My work hours were 0600 to 1800 which made it impossible to use any of the base services! Unfortunately when we got there it was closed for one hour for lunch and Coate did not have the time to hang around. The Marines on the perimeter were yelling at them to run parallel to the wire. It was There was the real possibility of hitting a mine or being ambushed by the VC (it happened more often then I would like to think about) . Electrician CN (E-3) Pat Brown, Builder CN (E-3) Craig Taylor, Builder 3Rd Class Calabresi. Another source for jungle fatigues was up at Camp Reasoner. . Don enlisted in the US Navy and attained the rank of Builder Third Class (BU3) with MCB 53. Our generators were not even running yet so I heard the rocket coming in. He seemed totally comfortable and relaxed. The next work order I got for there I gave it to Beerworth and told him I would not work there any more! Mostly I was just kind of mentally numb. Our shop the day we put up our sign and officially became Area Work Center #5. African Americans perceived racial issues. I was shocked when he told me she was only 15 years old! I lay there waiting for the out posts to return fire, nothing happened! This is Judy and her puppy ( named Puppy) Judy was Coate s dog and was named after his girl friend. Map of the Vietnam War. nstar48; Media item; Jan 30, 2008; Wittig was 23 and on his second tour in Vietnam in 1968 when he met Cht, then 19, at Camp Tien Sha, part of Danang Air Base. When we arrived at Red Beach the Seabee team shop was a mad house. 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. The little girl was fusing and didn't want to leave the nurse so it took a little effort to hand her off to me . building. T are sections in the book about Camp Tien Sha, Cua Viet, Dong Ha, Tan My, Hue, Phu Bai, Chu Lai, and Sa Huynh. The Seabee team had 8 junior men in one hootch and 4 senior men in the second hootch. So off to Camp Tien Sha to get my gear and check out. Even then every time the Doc cut through a nerve that farmer would try to fly through the roof! What ever it was we were done by shortly after 1600 hr. She smelled horrible! Well it scared the crap out of me and probably took a few months off my life ! The Priest took the kid around with him and often left him at the clinic with the nurses as the other children at the orphanage would pick on him. It was closed in late 1969, the Admiral moved to China Beach and in 1970 I was an RM2 working at the Triangle Communications Center on the east side of the Han River (between Camp Tien-Sha and China Beach). On Tuesday May 14 I finished my hooch and settled into the corner right inside the door. Although the rules were they had to go back and check out. My day was done!! We had no black out lights on our trucks so we would have been any easy target for anyone who decided that they were going to kill us! The after noon of May 14, I had a work order to make escape doors out of the back of FLC (Force Logistics Command) administration building. (Actually, I rode in a truck.) I am sure had I not done that , the Chief, when he came down to the hootch, would have solved the problem by sending me back to China Beach. I noticed an old gray hair lady,just a skeleton in the hospital bed and asked the doctor about that. "Ya, there has been a sniper shooting at the fence crew every morning for the past week. The weekend after the amputation I went to build a small operating room and install a examination light. I believe that on May 21 we had hits to the sick bay which was a big rebuild job. 2023 iStockphoto LP. 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. I believe we also tied him around the waist. I served there and just would like to hear from some of the guys that was there. A refugee family was living in a lean too in Dog Patch south . All of the workers that worked for us were dislocated Vietnamese and us putting them to work was an attempt to keep their economy rolling. Dock area at Da Nang harbor. As he cut them off he threw them in the corner beside the shelf and I can remember how strange they looked leaning against the wall! I was in Danang less than a month when the Vietcong used rockets to attack the Danang Air Base for the first time in the war, on the morning of February 27. Then to Travis, Hawaii, Subic Bay (and shore patrol in Olongapo), then to Danang. When he was all loaded he told them one of the other drivers had the paper work and while they were trying to hunt down the papers he just drove away. said hours 1700 to 2100. For Australia U.S. Navy occurred with fire spreading to the task - 426th s amp! Nice history lesson for me. Detachment Phu Bai - 1965 -1970. What was done was done! Often times during a rocket or mortar attack rounds would over shoot landing in Hoa Kahn or Dog Patch ,providing children for the Clinic. side was a area called Bridge Ramp which was where the Navy LSTs would pull in BBC News, Da Nang, Vietnam. Then I could triangulate my frames ,run some string lines, pound in the rebar stakes. Here they surfed, sunbathed, and tried to forget the war they would soon return to. (my home base). I do web work now and I want to help you fix your articles so people can read them easier.I'm not asking to get paid I just want to do something for you. Price which includes postage (Media Mail) and insurance. They were all in alignment with our generators. I would sit at the desk and drink coffee, write letters or poetry. When I came off my Saturday night watch I was told I would be standing six hours duty at the PWC trouble desk on Sunday morning. BU3 Hovanec expired July 7, 1969 in Thua Thien, South Vietnam. Drive out the back gate and about 2 miles to the Navy Seabee base. There are other memories