Det+B+Memories

GENE PIANKA 1967 -1968**
 * DET. B MEMORIES

The EM club, if I remember correctly, was on the 2nd floor of the Danang Hotel. To get in you had to show your club ID, but once in, it was a great place to relax, down some beers or something in the way of a more refined adult beverage. Those adult beverages could be had straight up, on the rocks, or any mixer of your choice – as long as it was ginger ale, coke, or orange juice. If there were other mixers, I never became aware of them during my imbibing tour. As I recall, there was a bar just to the right as you came in where many of the beer drinkers chose to convene their after-hour meetings. I don’t think that area served hard liquor but I could be wrong. In a little cubbyhole area near that bar, I recall, two slot machines – I think they took nickels but never having played them I could be wrong on the price. Further into the club, more to the back was a plusher bar area that was very well stocked with a multitude of choices for those who did not find beer to be worth drinking. Though beer was only 15 cents, as compared to the 25 cents for a real man’s drink, many chose that option, only to find out that in the long run – you don’t really buy beer, you only rent it. I don’t think drinks were served before 5:00 pm on weekdays and noon on weekends, and they flowed until the 11:00 pm curfew time. Once a week Happy Hour arrived, from 5:00 to 7:00 as I remember, and drinks dropped to 15 cents. Never drinking beer I have no idea if the price also dropped on it. Due to sell-out crowds, Happy Hour was a time to order drinks early, and in quantity, as you were lucky to have the waitress get around to your table a second or third time. Five or six each of Rum and Cokes, cognac and coke, Old Granddad and coke, gin and ginger ale, were commonly brought to a table to start the evening. I believe payment was via "chits" and for a dollar’s worth of "chits" one could get quite a buzz on. At the time (1967-68) there was a famous English model by the name of Twiggy. The club had its own "Twiggy", a relatively young skinny waitress with a high squeaky voice who reminded everyone of the famous model. She was very shy and the only waitress I can recall by name. Occasionally, as you were headed to the door of the club, some forlorn marines would be standing there hoping someone would invite them in as guests. I believe you had to surrender your club ID if you signed guests in, just in case your guests started trouble. My only caveat to those guys was I’ll let you in on my ID, you stay as long as you want – just don’t start any trouble. And as luck would have it; I don’t recall any trouble taking place in the club. Many nights in the club there was a band, sometime rock and rock, sometimes more country. Lots of fun on those nights in addition to the drinking, but the best memory for me at closing was everyone singing "We Got to Get out of This Place If It’s the Last Thing We Do", and "God Bless America".
 * BELLY UP TO THE BAR, BOYS**

Meals were available in the cafeteria of the Danang Hotel – 1st floor if I remember correctly. In 1967-68, I think we were getting $75 a month for a meal allowance. If you ate every meal during the month, you still had money left over at the end of the month. I don’t recall the individual meal prices, other than the Saturday night meal, which cost $2.00. On the menu Saturday night was either lobster or steak. My parents, and by default their children, were "meat and potatoes" eaters except on Fridays. No meat served on Friday as we were Catholic. Danang Hotel cafeteria offerings opened a new world for this guy. Grits for breakfast – never had them before I got to Danang – didn’t even know what they were. Rice (loaded with butter), instead of potatoes – I don’t recall ever eating rice at home. Real milk and ice cream. In the 14 months in Danang I gained 25 pounds – a combination of good eating as well as an occasional adult beverage. Within six months of getting home I had lost the 25 pounds. The only change in lifestyle was working for a landscaper (exercise was not a priority in Danang) and cutting way back on adult beverages. If you didn’t like the meal choice being served in the cafeteria, you could always get a meal at the EM club. It was a little more expensive than the cafeteria - I don’t recall there being a great variety to choose from but, you wouldn’t be in the club ordering it if the meal downstairs was better. Salisbury steak was a meal I remember – sort of like a hamburger fashioned into a steak. After TET started and we had to start working nights, some C Rations were available if you got hungry enough to eat them. For me, any of the fruit ones were OK, some of the desserts (cookies, cake) were OK, but almost all of the actual meals I did without. The Vietnamese loved them, though. I recall that at this time there was a dog hanging around the vans that had a number of puppies – probably 5 or six of them. Over a period of several nights it seemed a puppy disappeared every night. My guess is they became part of some Vietnamese’ stir-fry dinner. My packages from home usually included a fruitcake. Tasted great then and I still love them now, even though I take a lot of ribbing from my colleagues at work.
 * THE CHOW LINE**

My first, and as far as I can remember, my only sandbag detail, took place shortly after I arrived. Larry Lockhart and I had to get sandbags filled so that the bunker located just outside entrance to the II vans could be improved. Larry got a deuce & ½, this was early in the afternoon, and we took a ride over the bridge, took a left up the road towards Monkey Mountain, and then somewhere along the road turned right between a couple of roadside shacks and drove onto the beach. Between Larry and me a lot of sandbags were filled and tossed up into the back of the deuce & ½ so that we have a pretty good load. By this time it was late in the afternoon and we didn’t want to be on the beach in the dark (or at least I didn’t). Larry hops in the driver’s seat and gives it the gun. Unfortunately, with the load, the tires just dug into the sand and we couldn’t make any progress to get off the beach. So, we unload some bags back onto the beach and try again. No progress, so we unload even more bags. Still only minimal progress to get off the beach and back on the road and it’s starting to get darker. Eventually, we unloaded enough bags to be able to get back on the road, but now there’s a s*load of filled sandbags sitting on the beach that have to be carried up to the road and tossed back up into the truck. We hired some Vietnamese kids to do the grunt work. I’m not sure how much it cost us but it was well worth the price. I’m sure our efforts were appreciated by the rest of the unit, as the bunker was improved to such an extent that people didn’t want to use it for fear that use would deteriorate the structure. How about it, for those of you who came after ’68, wasn’t it just a great bunker?
 * SANDBAG DETAIL**

This was an enjoyable diversion from the day-to-day routine. I don’t recall that there was ever any lack of volunteers for this job. In 1967-68, up to August ’68, accumulated film was periodically taken in deuce and a ½ to a dump near Marble Mountain. Initially, we unrolled film spools by hand off the back of the truck into a pile. This was a fairly long process. Once all the film had been unspooled we’d pour a 5 gal. can of gas all over the pile, find some cardboard and set it on fire and throw onto the pile. Then "whoosh" a nice little explosion and we had a nice fire to burn the film. There was only one thing to remember – move the truck away from the pile of film before setting it on fire. After several trips to unroll film American ingenuity took over. Spools were put on a thin rod and you could then unroll the spools like you’d unroll a roll of toilet paper. This greatly speeded up the process and eliminated the real grunt work – but still left the thrill of setting the fire. In early August, film began to be burned in a furnace. The first time this was done, Sgt. A.C West was killed when a furnace door blew off and hit him.
 * FILM BURNING**

