The Bonding of Warriors
A Unit History
The Years 1968-1971
Ch 17
1968 - Compiled by Hilan Jones
Just before night fall they came to a pagoda at the corner of a large rice field. It was bordered on one side by a large canal. Seizing an opportunity to get a good nights rest, the lieutenant chose to set his platoon in a defensive position inside the pagoda. He positioned the M-60 machine guns to cover the canal. The infantry platoon was on fifty percent alert so the LRRPs settled in to get as much sleep as they could.
About one in the morning all hell broke loose. The platoon came under heavy automatic rifle fire and grenade assault. It was a brief, intense attack from what appeared to be an enemy squad of five or six riflemen. The enemy was successful as they wounded three infantrymen, created a fire in the pagoda, and disappeared into the night. "Lanternhead" was sent to recon the area so he and his team low crawled from the pagoda a short distance to a paddy dike. Seeing the enemy squad had departed the area, he informed the Lt that all was clear. Artillery was called in on the suspected route of withdrawal and a sweep of the area was made the following morning.
Some time in the summer, "Lanternhead", J.W. Boles, Doug MacCallum, and two other LRRPs were the point element for an infantry line company in the Plain Reeds. They were conducting a search and destroy mission. The area consisted of very tall grass (over the head of the average soldier) and knee deep water. It was a known infiltration route from Cambodia into the Mekong Delta.
On the fifth day, the LRRPs came across a patch of ground that was above the water table and stretched for a few hundred meters in length and a couple hundred meters wide. There they found a large bunker complex that was unoccupied at the time but showed sign of recent use. They were picked up that afternoon and dropped at a Special Forces camp while the infantry company was taken to a larger area to rest up and get a hot meal. There was quite a lot of excitement at the LRRP Headquarters as they couldn't account for the team for several hours.
After a good night's rest and a hot meal, one platoon from the infantry company was lifted in to destroy the bunker complex they had found the day before. Unfortunately it turned out to be a disaster waiting to happen. An NVA unit had moved into the area from Cambodia the night prior and surprised the infantry platoon, killing all but one.
The LRRP team was inserted with the reinforcing infantry company and was under heavy fire going in. Boles was wounded in an attempt to take out a machine gun position. Heavy fighting continued into the afternoon with the Infantry Company taking many casualties. 'Lanternhead' went to the aid of a wounded infantryman who had been shot in the head. His helmet was full of blood and as it spilled out onto the ground his stomach turned. This day continues to haunt him. The NVA were finally forced to retreat under heavy rocket fire and mini guns from the cobra gun ships as well as artillery from the nearest US base camp. By the end of the day the infantry company had lost close to two platoons and was evacuated to Dong Tam to regroup.
Beer baseball was a memorable event at Dong Tam. Two 55 gallon drums would be filled with beer and ice. The batter would have to drink a beer before he could run to the next base. Needless to say, the guys were feeling no pain by the third inning or so. It was irrelevant who won.
Kenneth "Lanternhead" Marze would return to Fort Polk Louisiana on 5 January 1969 where he would receive a six-month early out. Marrying Chris on 3 January 1970, they would have five children; Kent, Kelly, Angel, Robin, and Missy. The family resides in Port Authur, Texas.
The LRRPs had a reputation that drew people from all over the division to their company area. Barbecuing steak or chicken was a common occurrence and the beer and soda was always ice cold, compliments of the first sergeant Bob "Top" Maushardt. In May or June of 1968, SFC Ray Sonnier started visiting the area as a guest.
Sonnier was with the Division G3 and went to Dong Tam with the advance party. In September of 1968 Ray found himself looking for a job as a MSG came into G3 taking his slot. He was slated to go to a SY-OPS unit but while visiting with the LRRP Commander, Dale Dickey, and 1SGT Bob Maushardt (Sonnier served with Top in Korea) he was offered a spot in the company.
Sonnier's first patrol was with SSG Herbert Pok Dong Cho. The team was compromised early in the patrol and spent the night trying to sleep at a friendly position on a bridge. Someone was constantly throwing grenades in the water and the team got little or no sleep. Ray went out on a few more patrols but do to a hearing profile he was used as a Field 1SGT. His main job with the LRRPs was making sure that they got their mail, and keeping them supplied with beer and soda (which was a very difficult job).