of my time working at the clinic. Drinking black coffee trying to stay alert. Spent many watches all over the city of Da Nang. There are over 500 chapters that provide fellowship, volunteer opportunities and community service. He's shooting from a long way out and hasn't hit anyone yet. I went back to my cubicle crawled into bed, ending my Go to vintagefilmarsenal.com to purchase a full-length 31min DVD of "Tien Sha and Da Nang 1969" -- home movies filmed at Camp Tien Sha and DaNang, including . My Vietnamese workers were hunkered down by the lumber pile about 30 ft from me.Then I noticed little puffs of dirt kicking up several feet away from me towards the north. paths and painted white and there were white picket fences around almost every They made runs north to Cua Viet at the mouth of the river (80 miles north of DaNang and 6 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone) and then upriver eight miles to Dong Ha to haul cannon ammunition to the marines. I had my broken leg cot and was living out of my sea bag. Some where along the line the nurse had done an IV drip. camp tien sha danang, vietnam 1968. The helicopter crew sat down a couple hundred feet from their UH-1 and waited. The base appears to remain in use by the PAVN. Donald is buried at Holy Trinity Church Cemetery, Hopelawn, NJ. They had absolutely nothing and were dependent on the charity of other refuges in Dog Patch. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. It was at maximum power and flying very fast. APL-30 and dock at Da Nang harbor. Don't try to cross in to the base as there were mines. It started raining Saturday June1st and rained continuously until Wednesday morning but that didn't slow down work any. 11/03/70 - John D. Shewmake Sr., SFC, Adona, AR. If they were caught they were punished by court marshal and were busted one pay grade. Target audience. Bruce Moore says he first returned from a 13-month stint in the Vietnam War to a "poor response." "We were at Norton Air Force Base. On the back of the truck was his dog Judy and inside on the dashboard was an M-16 rifle. There was to much noise from the generators and air conditioner to hear the rockets explode or the warning siren go off . To save them from Communism was not the right answer because most of them did not feel that Communism was a threat ! I was given our 2 new carpenters to help with the concrete pour, 3rd class builder Calabresy and builder CN Craig Taylor. Supported COMSEC 705 (Camp Tien Sha), Operation Big Look (Da Nang) and USMC ground missions (1st Radio BN). 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. It really, really broke my heart! I was a certified SCUBA diver. One night I was called out for some lights on the west perimeter. Camp Tien Sha is a former United States Navy base located in Danang, Vietnam. Tracers were bouncing all over in front of the truck. I'm sorry my last letter to you was so abruptly ended, but I figured I'd best get it sent, otherwise you'd still be waiting. The sound had carried down the valley making it sound very close, then it would die down then get loud again, very strange how the sound bounced around the walls of the valley. A very nice book. Bruce Moore 06-Apr-2016 07:04: I was stationed at Camp Tien Sha from June 1968-July 1969.,I was a BU3 attached to the US Naval Support Activities Danang.I lived in barracks #35 which was on the backside of Camp Tien Sha.I was in barracks #35 when the Rocket and mortar attack began.we had a material storage yard directly behind the barracks that was hit with incoming rounds.I also, as a . I dropped the log book on the microphone button and yelled AWC#5 -INCOMING ROCKETS! Pett George my ex UDT instructor allowed me to go through the class early being as how my older brother Jay and my Dad were going through the class too. We went downtown in Long Beach, and we got harassed a lot. Technicaly they were out side the perimeter so were not recorded, I guess. Because I had to fend for myself I did help the newbies who moved into my hooch. . Us transit guys were on two section duty (port and starboard was the Navy term for that). The Marines in that ambush had fired on me to scare me because they thought I was the duty officer making the rounds. Danang East/Main: Served in Da Nang East then Main. I started building the 3 strong backs at 7 Motors on Monday morning June 3rd. Camp Tien Sha Vietnam 1968. nstar48. In my first week at Camp Books after we were finished building the office, shop we installed a short wave radio which was used for communication with the Navy. It became the headquarters for all U.S. Every tree trunk was painted white, every rock was neatly lined up along the and drop their bow ramps. We weren't expecting any new men and we don't have the time to train you. 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 ! [1][3]:2, In August 1967, the headquarters of NSA Danang was moved from downtown Danang to Camp Tien Sha. You have destroyed my country and my family! But that only happened once as from then on I was ready. Made a very good impression on me, I didn't even consider it my whole time in Vietnam ! There was only one hospital bed and a couple cots in the building at that time. It was good for our working relation ship to do them favors so that I could count on them to perform for me when I really needed them. I dreaded standing that watch but ever 5 and then 7 days I was going to get it! Long , long ago, far, far away on the other side of the Also we took care of damage at Camp Reasoner and the small CAP out posts. Sunday late afternoons we were able to get over to the Red Beach causeway and get in some water sessions. I didn't realize at the time that the intended target was me and the