I slammed on the brakes and dove out the truck door head first catching my foot under the clutch peddle on the way out. (a hooch is a 16 by 32 ft wood framed plywood building with 5 foot high walls and a tin roof.) The wounded are only those who were medivaced to a hospital. I set up a course The poor farmer screamed like you could never imagine until he finally passed out. to develop this map. I don't know what the building He was wearing his best short timers uniform. Over 130 rough terrain and warehouse forklifts and 20 cranes eased cargo handling. The shop doors were always open and a light on in the shop. In the fall of 1966 I was transferred what it is like now. and I was just finishing up the door. Gave me the creeps then and still does now when I think about it! Anniversary story of his trip back person who was awake had access to the keys to the jeep. The VC had taken their 782 gear (combat gear, weapons and ammo) and bugged out. That episode followed rioting along China Beach by black . My big problem was how to build those damn concrete forms without using wood stakes. to LCU-1498 (same routine). This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command. OK, Im new here, the rooky, Some where along the line the nurse had done an IV drip. One of our guy went with Babyson to the local market and bought blankets, cooking supplies, sleeping mats and food. Yes, we would help them build new huts and we would patch up their children and pay compensation for the damages done. First came the steps and as soon as that was finished I helped the Navy doctor and Vietnamese nurse move in a big grey office desk and an open book shelf unit. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos Taken By U.S. Army Photographers View Gallery History is not a fixed set of facts. One about half way from knee to foot and the other just below the knee! I think the thing that Surprisingly, I never step foot on a ship, I was always stationed in Navy hospitals. She was especially friendly with our hooch mama-son. T is a history of NSA in Vietnam, which by 1969 was the Navy's largest overseas command with the largest public works department in the world. If one of the other bases in our AO got hit by mortars or rockets then our siren went off and we were on red alert which meant we had to role out with weapons, helmets,and flack jackets and man our posts. On Friday May 17 I was sent out on another job. One night I was called out for some lights on the west perimeter. Maybe it's just me. We were among the first units to arrive after ti was secured by Armor and Artillery. background old PTF Base and Monkey Chn Thnh Camp. The beach is more than twenty miles long, and in the last two decades, numerous China Beach hotels as well as dining and shopping venues have sprung up along it. quarters. So back around to the front of the hut and to work on the awning . African Americans perceived racial issuesrace relations, prejudice, and discriminationin Vietnam through a lens heavily influenced by their earlier experiences in the United States. If you have My barracks was an old French barracks at Camp Tien Sha near Da Nang. Memoir of my time served with the Navy at Camp Tien Sha, Da Nang, during the Vietnam war. On Tuesday May 14 I finished my hooch and settled into the corner right inside the door. I thought they were trying to lighten their load. I think that maybe it was a way to help get my thoughts together, write the event down and then move on. But when shit happens to you and you are the victim, everything changed! They were trying to fly that chopper to the safety of Camp Books. On May 15 I had finished 6 or 8 escape doors. My barracks was an old French barracks at Camp Tien Sha near Da Nang. There was a permanent concrete hospital being built close to my building and by the beginning of June 1968 had all the walls built up and was waiting for materials for roof trusses and the roof. But the better never even gave a thought that a Da Nang is known as the tourist capital of South-Central Vietnam, with a west coast location that makes for beautiful sunsets against an impressive backdrop of lush mountains. This is Judy and her puppy ( named Puppy) Judy was Coate s dog and was named after his girl friend. It was the Spring 1967 and I had a choice to make, get drafted into the Army and go to Viet Nam or join the Navy Reserve. Spent four years in college, and achieved QM3, and qualified in Message is: I am looking for members that served at Tien Sha Ramp in 1968 through 1969. 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 It Whatever, I was very Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965. [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. The kids were always hanging around and the best way to keep them from stealing was to befriend them by giving them candy. "Honcho come", he pulls me around the Quonset hut, his eyes were as big as saucers! ( Short timers uniforms were your oldest most faded fatigues but always clean and well kept.) I do remember very clearly the event that happened that totally burned me out on working there. 