Fire Support Base (FSB) Charlie Brown was the first FSB that Mike Dankert and I reported to when joining our infantry platoon. Surrounded by water, we had to take a navy boat to get to Charlie Brown. This is the FSB that I reported to and flew from to report to my platoon for the first time, and Bruce Tufts the first platoon member I met. During our time operating in this area, we guarded the bridge over the Song Dai river that flowed into the South China Sea, and Mike, only with the platoon for several days, went on his first patrol were they spotted over 17 NVA soldiers. I got to know Juan Ramos and Paul Ponce during our time at the bridge. I hope the Buddhist Monastery, where the strange music played at night, is still located near the bridge. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View FSB Charlie Brown Bridge Patrol Military Map 1969 FSB Bronco was the Brigade Headquarters, Battalion Headquarters, and our Company Headquarters location. We reported to the company headquarters before going to the field and when coming in from the field. The Brigade hospital was located on FSB Bronco, and many of our wounded and dead were transported by dust-off helicopters to Bronco. FSB Liz was another firebase in our operating area, but Mike and I never served on Liz. Other veterans requested we stop at LZ Liz during our trip. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View FSB Bronco FSB Liz Military Map 1969
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The platoon conducted a Combat Assault on a hot landing zone with enemy soldiers to engage. Landing in the middle of a forest fire, the platoon spent many hours running from the path of the fire. While running from the fire, on May 24, 1969, Mike Dankert and I started our lifelong friendship. We had been without food and water for over 24 hours. Once at the bottom of the mountain we were ordered to climb the mountain next to it. Once on top, we received resupplies and set up our night defensive positions. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View Fire Military Map 1969 While on FSB Debbie the platoon went on ambushes and patrolled the Rice Bowl area. We had several major firefights in this area and frequent contact with the enemy. On June 14, 1969, Bruce Tufts was killed while sitting in his position on a hilltop near FSB Debbie and off Highway 1. We had a major engagement with NVA forces on July 2nd. On July 5th, a track, from E Troop, hit a booby trap that blew the track apart, and caught on fire, killing two crew members on the track. Mike Dankert, Doc Windows, and a third soldier were detailed to remove the bodies. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View FSB Debbie July 2 June 14 Track Military Map 1969
We will spend the majority of our time around Hill 4-11 and the Quang Ngai area that we operated as a platoon. During our time building and securing Fire Support Base Hill 4-11, we endured many hardships and enemy attacks. There were two platoon members killed and one critically wounded in the first week. The company even had the tail end of a typhoon hit during the first week on the Hill. While viewing Google maps I found Hill 4-11 first, overgrown with vegetation, and the surrounding area appeared the same, but much more populated than in 1969. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View FSB Hill 4-11 I searched and found the August 13th, and August 15th, locations where the enemy killed and wounded half of the platoon. Overall, the areas looked the same, rice paddies and fields, and the hedgerows looked as I remembered. However, in several areas, buildings and roads were built that didn’t exist in 1969. I added August 8th, to show where the platoon went after leaving Hill 4-11 the first time and received a replacement, Tommy Thompson. August 12th is where the platoon met the other units for the task force before moving out the next morning. August 14th is where we blew many tunnels. The August 19th location is where a tank hit a mine, and the platoon stayed back to secure the area around the tank. The map indicates the position of the firefight on January 14, 1970, where Kidwell and Morris were killed. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View August 8 August 12 August 13 August 14 August 15 August 19 Quang Ngai Airport (Closed) Horseshoe January 14 Military Map 1969 Mike and I were in the same division and brigade, different battalion than Lieutenant William Calley, arriving one year after the massacre. My Lai was in the same province, Quang Ngai, across the Song Tra Khuc river, from the area that our platoon patrolled and where 13 of our platoon brothers died. When this story broke, the division, still in Vietnam, changed all signage from Americal Infantry Division to read “23rd Infantry Division.” This was how damaging the name “Americal” reflected on the soldiers and the Army.
