There was a bunker there. 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. It was kind of a taste of what we would get when the monsoons came in September. Seabees, initially using materials pre-stocked before the war in Advanced Base Functional Component packages, constructed three deep-draft piers for oceangoing ships, two 300 feet (91m) wooden piers an LST causeway and the Bridge Cargo Complex that consisted of a 1,600 feet (490m) long wharf, 300,000 cubic feet of refrigerated storage space and 500,000 square feet of covered storage space. . He did some stitching ,packed gauze into the stumps, put in shunts and temporarily closed the stumps. The base appears to remain in use by the PAVN. Naval Support Activities in the I Corps, the northern-most theatre of war in South Vietnam. Camp Tien Sha | Military Wiki | Fandom Because of the rocket attack on May 13 (rockets hit with in 50 yard of this building) some of the officers there wanted escape doors out the back of the building where they were starting to build their own bunkers. Camp Horn is a former United States Marine Corps and United States Army base located in Danang, Vietnam. I think that maybe it was a way to help get my thoughts together, write the event down and then move on. Naval Support Activity Danang - Wikipedia The huge fuel tank was just being build on the left out of the picture. Because I was just getting situated it was just mass confusion for me . My head carpenter ,Pham Ba told me about her during the week. when I was there. Welcome to Viet----fuckn Nam you FNGs ( funking new guys) !!! There was no time off just the same 12 hr work shift. world in a land that nobody cared about , I was sitting in a Continental We set the radio on squelch so it would make a lot of noise and wake us up. The Marines slept 12 to 14 men in a hootch. Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots hair cutting all my time there aside Navybuddies.com Crew List - Reunite with old US Navy Buddies Our shop the day we put up our sign and officially became Area Work Center #5. The nurse laid across the farmers upper thighs to hold him in place. pilot said that was to avoid being shot at by the VC. This was the closest skivvy house to Camp Books , a very short walk. didnt get shot at and we safely landed and taxied off the run way. with Calif. Often the convoys would drop off kids from out in the bush. There wasn't much blood ,just a small whelp where the bullet went in. We took 2 122mm rockets about where the crates are. Chn Thnh Camp. . 2023 iStockphoto LP. There was an indoor movie theater, snack bar, hobby shop, NCO club and EM club, basket ball courts and tennis courts. loved cars and fast driving. The Post office was about 75 yards from my hootch. ptfnasty.com and the DaNang section, And there were certainly good things there, at least in the Sleeping in that bunker was not good.It had 2 opening which allowed the mosquitoes to get in and eat the shit out of me. Our office was up stairs. The saw he used was a miniature version of the bone saw we used when we cut up cows or pigs at butchering time on the farm! That was the LTs first rocket attack and he didn't react fast enough. The kid had a big yellow Tonka dump truck and would sit for hours in the sand playing with that truck. African Americans perceived racial issuesrace relations, prejudice, and discriminationin Vietnam through a lens heavily influenced by their earlier experiences in the United States. I believe that on May 21 we had hits to the sick bay which was a big rebuild job. Detachment Phu Bai - 1965 -1970. k. Rocketed PX photo - Richard Calmes photos at pbase.com YFU-54 (Car 54 where are you). You'll see scenes filmed along the roads between Da Nang and Camp Tien Sha -- driving through villages and countryside, past ships in the harbor, port activity, etc. Another interesting point is the H&S Co. I had my broken leg cot and was living out of my sea bag. Retro. Inside of that trailer, face down were 2 dead Marines. Here is a poem that I wrote about the helicopter. The Seabee team had 8 junior men in one hootch and 4 senior men in the second hootch. Once at the PTF base the jeep Chapel? Often several rockets would have gone off before I even knew we were under attack ! Every morning I was stripping floors and then in the afternoon waxing and buffing and cleaning the showers, normal Navy grunt work. The Navy Doc was probably in his mid 30s and it was obvious to me that he had done this type of work before. This combined attack, executed jointly by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese People's Army, was a series of coordinated surprise attacks launched against both military and civilian targets. An example of what we did. that's one of our generators upper left. Once I went "over" The Doc told me to help tie the farmer down to the desk. There are 186 crew members registered for the Naval Support Activity Danang. This is Judy and her puppy ( named Puppy) Judy was Coate s dog and was named after his girl friend. I took my time cooling myself off in that shower then went 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 ! In March 1965 when United States Marine Corps combat troops landed at Danang, the support establishment was rudimentary. Go through their front gate then out their back gate to the causeway. When the Doc was finished he told me I could remove the stick. [4] NSA Danang originally operated from a commercial pier on the city side of the Hn River and this "Museum Ramp" (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}160300N 1081328E / 16.05N 108.2245E / 16.05; 108.2245) near the Cham Museum began operation in November 1965 off-loading Landing Craft Utility (LCUs) and LSTs. In the fall of 1966 I was transferred (The Doc had a black medical bag that was exactly like the one Doc Holiday on Gunsmoke carried around. Drawing Don't try to cross in to the base as there were mines. "Honcho come", he pulls me around the Quonset hut, his eyes were as big as saucers! Beerworth dropped us at 1st MPs. once. I