Glyn Haynie, Author
  • Home
  • Books
    • When I Turned Nineteen
    • Soldiering after the Vietnam War
    • Finding My Platoon Brothers
    • The Promises Series >
      • Promises To The Fallen
      • Return To The Madness
      • Revenge Is Coming
    • Andy Carter Vietnam War Series >
      • The Tunnel
      • The Ville
      • The Ambush
      • The Firebase
      • Second Tour
      • First Days
    • Letters To My Children
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT
    • HISTORY
    • REMEMBRANCE
    • BROTHERHOOD
    • VIETNAM VISIT 2018
  • Praise
    • When I Turned Nineteen
    • Soldiering after the Vietnam War
    • Finding My Platoon Brothers
    • Promises To The Fallen
    • Return To The Madness
  • Blog
  • MEDIA
  • CONTACT
  • BUY
Picture

Fire Support Base (FSB) Hill 4-ll

11/9/2017

2 Comments

 
This “Hill” soon defined our platoon and the Area of Operation (AO) we patrolled.
The morning of July 8, 1969, in a column of twos, our platoon entered the rear of the Chinook helicopter. It lifted off, taking us to secure the new firebase location on a hill seven miles west of Quang Ngai City. The Chinook landed without receiving enemy fire, and we exited through the rear door as soon as it dropped. We moved up the hill, encountering many mines and booby traps along its crest. The Company Commander deployed Sergeant Owens with a minesweeping device to sweep the hill for booby traps. We found booby-trapped grenades, 2.75-inch rockets, and a canister full of napalm with a firing device planted in the ground.
​

Lt. Baxter, Alpha Company’s First Platoon Leader, taking a break while the platoon and company start building the new firebase Hill-411. Note the small sandbagged shelter to his top left. Each position had the same shelter. They were all we had until the bunkers were built a week later. Combat Engineers built the bunker shells, and we sandbagged them.
Vertical Divider
Picture
Picture
Picture
Vertical Divider
Picture
Picture
2 Comments
Paul Densmore
2/20/2022 03:19:14 pm

I was a Sp5 in January '71 when I and my Cpt. drove over the access road(built by 39th Eng.) to Hill 411. We were in A Co. 39th Eng. Bt. out of Chu Lai. I was impressed at how lonely/vulnerable Hill 411 was.I have a couple pictures taken from the hill. My worst was walking mine sweeps out from QL1 to My Lai area while building a road from around LZ Dottie. We got messed up often. Let me know if you want the pics.

Reply
Glyn Haynie
2/20/2022 03:40:35 pm

Paul, thanks for your comments. It would be great to see the photographs, especially a couple of years after we built it. Email to, glyn@glynhaynie.com.

Welcome Home

Glyn

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    ​​When I Turned Nineteen Soldiering After the Vietnam War
    Finding My Platoon Brothers
    ​Promises to the Fallen

    Archives

    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Glyn Haynie, Author

Email glyn@glynhaynie.com

Subscribe
​Click to Subscribe to Newsletter

  • Home
  • Books
    • When I Turned Nineteen
    • Soldiering after the Vietnam War
    • Finding My Platoon Brothers
    • The Promises Series >
      • Promises To The Fallen
      • Return To The Madness
      • Revenge Is Coming
    • Andy Carter Vietnam War Series >
      • The Tunnel
      • The Ville
      • The Ambush
      • The Firebase
      • Second Tour
      • First Days
    • Letters To My Children
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT
    • HISTORY
    • REMEMBRANCE
    • BROTHERHOOD
    • VIETNAM VISIT 2018
  • Praise
    • When I Turned Nineteen
    • Soldiering after the Vietnam War
    • Finding My Platoon Brothers
    • Promises To The Fallen
    • Return To The Madness
  • Blog
  • MEDIA
  • CONTACT
  • BUY