Missions always had a security classification on them – "Confidential" mostly, sometimes "Secret", and perhaps on limited occasions – "Top Secret". I believe we shared mission reports with the Vietnamese next door in the adjoining offices. Having read a bit on the war and learning about how the "enemy" had infiltrated all levels of the Vietnamese government and military, I look back now and wonder why we just didn’t eliminate the middle man and sent our reports directly to the VC instead of routing them through official channels.
 * WHO BENEFITED FROM OUR WORK**

In June ’67 when I arrived, enlisted staff was housed at the Palace Hotel. Accommodations must have been tight just then as I remember being put up in a room and having to sleep on a cot for several days. I believe we were sharing the hotel with Air Force personnel as when I finally ended up with a bed; it was in a room with an Air Force guy and a Det. B guy, whose name eludes me as he wasn’t a roommate for very long. One night he was moaning and groaning in the room because his stomach hurt and it turned out he had appendicitis. He went to the hospital and never returned. At the Palace, hot water was not always in ready supply. You had to be fast into the shower when returning from work to get a hot one. Those who weren’t fast ended up with a cold shower as long as the water continued to run; went out back and "showered" with well water, or went without. The hotel was just a block or two walk to the Danang Hotel for meals, movies and the EM Club. I have no idea why the unit left the hotel to go to its next location which was a barracks just across the street from the Danang Hotel and behind the marine barracks. This happened in the fall of ’67. This was a major step down in housing arrangements in that we went from a couple of people per room, with showers in the room, to a regular barracks environment. Communal bathroom and showers, iron bunk beds, and a personal locker. Despite the step down, it was still incredibly convenient to the Danang Hotel – you never had to worry about making it back "home" after a hard night of downing adult beverages at the club. In the spring of ‘68 the unit moved into the Modern Hotel which was as significant a step up in accommodations as the move from the Palace Hotel had been a step down. If I recall correctly, there were two or three people per room, hot showers, an overhead fan which moved the hot air around more than it provided cooling – but it was better than nothing, and rooftop access for sightseeing on the river, or sunbathing. Convenient access to the Danang Hotel was a little tougher. If you couldn’t use a unit vehicle, or missed a ride, you had to thumb a ride up the main drag, or hoped you caught the navy bus (cab?). Returning was easier as long as unit members came back as a group. I recall periodically pulling evening guard duty in the foyer. Ostensibly, this was to guard the Vietnamese guard who was providing security for us. Being somewhat naïve the first couple of times, I’d sit there with the lights on – never contemplating that after dark this made me a nice target. The lights also seemed to attract some of those 6 in long cockroaches. I don’t recall if we had someone on guard duty during the day when the mama-sans were coming into work. These ladies had a good thing going – I think we paid them $10 a month – not sure if that was in MPC or piasters – either way it was cheap. They’d wash and iron your clothes, starch your fatigues, shine your boots, clean your room, and make your bed. To make a little extra each month, they’d all run out of laundry soap, or shoe polish, and ask for money to buy more.
 * HOUSING**

On the Wikispace site for Detachment B there’s what appears to be a wooden building with a Detachment B 1st Mibars sign on it. If it was there prior to August ’68, all those adult beverages I consumed must have affected my long-term memory as I have absolutely no recollection of it. **//(Don Skinner wrote back saying this was the bunker)//** My memory of the compound during the ‘67-‘68 time period is as follows:
 * THE COMPOUND**
 * Concrete building on the left with company office(s) and Vietnamese offices.
 * Repro area located just before the concrete building
 * Generator shed and two-holer against the back wall along the dirt road.
 * Sandbag bunker just outside the three II vans
 * 1st II van – just recall light tables, a map table – no other special equipment
 * Middle II van – light table, map table, and a fancy stereoscope machine with a lot of dials and levers that was never used. If I remember correctly, this machine had a lot of room under it which made for a good sleeping area if you were on the night shift and there wasn’t much to do.
 * Last II van – this contained a computer of some sort and a light table. A very cramped work area. The computer never was used and the story was that, in the trip over on a ship, the salt air damaged it and it didn’t operate. Even if it could work, I’m not sure anyone would have known how to operate it.
 * Dave Kueter uploaded a picture of a 37mm NVA anti-aircraft gun that was sitting in the compound. This was captured and brought to the compound sometime during the ‘67-’68 time period.

The A Shau Valley was a major infiltration route in I Corps, situated in western portion of the Corps area next to Laos, if I recall correctly. A dirt road ran through the valley. B-52’s raids all up and down the valley turned it into a cratered moonscape – yet it didn’t stop the infiltration. You could always see a recent trail winding around the individual craters. We saw the same thing in early 1968 when the unit was reading a lot of missions around Khe Sanh. Cratering surrounded the base but you’d still see new trails skirting around craters, and a trench line or two coming closer to the base perimeter every day. At the end of the trench line you’d see a donut-shaped machine gun emplacement. Obviously, the other side did a lot of their work on the night shift. When it was decided to relieve the Marines at Khe Sanh we could watch the relief, via missions, making its way along Rte 9, to the base. TET brought on longer hours – 18 on and 12 off if I remember correctly, a lot more missions and additional staffing. The additional staffing was provided by a National Guard or reserve unit. I believe they were from Michigan and the only name I specifically remember as being with this unit was John Nesbitt. Missions were brought in from the airport both during the day and on the mid-night run up from Saigon, and there were enough of them to fill up a small trailer that was towed behind a jeep. I believe the Michiganders, or Michiganians, came by ship with M-16s. We still had M-14’s but by this time our ammo load had gone from 5 rounds to five clips. It was during this time that Detachment B sent staff up to help out at Phu Bai. We saw a lot of missions over Hue when the fighting was going on there. The City looked quite nice from the air but I’ve read that, from the ground level, those who were there weren’t appreciating its beauty.
 * MOONSCAPE MEMORIES & OTHER MISSION MEMORIES**

At the end of basic training the drill sergeants had everyone line up in formation to read off their advanced training orders. They informed Joe, Pete and Bill that they were heading to Fort Sill for artillery school; John, Harry and Steve were heading to Fort Benning for infantry training; Frank, Bob and Ray were heading to Fort Hood for armored training. Gene Pianka, I was informed, you’re going to Fort Holabird to become an imagery interpreter. When the formation was dismissed, I asked the drill sergeant what imagery interpretation was – I had no idea. And he didn’t either as he responded that it was probably some kind of foreign language. I arrived at Fort Holabird in January ‘67 but didn’t get into a class until about April. As I recall, math was a part of the II curriculum – with a review starting with adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing and moving on up to geometry and trigonometry. From my class there were people being dropped out at the multiplying and dividing stage leaving one to wonder how there were selected to be IIs in the first place.
 * PEOPLE STORIES**