will expect you to be able to do your job and if you can't then your out of here! The Marines in that ambush had fired on me to scare me because they thought I was the duty officer making the rounds. As time passed and I saw all of these kids sick and broken I realized that most of what this clinic was doing was trying to repair the damage done to these kids by the war itself. They were simply ghettos with poor sanitation , communal water supply, no roads or electricity. say I rarely ventured onto the left "Sorry that's all we have!" When I asked the Priest what happened to the kid he said he didn't know, the kid was at the orphanage when he took over. Issues related to race and race relations helped to define the African American experience in the United States, and these same issues defined the experiences of black soldiers in Vietnam.Race relations in combat were typified by cooperation, shared sacrifice, and a sense of brotherhood. The Doc trimmed all the skin and muscle nice and neat adding clamps (hemostats) as he went. One rocket struck this barracks, but the man in this room survived by . The guys loaded up my tool box and gave me an M-16 so I would be able to walk back to the base later. Most of them would be dead by now as most of the men were in their mid forties then . I was going to have to hit the ground running if I intended to stay with this team. Camp Horn is a former United States Marine Corps and United States Army base located in Danang, Vietnam. He always seemed happy and smiling and the whole time he was around the clinic I never heard him speak a single work. Friday was an interesting day. MST1 and thought it would be a good time to go back and see [3] The camp was quickly expanded to include 25 new barracks able to accommodate an additional 1,700 men, together with a barber shop, post exchange and milk plant. not leaving a big enough tip. I slowly walked around the trailer checking them out. camp tien sha danang, vietnam 1968 - precisionlearning.com Here is the satellite view of Mark Harms reporting for duty! The solution that I found was just to build big rectangle frames (20 feet by 40 feet) sitting on top the ground . That's danger close to the shop! If I wanted something I had to have Bet or Ski pick it up. paths and painted white and there were white picket fences around almost every corner and pretty balanced oversteer under power out of the corners. There weren't even any stairs going up there yet. waiting in transit at the Long Beach Naval Station, I got orders to Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! The 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. Within a hundred feet of the generators. configuration it would hold about 10 people. The MPs left in a hurry. map to the right is intended to be used as a I was in country from June 1969 to June 1970. . On February 10, 1970, SN Robert T. Sudduth, a sailor assigned to the camp, was traveling in truck from the Camp Tien Sha Annex to the Tien Sha Ramp when he accidently fell from the vehicle. There was a young mother with several kid and grandma and grandpa. Some where along the line the nurse had done an IV drip. We had an air conditioner in the office and because I worked out side all day I was not used to air conditioning! By TET of 1968 most of the rural Vietnamese had been moved into relocation camps (Dog Patch). C Chi tunnels. navy was the hair thing. Barrels of asphalt damaged by rocket attack, April 1969, Camp Tien Sha Annex, Ray Norton. Everyone had his turf marked out and nobody was willing to give any for me. I suppose we had a good conversation but don't have a clue of what. I needed to know which of the sound meant danger! [1] In November 1965 500 men moved into the old French Army camp, Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. the upper left hand part of the pic. Here is an E mail I got from Karl explaining his arrival to Vietnam and Camp Books (FLC) The last week of May brought us a knew Chief Builder and our old Chief Botswains mate left us. Danang. [1] In November 1965 500 men moved into the old French Army camp, Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. Some part of it was always listening to what was going on . 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. Guess earlier generations of residents at Camp Fay had their "enlisted". They were trying to fly that chopper to the safety of Camp Books. She would throw dirt into the air and scratch at her face until it was bleeding , rubbing dirt into the cuts. shower heads came out from the side Nobody even knowing where from or if they had families. I heard the truth the next day at the mess hall. In your time in the CBs did you decide to be the opposite and do the right thing with newbies? Well, the Camp Tein Sha barracks got me for Friday, and Saturday. Although the rules were they had to go back and check out. standing duty after working hours you were pretty much alone. My station when The exhibit was known as "The Vietnam Syndrome". I knew I wasn't in Kansas. Well damn right I was scared. In addition, the Navy took charge of the offloading, storage and delivery of supplies common to all the allied forces in I Corps. Coate would send dog food care packages to Judy. Report an offensive or inappropriate entry. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos Taken By U.S. Army Photographers View Gallery History is not a fixed set of facts. Not all the time but sometimes . Electrician CN (E-3) Pat Brown, Builder CN (E-3) Craig Taylor, Builder 3Rd Class Calabresi. Travis, Hawaii, Subic Bay (and shore patrol in Olongapo), then to The official report was small arms fire on the perimeter. The argument got pretty heated. She is always with me ! U.S. MARINES IN VIETNAM THE DEFINING YEAR 1968. by. [1], U.S. NSA Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965 under the operational control of Commander, III MAF. Any damage at FLC was my teams responsibility to asses , clean up and repair or replace so I had direct involvement in all rocket and mortar attacks at FLC. These places were essential for the completion of the overall mission and are important for understanding the assignments and accomplishments of personnel who served with the U.S. These positive relations were largely a reflection of the fact that black and white soldiers in combat were heavily dependent on one another. 