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Dixon34.jpg155mm Self-PropelledTaken when assisting another unit's commo group. They were on the far end of Montezuma from where 2/9th was. This was a self-propelled) 155mm howitzer as it sat at Montezuma/Duc Pho. Taken with a Polaroid and an officer got bugged at me for taking it. I reminded him that I had top secret clearance and he got de-bugged. The marking above the white star is a cartoon of a duck sitting on a squashed egg. Don't recall anymore what it said, but was quite humorous.
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Dixon35.jpgThe Motor ManA very memorable character at right; his name was either Rogers or Richards. Fellow at left is UNK. The guy really loved WOMEN and met a few courtesy of the local mama-san. He said that Asia was heaven and he had no plans to return to the US. There were a lot of guys like that over there.
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Dixon36.jpgDowned ChopperOff in the background of this shot is a rice paddy with a Huey helicopter laying upside-down in it. Guys who stood guard on this part of the Montezuma perimeter will recall the downed chopper. As far as I know, it was booby trapped and never recovered. This is me and commo buddy "Philly" from Philadelphia standing on top of a bunker on the perimeter.
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Dixon37.jpgC-130Here is a shot of one of the many, many, many times I was flying out on a C-130. Some of the guys on this very plane I never saw again. I heard they were later killed in an ambush. Note the DC-3-based "Puff The Magic Dragon plane in the background!
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Dixon38.jpg"Short-Timer"What does a "short-timer" look like? Well, here is your big clue. The steel pot was damaged by a mortar round. The white picket fence led to the Marines tent area. One of the Marines saved my neck when we were overrun by the VC with satchel charges in our commo area.
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Dixon39.jpgGoing to Bong Son - LZ EnglishHere we were gathering to move to the dreaded Bong Son/LZ English. None of us had heard anything good about it and some guys who had lived there before told horror stories, so we knew we were in for it. Look closely and you can even see the company clerk's group filing cabinets on the back of one truck to the lower right.
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Dixon40.jpg"Moonraker"We owed a lot to these boys! "Moonraker" (long before the James Bond film of the same name) was a deuce and a half truck, fully armored and equipped with both 50 caliber and M-60 machine guns. They brought SMOKE if anyone dared cause trouble for us out there on the road! They ran protection for us all along the way to Bong-Son and elswhere. Brave guys.
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Dixon41.jpgThe Children of WarOne of the saddest things I recall is seeing orphaned children along the roads as we caravaned. This boy and girl were sister and brother and said they had no parents (killed by the VC). They were huddled together as if all they had in the world was each other. It was heartbreaking, but we couldn't take them with us. We weren't even supposed to stop in most places...
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Dixon42.jpgLZ English - Bong SonThe dreaded LZ English... strange food (a LOT of S.O.S.), stolen mail, weak perimeters but great living quarters made out of 105 ammo boxes!
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Dixon43.jpgLZ English - Bong SonBong-Son was a scary place and we had a lot of weird things happen there, so I kept armed to the teeth 24/7! We were spoiled by the perimeter bunkers we built at Duc Pho. At English, all we had was a flimsy culvert section and some worn-out sandbags with broken-down barbed wire for protection. ONE AK-47 round probably would have gone through this like cheese! I was always told that I was exempt from guard duty due to my critical MOS... but that meant nothing when I got to Viet Nam- especially at Bong Son! Here is an example of my perimeter guard post. Note the M-60 machine gun and ammo, M-79 grenade launcher, flare, box of C-rations, bug spray, etc.. And EVERYTHING looked like it was moving out there at night!
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Dixon44.jpgLZ English - Bong SonMe and some of the guys in commo managed to "acquire" a few unauthorized, non-standard arms. Along the way I had a "grease-gun", a "B.A.R.", a captured AK-47, and others. I also carried an M-16 "over and under" (grenade launcher underneath the barrel) until they took it away! Here I am at English with one of my "slightly modified" early M-16s (note that the prongs on the barrel end are NOT joined) and an M-1 A-1 rifle I loved. I also carried a .45 sidearm given to me by one of the officers. And would you believe that I am NOT a "gun guy"?
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Dixon45.jpgLZ English - Bong SonNow, one day near the perimeter, this Chinook chopper lands, drops off a couple of things, then suddenly...see next photo....
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