After graduation, several graduates were assigned to go to Fort Bevoir in Virginia – for what at the time we didn’t know. I’m pretty sure Ted Adams and Jim Firth were with the group, and perhaps Nate Brown – but I’m not as sure about him. We all reported in and after doing so were told that we were to be assigned to KP duty the next morning. Not a chance we said, we were on special assignment and had to be at the assignment the next day. This didn’t seem to be flying with the Sgt. so Jim Firth pulled out his ace in the hole. If I’m remembering the right guy, his father was a high-ranking Army officer and Jim told the Sgt. his father would handle the matter. Needless to say, his father came through and no KP for us. Daily, for about a week, the group was driven into Washington DC and we did II work – looking at missions, searching for and identifying items on the film. The assignment turned out, as I think back, to have been II performance testing. Initially, we interpreted photos on an individual basis and reported our findings. We then paired up to look at photos to determine if a team of IIs could spot more items than you could individually. Finally, I recall being in a very small enclosed room where the testing was via a computer program. A photo would be displayed and you had to answer a question – if you got it right you proceeded on to the next question. If your answer was wrong, you were asked another question about the photo. The program crashed in my last session – this was apparently an early software teaching program.
 * Ted Adams, Jim Firth, Nate Brown**

After being rescued from the Replacement Center in Bien Hoa, I ended up in the HHC(?) housing in Cholon. I recall the new guys being put up in some little hole in the wall in the back area of the housing compound having to sleep on cots and step over each other to get in and out. I also remember seeing for the first time those 6 inch flying cockroaches being in that room. If my memory is cloudy about when I first met Nate Brown, I know he was one of the new guys housed in the hole in the wall. New guys were taken into Saigon to some office for processing of required paperwork. Nate and I had ours completed and decided we had some time before everyone else’s was done. It being a nice morning we felt a stroll was in order so off we went, going down this street and that street, turning here and there, and all the time figuring we’d know how to get back to where we started. Turned out, we had figured wrong and were lost. Fortunately, after a short time some MPs, or other Americans, saw our plight and brought us back to our starting point. Nate and I were good friends in Danang but lost contact after that. Many years ago I attended a conference in Atlanta, which is where Nate was from, and I decided to see if I could find him and get together for dinner. You’d be surprised how many N. Browns there are in the Atlanta phone book. I never did make contact. We were still housed at the Palace Hotel when there was a rocket attack on the airbase. I ran over to Nate’s room to get him up but Nate was unphased – "it’s not near us what’s the problem" he said. I went out the front door with a couple other guys and there was a big explosion that rattled the hotel. Next thing I know Nate is coming outside with his rifle and steel pot on.
 * Nate Brown**

One night I was sitting at the bar in the club enjoying an adult beverage and I looked down the bar and thought I recognized one of my Drill Sgts. from basic training – Sgt. Black by name. I tell the bartender to give him a drink and Sgt. Black asks who bought the drink for him. The bartender points me out and Sgt. Black comes over and thanks me. I mention he looks like a Sgt. Black from basic training and he confirms he’s the guy. He’s in from the boonies and asks me what I do, so I tell him I’m a photo interpreter. To which he responds, are you one of the guys that keep sending us out on wild goose chases looking for stuff that isn’t there? Nope, say I, must be some other guys.
 * Drill Sgt. Black – from Basic Training**

I believe his drink of choice was Old Granddad and coke.
 * E. Tyler – #** 27 in unit photo

I think he had re-upped in early ’68 and got promoted to E-6. A pretty nice guy for an NCO, as I recall.
 * SSgt. Bryant - #**17 in unit photo

An Oklahoma fair-haired boy. I didn’t recognize him in the photo until he identified himself. My visual memories of Dave were more of a blond, cherubic faced individual. Dave’s now a lobbyist for the Oklahoma Education Association. We had a nice talk a short while ago.
 * Dave Kueter - #**23 in unit photo

John and I spent a lot of time together in the club. He was from a small town in New York. I always remembered John but until the web-ring got together his last name eluded me.
 * John Kinkopf - #**33 in unit photo

I may be wrong but I remember Larry lived on a farm in Tennessee or Kentucky. What kind of farm I don’t know. Larry recently sent me an e-mail indicating he retired from the Army in 1986 and has been the Chief Deputy of a Sheriff’s Department for the past 17 year. His real name apparently is Randall.
 * Larry Lockhart - #**30 in unit photo

I’m almost certain John came over with the Michigan National Guard unit. He was an older guy as I remember. We both ended up in Penang together on R&R. To get to Penang you flew to Malaysia to an Australian air base (Butterworth, if I remember correctly) and then took a ferry over to Penang. My impression of the ferry was that this was the type that you read about in the papers that sank with hundreds of lives lost.
 * John Nesbitt - #**6 in unit photo

I remember Gene saying he was going to stay with the unit until his enlistment ended.
 * Gene Zwarycz - #**9 in unit photo

I pretty sure this was John. He and I were sitting on the front steps of the Modern Hotel and he was reading a book of poetry by Rod McKuen. John loaned me the book and I enjoyed it very much. So much, in fact, that I bought several of his books when I got home.
 * John Shimashita - #**13 in unit photo

In the back of my memory, I always thought John’s father was serving as a Congressman from Oregon.
 * John Ripper - #**37 in unit photo

When I arrived in the unit (June ‘67) there was a company clerk (?) whose nickname was Zero – I assume from Zero in Beetle Bailey. He finished his tour but returned again about June of "68. I thought to myself – perhaps the name was appropriate given the fact he came back. //**(John Shimashita believes this was Francis Posalski.)**//
 * "Zero" –** not in unit picture

1967 Bob Hope Christmas show was a surprise. I had no inkling he was in town until we got into trucks and headed off to Freedom Hill. There was a tremendous crowd – by the time we got there it seemed we must have been a quarter mile away from the stage. Even at that distance, though, it was a great show – something to tell the kids and the family of how we got to attend one of Bob Hope’s famous Christmas shows
 * MISCELLANEOUS RAMBLINGS**

The CO scheduled a PT test one Saturday afternoon – the only one I can recall during my tour. The test was scheduled for around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and everyone was to attend. Unfortunately, this was a poor choice of times by the CO as the EM Club was open and the drinking started at noon. If I remember correctly, my plan that day was to start at one end of the bar and drink a different drink until I got to the other end. Needless to say, neither I nor most others were in any shape to take any test. I remember we were to do some push-ups, and to run around the perimeter of the entire I Corps compound at least once. I don’t think anyone made it all the way around – I know I didn’t, and the push-ups didn’t go so well either. This test ended very quickly – never as I recall being re-scheduled.

