SCRAPBOOK 8

GORDON HECK (Co. D 1968-69) COLLECTION ROBERT "TONY" ADAMS (Co. B 1968-69) PHOTO OF "LARRY" OSBORNE

GORDON HECK COLLECTION The following photographs are from the collecton of (Sgt.) Gordon Heck, Company D, October 1968 to Oct. '69.

THE BERM [below]. In the summer of 1969 Fire Support Base(FSB) Pershing – six miles NE of Trang Bang – got a face lift. The old fighting trenches were filled in and the perimeter extended out. A 'berm' was pushed up for protection against small arms and new sandbagged fighting bunkers (Bunker 25) and sleeping bunkers (left) were built. Beyond the berm is "the wire." [Photo © 2004 G. Heck]

THE WIRE[below]. You are standing on "the berm" looking out towards Charlie's country. It is "the rainy season." Claymore mines [Front Towards Enemy], then rows of barbed wire strung between metal fence posts. Beyond, abandoned rice paddies and, in the distance, the treeline. [© 2004 G. Heck]

CU CHI BARRACKS [below]. Pre-fabricated barracks were palletized and shipped to Cu Chi from Hawaii when the base was built. They had screened doors, clapboard walls (up to about waist high), and screen(ed) above that. And a tin roof. They were open inside. As time went by they were modified. In this case, a sandbagged wall and reinforced bunker (left, next to building) have been added. The semi-permanent "rear" working party often partitioned these barracks into working and sleeping cubicles or rooms. Troops "in transit" or at "Stand Down" could be housed in barracks or under hot canvas in the General Purpose or "GP tent" (background). The 2/12th's area of Cu Chi in 1969 was located in an old rubber grove on the south-western side of the base near te Tunnels, Mines, and Booby Traps School. As I [Holzhauer] remember it; you came in the main gate, straight down the road – passing a large metal hanger and the Ranger tower on the right – taking a left turn somewhere near the middle of the base and after a short ride into our battalion area in the rubber grove. [Photo © 2004 Gordon Heck]

HOOCH [below]. The Vietnamese house was nick-named by the G.I. a "hooch" [pronounced who-ch]. Soon this term began to be applied to all buildings. Compare the American hooch above to the Vietnamese hooch below. This is the bamboo batting sided (new or temporary) type. It is typical of farm houses, but I think Gordon's photo is of some sort of commercial building in a builtup area.... it just has that feel to me. Most of the farm houses in the Trang Bang AO were of the (rock hard) mud/clay wall type with thatched or tin roofs. Corregated metal siding or roofing could be added at any stage. I've seen soda cans flattened out and spliced together to make a "tin" roof. In the example below; the frame would have been made out of bamboo or wood poles lashed together, and the batting attached. Behind the little girl entering the hooch is the "front door" leaning against the wall – at night, pick it up and close the entrance. Note the neat-as-a-pin courtyard in front of the building. This was hard-packed clay and everyday was swept clean by Momma-san and her short straw broom. [photo ©2004 by G. Heck]

GREG BREBNER & LIMP [below]. Photo taken in the Co. D area at Cu Chi Base Camp. "Limp" got his name .... well..... because he had a limp! [circa 1969 photo ©2004 by Gordon Heck]

Osborne

The following photograph was submitted by Co. B's Tony Adams. It was taken two weeks before Sergeant "Ozzie" Osborne was Killed In Action.

Sgt. Lawrence E. Osborne from Peekskill, PA. Company B, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment KIA. April 1968. Photo ©2004 by Tony Adams.

Site & Text © 2004 Copyright Bruce Holzhauer. bhbim@webtv.net All photographs are copyrighted and may not be used in any manner without permission of their owners.