Welcome to Vietnam dropout!

[NefariousKoel]

I managed to get my paws on a few decades old photos that were sent to my father by his ammo man. I thought I'd share a couple.

Back of photo: "Matt & Pope LZ Colt"


That's my old man on the right in that one.


Back of photo: "Hill 441 West of LZ Center. John, you remember this one we struggled up it in Jan '68."


From what I've heard, the NVA were dug in pretty good on that hill. Lost a few people. The old man caught some mortar shrapnel and 3 bars there. Notice the photo was taken from a Huey.

[NefariousKoel]

Back of Photo:
"Machine Gun Squad
Mendoza.. Pope.. Mathis..Tony.. Martin.. Har"



I don't think my old man was trying to channel Aleister Crowley. Probably just telling someone he didn't know who had a camera to **** off. That's one thing I'm certain of... he absolutely hated the media and I'm sure that lended itself to further camera despise by association.

[NefariousKoel]

Some of the experiences he had with his brigade were related in books such as Through The Valley: Vietnam 1967-1968 and another one that encompasses these next photos: The Magnificent Bastards.

This is a photo of the place these mostly Army draftees holed up for a few days leading up to - and including - the Tet Offensive in I Corp.

"You know you're in trouble when you're in the Army and Marine helicopters are picking you up as reinforcements."

I won't go further into the details of the offensive in that area, but I can sum it up as Divisions of NVA heavily outnumbering Marines and the small amount of Army backup they got.

Anyway... here's their nice home for a couple days:
Back of Photo: "More of Nhi Ha Perimeter"

[NefariousKoel]

The B-52s come in during daylight.

Back of Photo:
"From Gunny Steve Goddard

View North from Nhi Ha perimeter see Airstrike going in"





Back of Photo: "Arclight in the Distance"

[NefariousKoel]

Here's what that previous "village" looked like when they were leaving via helo.

Back of Photo: "Aerial view of Nhi Ha battlefield. Note the Armoured vehicles left of the road preparing to recover Alpha Co. KIA. 7 May 68."




I'm told that it took them 4 days to take two villages and that is the second one they took and dug in. The first was a cakewalk. For the next 14 days, they had 10 days of heavy combat against massed NVA units. That pic was taken after the whole ordeal.

They were given a presidential unit citation for this action and the Navy issued something similar to these army pukes, though the old man would have to claim it himself via phone or some **** since he was Army. He tells me that they lost at least 1/3rd of their Battalion in a defensive position of which this was a part.

"Always Outnumbered"

[NefariousKoel]

Here's a shot of some of the Marines nearby. Too nearby by the account I hear. May as well have a big bullseye on it.

Back of Photo: " Gunny's Tank"




From what I understand, this tank came under heavy fire one night. It may have been another in the same tank platoon as this one so it's unsure. One thing that's sure... a nearby Marine tank took some B-40s and at least one RPG. A couple guys were sent to get them out of it after hearing a lot of yelling from it. At the same time, another RPG hit the position that this photo was taken from. The old man said the only thing above dirt was the end of the barrel of his M-60. Had to pull it out, shake it off, and start firing again.

Sorry for the poor quality scans. Though I think the book is out of print now, The Magnificent Bastards by Keith Nolan was the one covering this specific battle in Vietnam. Pops was even mentioned by last name a couple times, though he was pissed whichever officer they interviewed called him a Spec 4 when he was a Sgt.

http://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Ba.../dp/0440221625

Nolan augments his reputation as a Vietnam combat chronicler with the story of the two weeks of intense fighting near Dong Ha in 1968. Involving a marine battalion, an army infantry battalion, and their supporting units, the fighting was the most basic and bloody sort of ground combat. For their deeds in it, two men won Medals of Honor, but scores of others won no more than body bags. Nolan has thoroughly researched the battle, largely through primary source documents and interviews with participants, and has produced a book that, though it requires some background knowledge of the Vietnam war in order to be fully appreciated, for serious readers will stand very high among accounts of the infantryman's war.