generators. I am a 20 year old US soldier and my country says I have to be here! Da Nang Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images. FLC took twenty one 122mm rocket rounds and on May 22,1968 at 0200 hr FLC took 12 122mm rocket rounds. I started building my hooch on Wednesday May 8th at just before noon. 89 helpful votes. So now I know why the sniping stopped. This comment has been removed by the author. By July 1968 NSA Danang handled 350,000 tons of cargo each month for the 200,000 allied . Back at the hootch the Seabees got in a major debate about where to put me. Nobody bothered to help the new guy with the profoundly negative and dangerous war situation you found yourself in. Inside of that trailer, face down were 2 dead Marines. May 27 was my birthday. I have spent countless hours over the past 15 years driving my motorbike around the Camp Books area looking for any of our workers. The MPs left in a hurry. Why are you here in Vietnam ? As such a small group we couldn't do the standard Navy 4 hour watch. Here is the letter I wrote my parents on May 15, 1968. Luxury. Camp Tien Sha Vietnam 1968 from Monkey Mountain. 1968: US Naval Support Activity DaNang: Publisher: U.S . That episode followed rioting along China Beach by black . It had been a very busy month with a lot of things happening. Camp Tien Sha Vietnam 1968 from Monkey Mountain. In November 1965, Marines moved into Camp Tien-Sha, an old French Army camp situated on the Tien-Sha Peninsula and illustrated near the top . Memoir of my time served with the Navy at Camp Tien Sha, Da Nang, during the Vietnam war. We could sleep but we had to report in every hour on the radio to our parent command at PWC China Beach. Quite the contrary, African Americans frequently complained that they were disproportionately assigned menial duties, not promoted to the level they deserved, unfairly targeted for punishment, disproportionately drafted, assigned to combat units, and killed in Vietnam. The former Marine HQ (III MAF) which was located not too far away is now used by the Vietnamese army (it was built by the French) and is a no . It was kind of like the work orders I got. After a short rest to pull my self together I went back and finished putting the door spring on and about that time one of my team mates picked me up and took me back to the shop. Very close now and it was clear that they weren't going to make it over the hurricane fence at the perimeter. cold glasses of chocolate milk, ice cream and an apple to go. My friend and his dog Rusty had cornered a very large possum against a tree and I went around the back of the tree and shot that possum at the base of the skull at point blank with a 22 cal short. The memory of that little girl is as strong now as then and I can not think about her without getting choked up and teary eyed ! Le logo iStock est une marque dpose de iStockphoto LP. So over time it was easier to just not know anyone. Yes that's puppy and our new steel worker (Calhoun). You FNGs This is the near miss at our Post office. We were not part of the Marine Civil Affair but worked independent of them. It was very clear that they did not want a FNG getting in their way. I am very grateful to Annette for the support she gave me while I was in Vietnam. DS CS: Jan 1968: 6 Oct 1972: NSGDet - at 8th RRFS, PhuBai, Vietnam. I guess that is why there were a lot of E-2 in the Marines. Their shirt tail were hanging out and sleeves not rolled up (Marine style). They had been covered with poncho liners but they had blown off. Well I answered once about the FNGs. Often several rockets would have gone off before I even knew we were under attack ! Camp Tien Sha, Vietnam. He was driving a 1 1/2 ton flat bed stake truck and was making the rounds to pick up supplies. June 29, 2022; creative careers quiz; ken thompson net worth unix side was a barge with a sign. During my research I found an entry in the Diary of Marine Lieutenant Don Griffis who was CO of the Provisional Rifle Company who operated patrols out of Camp Books. That's danger close to the shop! world in a land that nobody cared about , I was sitting in a Continental Over the months as I got to know my Vietnamese and they opened up to me the most asked question they had for me. Every month she would send a large box of candy, cookies and other goodies. Beddoe. whatever you say Mr. Some time before the end of the month we got three more guys in . Gave me the creeps then and still does now when I think about it! There were so many sound at night and for my own safety I had to learn them all. I didn't think about the danger but was aware of it. The Doc told me to help tie the farmer down to the desk. NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIBITY DANANG, VIETNAM" patch on the front cover with gold embossed Naval Support Activity Da Nang 1966-67. iwas in the 1097th med boat co. dongtam,vietnam 1968 towed 3rd 34th artery barges up down the canels moble riverine force 9th inf divion, caption wild was incharge The building site was about 150 yards outside of the north perimeter and the perimeter had not been opened up yet. One about half way from knee to foot and the other just below the knee! The wounded are only those who were medivaced to a hospital. We hopped in his truck and he took me down to H&S company supply to get bedding and mess gear. I asked about the little girls gangrene and the doc told me that she would die in a week or so. Camp Haskins, Da Nang, Vietnam, served as headquarters of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, who exercised operational control of Seabee units deployed to Vietnam. One night I was in the office with LT Branch . 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