A truckload of us were arrested twice in one night heading back to the Modern Hotel. We had left the EM club at closing in a deuce & a ½ and instead of returning by the most direct route along the river road the driver was taking a longer, more round-about, route by heading away from the river and heading deeper into town. In addition, the speed limit was merely a suggestion to him and we were stopped by the MPs. They took our IDs, put us under arrest, said to follow them to the jail, and then took off. We couldn’t keep up with them and they went out of sight. As we were trying to catch up, a second jeep full of MP’s stopped us, asked for our IDs but were told we had already been arrested. The first MP group then returned, apparently they saw we weren’t following them, and told the second group we had already been arrested. We had to wait in the jail until we were bailed out by the CO. I don’t recall if there were any repercussions for us or not.

**Does anyone have further details on this?** Vietnamese road repair on the road from the compound heading into the city on the main drag was an eye-opener. Mama-sans carried rocks in little baskets from the side of the road to the middle and then dumped them out. A steamroller came and flattened them out. Tar, not asphalt, was applied by someone ladling it out from a 55-gal drum sitting over a fire. No wonder your heels sank into the road when you walked down it.
 * "Good Guy" plane shot down?** – not too long after I got home I read an article in my local newspaper about a daring rescue of a pilot from Connecticut and his passenger who had been shot down. I can’t remember the pilot’s name but the passenger was a Robin Harper - a Detachment B member on a hand-held mission. //**(Thanks to Roger Houglan for remembering Robbin's last name.)**//

The Danang bridge was relatively new when I arrived in June 67 – the old railroad bridge apparently had been sabotaged and was out of commission. Marines on the new bridge spent day and night shooting at anything floating down the river in case a bomb was attached to the debris. It was especially noisy after a storm as this added to the amount of debris floating down the river.

I had only been in the unit a short while when Ray Hutton was seriously injured. Some people had gone out on a Saturday afternoon to the rifle range and a round had hit an unexploded rocket which came back and embedded itself into this person’s leg without exploding. Ray lost his leg, but the medical team that removed the rocket was written up in the Stars & Stripes as well as in medical journals. //**(Thanks to John Shimashita and Mike Davis for bringing clarity to this issue.)**//

I‘ve told this story to my family a number of times so I’m looking for confirmation from an independent source to verify my veracity. This was when the unit was housed in the Modern Hotel. You could go up on the roof and soak up the rays to work on a tan. I tried it for a few days, and a mission was flown over the City along the Danang River. Whoever read out the mission located the Modern Hotel and saw a person lying on a cot sunbathing. Each exposure had some type of binary code on the bottom so that you could interpret the time of day of the exposure. Inquiry determined I was the sunbather – perhaps a unique instance where an II actually saw himself on a mission. **Let me know if anyone remembers this so I can continue to impress my family.**

When I left the unit I had finished my commitment to the service – about 22 months in total. The plane ride home had stops in Japan, Alaska, Seattle and a final stop in New Jersey. As an aside we were not allowed off the plane in Seattle and spent a couple of hours on the tarmac before heading east. Arriving in Fort Dix to be processed out we passed a lot of guys heading in the opposite direction – "Go west young men, and be sure to stop in the RVN" to misquote Horace Greeley. The proper paperwork was filled out and as far as I remember there were two tests to pass before you were free to go – a urine test and a hearing test. The hearing test was in one of those booths where you put on earphones and beeps are siphoned into one ear or another. This was a time consuming process and the line was pretty long. Every so often a Sgt. would come down the line, lean over to some people, and some guys would leave the line and others had to stay in line. The first and second time he leaned into me he muttered something and I said "Huh" and he told me to stay in line. The next time he came down the line I read his lips as he was asking guys if they could hear him. When he got to me again, the correct answer of "yes, I can" got me out of the line and that completed my hearing test. The Army, at the time, provided a travel allowance of 10 cents per mile. It calculated that from Fort Dix in NJ to my home in Hartford, CT was about 110 miles away as I remember getting $11 for travel. Just to get off the base to Philadelphia to catch a bus home cost more than the $11. The cost of the bus ride itself has long been forgotten. A draftee, such as I was, had a six year military commitment – 2 yrs, active; 2 yrs active reserve, and 2 yrs. inactive reserve. Since all the Reserve and Guard units were filled to capacity, my military career ended the day I left Fort Dix.

HAIRCUTS** Visits to the Danang Hotel Barbershop were on a voluntary basis, or, at the suggestion of an NCO on a less than voluntary basis. If memory serves me correctly, the barbershop was on the 1st floor, on the left, as you entered the building and the barbers were Vietnamese men and women. You could view some of the street life going by from the barber’s chair. I think the price was 25 cents, and for that, you not only got a haircut but you also got a neck massage as well as the barber cracking your neck. What this was supposed to do I have no idea; and after one or two times of having this done I declined further cracking. I always felt that if the barber got a little carried away I might end up paralyzed with a broken neck.
 * MORE MEMORIES from Gene

Join the Army and learn a trade. Fortunately, I didn’t join. I also didn’t learn a trade but my II experience did come in handy. After leaving the service I went back to college on the GI bill. In my senior year I was coming up one semester hour short of graduating on time. I had heard the college would give credits for "life experiences" so I searched the course catalogue to see what I could come up with. In the College of Agriculture (I was in the School of Business) there were two graduate level courses on photogrammetry so I visited the professor, told him of my experiences in Vietnam as a photo interpreter and of plotting missions on a map, and asked if he would give me 3 credits for one of the courses. Sure, he said, if you can pass a test which he handed to me. One look at it and I figured I had two chances of passing – slim and none. This professor obviously was no anti-war or anti-veteran person. He explained that he wouldn’t give me any credits for the graduate courses, but he did teach an ROTC map reading course and would gladly give me two credits for the course. Thanks to him I graduated on time.
 * VALUE OF II TRAINING**

As I recall, it was Navy Personnel that ran the Post Office which I think was called the White Elephant. I believe it was located on the road that ran along the river. Many years after I came home I was chit-chatting with a work colleague and we both noted that we had been in Vietnam and in Danang. It turned out he worked at the Post Office during the 1967-68 timeframe. Too bad I didn’t know him then, I might have gotten a better postage rate on my letters home.
 * POST OFFICE COINCIDENCE**

