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From FOB-4 I was further assigned to Forward Operational Base #2 located outside of Kontum, in the Central
Highlands. It was located near the tri-border area of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. We had recon teams operate in all
three countries. My team operated primarily in Laos. Kontum wsas about a thirty minute flight from Dak To
which was the launch site for Operation Prarie Fire (Laos). For the most part life in the FOB was relatively comfortable
-- good food, descent quarters and comaraderie. We even had outside movies which were a trip. The screen was cloth
and the Montagnards got carried away and "inter-acted" with the movies by shooting up the screen. When the "Green Berets"
played we changed the screen almost every night.
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| Every Friday we "Cooked out". |
To dispel a popular myth, please note what we are drinking. The men I recognize are Gil Secor without
a shirt, and 1LT Hamrick, seating across from him. All was not work so I have included a few shots from our "Club".
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| Percy Hudson with black hair. |
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| Launch Site 1, Dak To |
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| The mortar pit took a direct hit. The base plate WAS cemented in. |
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| Outside mortar pit. All of the damage was inside -- not what was intended! |
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| LEGHORN |
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| ST Delaware |
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| 1Lt Hamrick was my asst. Tm. Ldr.(11) He later became a Covey Rider(FAC Observer). |
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| MACV SOG LOGO |
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| Vietnamese girl in the Club/mess hall. |
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| Hamrick, Rhode and me in the back. |
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| Promotion party for CPT Ethridgs, senion FAC observor (Covey Rider). |
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| LS-1 Dak To |
Dak To was the site of a Base Camp for the 4th ID as well as SF Det. A-244. It was close to the Lao
border and we used it as an assembly point from which to launch and extract our recon teams. We shared the commo bunker
of A-244 with the A-Team. When I was there the camp was practically deserted. Most of the troops and half of the
A-Team members were opening up a new camp at Ben Het which was even closer to the border. I have no pictures of personnel
but a few to show what the camp was like.
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| AM/CW side, notice we still had the GRC-109. |
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| LEGHORN |
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| Fellow operator but can't recall his name. |
The recon teams primarily operated in the tr-border region of the Ho-Chi-Minh Trail. From here the NVA turned
east into Vietnam or continued south to Cambodia and then into RVN. Our mission was to observe movement and harrass.
We had other secondary missions. In order to maintain the cability of 24 hour radio communications between the teams
and Hq radio relay sites were established. "Leghorn" was one of these. After a short stint at LS-1 I pulled
a tour on Leghorn. It was to be for two weeks but became considerably longer because of Tet 1968. Leghorn was
sited at the top of a very steem mountain/rock. I always felt pretty secure up there though the site was mortared in
November.
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| ST Delaware |
This link will explain how I became a member of ST Delaeare and how I became the Team leader.
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I have many pictures of my stay at FOB-2. They are general pictures of the Base, then I will show the Launch Site
(LS1) which was located at Dak To. From here we will go to the Radio Relay Site (Leghorn) which was located in Laos.
I was then assigned to Recon Team Delaware. On the first day my team leader, Linwood Martin was killed and I inherited
the team. The shower room was named after him: "Martin Manor". I don't recall who beat him to the latrine. You will
notice from the aerial shots that FOB-2 is really two camps in one. The MSR (Main Supply Route, army for highway) ran
right through the middle of the camp. During lock-down these two camps were separated.
| My Room |
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| House keeper. She kept my room and cloths in presentable condition. |
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| The man on the right appears in many pictures. He was TDY from OKI. I only remember him as OD. |
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| Launch Site 1, Dak To. |
The camp appears to be in poor shape because in November '67 the ammo dump of the 4th ID was set afire. The team
members said they took more incoming from the ammo dump than they did from the NVA/VC. I believe they had to abandon
the camp for a while.
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| LEGHORN |
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| When not on the radio, there was nowhere to go and not much to do. The M-79 became my past time. |
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| ST Delaware |
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| Me on a Visual Recon (VR). |
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