SSG Hilan "Jonesy" Jones, SSG Tom Lindly, SSG Jesse Taylor, and SSG Herbert "Frosty" Frost was helping with construction of the TOC Bunker. Jonesy and Frosty came down off the top of the bunker. Sonnier asked them where they thought they were going, and was told by Jonsey that they were hot and needed a beer. Ray told Jonsey that it was not break time, and for them to get back up there. Jonesy smiled at him and very politely told him that he wasn't big enough to make them go back to work. After the beer break everyone returned to the task of roofing the TOC Bunker.
As a result of this conflict Tom Lindly and Jesse Taylor were told to take over as team leaders or find another job. Frosty and Jonesy received verbal reprimands but were allowed to remain. Lindly went over to the snipers and was honor student of the first class to graduate. Contact with Taylor was lost but he and Lindly were both located in 2000. They both reside in Missouri. Tom in Waynesville and Jesse in Syracuse.
Most of the time Ray could be found working around the company area and unit club but on occasions he would go out with a quick reaction team. A team that had been sent out on VC Island called in and said they were in trouble. A quick reaction team was assembled and he went to the supply room got a rifle and ammunition and went out with the team.
By the time the reaction team got there the team was near the shore. All the reaction team did was provide them covering fire while they got on the boat. When Ray attempted to fire his weapon it wouldn't fire. The firing pin had been removed (Jesse DeLeon has never let him forget this).
Ray resides in DeQueen Arkansas and is very proud to have served with such a great bunch of guys. Looking back on things he has come to realize that they were just a bunch of guys who went into Charlie's A. O. and did their job well.
In the summer of 1968 the unit started doing "Parakeet Flights" patterned after the division's "Eagle Flights" only on a smaller scale. It was meant to discover and disrupt the flow of supplies and munitions via sampan on the delta waterways.
It was mid December 1968 and the Ranger Company had a couple of teams running missions from Fire Support Base Moore. Moore was a battalion sized fire base occupied by the 1st Brigade's 2d Battalion, 39th Infantry. The burm was constructed of a dozed perimeter of dirt topped with concertina wire. It was not a fun place to be even during the best of times. The base came under frequent mortar and rocket attacks. The mud during the rainy season, and the dust blowing during the dry season, made the living conditions beyond miserable. To make matters worse the 2d Battalion S3 was jacking them around and not providing the support needed while in the field. Captain Dickey thought that if an officer was with the teams that would change so he sent Lieutenant Prescott (Puck) Smith to ensure the proper use and support of the elite ranger teams was implemented.
Just before Smith arrived, one of the LRRP teams was in the field, Colonel Geraci (3rd Brigade Commander) was in the command bunker visiting FSB Moore. The team was in contact and was requesting gunship support and extraction. The assistant S-3 was talking to the team leader on the radio, telling him that no support was available and they would have to hold their position as best as possible.
Colonel Geraci heard the transmission, went berserk and fired the assistant S-3 on the spot. Although Smith wasn't there, he later learned from several men that were, that Colonel Geraci questioned the assistant S-3's manhood, called him a coward, and within minutes extraction helicopters and gun ships were in route to support and extract the LRRP team. In his fit of rage Colonel Geraci actually picked the assistant S-3 up and threw him out of the bunker and then said "me and the LRRPs are going to Glory". This sounds corny and hard to believe, but that's what happened.
Smith arrived at FSB Moore a few days later, finding a completely different attitude toward the LRRPs. He pulled his last mission in country from FSB Moore in The Plain of Reeds, finding the support to be outstanding.
Returning to the States in early January of '69, Smith was assigned to the Ranger School Fort Benning. In early May, while working out in the Gym on main post, he ran into Colonel Geraci and was surprised that he remembered him. It was also surprising that Geraci remembered in detail the incident at Fire Support Base Moore. He was certainly one of the most unforgettable characters that Smith met in Vietnam, or the Army, for that matter.
Fire Base Moore--Reacting to intelligence provided by a Long Range Patrol, elements of the 2d Battalion, 39th Infantry and gun ships of the 3d Squadron 17th Air Cavalry killed 86 Viet Cong on November 30th.
It was the second time in a week that the 1st Brigade "Recondos" had capitalized on air cavalry firepower and surveillance to post a large body count.
The Long Range Patrol sighted the enemy force between Cai Lay and Cai Be the night of 29 November. Early the next morning, Troop A of the 3d/17th scouted the area and found the VC near where they had been seen previously.
Within an hour, Company D of the 2d/39th had airmobiled to the west of the enemy and Company A to the northeast. Moving through open areas covered with small, muddy streams, the 9th Infantry Division soldiers swept toward a nipa palm and banana tree line.