In order to get a driver’s license you not only had to pass a driving test but also a written test on, I believe, 50 international signs. A number of us new guys took the test, and while I’m not sure how many of the 50 you needed to get right to pass, I do know no one got enough correct to pass. On the second go-round we were told we had to get all 50 right and we obviously did because we all ended up with licenses. The actual driving test was on the roads within the hospital complex across the river from the city. Obtaining your license didn’t necessarily mean you were a good driver. The first time I took a jeep out I backed into a tree and crumpled a rear quarter panel. Some NCO told me I was responsible for its repair – what did I know about repairing a vehicle? – I was a highly trained II. Fortunately, whoever was the unit mechanic helped me out by attaching a chain to the rear end and having me drive forward until the quarter panel straightened out. There was a period when the unit must have been receiving a lot of moving violations as we were read the riot act by the CO. The unit was apparently in danger of having driving privileges revoked if its driving record didn’t improve. The road from the Modern Hotel into the compound turned into a two-way street once it moved away from the running along the river. It could get pretty tight with people walking or biking along each side of the road. Leaning over the side to watch the traffic could go by could cause you to literally lose your head, as during my stay, there were several instances when deuce & 1/2’s heading in opposite directions knocked each other’s side-view mirrors off. One night returning from the club four of us were in a jeep heading to the Modern Hotel along the river road. We were merrily going along unaware that a barbed wire barrier had been placed at least partially across the road. Whoever was driving failed to see it in time, ran over it, and got the wire twisted all around the axle. Needless to say it was a bitch to unravel and it took some time before we could be on our way again.
 * DRIVERS’ ED**

During the 1967-68 time-period two people were usually on CQ duty. For relief during the night, someone would take a jeep into the city to pick up whoever had the next shift. One night, I think this may have been after TET (I remember carrying my M-14 that night) but before we went to the Modern Hotel, I had the run into the city. As I was heading up the main drag to the barracks across from the Danang Hotel, a group of five or six non-uniformed armed Vietnamese started coming out from between two shacks just a little bit ahead of me. Going too fast to stop and turn around I just hit the gas, scrunched down in the seat, and hoped for the best. Apparently the best was just the ticket as nothing happened and I didn’t have to change my shorts.
 * WHO WERE THOSE PEOPLE?**

I’m not sure how common this was early on, but once TET got underway there was always a midnight run to the airbase to meet the Lear jet from Saigon with the evening’s missions. There were enough to fill up a little cargo trailer attached to a jeep. I knew at least two entrances to the airbase and I normally took the main one. One night though I thought I’d take a secondary entrance and proceeded down a fairly narrow road to the entrance. To my surprise it was barricaded and there were a couple of Vietnamese sitting up in a watchtower just beyond the barricade. That night I had a little trouble turning around with the trailer – I couldn’t quite back up without the trailer jackknifing. After a number of futile tries I had to get out, unhook the trailer, turn the jeep around and pull the trailer and hook it back up to the jeep. All this time I could hear the Vietnamese in the watchtower chattering away and laughing. It was quite obvious they were enjoying the show.
 * LOOKING BACK IT’S FUNNY – BUT NOT AT THE TIME**

I always enjoyed watching the F-4’s taking off. It was especially fun watching from relatively close up when you were at the terminal waiting for the Lear jet to come in with the missions. What I always found fascinating was watching a big "freedom bird" coming in over the bay, and coming in, and coming in, and then seeing a dot in the distance gradually getting bigger and bigger and finally an F-4 would go right by the ‘freedom bird" and land before it.
 * BOY, THOSE FIGHTERS WERE FAST**

The TET offensive was initially planned to commence on January 30, 1968, but was then postponed for one day to the 31st. A number of units did not receive information of the postponement and attacked on the 30th. One of those units attacked the I Corp headquarters compound. While this attack was minor in relation to what was going on throughout the rest of the country, it has been immortalized in the book, //TET, The Story of a Battle and its Historic Aftermath.// The book was written by Don Oberdorfer and published in 1971 by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Below is what was written.
 * TET ATTACK ON I CORP COMPOUND**

"I Corps headquarters on the outskirts came under mortar and ground attack by a company of Viet Cong infiltrators, and a dozen men penetrated the compound briefly. When the corps commander, Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Lam, arrived from home at dawn, the headquarters was still under fire by small arms and anti-tank rockets. Lam looked over the situation, then turned to the U.S. adviser on duty at the Tactical Operations Center, Major P.S. Milantoni. ‘Milantoni, bomb here. Use big bombs,’ said Lam, tapping the map with his ebony swagger stick. ‘General, that’s pretty close,’ replied the major skeptically. ‘Bomb,’ repeated Lam. Milantoni called the air support center in another room of the I Corps headquarters building. ‘That’s too close, you’ll never get a clearance for it,’ said the surprised watch officer. ‘General Lam just gave it,’ Milantoni announced. The bombs fell two hundred yards away, shaking the building and causing the defenders to hit the dirt. The Viet Cong rifle fire slackened and the general smiled. He called in more air strikes, and as the Viet Cong began to disengage, he sent helicopter gunships to pursue from the air. U.S. and Vietnamese took chase on the ground. Lam smiled again, tapped his swagger stick against his leg and walked out." I sure all of us who were there well remember the day. I recall an old WWII prop plane coming right over the vans strafing into the village behind the rear wall of the compound, as well as the "big bombs" General Lam called for. And thank’s to Roger Houglan for bringing up a name from the past that I had long forgotten – Darryl Tucker. Darryl, ever the photographer, was standing on the back wall taking pictures while the action was still going on. At the conclusion of the engagement, the enemy dead were dragged out of the village and piled up on the helipad across the street for the villagers to see as they passed up and down the road. I can recall some significant helicopter activity on the pad that day, and probably the next, as the brass came to see the aftermath of the battle. Darryl got his pictures on the helipad, too. The above book excerpt is the only one I’ve ever come across describing the attack.

I think it was monthly that you had to take your little white quinine pill to protect against malaria. For me, and I’m sure a lot of others, these pills brought on a quick bout of diarrhea. The two-holer was on overtime the days those pills were handed out. After a couple months of this, I decided to opt out – I kept the pill under my tongue until the Sgt. passed on to the next guy and then spit it out. I figured I’d take my chances with the mosquitoes, and possibly malaria; which, at the time, seemed to be preferable to the monthly trek to the outhouse – especially if both holes were occupied.
 * MALARIA OR QUININE PILLS – CHOOSE YOUR POISON**

Global warming is a big environmental issue these days. For me, living in Connecticut, it can’t get here soon enough what with the rising price of heating oil. A secondary benefit is that with a sea level rise, I might end up with oceanfront property. What’s this have to do with Detachment B memories? Having grown up in Connecticut, Christmas 1967 was the first Christmas I experienced with no snow. I think we had a little tinsel tree set up on top of the bunker but it just didn’t seem like Christmas without the snow.
 * EARLY GLOBAL WARMING FOR A KID FROM CONNECTICUT**

