Bennett

After receiving my draft notice, I enlisted in the U.S.Army on 28 Nov 65. I reported for basic training at Ft. Benning,Ga and was assigned to B Company, 7th Bn, 2nd Tng Bde. On 18Feb66, I arrived at Keesler AFB, Ms and was assigned to 3380th Tech Tng Sch. After completion of the school (4 Jul 66), I was assigned to Ft. Rucker, Al Stu Det Hq Sp Trps and reported there on 18 Jul 66. I primarily worked at the stage fields as a GCA operator, but also snuck in some tower time at Hanchey Army Airfield. Here's where the dates may be inaccurate by a few days. I arrived in RVN at around 14 Jun 67 and was assigned to the 1st Avn Bde, 210th CAB, 125th Air Traffic Co. The main base camp was in Bien Hoa and after inprocessing, I flew to Ple Ku. Oh, the first thing I recall after getting off the "Freedom Bird' was "Damn, this place smells like a shit hole".

Anyway, I didn't think much of Bien Hoa. The guys lived in Quonset huts with tin roofs and concrete floors. After a few days, I flew to Ple Ku (Tent City) where I saw a rat running through high grass and looking like a small dog. The next day, I flew Dak To and as the Hooey made its' base leg, I looked out and saw the PSP runway and two GP medium Tents. One belonged to us, the other to the Air Force (mess tent). Two months earlier, three members of my seven unit detachment plus two 173rd Airborne arrived and the Airborne guys walked around the runway and returned saying the the area was "secured". They were mortared that night. I was the GCA chief there for about 6 months and worked tower when ordered to. Just before leaving Dak To, an EOD unit set up next to our tent because we were mortared every other day for two weeks and better than half of the French mortars didn't go off. On the 15th day, 'Charlie' finally hit a C-130 and I was watching as the round came through the
tail section. The C-130 was loaded with 105, 155, and 175 artillery rounds. The ammo dump was about 50 yards from the parking ramp and it started sending shrapnel over towards our tent and caught it on fire. EOD warned us that sometime during the day , a major concussion would erupt and we should stay close to our bunker. He wasn't' bullshitin '.After about 8 hours of exploding, it looked like an atomic bomb going off: mushroom cloud and all. It knocked us all down, and I was the second person in the bunker. No one was hurt and we heard the shrapnel raining down on top of us. To backtrack a little, we had radioed Bien Hoa a few days earlier, to tell them that the 173rd had received hea vy casualties and had moved out leaving us with only about 30 soldiers and airmen to defend the base.The commander told us to pack up the GCA unit(TPN-8) and wait for final orders to move out. Anyway, that radar unit sat on the parking ramp for almost a week and was completely destroyed. We had a guy on KP that day, next to the parking ramp ,who escaped the area with some Airforce people about 2 miles away. The major concussion from the ammo dump knocked those guys down too. Intelligence told us that 2 Regiments of NVA were within 3 clicks and that's why we made the call to Bien Hoa. As the 4th Inf Div moved in, myself, another controller,and a radar tech rep were moved to Bye Loc where we setup a new radar/approach control. This must have been in Feb68. The runway was on top of a mountain and had about a thirty foot elevation in the middle. One day I was bring in a C-123 (IFR) and the ARVN pilot broke out of the clouds and crushed his landing gear and tore up about 500 feet of PSP runway. We stayed at a MACV compound about three miles on the other side of town. One night 'Charlie' threw a hand grenade into a whorehouse and killed three whores and wounded 6 GIs'. I was driving through town by myself and two 101st MPs tried to pull me over and if I could have released the spare tire on the 3/4 ton truck quicker, I would have made it inside the compound. Anyway, there was a Lt. Smith that was ready to open the gate, and he told me to go with them. It was all bullshit, they told me
to slow down going through town. The Lt. was later killed by enemy fire. I was there at Bye Loc for only about 45 days. So then in around Apr68 I was transferred to Phan Thet where I was still a GCA operator. We stayed at the Airfield in a GPsmall tent, but also had a place stay at the MACV compound in town. It was said that Ho Chi Ming taught school right across the street. We were under red alert at the compound and were receiving sniper fire .I was on the roof of the hotel when this SFC
alcoholic said that he saw a flash and fired his M-1 carbine into an adjacent building. I said to myself "right, you ain't seen nothing". Sure enough, the next day the ARVN Rangers pulled his dead ass out of the building. Hanoi Hanna was broadcasting on the radio that the city of Phan Thet had been overrun. Our ammo dump there was also hit by enemy mortar fire, and one of our controllers was cut by shattered glass from the tower. I was at a heli pad in Ton Sa Nut at the time, and the guys there wanted me to stay overnight, but I had to take a radio part back. That night they were mortared and rocketed
killing one and injuring three. Another time I was at the Phan Thet MACV hotel when a friend wanted me to ride back with him to the airfield. They showed movies every night and had a wet bar with cheap drinks, so I declined. He and another friend were ambushed and were sent to a hospital in Japan(both amputees). Must have been Jun 68 when I was reassigned to Duc Pho. I had extended my tour 78 days to get the 90 day early out. One day I was driving two senior NCO's to Sy When, about ten miles from Quin Yon. Well ,we had gotten about ten miles down the road when one of them decided we didn't have enough beer. Hell, we had two cases and I argued with him. Anyway, we turned around and got another case of Black Label, and when we got back to where we turned around we heard an explosion. A lambreta with six Vietnamese hit a land mine and killed them all. If we hadn't turned around we would have hit that SOB. I put a scapula (religious ornament) in the hand of one of the dead girls, and latter when we returned ,going back, three Vietnamese were carrying a new red casket. I think it was her. A week before I was to ETS, Bien Hoa wanted me to come down for an E-5 promotion board, which I declined. Three days before I was to leave, the sirens went off, another red alert. Hell, you know how complacent you get after being over there a while. Well I just laid there in the tent, and then I started hearing the mortars walking toward me. They kept getting louder and louder, and I knew that next one to land was going to be on top of me. I had rolled off the cot and was frozen on all fours. I was dead and I knew it. I couldn't move. The last mortar landed about 50 yards from the tent. I left country on 1 Sep68. All of the units ,I was in ,were attachments of the 125th ATC. I didn't mean to ramble on. Drop me a line when you can.