired as the Ch Linh Camp. They were the best I could [1][3]:2, In August 1967, the headquarters of NSA Danang was moved from downtown Danang to Camp Tien Sha. I took my time cooling myself off in that shower then went When I look back it sure seems stupid but at the time what else could I do? because of all the flares in the mountains next to the base. Honorably Discharged as a QM2(SS) in 1971ish. on the National Geographic Magazine Naval Support Activity DaNang (1965-1970), the U.S. sat idle. was directly below the building right out of there. He expired nine days later. The hardest things for them to figure out was the batter boards, how to measure and cut rafters and how to measure and cut gable end studs. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naval_Support_Activity_Danang&oldid=1137856150, Military installations of the United States in South Vietnam, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Naval History & Heritage Command, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 20:12. There were no more shots that day but there would be on the next two mornings. That was the LTs first rocket attack and he didn't react fast enough. There was only one hospital bed and a couple cots in the building at that time. Once at the PTF base the jeep I was shocked when he told me she was only 15 years old! The huge fuel tank was just being build on the left out of the picture. I had a ball throwing that jeep It was to late to get him settled in because we were so incredibly busy with rocket attack damage. My Vietnamese works didn't want to hang around waiting for the truck to take them back to the shop. click here or click "back" until you The engine suddenly stop and flames shot out the top of both side back door openings. Browse millions of high-quality stock photos, illustrations, and videos. Book description. . Camp Haskins, Da Nang, Vietnam, served as headquarters of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, who exercised operational control of Seabee units deployed to Vietnam. Their shirt tail were hanging out and sleeves not rolled up (Marine style). afford at the time and they taught me a lot about handling vehicles. My very first If it had detonated when it hit the ventilator we both would have been killed! arrive there again.. Joe Witmeyer shares this 50th Coate gave me two sets of shorts and short sleeve shirts. Nobody even knowing where from or if they had families. The ESSO fuel plant from the north east side where we were snorkeling. Surprisingly, I never step foot on a ship, I was always stationed in Navy hospitals. Charlie 2. Target audience. thought though was he was just putting on a show for us new guys. with her work. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command. "Ya, there has been a sniper shooting at the fence crew every morning for the past week. It was a strange way for a job to start. I got a letter from Annette Burrell ( Johns younger sister) sometime in May. I thought the clinic was for children. Some morning I would be more tired when I woke up than when I went to bed. I wanted to know everything about what happened to those Marines. Sure. The new pier facility allowed deep-draft ocean-going vessels to unload cargo directly onto trucks instead of offloading into Lighters while anchored in the harbor. head" screwed onto the pipe. I was at Camp Tien Sha from June '69 until Feb '70. area or any of the DaNang area, I will continue I was able to remain calm and under control and do what ever he told me but inside I was on the edge of losing it! Was a different Doc and Nurse and they didn't know anything other than the farmer had been moved to the civilian hospital in Da Nang City. The solution that I found was just to build big rectangle frames (20 feet by 40 feet) sitting on top the ground . This building was about 24 ft wide and 200 feet long and was a two story building. iwas in the 1097th med boat co. dongtam,vietnam 1968 towed 3rd 34th artery barges up down the canels moble riverine force 9th inf divion, caption wild was incharge ACTOV addition Admiral Army assets assistance attack August base Beach beds began boats Bridge buildings Camp Tien Sha cargo Center changes Class closed combat Commander Communications. I heard the distant crack of rifle fire and then my brain said holy shit, somebody is shooting at me!! It was time to go look for some food! side was a area called Bridge Ramp which was where the Navy LSTs would pull in You'll see the plumes of smoke, fireballs and falling debris from the explosion of the DaNang ammo dump on April 27, 1969 -- and close ups of some of the damage to buildings and barracks. What the hell is that? If you are able to extract the What we finally did was a one man 12 hour watch. Pham Ba went around back to take a pee. It wasn't a normally The memory of this