The government of Vietnam built a memorial in 1978 to the victims of the My Lai Massacre in Son My. The Vietnamese media referred to the incident as the Son My massacre because My Lai was not the only hamlet involved. Mike and I thought it a good idea to visit the My Lai Memorial while touring the Quang Ngai Province. GOOGLE MAP - Click to View My Lai Memorial Mike Dankert, my oldest son David, and I are going to Vietnam June 14 and will return home June 21. We believe five days on the ground is enough time to visit all the locations. The group will fly into Da Nang and stay at a hotel in Hoi An. David and Mike fly into Austin the day before we leave for Vietnam. I will begin daily posting June 13, 2018. I will post pictures and a short write up each evening (I hope) on my Blog and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/haynie19/). We will visit Hill 4-11 and the areas around the Hill, My Lai Memorial, Debbie/Thunder, the rice bowl, FSB Bronco, FSB Charlie Brown and the bridge, and the Division firebase in Chu Lai. We hope to find more locations as we travel up and down Highway 1 (Redball). Rice Bowl Area Photo by Alan Brinton (2002)
I have been going through old unit newspapers and newsletters from the time I was in Vietnam and came across the one below. We received this edition while in the mountains. I found the photo on the internet and thought it fitting to display with this article. Notice the banner (Victory for the Vietcong) and the NVA flags our American citizens are carrying. This article was written in the 11th Brigade Trident Newsletter, September 29, 1969. Spare Your Relatives Needless Grief Numerous hoax calls to relatives of personnel serving in Vietnam have been reported in recent weeks. These hoax calls have caused considerable anguish and discomfort to the next of kin who are unaware of Department of the Army, notification procedures. The hoax call is malicious and relates primarily to false reports of death, missing and AWOL, desertion, or other related matters concerning personnel status. Spare Your Relatives This Grief. Advise them now that they may be the recipient, of such a contemptible call, and that any such telephone call concerning your status should be immediately recognized as a hoax. If your status requires notification to your loved ones, your Army does not use the telephone. Notification is made by a personally delivered message by Army representatives, where identity can immediately be verified; or, by Western Union telegram which can be verified with the Western Union office from which received or, by correspondence directly from the Department of the Army. This photograph was not published with the article. I thought it a good image to show the attitude at the time. This image is the page from the newsletter that the article was published.
Soldiering After the Vietnam War: Changed Soldiers in a Changed Country
The post commander walked along the line of senior NCOs who were retiring and stopped in front of each. We snapped to attention and saluted, and he returned the salute and pinned the award we’d earned on our left breast pocket. As he shook my hand, he made small talk, but I don’t recall what he said. This ceremony reminded me of the day I’d entered the Army. I was a number going through the enlistment process, and a stranger had given me the Oath of Enlistment. Now I was a professional soldier shaking hands with a stranger, leaving after 20 years of service. I was months away from completing my two-year obligation as a Drill Sergeant when Wayne received his assignment to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Drill Sergeant Duty. My company commander got Wayne assigned to our company, and he was my replacement. Wayne completed Drill Sergeant School and served his two-year obligation at Fort Jackson. I presented my Drill Sergeant hat to Wayne.
Left to Right - Me giving my Drill Sergeant Hat to Wayne, May 1978. Wayne was my replacement on Drill Sergeant Duty. This photograph was published in our hometown newspaper, The Columbus Ledger, with an article about our service. In January 1976 the Army assigned me to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Drill Sergeant duty. I completed the Drill Sergeant Course in May 1976. I found the Drill Sergeant Course competitive, challenging and demanding.
Being a drill sergeant meant I worked day and night for nine weeks. We called our Drill Sergeant Duty “being on the trail.” My day started by waking at 4:00 am, getting ready for work and then driving to post. The CQ had the trainees up and doing their morning routine: making their bunks, cleaning the barracks and latrine, and getting their gear ready for the training day before I arrived. We followed the training schedule, and I’d get home around 7:30 pm. The drill sergeants wear the campaign hat as a testament of their demonstrated professionalism, commitment to the mission, and proven leadership. The hat further symbolizes the lineage of the past, present, and future of the U.S. Army. In the middle of July 1974, Wayne, me and our wives took a three-day weekend to go to the military resort area in Berchtesgaden. Vacationing at Armed Forces Recreation Center (AFRC) Europe facilities in southern Bavaria is one benefit of duty in Europe. At the Chiemsee recreation center, the Lake Hotel actually sat on the edge of the 64-acre Lake Chiemsee. The resort was in southern Bavaria and Hitler chose this site for the first rest house of the Autobahn system and built a large Rasthaus complex on the shore of the lake. Wayne and I sitting by the lake, at Chiemsee, relaxing and forgetting about the company back at Heilbronn.
In the spring of 1974, the Company Commander asked for volunteers to attend the French Commando School in Breisach, Germany, a short distance from the Rhine River and the Black Forest, a mountainous region in southwest Germany, bordering France. The Rhine River separated the two countries. The French Commando Course was similar, in some of the physical requirements, to the Army Ranger course, but much easier. Ranger school lasted nine weeks. They stayed out in the field most of the time and went without food and sleep. We called the French Commando Course a “mini-Ranger Course,” but we had hot meals, and, most nights, we slept in a bunk. The Rangers seldom had either during their course. This course taught small-unit tactics, patrolling, and leadership, but the biggest focus of the course was on teamwork. There were many obstacle courses, and we carried a pack with an M1 rifle everywhere we went. We found the three-week course challenging and demanding and completed many tasks to include obstacle courses, river rafting operations, staring down a tank, boxing, jumping from a helicopter, rappelling and mountain climbing to name a few. The school commandant awarded the French Commando Badge upon our successful completion of the course.
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AuthorWhen I Turned Nineteen Soldiering After the Vietnam War Archives
September 2019
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Glyn Haynie, Author
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