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Hiway19.JPGWinding Road - 19The infamous Highway 19 had both low and high elevations. It appears that a unit patch was constructed just above the road, center of photo.
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Pleiku_Sign.jpgWelcome to PleikuWell, not really. After my one-week excursion thru Camp Alpha and Saigon, it was time to get down to business. I caught a 0400hrs flight out of Tan Son Nhut into Pleiku in mid-Nov 1967. That's where the "real stuff" began. It was the HQ of the 2/9th FA Bn at the time. After checking in and getting my assignment, some of the "regulars" wanted to show me the town of Pleiku. You can tell from the sign alone this was my first mistake. It was a shithole of the worst degree. I never went back there, EVER!
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CampAlpha.jpgWelcome to Camp AlphaNovember, 1966. The Beginning. This was the Reception Station that greeted the incoming unit "replacements" as they awaited orders assigning them to fill unit vacancies. The "Speedy Four" in charge took great pleasure in barking orders to NCOs and Officers alike knowing full well they could not do a thing about it. Every order we had was dumped into a trash barrel. You would wait for further instructions.
I was given a handful of dusty, dirty letters that had piled up. One was my promotion to 1st Lt.
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Slide41.jpgWatching the arcA smoke round is fired close enough to see the smoke cannisters released and follow to the ground at LZ OD. (Look at center-right). Our cannoneers never got much chance to actually "see" where an artillery round landed, but LZ OD was an ideal location to show a complete path from firing the round until it completed its arc.
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GotBeer.jpgWarm BeerThe year was 1967 and the beer was available; warm beer, that is. It was 3.2 beer and warm, but...we drank it anyway!
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InsideARVN.jpgView from insidePhoto taken from inside the ARVN compound. Note the heavily fortified fence. February, 1967.
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ColdShower.jpgUnder the BridgeThis rock waterfall leads to a stream which runs under the bridge on Hwy 19. This water provided and excellent shower point...but the water was very, very cold.
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DD_-_Wendell_Corey.JPGTour GuideI served as a tour guide when actor Wendell Corey was making field visits. He died the next year (1968) at age 54.
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Tiger_Tracks.JPGTiger in the jungleA reminder that Vietnam was a jungle---fresh tiger tracks. These tracks were sighted by a patrol going up the Mang Yang peak. Highway 19, RVN
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FDC_Boys.JPGThe Two DennisHome safe from Vietnam, Dennis Munden and I will never forget our 24-hr shift sharing in the A/2/9 FDC atop LZ OD. We computed so many fire missions, especially after landing in Duc Pho to relieve the US Marines who were sent further north. It was a time of great stress and concentration, putting the artillery where it was needed. Photo taken at Dauphin's home in Ocean Springs, MS.
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Jungle_Expert_Cert.JPGThe Most Valuable Certificate Ever!Many students were "dropouts". Several of the exercises were beyond those officers and NCOs who didn't have sufficient physical fitness. Some were petrified by having to rappel down a vertical cliff. The "practice" run was a mud cliff; the "graded for score" rappelling was done down a rock waterfall. Those very devious buzzards didn't tell us that. Crossing the raging Chagres River with two poncho halfs making a raft was very daunting for the non-swimmers. I was lucky to be paired with a strong swimmer. The 24-hr E&E was not for the faint-hearted, plus they threw us into a raging storm. The maps literally washed out of our hands from the driving rain as a monsoon started. Such fun.
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Highway_19.jpgThe infamous Highway 19The infamous Hwy 19 going thru the Mang Yang Pass. The road ran from An Khe to Qui Nhon. Most everyone has a "war story" concerning event(s) on Hwy 19.
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