I was in Nam July '67 thru August '68. Traveled a little in country, and in the Sigion metro area; but spent most of my time at the MACV Hq just outside of Sigon. I was part-time driver and part-time body guard for General Crothers and Westmoreland as well as office work.
It was the Big Red One that saved our butts that Tet morning in '68. I'll never forget it.
If any one out there reading this was there that day holding off the Viet Cong ... I salute you! and say THANKS!

Hello
Majorjim....You say that you were the body guard for General Westmorland
and you did office work and you mention MacV.....I was chaplains assistant
at the First Field Force Headquarters in Nha Trang South Vietnam at a building
called the Grant Hotel....this building was built by the French during the French
Indo China War.... My Office of Chaplain Division was just down the hall from General
Westmorland and i saw and saluted him many times....In fact outside the building
in the back part was an airstrip that Westmorland often used to get abourd his
small white two engine Jet with 4 stars on the side window.I remember this like it was yesterday but was back in 1968....I was relocated later on to a long combat
mission and was fire team leader with the Ivy 4th Infantry Division....among many scermishes and incidence with GOOKS i wound up as
point man in a 5 hour battle in th foot hills of Duc Pho South Vietnam.Charging several well
entrenched enemy bunkers after being pinned down for 5 hours in dense jungle with out reenforced amunitions,we just made a final charge of force and blew away 39 north vietnamese hardcore soldiers . few of us left that hill with only minor scratches,....i will never understand to this day how i wasnt
Shot up. Being up close as point man and downing the first GOOK on that narrow trail ,i was always in the enemy site,till we finaly blew there heads off.....anyway
im just another combat vet still living in that past.....God Bless all veterans.......
Harold Sheinman...Viet Vet 1967 -1968...Bless this Great country.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Halrow,

I enlisted in the summer of 67. Received 11D training at Ft Knox KY. I arrived in RVN in Nov 67. My unit was an armored recon unit and consisted of about 10 tracks with crews of 4 each, a driver, TC and 2 ea M60 gunners in back. Our mission was to escort convoys back and forth under the shadow of the Black Virgin to various small fire bases along the Cambodian border.

There was some combat but nothing we couldn't handle. We did have an "oh ****" moment when a huge log blocked our way across the road. No ambush though, just the log. An M48 with a dozer blade took care of that.

All hell broke lose when Tet 68 hit. My unit along with a huge number of armored vehicles joined a massive convoy going down to Cu Chi. On the way down my track burned out it's transmission and the convoy passed us by %$^&**@! We were stuck alone in some squalid village with some none-too friendly villagers. The longer we stayed the more belligerent they got. I was a M60 gunner and my co-gunner noticed black pajama clad figures far off in rice paddies coming towards us. We fired our guns in the air to scare them off. Just at the last moment an un-escorted M88 tank retriever showed up.

At that time a large battle was taking place just outside Cu Chi's base camp. Our track crew missed the first day of battle as we were helping mechanics replace our transmission.

The next morning we joined the battle. I was shocked to see the large number of bodies lining the roads: NVA, women, kids. What shocked me was to see a number of our people, no one had time to even collect our own dead.

That night we were mortared and I was slightly wounded from an 81mm. A couple of our people were killed. The next day my unit was following some Wolfhounds. They passed through some tall elephant grass unopposed. Suddenly our track was hit by an RPG and the driver killed instantly. I had just been talking to him on the intercom. Firing erupted all around and another track was hit by an RPG.

You have to remember things were taking place very very quickly. You can Monday morning quarterback this if you like. The elephant grass was thick and all you could really see was the top decks of the tracks. Suddenly an NVA appeared next to the track on my side and, firing from the hip raked, our track over. The track was on fire inside and the other gunner was trying to put it out. This NVA was too close and I couldn't angle down my M60 to kill him. The TC tossed a grenade and blew him to pieces.

Once the fire was out the assistant gunner jumped out and, under fire, attached a tow cable to our track and attached the other end to a track outside the elephant grass (he never got a medal for that either). During all this I remember looking at an adjacent track, the TC was beating to death with a spare .50 cal barrel NVA that were trying to swarm aboard.