As the infantry pressed in from two sides, artillery pounded at each end of the VC position and the gun ships sought out individuals and small groups of enemy soldiers. Each element protected the others as they closed in on the VC.
"The gun ships kept the pressure on the enemy so our ground troops could move and they couldn't put effective fire on us," said First Lieutenant Leonard Sprinkles, of Santa Clara, California, a platoon leader.
"As we swept, the gun ships even pointed out VC that were too close to us for them to shoot at so we could spot and kill them," said Specialist Four, Paul Canetti, of Buffalo, New York. "Later we went into the canals and dragged our feet in the mud to find some of their weapons."
After the final count, gun ships had killed 52 enemy soldiers, and accounted for 16 weapons captured. Company D killed 26 VC and captured 13 weapons, while Company A killed eight and took four weapons.
Nine suspects were detained and one VC rallied to the Open Arms program during the day long operation.
The only U.S. casualty was one man wounded.
"This was not a typical Delta operation," said Captain Bob Stephens of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, assistant brigade operations officer. "We usually have to dig them out of the bunkers and the nipa palm, but this was a turkey shoot. The air cav caught over 40 of them moving in the open in broad day light."
Christmas Eve day started out like any other at Tan An except there was supposedly a cease fire in effect for the holiday. Most of the guys had been through "TET" and knew what a cease fire was all about. 10 am rolled around and Duane "Poncho" Alire told everyone to be at the chopper pad by 4 pm as they would be going to Dong Tam for the Bob Hope Christmas Show. Everyone got all gussied up and loaded their libations to take along for the Christmas party at Dong Tam.
They arrived at the pad about 4 pm. Dan Bien looked around and saw Jimmy "old man" Booth, Ronald Kneer, Michael "Cookie" Cook, Bob Pegram, Richard "Richie" Bellwood (who was just back from the hospital from a shrapnel wound to his neck on one of Webber's missions), Ronald Webber, Jim Thayer, Garth Volbright, Jesse DeLeon and a few others. 5 pm came and went with no ride. 6 pm still no ride. Jimmy popped open his jug of V0 and started to make bubbles! It was almost dark when the chopper arrived. Dan was careful boarding as he had a jug of V0 in each side pocket of his trousers.
Viet Nam at dusk was a beautiful sight from a chopper. It was just a short hop to Dong Tam and as they unassed the chopper Dan went around to the window and offered the pilots a jug. They thought he was offering a drink and refused as they were flying. The pilot finally opened the window and Dan shoved in a full bottle and wished him a Merry Christmas. He smiled and returned the Christmas wish.
The guys walked the couple of blocks from the flight line to the company area arriving at the club to find it full of guys they hadn't seen in ages. This turned out to be better than any high school reunion could ever be. The brewskies and war stories flowed with many an "I can top that one" as the group celebrated. They were keeping an eye out for Cookie's team which was coming in from My Phouc Tay. The rest of the guys from Tan An got there but there was no sign of the group from My Phouc Tay. Word came that they couldn't get a chopper in that late to pick up that team so the party continued without them.
About 11 pm Duane and Dan were well on their way and decided that since this was Christmas Eve what better way to celebrate than with some red and green star clusters, with a few white ones thrown in for good measure. Off they went to the to ammo conex, Dan with his trusty Zippo in hand providing light as he searched among the C-4, composition B, hand grenades, and all types of assorted ammunition, for the sought after flares. He finally found the star clusters and started pitching them out to Poncho who finally yelled out that they had enough. Now, where to launch them from? It was decided that the top of the T.O.C. bunker would suit the need just right.
Once on top of the bunker the countdown began, 5 minutes, 4 .......... Dan popped a red one while Poncho popped a green one, then a white, a green, a red and so on. Sirens started to go off so they ducked down thinking the base was under a mortar attack. A short while later a jeep screamed up the road and stopped in front of the T.O.C. There was a bunch of screaming. The company C.Q. was yelling too. Whomever it was got back in the jeep, pulled up to the corner and was heading away when Dan popped a white star cluster just above his windshield. After that things were blurred.
The next thing Dan remembered was being cold and wet. He was awakened to incessant quacking around his head. About that time he opened his eyes and heard someone say "hey Sarge you'd better get cleaned up. Ernie Banks will be here in an hour". There he was, in the ditch, along side of the road with the ducks. He got out and cleaned up, then headed over to the bleachers to meet the rest of the guys. Sure enough here comes Ernie Banks. Dan couldn't believe his eyes.