I have no memory of overhead room fans in either the Palace Hotel or the marine barracks building. The Modern Hotel, on the other hand, was another story. There, the overhead fans were like something you’d see in a 1940’s movie set in Africa or another hot humid climate. If I recall correctly, there were three settings – extremely slow, slow, and moderate. On extremely slow, you could easily watch an individual vane go round and round. This setting was for vane watching only as it moved the air around not a bit. On slow, it was a little harder to follow an individual vane but it still could be done. I don’t think the air moved any on this setting either. Moderate generated a little breeze provided you were within a few feet of the fan. Riding the deuce and ½ and standing up behind the cab provided a better breeze than the room fans – the only drawback was the breeze was blowing very hot air.
 * ROOM FANS**

At the Modern Hotel each room had its own shower which was a great benefit after a hard, or not so hard, day’s work. Because it was so hot and humid, it took me a while to figure out how to get completely dry before my towel(s) became too wet to absorb any more moisture. After showering, I’d turn the water to cold, stand under it to close my pores, then run under the fan (set to moderate – see above) and dry off.
 * SHOWERS**

Coming from the land of plenty, it was always an eye-opener to see how resourceful the Vietnamese were. There was a time when renovations were being made at the Danang Hotel and there was a lot of scrap material out in front of the hotel. Vietnamese were hammering out old nails from boards and straightening them out for re-use. To paraphrase Ben Franklin – "A piaster earned is a piaster saved."
 * VIETNAMESE RESOURCEFULNESS**

If you were a hard liquor connoisseur as was I, your choices of mixers were coke, ginger ale, water and orange juice. I recall a period when those choices became even more restricted – there was a decided lack of coke and perhaps even ginger ale. The rumor was a cargo ship in Saigon had been sabotaged and a load of soda was lost. Of course, this may have been just a canard and the soda diverted to the black market. You’ll remember the old Vietnamese saying when buying off the local economy: "May be expensive GI, but no have at PX."
 * DRINK MIXERS**

Fayetteville, North Carolina Born March 10, 1942 Died August 7, 1968 in Danang, RVN – Film Burning Accident Vietnam tour started December 16, 1967 Vietnam Veterans Memorial – Panel 49W Line 27 His name was one of over 1 million names on a microchip that was on NASA’s Stardust spacecraft that visited Comet Wild 2 in 2004. Sgt. West wasn’t very forthcoming with the "AC" part of his name as I remember. In trying to locate his name on the Wall in Washington DC in the late 80’s I had to go through the "West"s in the name book and isolate a date of death to actually identify his panel. The National Park Service collects and warehouses various artifacts left at the Wall. Pages 68 and 69 of the book //Offerings at the Wall// show a variety of unit patches that have been left over the years. The page text reads as follows:
 * SSGT. ALDERMAN CARROWAY WEST**

"Army Regulation 670-1 states that ‘… Insignia will be authorized for wear only after The Institute of Heraldry, U.S. Army, has determined the propriety and granted approval…’. These patches, designed by their wearers and made by Vietnamese seamstresses were definitely unauthorized." The Detachment B 1st MIBARS patch was one of the patches pictured. It was obviously left in memory of Ssgt. A.C. West.

This information was obtained from the U.S. Army’s Institute of Heraldry. Campaign Participation Credit: Vietnam: Defense, Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive, Phase II, Counteroffensive, Phase III, Tet Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive, Phase IV, Counteroffensive, Phase V, Counteroffensive, Phase VI. Tet 69/Counteroffensive, Summer-Fall 1969, Winter-Spring 1970, Sanctuary Counteroffensive, Counteroffensive, Phase VIII, Consolidation I, Consolidation II, Cease-Fire This information was obtained from:
 * 1ST MIBARS – VIETNAM UNIT DECORATIONS**

Department of the Army Pamphlet 672-3 Decorations, Awards, and Honors Unit Citation And Campaign Participation Credit Register Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force) – 02/18/66 – 06/30/67 (DAGO 42, 69) Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) - 12/65 – 08/66 (DAGO 17, 68) Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) – 09/01/66 – 07/31/67 (DAGO 17, 68) Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) – 08/01/67 – 12/31/68 (DAGO 42, 69) – Excludes Detachment E Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) – 03/01/70 – 04/27/72 (DAGO 5, 73) Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) – 11/02/67 – 12/31/68 (DAGO 42, 69) – Detachment E only Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star – 12/23/65 – 11/12/71 (DAGO 32, 73) DAGO = Department of the Army General Order

GENE PIANKA 1967 -1968
 * 2nd ADDENDUM**

A few differences in culture quickly became apparent to this eastern seaboard inhabitant when arriving in Vietnam. The first thing I noticed was how poor the people were in comparison to what I was used to, having lived my whole life in Hartford, Connecticut a city with a population of about 125,000. Hartford had its poverty (read – slums) and while those slums had sub-standard housing, it was nothing compared to a lot of the cardboard and tin can shacks you saw on the outskirts of Danang and Saigon. Also amazing to see in some areas were the huge piles of garbage and refuse piled up on the street with people picking through it. We put our garbage in metal cans and left them out on the curb, and miraculously, it all disappeared during the day. Another shocker for me (as we didn’t do this in Hartford – but I can’t speak for you guys who weren’t from the big cities) was seeing young ladies, in their ao dais, stop along the sidewalk, hike up a pant leg and take a whiz wherever they might be. It didn’t phase me when a guy whipped it out and took one, but girls and mama-sans was something else. Seeing two girls or two guys walking along the street and holding hands was also an eye opener until I learned that this was a cultural practice and not evidence of a large gay population. A Nugget from John Shimashita: Summer weight material thinner than winter. Increased vehicular accidents due to VPL. (Det had 4 accidents in 10 days) Betel nut chewing was common. According to Wikipedia chewing betel nuts is a mildly euphoric stimulus. It’s supposedly habit forming and it’s a known human carcinogen. It also doesn’t help the chewer’s smile as you could readily see when one of the mama-sans flashed her pearly blacks at you. A Nugget from John Shimashita: Asian Advil in a chew/ old Asian custom for married women to blacken their teeth.
 * CULTURAL DIFFERENCES**

