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Montagnard kids near Khe Sanh... always trying to "score" whatever they could get from us. Notice the fire-zone behind them, courtesy of Agent Orange and Hmong labor |
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Remember the boredom of daytime perimeter watch? |
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In the background is a collapsible accordian shelter our Major used while he stayed with us. It was our HQ and comm. center while we held the Khe Sanh perimeter. I always thought it looked like something the Army might use... ;o) |
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| The blade on the end of that long handle could take off a head with one swing. Kam Boi was also damned good with a cross bow, a Montagnard main weapon for hunting, etc |
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Morning Parade as the Montagnard kids march to their work down the "highway" at Khe Sanh |
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Kam Boi: His father was Chief of his village |
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An Air Force C-130 unloads supplies for the Special Forces still at the Khe Sanh base. When the Air Force made a delivery, we KNEW we'd have a quiet day |
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A view of the Khe Sanh landing strip from inside the Special Forces camp. Early 1966 |
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It just ain't home until the last sandbag is filled and placed, ya know?
Yeah, that's me holding the sand bag. |
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A Christmas gift wallet, the inside inscription reads: MERRY XMAS, 1966, 3rd Marine Div. FMF, Vietnam |
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My Geneva Convention Card. I always wondered who the 'genius' was who named a Corpsman a 'medic' Service number and middle name obscured for my privacy. |
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A foot-note: |
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I should explain to anyone who may view this page, the vast difference between the Khe Sanh of early 1966 and the Khe Sanh of 1968. Those who were there KNOW the difference, but not everyone who will read these pages could know the fantastic changes that took place there within two years.
The base camp of the Special Forces became a Marine base when they were threatened by an overwhelming North Vietnamese military presence in the area (1966). We were aware of at least two enemy battalions in the near highlands. It was when the U.S.Marines began to reinforce Khe Sanh in late 1967 and 1968 that the enemy realized they had made a serious mistake... they could have tried to take it from us at any time... but now they had a very hard task before them. Marines are not an easy target to overcome, at any time, but these were reinforced and ready to stay.
The purpose of these pictures is to show the human side of what I found there. I have eaten my share of the red dirt that is Khe Sanh, BUT I have the UTMOST RESPECT for those Marines and Corpsmen who followed after... who survived the SIEGE OF KHE SANH... who survived the near constant threat of sniper, rocket, mortar, and shell.
Compared to what these men experienced, we who went before saw little like it in those hills and jungle.
I have been a grunt Corpsman, I have lived in a Vietnamese village with a CAP team, and I spent a 'day or two' with Third Force Recon... but I doubt I ever saw anything like what these Marines saw during that siege.
Gentlemen: Oooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!
YOU are the Marines I am most proud of.
Always faithful,
Doc John |
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Neither the United States Marine Corps nor any other component of the Department Of Defense has approved, endorsed, or authorized this product/service/activity. |
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