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VIETNAM
IN-COUNTRY WITH THE 101ST AIRBORNE
By William Dean
Lt. William Dean 1969
I arrived in Vietnam in November 1969. As with
most American soldiers during that phase of the war, I had flown over from the
states on a chartered civilian airliner. The flight left from Washington state,
landed in Alaska, and then had one really long flight to Vietnam. While in
Alaska we were allowed a short break in the airport lounge. My main memories of
the flight were those of the really great looking female flight attendants,
especially the one with tiger striped underwear. Other than her, my thoughts
were on what awaited us all.
The final leg ended at Camh Ranh
Bay. As the plane descended thru the clouds, we all looked out the windows to
get our first view of this land at war. The place seemed like most any other
military airbase I had ever seen. The first strong impression was the smell that
filled the plane when the doors opened. It was a smell of mildew, damp and no
longer clean. Of course after being there awhile the smell became normal.
After a short 2 day stay at
the replacement depot, I received my assignment to the 101st Airborne Division.
Their main base for receiving replacements was located at the large military
complex near Saigon. Bien Hoa was mostly known for the airfield but there were
many other units there. I reported there after an uneventful C-130 flight (my
first).
The Screaming Eagle Replacement Training Section (SERTS) was to be my home for
the next week.
SERTS was a processing center as well as acclimatizing and training center. We
tried to become accustomed to the Vietnamese weather, received orientations on
our new unit, to include some history. We were told to forget much of what we
had been taught in the states, because now we were in Vietnam and would learn
how this war was really fought. Booby traps, ambushes, sapper attacks, etc. soon
became our main topics of discussion and full time thought.
Not many nights after
arrival, the airbase came under rocket attack. No one thought of the danger as
we climbed upon the bunkers near our barracks. Our thoughts were to get a look
at the show going on. However, a senior "SERTS" NCO came around and quickly
convinced us to take cover in the bunkers. During assembly the next morning our
foolishness was well described and explained.
With my SERTS training finished, I departed by CH-47, Chinook helicopter, for
Camp Eagle. Camp Eagle, was located in I Corps near the city of Hue, and was the
headquarters for the division. I was assigned to Co E 3/187th Abn. Inf. Bn.
based at Camp Evans. Evans was located about halfway between Hue and Quang Tri
along Vietnam's main north-south highway, QL 1. This area was written about in a
book on the French war in Vietnam called "The Street Without Joy". Over the next
10 months I would come to know the meaning of that title.
With E Company I was
assigned the duties of Executive Officer (XO), Mortar Platoon Leader and Ground
Surveillance Radar section leader. Co. E was the battalion's support unit. It
also contained the Bn Recon Platoon, but another 2nd Lt. had that platoon. Our
company commander was a 1st Lt. from Boston, Mass. who had been decorated for
his actions on "Hamburger Hill". His name was Sullivan.
Being located at the
battalion rear meant that I had bunker line officer duties a lot. I think I had
that duty about every 4-5 nights. This basically meant assisting the duty NCO in
posting soldiers to the battalion section of the base camp bunker perimeter,
then checking on these positions throughout the night. It sometimes got a little
dangerous as you were walking around in a combat area at night, coming up on
young armed soldiers that expected to be attacked at any moment. More than once
a night I came close to being shot.
New Years Eve '69-70 was a
really interesting night. We were told to keep the troops from firing their
weapons at midnight. Ha, what a joke. At midnight the entire base camp
bunker-line seemed to let fly with rifles, machineguns, hand-flares, or anything
that made noise or would light up the night.
In late January '70 I moved
to D Company to replace their executive officer. This is where I met 1st Sgt
Anthony P. Tufts. He let everybody know that the "P" stood for Prick, and
sometimes he was. As XO I spent time flying to the different platoons with the
re-supply copter and was Battalion paymaster 1 month. I once had the unpleasant
task of taking some bodies to the division morgue. This last was the result of a
booby trap that exploded as some troops were getting out of a boat along one of
the rivers in the area.
The company went to Eagle Beach in late February and that is when I took over
1st Platoon. I was able to use this time to become familiar with all the members
of my new platoon. We had a few relaxing days at the beach and then left by
helicopters. After landing back at the battalion area at Camp Evans, we where
trucked just north of Evans to the village of Phong Dien.
From there we started off into the field. My orders were to patrol the areas
north of Evans and set up ambushes at night to stop movement into the local
villages.
This was the beginning of my
time in combat as a platoon leader. During the next four and a half months I
would have the honor of leading some good and brave American Soldiers. We had
our share of good times and bad. We were involved in many firefights and
ambushes, set by us and against us.
I was twice wounded while in
combat. The 2nd time was the most serious and sent me back to the states. You
can read about it by clicking on "Mines - My Last Patrol".
The first time I was wounded was because of my own stupidity. I had been in the
field only a few weeks. The platoon had been patrolling along some trails near a
river and I decided to lead (walk point) for awhile. As we moved along I stepped
on a small triggering device that was connected to a 105 mm artillery shell
hidden in the grass 10 feet off the trail. As they say, an angel was watching
over me that day. The fuse had been removed from the shell and the end had been
filled with an explosive and a blasting cap. The blasting cap was attached to
the triggering device I stepped on. The cap went off as did the added explosive,
but the shell did not. Had it exploded I would not be alive today. As a result I
did take some metal pieces in my legs. Even though I could walk, the medic
called for a medevac helicopter and I was flown to Camp Evans to be treated.
CONTINUED
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