My experience with "Demon Rum" prior to arriving in Danang was virtually non-existent. The drinking age in Ct. was 21, as it was in So. Carolina for basic training, and in Maryland for II schooling at Ft. Holabird. Being very baby-faced, my chances of getting a drink in Columbus or Baltimore were slim and none. However, once in Danang, age was not factor. It was customary during my tour for those who were heading home to have a party at the club and pay for everyone’s drinking. It was just my luck to arrive in Danang on a Saturday when someone was throwing such a party, although I have no idea who it might have been. Never really having any drinking experiences I went with Crème De Menthe as my choice for the evening. The first one went down real easy as did the rest during the course of the evening. By the time the club closed I was also down and in no shape to walk back to the Palace. I recall being carried back and laid on a folding cot in someone’s room (I was still waiting for a spot in a room with a bed to open). That’s when everything started to spin and nausea took over. Waking up the next morning with my first hangover was my introduction to the hazards of over-imbibing. But this story doesn’t end just there. Being a Sunday, and not a workday at that time, a trip to China Beach was made – a day of sun and fun at the South China Sea. Being fair-skinned and without the wherewithal at the time (being still under the weather from the Crème de Menthe) to fully realize that being out in the sun leads to sunburn, I ended my first weekend in Danang with a bad burn. There were other occasions when I might have had too much to drink, but three stand out. The first I’ve already recounted in my first chapter – that being the day when we had to take an afternoon PT test. The second was right after Tet started and we were on alert and had to stand guard in various spots. Perhaps I had made a mistake and returned early from the club; or got called from the club, but I got selected to stand guard behind or along some warehouse on the river. What I was supposed to be guarding, or how anyone was to get there from the river escapes me now, as it did then. This was also the time that we only had five rounds, so if more than five VC came at once I guess I was screwed. Having already had several drinks I’m not sure why I was considered as someone competent at the time to guard anything. I remember, after a time, just sitting back against the warehouse and nodding off. Eventually someone either came to get me and figured that a guard at that location wasn’t necessary as I can’t remember anyone replacing me. The third occasion is a good example of when you have too much to drink you don’t remember things. Again, this was right after Tet started. After a night of drinking the club closed, and we all crossed the street to the Marine barracks where we were living at the time. Someone (probably an NCO) indicated we were all to be on standby in case something happened. I remember putting on my flak jacket, lying down for a second on my bunk with my M-14 on top of me, and waking up the next morning with the M-14 next to my locker and my flak jacket hung up. When and how all this took place, and who might have helped me, I’ve no recollection. A Nugget from John Shimashita: Several M-14 mags had all but the top 2 rounds removed. Guard duty 5 rds. 10 full M-14 mags were available (5 for LP/5 for BU) they were excess and could not be turned in by Cpl. FOWLER USMC.
 * DEMON RUM**

Reading some of the e-mails that have gone around, there appears to have been a lot of practice at the shooting range. I can recall going there only once and shooting at paper targets held up on little sticks. Quickly loosing interest in the targets, my goal was to shoot at the stick holding the target to see if I could shoot the stick in half. I’m not sure if this was the time or if it was another time but I can recall being in a deuce & ½ with several other guys sent to pick up ammo. I’m pretty sure we were to go somewhere along the bay, heading away from the river, and pick the ammo up either from an Air Force or Navy location. I can’t remember whether we eventually did get any ammo but I do remember we spent a long time driving in the wrong direction away from the safety of the Air Force/Navy area before we realized it was time to turn around and get going in the other direction. Typical men – we only ask directions once we’re lost.
 * SHOOTING RANGE**

I’m at a loss as to why I was selected to be an imagery interpreter and sent to Ft. Holabird for schooling. I recall taking a battery of tests prior to starting basic training but can’t recall what type of test would have qualified me for the job. Perhaps one of the tests was for math aptitude, but as I wrote in an earlier section, this is hard to believe as some people in my specific class were dropping out after the multiplication and division reviews, and we eventually touched upon trigonometry. Before taking the battery of tests I recall being interviewed by some guy asking various questions. One of the questions asked was, "I see you have some college. How many hours do you have?" I thought about this for a minute or two, did some figuring on the number of weeks in a semester and how many hours I had been in class during the semester and answered, "About 175." "No one earns that many credits in a semester", he said. "Oh, you mean credits, then its 15". Based upon that little exchange maybe he figured I was just the type to go into the intelligence field. II school was the first time I had encountered "grading on a curve". All the schools I had attended had a scoring range of from -0- to 100. I had always had good grades as a student, but my test scores at II school were well over a 100 and I questioned the "professor" after the 1st test as to how that could be. Having good grades through high school didn’t help me in college the first time around as I dropped out twice with the draft board catching up to me the second time around. It took me about five weeks to be assigned to a class. During those five weeks I can only remember being assigned to two duties. One was helping some NCO assemble shelving for one of the rooms in the Ft. Holabird library and the second was working in the printing office putting booklets together. Class started on February 20, 1967 and finished on May 19, 1967. What was great for me was that Baltimore was only about 300 miles from home and I was able to get home many weekends, leaving late Friday afternoon and getting back very early Monday morning. There was also an in-county II school which was in Saigon. I’m not sure how long it was, or what we were taught, but we did get a certificate for that also. In addition to technical stuff, I would guess we also received some instruction on local customs and what to look out for. The only things I remember were: don’t run over cans in the street – they might be booby-trapped, and if you’re invited to dinner with a Vietnamese family be sure to leave a little on your plate – that let’s your host know s/he has satisfied your appetite.
 * IMAGERY INTERPRETATION SCHOOLS**

Both the Palace Hotel and the Marine barracks, where the unit was billeted before the move to the Modern Hotel, were near where the main street into town came to an end. If you turned left you went past the Danang Hotel and if you went right you were on the street that ran along the river. I seem to remember that that intersection was sort of a gathering place for Vietnamese and that enterprising mama-sans would set up their little eating establishments – much like you see meal wagons in our cities and towns. In lieu of a meal wagon, you’d see a mama-san toting her restaurant on her shoulders. Hanging from one end of her carrying stick might be her stove and serving bowls, and from the other end the food she was going to sell. Watching the Vietnamese eat with chopsticks, I saw that you used them as much to shovel the food in your mouth as you did to pick the food up with. As much as I like most Oriental food now I never had the desire to try it at these open air restaurants. I think that was for two reasons. One, with the meals we had at the Danang Hotel I never felt like "eating out"; and two, watching how the used dishes were washed just by dipping them in a jerrycan full of water and pretty much knowing the water came out of the river, I figured my insides wouldn’t hold up after a meal. Sort of confirming my suspicions on what was in the water, I noticed one morning someone going #2 in the river and five feet downstream someone filling his jerrycan up for the day. Perhaps this was also a lesson conveyed at the in-country II school – don’t drink the water, and be careful what water you use to brush your teeth. A nugget from John Shimashita: You could get black market beer/COCA COLA/coffee/fruits /beer nuts/pretzels and sandwiches. A navy medic viewed a slide of potable water, and vowed not to drink any water till he got back to the states. (chemical treatment didn't kill everything!) Filling your canteen from the water truck was better than using the lister bag. There was the minor black worm problem with the well behind the Marine barracks.
 * OUTDOOR DINING**