little girl and the events at the Children's hospital are the reason I never had children of my own. while we were starting the wall framing we heard the sound of a UH-1 helicopter. - Alan, Drawing course. The next day a Chinook helicopter dropped a cable down to the burned out UH-1 and hauled it away. I also came down with a mild case of the flew so was feeling rather worn out. [1] In November 1965 500 men moved into the old French Army camp, Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. background old PTF Base and Monkey An example of what we did. Learn more about royalty-free images or view FAQs related to stock photos. I was finished with my concrete forms before noon on Wednesday . Seabees, initially using materials pre-stocked before the war in Advanced Base Functional Component packages, constructed three deep-draft piers for oceangoing ships, two 300 feet (91m) wooden piers an LST causeway and the Bridge Cargo Complex that consisted of a 1,600 feet (490m) long wharf, 300,000 cubic feet of refrigerated storage space and 500,000 square feet of covered storage space. Same short blond bristly hair, same small bullet hole, and same very damn dead! My body was always waiting to react. Then I could triangulate my frames ,run some string lines, pound in the rebar stakes. After showing him my NAUI Scuba certification card I was able to make arrangement to keep all the Scuba gear at our shop so I could use it any time that I wanted. The doctor and nurse came out of the clinic. The saw he used was a miniature version of the bone saw we used when we cut up cows or pigs at butchering time on the farm! Nang officers billeting ! February 1969. CD-ROM, but it didn't provide any new [4] NSA Danang originally operated from a commercial pier on the city side of the Hn River and this "Museum Ramp" (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}160300N 1081328E / 16.05N 108.2245E / 16.05; 108.2245) near the Cham Museum began operation in November 1965 off-loading Landing Craft Utility (LCUs) and LSTs. I was new in country and still in John Wayne mode. training), ands a week at Whidby Island (E&E, and SERE. Camp Horn is a former United States Marine Corps and United States Army base located in Danang, Vietnam. Besides the concrete hospital was a large concrete and stone ward building which had not even been started in early June. [ Base The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War (1959-1975), stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there. List of battleships of the United States Navy, http://www.worldcat.org/title/southeast-asia-building-the-bases-the-history-of-construction-in-southeast-asia/oclc/952642951&referer=brief_results, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/by-sea-air-land-marolda/chapter-4-winding-down-the-war-1968-1973.html, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, United States military bases of the Vietnam War. line. it for their personal use. bgmarshall@aol.com. quarters. ---- I spent the rest of the day until after dark alone in the shop building a foot locker. I asked about the little girl and the doc said she had died Thursday night. . [3]:33, In mid-October 1968 the Deep Water Pier complex (160712N 1081250E / 16.12N 108.214E / 16.12; 108.214) on the Tien Sha peninsula was completed, beginning operations in September 1968. If you have And search more of iStock's library of royalty-free stock images that features Vietnam photos available for quick and easy download. I was in Danang less than a month when the Vietcong used rockets to attack the Danang Air Base for the first time in the war, on the morning of February 27. She promised not to eat Puppy. 1966 and assumed I would spend two years on a submarine in WesPac. Barrels of asphalt damaged by rocket attack, April 1969, Camp Tien Sha Annex, Ray Norton. The poor farmer screamed like you could never imagine until he finally passed out. She would throw dirt into the air and scratch at her face until it was bleeding , rubbing dirt into the cuts. There was a bunker there. I suppose we had a good conversation but don't have a clue of what. Great Discounts & More! Some time during the night the VC entered the Skivvy house, capturing them without a fight. There were two supply tents up there and when the Field Marines (grunts) would come in from the bush they would strip off all their dirty clothes and throw them in piles in one tent then go into the other tent and pick up clean uniforms. I am hoping that my response willl stay intact and not disapear completely from here. It The Marine on the left was blond and looked like a California surfer.He to had been shot in the back of the head. The Doc trimmed all the skin and muscle nice and neat adding clamps (hemostats) as he went. I actually took the class in 1965 but at that time you had to