Khe Sanh Veterans Association Inc.
Red Clay
Newsletter of the Veterans
who served at Khe Sanh Combat Base,
Hill 950, Hill 881, Hill 861, Hill 861-A, Hill 558
Lang-Vei and Surrounding Area
Issue 48 Winter 2001
E Mail
Home
In This Issue
Notes from Editor and Board Incoming
Short Rounds Memoirs
In Memoriam
A Sprinkling of your Poetry
Reunion 2001 Chicago
Messages to the Khe Sanh Vets Home Page
Robert E. Perkins
I was assigned to 3/26 in Jan 68. I arrived at Khe Sanh on the 20th of January and got shot in the early morning on the 21st. I was med-evaced to Danang and then the Repose Hospital ship. I am very eager to find out the particulars of my injury. I have been told that I was a victim of "friendly fire." I had a bullet go in the back of my neck and shot my jaw off. I remember a medic coming to my aid. I had a blanket around my head when he looked at my face I remember him saying... "Oh my God" I passed out shortly. I would really like to find that medic. I owe him and lots of others my gratitude for getting me out of there. I have heard that daily reports may have a description of these events, but I have no idea how to find them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Semper Fi
Bob Perkins
2397175
Virginia
Comments:
I served as a combat field wireman in 1969 at a small base near Dong Ba Thin.
Our main mission was to repair the communications lines that were damaged by the
mortar assaults that occurred nightly to our base and also to the Korean White
Horse Infantry Division that we worked with. I was not in combat, but I have
great respect for all of those who served that did. I am wondering if anyone
knows of a Marine named David Troup. He was a M-60 gunner in Khe Sanh in '68 and
was there during the siege of Khe Sanh. He even made the cover of Life magazine.
I went to school with him after the war, his last home address was in St.
Petersburg, Florida.
Thanks.
Bill Bojan
Houston TX.
I served with 3/26, H&S Co. Comm. Pit. 1967 at Khe Sanh, and I'm looking for L/CpI. Bruce Cudgel and Larry Pence and Pvt. Zocco. If anyone knows how to reach these guys I would be grateful. I'm glad I found this site. For years, I wondered if anyone knew about Khe Sanh, Dong Ha, Con Thien, or any other scenic sights in Nam. I would like some info on any reunions?
Thanks and Semper Fi.
I'm not sure who to address this to. I recently read the latest edition of the newsletter and found among the E-mail section a note from Tim Merlin. I would like to respond to him. There was no return address listed so I'm hoping you can help and forward the below letter on to him.
Dear Tim,
I was with your brother at Khe Sanh. He served with 2nd Plt. Charlie Company 1st Bn 26th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. Over the years, I often thought of him and the other young men who never came home. I often wondered how your family coped with his death and survived. I still recall how Tom used to kid me about my Philadelphia accent. I remember he was from McKeesport, Pennsylvania just outside of Pittsburgh. It wasn't until 1998 that I was able to visit the McKeesport area visit his grave and attempt to track down his family. A helpful woman from the local McKeesport Newspaper and a Pennsylvanian State Trooper did some research for me. I did visit the Boys and Girls Club up the hill from where your family lived and saw the plaque dedicated to all the McKeesport casualties. I can be reached at [email protected]. My name address and phone are posted in the Khe Sanh Membership Directory 2000. I look forward to hearing from you
Donald J. Gillespie
Comments:
Hello Gary Foster, I just read your note of 05/23/2000 about your visit to the fire base at Khe Sanh. I was not a Khe Sanh resident, but I was stationed on the Danang air base as a ground support body for the Marine transport/re-fueler aircraft squadron named VMGR 152. Our C-130's were one of the many aircraft that provided daily resupply and graves registration extraction during the siege in the winter of 1967. The C-130 prop you somehow identified, perhaps it is tagged like a display by the Vietnamese curators, was the remains of the last fixed-wing aircraft into Khe Sanh during the Siege. The bird never left Khe Sanh. It was piloted by the Marine Corp's last warrant officer pilot from the WWII arena when enlisted men were trained as pilots and promoted to WO's. His name is Gunner Wildfang, the flight engineer was Gunnery Sgt. DeAdimo from Hawaii. I don't recall the co-pilot's name. The pilot and copilot affected a belly landing and were saved from the fire of the burning AVGAS bladders in the cargo hold by diving out the forward opening windows to the deck about 15 feet down. Gunny DeAdimo was killed by 50 cal. ground fire as the plane made its landing approach. He lost his life trying to save his plane by leaving his armor plate "protected" seat to shut off fuel pumps to the already stricken and burning wing tanks and engines. The radio operator was extracted alive by the crash crew Marines who entered the aircraft by wading into the burning fuel. The RO was transported to the national burn center in Texas within 24 hours and when I saw him again in E1 Toro, CA, he was being readied to have more plastic surgery to restore his completely missing ears. The navigator was deceased before he could reach the burn center. One other casualty on the QB 897 aircraft was a Marine field grade officer, who had pulled rank on the pilot to hitch a ride back from Danang to his unit at Khe Sanh.
The C-130 crews had orders to not take any passengers on flights to the base because the ground fire was getting too hot. The 50s were positioned directly under the only approach and take off path for a fixedwinger. They hardly had to aim the thing, just shoot straight up. My recollection of these details is owing to the awakening that this 19-year-old Vietnam almost statistic had when I realized that my off-work hours habit of flying as supplemental crew to seek a photographic opportunity in the many combat airbases our planes supported, was not a really healthy activity. I had been looking for a chance to take a "hop" to the Khe Sanh base with my camera when the restriction went into affect. I became happy that I was a more remote target by staying on the ground and doing the best possible job I could to be sure the birds were as reliable to fly as possible, so nothing I ever did in maintaining a C-130 could possibly have created any additional risk to the crews whose job it was to fly them into the hells like Khe Sanh, Quang Tri, Fu Bai, Dong Ha etc. They were identified by interrogated VC prisoners as the number one target for the VC ground fire teams, because they flew low and slow when they approached combat bases. Many time the base's strip was really a small craft length.