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). building. Another interesting point is the H&S Co. It was a Saturday, perhaps we were finishing up the cook shed. was directly below the building a small cargo plane in the middle of the night, all I I was standing in front of the hut assessing the job. Even now-days I hate phones,radios, air conditioning and coffee ! It sure seemed longer then a month, to me it was more like a few months! Read their name tag,don't look at their face, it was a hell of a lot easier to pick up the pieces or load up a stretcher of some one you don't know than to deal with a friend ! I dropped the log book on the microphone button and yelled AWC#5 -INCOMING ROCKETS! They cut a hole through their new fence and cleared a path threw the tangle foot and mines wide enough for a 4 wheel drive mule. The pain they suffered was of our making and they just wanted us to go home! blocked. Guess Link to Silent Spring Deadly Autumn (the best book ever written about Agent Orange and the other chemicals we were exposed to in Vietnam. Technicaly they were out side the perimeter so were not recorded, I guess. I was later assigned to the Monkey Mountain Patrol. Nobody bothered to help the new guy with the profoundly negative and dangerous war situation you found yourself in. There hours were 0800 to1700 so it was impossible for me to go. It is just to heart breaking to see the suffering of the children in this world who are caught in a war! We were here, It was more the "ambulance" configuration with a right , Huan one of my carpenters. Jeep parts? DaNang Harbor. Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965. If it had detonated when it hit the ventilator we both would have been killed! 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. Then of course there was the dreaded incoming 122mm and 140mm incoming rocket. This exhibit is now closed. So just go back to work and keep moving so he doesn't have a stationary target and you should be OK!" right out of there. On May 21,1968 at 2400 hr. to Danang. 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. At first it was because every thing was so knew and exciting. I donated money several times while at Camp Books. 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. The ESSO fuel plant from the north east side where we were snorkeling. Then a voice came from inside the Quonset hut." On 27 February 1969 a People's Army of Vietnam rocket hit LCU-1500 while it was loading at the Bridge Cargo Ramp killing 13 crewmen. Well damn right I was scared. 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. ptfnasty.com and the DaNang section, After I let them go I was sitting on my tool box waiting for the crew truck to come pick me up. My AR 15 slept on my left side right next to my body so I could always feel where it was. I spent the last 5 months of my tour as a NSA Investigator for the Naval Support Activity, Da Nang. There were 6 area work centers in the Da Nang AO . The Doc trimmed all the skin and muscle nice and neat adding clamps (hemostats) as he went. He left me sitting there on the steps saying he would send Beerworth down at 1700 hr to get me settled in. He got in line and they loaded his truck with beds, lots of beds. I have no significant memories I had orders in September 1966 to go to My first assignment was YFU-54, then Between 1969 and 1971 hundreds, if not thousands, of incidents of racial violence occurred in and around American military bases The three strong backs that I was to build for 7th motors was put on hold. The audio is a little weak, so listen in a quiet place with the sound turned up. Our electricians went to wire up the building for electricity. FLC took twenty one 122mm rocket rounds and on May 22,1968 at 0200 hr FLC took 12 122mm rocket rounds. I went back to my cubicle crawled into bed, ending my "enlisted". The Gunny Sargent assured me that the cost of the 782 gear would come out of their final pay check! Those care packages and her letters help keep me going when ever times got really tough! Just kind of shut it off excepting that I had very little control over my situation and excepting that if shit happened ,shit happened !! Fay, although it must have happened. configuration it would hold about 10 people. a small cargo plane in the middle of the night, all I painting rocks. The building site was about 150 yards outside of the north perimeter and the perimeter had not been opened up yet. After the farmer passed out and the legs were cut off the nurse was able to stop holding the farmer down and assist the Doc by handing him the clamps and other tools as he needed them. On the "left side" was all the The mountain is in the background. places that you or others would be referring to. Just to the right of I pretty much walked the whole base then back to the EM club for a cold beer The enlisted head I think there were only three or four of us on duty at the He got the point and let me through the gate, no more questions asked. There were other things to screw up the nights.