be 18 years old to get a Scuba Certification. It was kind of like the work orders I got. When the Doc was finished he told me I could remove the stick. standing duty after working hours you were pretty much alone. My head carpenter ,Pham Ba told me about her during the week. I have no significant memories person who was awake had access to the keys to the jeep. I made a series of videos about the exhibit before it was closed. Download this Camp Tien Sha photo now. That was necessary because We had no black out lights on our trucks so we would have been any easy target for anyone who decided that they were going to kill us! Catecka Base Camp. around on the gravel surface at the PTF base. The road was closed to civilian traffic at night so there would be no other vehicles on the road. Even now-days I hate phones,radios, air conditioning and coffee ! Da Nang, Vietnam, Camp Tien Sha, 351 Days in Da Nang Ray Norton Me, age 23, sitting on my bunk drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. NMCB THREE Main Body Flights consisting of three passenger . Coate was not there to know about Puppy. Mostly I was just kind of mentally numb. Finally I interrupted and said I would sleep in the Korean bunker on the broken cot that was in there, end of argument ! While I was building the door the Doc and nurse moved in medical supplies to the shelf unit. delivering warm water was good Drive out the back gate and about 2 miles to the Navy Seabee base. It All the stuff that related to the I know NOTHING of a chapel I was land based in Da Nang. I stood there wondering how I was going to drive wood stakes into that hard ground. Back at the hootch the Seabees got in a major debate about where to put me. The tents were on the right. We The next weekend I asked about the farmer ? This is the day I started my real job. As ship demand for potable intensified at NSA Danang, on page 82 of COMNAVFORV Monthly Summary May 1968, A new dam on Monkey Mountain was completed and an effort was begun to store as much water as possible in this 1,900,000 gallon storage site. U.S. Sometimes we could be called out 2 or 3 times in a night. Some ( the rules for Camp Books were that to be off base you had to have a weapon). Because I was just getting situated it was just mass confusion for me . [1], During 1965 the logistic operation at Danang suffered from lack of suitable or sufficient harbor craft, cargo handling equipment, and port personnel. A refugee family was living in a lean too in Dog Patch south . I cried to myself on the way back to the base. the two boat docks at DaNang. I pretty much walked the whole base then back to the EM club for a cold beer ALL work centers report in : AWC # 1 reports everything is quite ! On the back of the truck was his dog Judy and inside on the dashboard was an M-16 rifle. While my guys were working I was talking to the Gunny in the hut. If they were caught they were punished by court marshal and were busted one pay grade. They were all in alignment with our generators. I was called to active durty in July After the bones were cut the Doc tied off all the bleeders and removed the hemostats . Guest 31-Aug-2016 02:35: . Once I went "over" Detachment Chu Lai - 1964 - 1971. Just as I was putting on the spring door closer a ARVN military police jeep pulled up in front (they were halling ass through the loose sand) Two White mice jumped out, went to the back of the jeep and carried an old farmer from the jeep into the clinic. The causeway was a floating pier that extended about a 100 yards into Da Nang bay and was used to off load ammunition and bombs. New year found 15x12. ! It sure seemed longer then a month, to me it was more like a few months! Inside of that trailer, face down were 2 dead Marines. Tour: August 2, 1969 through July 17, 1970. Some times she would get so drunk that she couldn't walk anymore, was really funny watch her four legs going in different directions! If there were any trouble calls from the Marines (usually lights out on the perimeter or something not working at the mess hall) then it was jump in the truck drive out and check and drive over to our hooch and get who ever was needed to go fix the problem. . [1], By July 1968 NSA Danang handled 350,000 tons of cargo each month for the 200,000 allied troops in I Corps. called to general quarters was in The Marines in that ambush had fired on me to scare me because they thought I was the duty officer making the rounds. basis Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965. While base facilities were under construction, the fleet deployed to Danang LSTs, a Landing Ship Dock (LSD) and an Attack Transport (APA), the latter for quartering and messing NSA personnel. Here is the satellite view of The Doc first put surgical tourniquets on and took the belts off. His name was Coate and he was a 