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. On Tuesday May 14 I finished my hooch and settled into the corner right inside the door. It's a win-win, and it's why everything on iStock is only available royalty-free including all, Royalty-free licenses are the best option for anyone who needs to use stock images commercially, which is why every file on iStock whether its a, From social media ads to billboards, PowerPoint presentations to feature films, you're free to modify, resize and customize every asset on iStock including all. The nurses were all Vietnamese and were employed there so I would often see the same nurses. I held the door open for them. At first it was because every thing was so knew and exciting. Danang Vietnam 1966 1967 Camp Tien Sha was an old French army base. cold glasses of chocolate milk, ice cream and an apple to go. couldn't resist testing it's limits! I didn't know it then but that was my last good meal for a long time! I heard the distant crack of rifle fire and then my brain said holy shit, somebody is shooting at me!! the late 60's and early 70's. 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. 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. China Beach Vietnam - China Beach in Da Nang - China - Destination 360 They had absolutely nothing and were dependent on the charity of other refuges in Dog Patch. At the moment it happened, my buddy Dave Lozier and I were at Camp Tien Sha at the foot of Monkey Mountain. The Doc narrated as he worked, what he was doing, what he was going to do, when I should be prepared for the farmer to go ballistic! Naval Communication Facility. morning. She was wearing light blue pajamas with little lambs printed on it. I was told to put it between the farmers teeth with the ends sticking out of the sides of his mouth and I was to gently but firmly hold on to the ends of the stick and hold his head down. ! On Friday May 17 I was sent out on another job. That sure screwed with our sleep! Alan on Haircuts You have destroyed my country and my family! I was not prepared and he totally over powered me! It turned 90 degrees to the right and touched down between two rows of concertina wire in the middle of the perimeter. PDF U.s. Naval Mobii.e Construction Battalion Three Learn more. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naval_Support_Activity_Danang&oldid=1137856150, Military installations of the United States in South Vietnam, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Naval History & Heritage Command, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 20:12. mind. LCU-1498, then the chart office at the White Elephant. Suddenly the helicopter went nose high and stopped going forward. We had to give Puppy away as we were not even supposed to have a dog. Sunday late afternoons we were able to get over to the Red Beach causeway and get in some water sessions. I was not in the bush and am grateful that I wasn't. The map I sent you is how I remember that meal in Vietnam was roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas, 2 large "Ya, there has been a sniper shooting at the fence crew every morning for the past week. The Docs loved coming to Hoa Kahn Clinic. When I look back it sure seems stupid but at the time what else could I do? It had been built the end of April so was brand new. reportedf to the USS Permit (SSN-594) at Mare Island, and got out a Stephen was a veteran of the United States Navy, serving state side and in Vietnam at Camp Tien Sha, Danang. We all thought that everyone on this earth was doing the highest and best possible all the time for each situation. ed Camp Haskins (South) for Camp Tien Sha to complete the retrograding of equipment. It must have been about 1100 hr. what it is like now. 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 wounded man was the Mess Sargent who was the only one at the mess hall at the time. Naval Support Activity (NSA) Danang was officially established on 15 October 1965. Us transit guys were on two section duty (port and starboard was the Navy term for that). Catecka Base Camp. So on the hour we would get a call. The flares were often still burning when they hit the ground. Next thing I realize he has a hold on my sleeve. . Fun! very first day of war. The shop door are between the 2 telephone poles. training), ands a week at Whidby Island (E&E, and SERE. I went out and sat on my toolbox and thought about what I had just experienced. She wanted to send care packages and letters to me as part of a High School project. In DaNang we had what was called the "duty jeep". 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. a small cargo plane in the middle of the night, all I any old charts, photos or drawings of the PTF boats took place at the other base. shoes" and one of the Vietnamese Mountain. That is the only time I had to get clothing issue. By the time I graduated from High school I was a damn good diver! I dreaded standing that watch but ever 5 and then 7 days I was going to get it! I was driving on the perimeter road with the dry storage ASM wall on my right. As good as we were trying to do for the Vietnamese we sure as hell were not winning their hearts and minds! [2] . on the National Geographic Magazine We are the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1122, based in Collin County, Texas. I think the thing that The field had been filled with red dirt and rocks and had been compacted with heavy equipment. Well I answered once about the FNGs. was about vehicles, building Changes: A History of Naval Support Activity/Facility DaNang, 1970 My first assignment was YFU-54, then I dropped the log book on the microphone button and yelled AWC#5 -INCOMING ROCKETS!