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PreDeployment |
This is the period in training at Ft. Knox and includes the boatride on the USS Walker with the stop at Subic Bay in the Phillipines. |
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1967 |
The four months prior to the Tet offensive found B Troop
headquartered at DiAn, east of CuChi, but deployed at Tay
Ninh West base camp, near the Fish Hook of the Cambodian
Border. |
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1968 |
The Year of the 'Rabbit'?...but on February 1st, the North Vietnamese broke the Tet Holiday truce agreement with major attacks throughout Vietnam. B Troop was hastily summoned south to CuChi and arrived at sunrise on the first day of the offensive. On May 30th, B Troop had the rare
opportunity to join the D Troop Blue Tigers in a tactical
situation at a village known as Ben Moung, just north of Go
Dau Ha off Highway 22. The Blue Tigers had been patrolling
the Highway when it became apparent that NVA had occupied
the village in preparation to ambush a convoy heading to Tay
Ninh. "A gun ship from our Squadron -- from B Troop -- was immediately adjusted on those positions. At the same time this was taking place, two scout jeeps were pinned down by heavy automatic weapons, including RPG rounds.Spec. 4 John Dungan and Spec 4 Sager said the three crewmen caught in the open were "as good as dead" if Davie hadn't kept shooting."....."They were in the open, they didn't have a chance. We were in fast, deep trouble there when that flank fire hit us from beyond the strip of clearing on our left, on back in the grove. He put fire on Charlie and our boys got back, then he got his own two boys back, and then brought his jeep back. After that, it was too bad for Charlie. The gun ships from Bravo Troop worked them over and shot them up bad, " Sager said. When the shooting stopped, the ambush was broken and the NVA were in full retreat, leaving 17 dead on the battlefield. The price of this victory was not cheap; the Blue Tigers had suffered one KIA, Sgt John Sinnock, from the 2nd Platoon. The complete text of this firefight is at John Dungan's Ben Moung page at the Delta Troop Blue Tiger Website.
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1969 |
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1970 |
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1971 |
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In 1972, B Troop was packing for return to Hawaii. A few members remained behind in Phu Loi and packed the remainer of B Troop's equipment for shipment home. The American involvement in Vietnam was rapdily winding down and combined with the political changes back home, produced some strange and unusual effects for the remaining troops. Bill Dunlap, B Troop Maintenance gives this narrative: We would have a group ARVN pilots show up with barely flyable helicopters, take the the best that we had, and leave us with the junk. We would then tackle the job of bringing these ships up to serviceable condition, only to have the scenario repeat, over and over again. All this while our pilots and crews had to perform their normal missons. I can understand the goal of transitioning the equipment the the ARVN, but it was still very frustrating. I never have understood the political moves that prevented us from responding to attacks late in 71 and early 72. I was on perimeter guard duty one night and along with several other bunkers spotted activity along the outer wire. The nature of pulling guard duty had changed considerably. I remember being only issued only one clip of ammo and being threatened with an article 15 if even one round was unaccounted for in the morning. We were told by the OG that it was nothing but a few villagers working in the fields. Sure! I remember clearly that it was around 1:30 am that we first spotted activity. Eventually a Lightship and Gunship were put up and the gunship pilot confirmed what he thought to be mortars being placed outside the wire. I can remember hearing him being threatened over the radio if he were to open fire. Eventually the lightship and gunship were called back, and the ARVN troops would check out the perimeter. I guess it was no big deal, except that the mortar attack on Phu Loi about 5:30 that morning cost the life of one individual. In March of 72, we quit getting replacements for the helicopters that were transfered to the ARVN. Many of the Units at Phu Loi had already stood down so it came as no suprise when we got our orders. Most of the unit personel who were returning Stateside with the 3/17 left for Schofield Barracks, Hawaii during the first weeks of March. Those of us who were close to completing a full tour were given the option on being reassigned Stateside. There would be no provision for bringing wives and family to Schofield Barracks, so I elected for reassignment. When B Troop left Phu Loi those remaining were reassigned to HHT, but stayed at Phu Loi to finish packing the equipment that was being returned to the States. Supplies and Manuals had to be destroyed and certain equipment that was being left had to be rendered useless. By '72 we had quite a collection of resins, paints, and hardware stored that had to be disposed of. After rigging up a make shift mixer, in went the epoxy, polyester, pro seal, etc. plus rivets, bolts, nuts and other hardware. I wonder if the resulting slab that was poured is still there.
After the equipment was gone, we awaited our orders. Typically, we were kind of lost in the paperwork, or at least that is the way it seemed. The remaining group eventually moved to the NCO club at the 128th's area.(It had a functional freezer). Since we had no supplies, we had to "borrow" a jeep from the ARVN troops, and then make a foraging trip to Long Bin to "borrow" supplies. Since there were no longer any water deliveries, that became a problem. So a foraging trip turned up a conex of stale Miller beer which was used for bathing as well as drinking. Eventually the paperwork caught up with us and we were on our way to Fort Ord, CA. I finished my term of service with Co. A, of the 5th Trans Battalion of the 101st Airborne Div. at Fort Campbell KY. |
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Bill Dunlap |
B
Troop's Stogie 16, Mike Vecellio and his gunship arrived on
the scene before the shooting started and were soon joined
by Stogie 15 and gunship. The Blue Tigers advanced into the
village and the shooting started. Charlie Black, a reporter
for the Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer was there."TAY
NINH, Vietnam. -The big fight hit suddenly on the morning of
May 30, and Sgt. Robert Davie and Troop D, 3rd Squadron,
17th Cavalry were right in the middle of it. Sgt. Davie was
manning his gun jeep with its 106 mm recoilless rifle like a
PT boat skipper, his driver sending it bounding and bouncing
over the rough ground into the edge of the rubber plantation
on the east of Highway 28. The jeep got into a firing
position and opened up, the 106 knocking out bunkers with
tremendous devastating direct fire.But the enemy fire wasn't
subsiding." Later he reports...."SSgt. Robert F. Brown with
the scout section was taking part in the flanking maneuver
against the bunkers in the village and in the fringe of
trees by the road. He said the fire from the village was
heavy and Sgt. Davie had moved out and was shooting it out
with them."
The
helicopters were given away, but the tools, were to be
shipped back stateside. We had to try and organize the tool
boxes in their original issue condition. Accounting for lost
equipment was not as great a problem as figuring out what to
do with all the stuff that was not authorized. I know that
all of you who did earlier tours in Maintenance were good at
getting what you needed to do the job, one way or
another.For example, apparently the 3/17 was never
authorized to have Cherry Rivet Pullers in its inventory.
The newly arrived "Bean Counter Types" just could not
understand how we could have all this stuff, and where was
the paperwork that was used to aquire it? The Stateside Army
had arrived in Vietnam and it was time to leave.