by L. Clint Whittaker

SUNRISE IN SAIGON

Here a .50 calibre machine gun (one of eight small MGs) is mounted aft below a 40mm gun tub and its silhouette is a reminder that we're "not in Kansas anymore."

Photo Bill Stute

SAIGON RIVER

Brown water, starshells, and reports from heavy guns. There are people living on this river, families in small boats. On the shore, a dog is tied to a post outside a cafe. It is kept there alive so to be fresh for dinner.

--Photo captured from 8mm film.
Film courtesy Bill Stute.

NORWOOD'S REVENGE FT striker Kenneth Norwood had one chance to avenge his brother's death in Vietnam. That moment came while we were re-negotiating the Saigon River on our way to the next assignment in Danang. Naturally, the ship was at battle readiness and Norwood was the fire control technician (FT) overseeing gunmounts 44, 45, and 46. He was ready, even eager, for action. But, at first, the return trip was as uneventful as our arrival run the day before. However, halfway down river, we got trouble. A civilian freighter came up behind us making full steam. Obviously, its captain intended to overtake us because he signaled, repeatedly, with two blast from his ship's horn. Yet at that point river conditions were too risky to chance such a maneuver. So the Clarke OOD ordered me (I was BMOW) to reply with four blast from our ship's horn, indicating the danger. Despite the warning signal, that freighter zipped by us at full speed, passing aport as it made a mad, frantic dash to some imagined point of safety. Instead, and unfortunately, the vessel failed to negotiate a sharp bend in the river. Consequently, it ran aground where it was immediately taken under fire by enemy forces in the brush. In short time, the Clarke approached the grounded ship, passing it astern. And by that time FTSN Norwood had sighted in on the freighter's VC attackers. He immediately begged permission to open fire, but the C.O. refused to shoot for fear of hitting the imperiled merchantman with HEIT, high explosive rounds. Otherwise, we would likely have had our first combat action. Ulias Wilson was a .50 cal machine-gunner that day and, in a recent telephone conversation, he recalled the fright and confusion of the moment. He was on the port side, aft, where he could hear firing from the starboard side. "I knew that freighter was under attack. But they said not to chamber a round until I was told. I wasn't sure I could wait that long. I could hear the gun crew above me saying, 'there they [the VC] are. Swing around. '" Steve Murdoch recalls that "half way down the river a merchant ship San Jose New York was going twice our speed...she hit a sandbar or shallow water...she was trying desperately to get away. She almost looked like she was beached...some Viet Cong...hiding in the brush by the bank opened machine gun fire...we had our after gunmounts trained...We didn't shoot them for fear of hitting the merchant ship..." Unfortunately, we were not in position to help that freighter, and Kenneth Norwood never got another chance to avenge his brother. He fell from the truck ramp and was sent home from the war; perhaps for the best. One brave Norwood was already gone.

NEXT STOP, NORTH TO I-CORPS AND THE DANANG-CHU LAI SHUTTLE

Heavy weather delayed our arrival in Danang, and cracked our main deck. When we finally stood into port, hauling munitions marked our first campaign. We were rookies on the line, so the dirty part came first. "Load tanks, ammo, and fuel," the orders read. "Take them wherever they are needed. But keep an eye out because the VC know you're coming. Spotters along the banks of these skinny serpentine rivers report U.S. ship movements. The enemy will be waiting." And we'll be watching. If necessary, we'll give them a taste of our "40 mike mikes." They'll give us mortars or B40 rockets in reply. Make a run to Chu Lai and back to Danang. Tien Sha Ramp, White Elephant...load the bombs and the bullets...hubba hubba, get your ass moving...busy people cross the bridge...girls in long white dresses with parisols...men with livestock...long roads into the countryside...bunkers...tanks. Spend some script, not on her...black syph you fool. Me give you long time... Make a run to Qui Nhon...little amber lights float down from the sky...baroom baboom..."Smokey sings"...killers are the children of the night...hillsides slope...grass is high. Grab a beer...catch a smoke...what the world needs now is love, sweet love... Send a letter...Dear Mom...Dear Linda...and Dear Abby Mail call, "Dear John"...

DANANG HARBOR AND OPERATION BEER BLAST "Now, this ain't no shit."

Two pallets of beer fell from a civilian ship in Danang Harbor. Early on, plotting eyes were watching that. Later, that evening, as tanks and vehicles rumbled up the bow ramp and into the tank deck, these mindful sailors and marines carried out a heist...or...uh rescue of said contraband. With darkness, the wily gators took to the water for that very special sunken treasure. And, sure as Noah was a boat coxswain, the hearty, thirsty seafarers hauled up their sudsy booty. This action initiated the Great Navy-Marine Tank Deck BEER BLAST, a successful if rather unsophisticated tactical maneuver designed to temporarily ease the pain of war. But then came the Marine OOD. The jig was up. Everybody was "busted." Oh really? Not so, really. The OD joined the party. And there it was: Marines, Navymen, beer...and Vietnam. The only thing missing was a truck-load of short-times. By early morning, everyone was "Dinky Dow," and feeling the groove.

--Photo captured from 8mm film.
Film courtesy Bill Stute.

SERIOUSLY, THOUGH...

Escalation of the war began here, in 1965, with the arrival of the 3rd Marines. Danang was headquarters for the Naval Support Activity and, at first, the city seemed quite ordinary, a typical town of the Orient. But the war was there, in the streets, in the hills, and in the water. The barber cut hair by day, killed GI's by night. The old papa-san and his lovely daughters came daily to fetch pieces of wood, the scraps from busted pallets which, apparently, they sold or bartered. Was it a simple hustle, or the workings of an underground tunnel? Wood makes for good shoring.

--Photo captured from 8mm film.
Film courtesy Bill Stute.

--Photo Bill Stute

Take a mortar here and we'll all be satellites.

The thing I remember most about these Naval Support Activity guys was the way they could handle the Pettibone heavy-terrain forklift.

--Photo captured from 8mm film.
Film courtesy Bill Stute.

Starshells, cannons, choppers, tracers...sights and sounds of Vietnam.

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CHU LAI

HE DROPPED BACK AND THREW A BOMB ? Not really. But ex-Naval Academy star, and later Dallas Cowboy's quarterback, Roger Staubach paid us a visit in Chu Lai. He was doing his 'Nam time on the way to pro-football greatness. (Thank you, David Totten CTT1 USN Retired)

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AND THEN, THERE WAS CUA VIET