3rd class yeoman. We went downtown in Long Beach, and we got harassed a lot. Khoi Tran and Hong Th Hin faved this 3,723 views 2 faves 0 comments Taken on March 17, 2017 Some rights reserved Nikon SUPER COOLSCAN 9000 ED Boy life was improving a lot. What that means is we stood a four hour night watch every other night. layout - (07-07-02) Long , long ago, far, far away on the other side of the We also had a land line (telephone) installed for communication with the Marines. IN VIETNAM. Surprise, I think that was normal precaution . The pain they suffered was of our making and they just wanted us to go home! Because I had to fend for myself I did help the newbies who moved into my hooch. We went through the gate, down Main Street, took a left and stopped in front of a small building that looked like a hamburger stand. So back around to the front of the hut and to work on the awning . I never really realized the high level of tension we lived under until I left Vietnam ! configuration it would hold about 10 people. Coate would send dog food care packages to Judy. There are over 500 chapters that provide fellowship, volunteer opportunities and community service. The little girl was fusing and didn't want to leave the nurse so it took a little effort to hand her off to me . From 1800 hours until 0600 we had to have some one stand watch. heads all in an area I'd call around Then of course there was the dreaded incoming 122mm and 140mm incoming rocket. May 5,1968 was my first rocket attack in Vietnam and you can see the hit 7 different places in my AO including my new home at FLC Camp Books. Barbee was very well liked by the labor crew. Then walk the length of pier re-installing any buffer pads that might have come out. To add your photos, please email them to webmaster@ccvva.org. This is Judy and her puppy ( named Puppy) Judy was Coate s dog and was named after his girl friend. The hooch in back is the doctors office and residents. I was given our 2 new carpenters to help with the concrete pour, 3rd class builder Calabresy and builder CN Craig Taylor. boats took place at the other base. He asked the officer in charge about them and was told that they didn't have any use for them because they didn't have any Marines who were certified divers. I was driving on the perimeter road with the dry storage ASM wall on my right. One night I was called out for some lights on the west perimeter. Some where along the line the nurse had done an IV drip. We were supposed to protect our base generators and fuel tank from sappers. I spent 1968-72 in the US Navy, as a Corpsman (Medic). The nurse was carrying a little girl about 4 years old. She would pull out handfuls of her hair and pound herself with clenched fists! It really, really broke my heart! On Monday morning Bet returned the snorkeling gear to Special Service and noticed that they had two sets of double 70 scuba tanks with Mark-2 regulators. The Magazine was found and their 155 and 175 guns. The green building upper right is the hooch that I built for our Vietnamese workers. Didn't get any meals so after we were finished we ate sandwiches with the mid watch Marines at the mess hall. to Danang. It was creepy doing that trip to the causeway. Before I went into the Navy I had a January 30, 1968 marked the beginning of the Tet Offensive. Vietnam War Home Movies Tien Sha & Da Nang 1969 ammo dump explosion, freedom hill VintageFilmArsenal 2.48K subscribers 37K views 8 years ago Go to vintagefilmarsenal.com to purchase a. I was going to start building my own hooch so I would have a place to sleep ! Soon there were Marines all over the place. I also made life long friends. The were riding shotgun on truck convoys to and from Danang to Quang Tri Province. The photos on this page are from an exhibit that was at the Collin County Historical Society Museum. Then it was back to the base ( it took about 50 minutes to do the whole trip) and hopefully be on time for the 0100hr radio check in . My Vietnamese workers were hunkered down by the lumber pile about 30 ft from me.Then I noticed little puffs of dirt kicking up several feet away from me towards the north. The Link to video tour of . to pull a copy and edit in the There wasn't much blood ,just a small whelp where the bullet went in. It was no problem during the day because either the XO or Chief were there or the secretary,interpreter (miss Nguyen). of the DaNang Military Complex, One of 15 rounds hit us with 3 KIA and 15 wounded. The doctors at the Hoa Kahn Clinic were all Navy I think mostly off the hospital ships, they would volunteer for the clinic and rotate out every week. In 1997 I drove my motor bike through the gate while the guard was taking a nap at lunch time and was able to get to the main office and talk to a doctor.
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