The C-130 has some amazing, undocumented landing and takeoff capabilities. The Corps hasn't told Lockheed yet because the 40+year-old Hercules are still under factory warranty. About those dog tags. ..have you listed the names anyplace yet? Did you find a good resting place for them? Thanks for retrieving them from that place. I'll bet they were lost by a corpsman or graves registration guy and are all from KIA's. Also, there's a possible MIA in the pile too. Did you have any takers or callers on your photos? I would sure like to see a shot of the C-130 prop. Thanks for sharing your experience and observations with all those interested in this monument we American left standing in that Vietnam world. I'm glad I made it back to our world, and I love all my Marine brothers, especially the one who didn't make it back.
Thanks and Semper Fi Marines,
Robin Morgan
Sgt, USMC VMGR-152 Electric Shop
Danang 1967-68
To Paul Knight,
Hi Paul...I think you will find the forwarded letter very interesting. I "met" Gary this past spring when he posted a message on the Khe Sanh message board about his recent return from KS and the fact that he purchased 18 dog tags! He was hoping to reunite them with their rightful owners. I, along with a lot of other guys wrote back (both of you may have) to tell him that he had been had. Anyway, I stayed in touch with Gary...emails and a few phone calls. He is an engineer and his company (in Iowa) was in the final bidding stages with the Govt. of Nam to re-do Route 9 from Laos to Cua Viet. He talked about his frustration at going to KS and walking around without a clue as to what was what (except for the dog tags from Ho Chi Minh) except that it was an historic site. I recommended Ray's book and Pisor's "End of the Line." He bought and read both. He also got a hold of the photo books of Duncan. When I got back from my trip, he and I stayed in touch. He sent me a 3 foot by 4 foot B/W digitally enhanced photo of Stubbe's (of the airstrip and the base)...and some color photos from his trip. His company has incredible scanning machines.
In Ray Stubbe's photo taken at least 1500 feet up (now enhanced by Gary), you can see a C-130 on the strip and helicopters in their revetments! Anyway, I helped get him oriented as to the hills, directions, etc...I told him that even though I walked down that open dirt area this summer, it did not feel like the runway. Gary went back this summer (mainly to Hanoi--they were awarded the contract) and he called from Hanoi. He had been down to KS in perfect weather, and he spent a lot of time there. He located the real runway...not the bull shit one the locals' ID. His e-mail will fill you in exactly on what the scoop is. If you guys do go back next spring, you'll be better informed about the whole deal. (When we went behind the museum and walked north [towards 950 in the fog], we were going the right way...we were just too far west. The locals finally convinced us to turn around, but that was bullshit.) Gary did say that he saw our entries in the guest book in the museum...I think he took a few pictures of them. I gotta go. Have fun poring over Gary's e-mail. Let me know what you think.
Dennis Mannion
Hi Dennis,
I'm back home--having trouble getting back into work. Long trips are always so disorienting, and I am always way behind when I return, so it's an effort to get the wheels turning again. Yes, my return to KS was very interesting this time. I was better equipped to understand all that went on there having done lots of reading, studying maps and looking at the aerial photo and other information including the Life magazine article. Like you, when I was there the first time (me not knowing much about KS, the events, or even the layout), I was mis-informed about the runway and there was no help from the VN people there in explaining to me that I was seeing any particular place on the base although I was satisfied that I was in the area, I didn't know where I was exactly. I had a sneaking suspicion that what I saw was an imposter runway; that the USMC runway was somehow different, wrong area, not right, something strange. The two nagging questions I had was: 1) where was all the rock on the runway that was laid in 67; and 2) it seemed strange that the runway at the northern end was notched into the side of the hill and that the hill descended directly onto the sides of the runway. I had no answers to these questions.
I studied the aerial photo in detail for hours using digitizing, magnifying glasses, and a geographer's stereoscope which doesn't work too well on a single photo. You need two side by side so as to be able to discern the relief. But being an engineer and a ex-surveyor, I knew I could solve the geographic riddles of the base by simple logic and recognition that if I could find one landmark, the whole place would become understandable. So, I took everything with me, because I wanted to know all the locations. In my mind, I knew if I could locate the ammo dump area, I could find everything else. It's easy from that point. In fact, if you take the aerial photo and measure the wingspan of the C-130 with calipers, then all distances are known. But you need only one reference point and that reference point is the centerline of the original USMC runway and from that all points can be precisely located. Catching that C-130 in the photo is the key because its wingspan is known precisely. Battlefield archaeologists are lucky that theC-130 was captured in the photo. I thought this would be a great adventure to solve what I considered essential riddles of the base as it exists today.
I drove to Hill 861 but did not climb it. I ran out of time. Did take photos. The weather was terrific and all features of 950, 1015 and 861 stood out clearly. I thought about you and the lousy weather you said you had. Photos will be coming soon. Next time I go back when our project starts, I am going to take a level, transit and 50-meter tape measure. I'm going to hire some local help and clear the centerline of the runway and locate it's exact edges and then I'm going to establish the other historical features of the base like Charlie Med etc. It'll be like an archaeological dig. A hundred years from now the base will be reclaimed by the jungle and no one will ever even know its there. That's a shame. I am happy I went back and solved this little mystery.
So when your friends go back, tell them to walk across the imposter runway from the museum towards hills 950/1015 through the trees and coffee plants and they will find the original USMC runway.
Thanks Dennis,
Gary Foster