I always enjoyed the daytime drives into work and back to the hotel. The street scenes were always interesting and driving sometimes a challenge. One-way traffic wasn’t as bad as two-way, as there was always a little more travel room on either side of the vehicle. Two-way traffic could be a little hairy if two deuces and ½’s were coming from opposite directions and pedestrians and/or bicyclists were clogging up the sides. I seem to remember an especially sharp right hand turn heading south on the river road where congestion could be horrendous. The morning ride into the compound was the nicest time since it was the coolest. The noon runs and the run home could be brutally hot and while standing up behind the cab you got a breeze, it was a very warm breeze. A nugget from John Shimashita: Bump near 19 Duc Lop, you could end up rolling down the road.
 * THE DRIVE TO AND FROM WORK**

Going to and from work through the City you’d see a lot of kids. I recall a school along the main road in Danang where you’d see kids heading to school or playing outside on the school grounds. But, what especially sticks in my mind about the kids was their entrepreneurial spirit. Any time you stopped long enough for a group of kids to gather around the back of the deuce and ½, you could always count on someone trying to sell you a packet of X-rated photos. Of course, not every one was trying to sell you something. Those that weren’t could always be counted upon to ask for cigarettes, gum or candy.
 * KIDS WILL BE KIDS**

When you’re young you believe, as I did, that your senior years will be filled with the memories you’ve experienced throughout your life. When you reach those senior years, you find that this isn’t necessarily the case. Here’s a few things I remember and a few that I don’t. Until Darryl Tucker’s name was brought up I remembered someone standing on the back wall of the compound taking pictures during the Tet attack on the compound, but didn’t have a clue to his name. I remember the first night after the attack on the compound we were on full alert on the grounds of our barracks. I have no recollection of what we did the second night. I remember on right-hand side of the main road through town there was a school and playground. I have no recollection of the Catholic Church in Dave Keuter’s picture even though we drove by it at least once or twice a day. I remember driving some officer to Monkey Mountain in the middle of the night to make a phone call but have no idea who it was. I remember there was a small USO building off the main road into the city but not much about what type of services its staff provided. I remember there was a two or three story building in front of our barracks but not what was housed in it. I do remember there was a ping-pong table on the first floor, playing some Vietnamese guy, and getting my clock cleaned. I remember there were two gates into the compound but only using the middle gate on rare occasions. I remember our vehicles getting great gas mileage, as in 14 months I don’t ever recall seeing anyone gassing one up. I remember my room at the Modern Hotel, how it looked, where it was located in the building, but I can’t remember if I had one or two roommates, or who they were. I remember buying a watch off my ration card and also remember you could buy liquor off it, but I don’t remember what else you could buy off it or whether you got a replacement one every so often. A nugget from John Shimashita: PX ration card, cigarette/soap/electronics/cameras/female hygiene items/small appliances. When we were still at the marine barracks, I can’t remember whether I brushed my teeth with the bug-infested water from the faucets or if we had another safer water source available. A nugget from John Shimashita: Some used beer most used water from canteens. (you still showered with the worms). I can’t remember if we all changed to jungle fatigues and boots at the same time, or if you were issued them once you got there? I can’t remember if we had mama-sans doing our laundry, cleaning our rooms, and shining our boots at the Palace Hotel. A nugget from John Shimashita: You had a mama san at the Palace. I can’t remember if we tipped the waitresses at the EM club or not; and if we did, was it in MPC or chits? A nugget from John Shimashita: The club waitresses were tipped but not by everyone. Some were given R&R gifts. I remember the Saturday evening meal was a choice of lobster or steak and cost $2.00; but can’t remember what it cost for breakfast and lunch, or the evening meal on non-Saturdays. Other than the "white mouse" directing traffic at the intersection at the corner of the I Corp compound I can’t remember whether there were "white mice", traffic signals, stop signs, etc. along the main road into the city, or the river road heading out of the city.
 * THE VAGARIES OF MEMORY**

Thinking back over your tour(s) have you ever asked yourself the following? Why, before Tet, were we issued only five rounds for our M-14’s? Why five, and not a full clip? A nugget from John Shimashita: 5rds. prior to Major Hogan. Basic M-14 combat load for the Det. was 100 rds. (5 full mags) you should have had 20 rds. Your mag may have been stripped and left looking like a full mag. As for why Det. was reduced down to 1 mag you will have to ask Major Hogan. I have a view about the grenades/bayonets, but that’s another story. After the Tet attack on the I Corp compound it was expected that the Danang Hotel would be attacked the next night from the fishing village behind us. Expecting this, why weren’t we issued more ammo immediately? Cannon fodder, anyone? Why do you think Danang City wasn’t attacked during Tet like the other big cities? After Tet started, and Det. B received additional staff from the Michigan National Guard (Reserves), why were they outfitted with M-16’s and we still had M-14’s? After we burned the film what happened to all the empty film spools and canisters? Who emptied the burn barrels in the corner of the compound? How and where did we get our ID cards for the EM club? Why did you have to bring people into CQ duty in the middle of the night, rather than having those assigned spend the whole night there? Why did we have to move out of the Palace Hotel to the Marine barracks? What good fortune allowed us to move from the Marine barracks to the Modern Hotel? A nugget from John Shimashita: Move from the Palace to the barracks: (rumored) due to lack of room/Det. and mixed in with other units.(Det never shared another billet) With all the drinking going on at the EM Club, how come there wasn’t always a big line at the urinals? If the club only sold 3.2 beer because regular beer had too much alcohol, why did they serve you as much hard liquor as you wanted? Why did we have a Vietnamese guard at the Modern Hotel 24/7 if we also had a 24/7 guard watching him? Why didn’t we just guard the gate ourselves? Where did the hospital ship go when it sailed away? Why did they fly entire missions over triple-canopy jungle when you couldn’t find any features on the mission to be able to plot it? Why did we have mosquito netting when we stayed at the Marine barracks but not at the Palace or Modern Hotels? A nugget from John Shimashita: GECKOES, in place of netting. How did the individual mama-sans decide whose rooms they would be working for? A nugget from John Shimashita: Seniority for room choices. Why were we provided a meal allowance of $75 per month when you could buy all your meals each month for about $60. A nugget from John Shimashita: Extra $15 PX/USO/drinks at the club.
 * POINTS TO PONDER**

Does anyone know? Who occupied the Palace Hotel after we moved out? A nugget from John Shimashita: PX personnel occupied Palace before and after Det.( Cpl. Fowler part of the security unit for PX convoys going North from Danang) Who, or what, occupied the Marine barracks before we moved in, and after we moved out? A nugget from Don Skinner: I believe it was the same barricks the Armed Forced Police occupied when I was there in '69 - '70.
 * GENERAL QUESTIONS**

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