Eventually we were pulled out of the elephant grass which was by now burning furiously. Our guys were shooting the NVA as they tried to flee the fire. We must have shot 40 or more. I, along with my TC had to pull the mangled body of our driver from the track.

Because my our track was destroyed my crew was split up. I drove a track borrowed from the 1/5 mech. Recon usually operated with a 4 man crew but mech infantry had about 10 guys on top. I remember the TC was a terrified mechanic and one of our M60 gunner was a cooks assistant.

While going up against reinforced bunkers I drove over an old rice paddy dike. Two RPG's hit my track, one hit the engine the other just under me. My whole left side was ripped open from red hot metal. I jumped out of the track and a big Wolfhound E-6, 2/22nd drug me to safety.

A medic got to me fast and gave me morphine. A helicopter soon landed and loaded me and a tall pale guy with a sever head wound aboard. The thing is they laid us down atop bodies, their just wasn't time.

I remember in post op hearing the NVA walk in mortars. The last mortar sounded like gravel hitting the metal sides of the quonset hut. The war was over for me. Just a month later my former TC was killed. So out of a crew of 4 just two made it back alive.

Sorry to take such a long time. For many years I never spoke of my war experiences, I like many RVN vets just shut up.

It was the Marine 1st. Division and not the Army big red one that liberated the City!

I fought there for 3-4 weeks with Fox company 2/5.

The Army did not come in until all the fighting was over.

I think it was the Americal or 101 who replaced us after 40 days and after WE killed or ran off 3 Divisions of NVA with only 4 companies of Marines.

Thanks for the congrats majorjim but it was the Marines to the rescue not ARMY!

Your humble servant. dkclp

It appears that majorjim & dkcpl are referring to two different battles.

Sorry majorjim,

Should learn to read!

You clearly said macv at Saigon. But I read macv at Hue.

Thats why God gave me 2 ears and one mouth.

thanks for pointing out my fopa 13433578.

No ... I believe dkcpl and I are on the same page ... and experienced Tet in different places.

There was a compound where we of the MACV HQ ate, slept, etc. in hooches (just a short walk from the MACV HQ). On the back side of the compound was a golf course and a cemetery.

The night before Tet a company(?) of the Big Red One had come into our compound to spend the night while on their way to somewhere ...?

In the early morning of Tet the Viet Con went to the cemetery and dug up their weapons ... then came charging across the golf course and attacked the back fence of our compound. The Big Red One guys were armed and ready and held the perimeter. A couple of Viet Con got thru and got on an MP Jeep with an M-60 on it and they went up and down the compound street until someone took 'em out.

I agree with dkcpl that the Marine 1st Div. liberated Sigon during Tet ... witht he help of some(?) Army guys(?) mostly MPs.

When I arrived at MACV I was not issued combat gear. It was spit & polish until Tet.

We woke up that morning to mortar rounds coming in ...and there we were standing in our underwear with no combat gear watching tracers fly over head ... suddenly the real war had come to us and it caught us "with our pants down" (literaly). It was 'some' of the Big Red One (who ever they were) that saved our butts that morning at the MACV HQ compound.

dkcpl: Seasons Greetings.

Looks like you and I were in Nam together, just different places. So, we must be from about the same era? I joined the Army Jan 2, '66 out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Basic: Ft. Lenord Wood ... them to Ft. Devons, Mass (ASA) for AIT but ended up at Knox for Tank Radio Repair ... then ended up clerking for an Officer training unit (it's a long story) before going to Nam in Aug '67, straight to MACV HQ just outside Saigon.

I visited a couple of places in central Nam, but spent 99% of my time there at MACV HQ.

I love your sence of humor ... your "fopa 13433578" It really wasn't a fopa, so you can now claim only 13433577

quote:

I agree with dkcpl that the Marine 1st Div.liberated Sigon

No they didn't.

I believe dkcpl is referring to Hue. Saigon wasn't occupied by the enemy like Hue was. The USMC guards and some Army MP's did defend the US Embassy when the compound was attacked.

You are right 101D1506,

Hue City was entirely recaptured buy 2nd. Batallion 5th Marine Regiment. Fox, gulf, echo, hotel companies.

No Marine units fought in Saigon during Tet.

The only Battle was a small one at the Embassy.