Yours truly.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. We sometimes made more than one air assault in a day with these Hueys.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. C-123.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. C-130.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. The Canadian made Caribou was a small plane that could land and take off on short runways.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. C-130.
LZ Hammond. December 1966. These Chinook helicopters could carry an entire infantry platoon.
This is me again probably somewhere in Bong Son in December 1968.
This was our "Doc." G. Michael Kilpatrick. Probably somewhere in Bong Son December 1966.
LZ Bird. December 27, 1966. This LZ was attacked and partially overrun by NVA, We air assaulted into the battle at about 2 AM. Witnesses said the NVA retreated when they saw us coming.
LZ Bird. December 27 1966. A six bladed Sikorsky helicopter that could lift just about anything. It was a rainy, overcast day.
LZ Bird. December 27 1966. This 155mm howitzer was destroyed by a satchel charge placed by the NVA. It had been set aside and was unusable because it already had a cracked barrel.
Looking down on a small fishing village along the coast of the South China Sea. January 1, 1967.
Finton at the beach in front of the village. January 1 1967.
Boats, shelters, and huts at the coastal village. January 1 1967
William Fells. We searched the village. Nearly every hut in Vietnam had an underground shelter nearby. January 1 1967.
Again, overlooking the fishing village. Our platoon went in the surf there while others guarded. An undertow started taking several of the guys out to sea. Sadly, two drowned. One was never seen again.
The same village. January 1967.
An overexposed photo of a village probably by the sea and possibly the same one as in the other photos. January 1967.
Me in a tree. On the other side of the tree was a sheer drop-off to the sea. January 1967.
View of rice paddies. Look carefully and you can see people in the field in front of the paddies.
Sometimes we torched hootches. This was in a hostile area where civilians did not live.
Picturesque village amongst the coconut palms.
Yes, it rained a lot. Doc Kilpatrick.
Our third squad of third platoon. From right to left, Sgt Henry Brown, Burgess, Dave Combs, Finton, and William Fells in front.
Gunships fired into this village just before we air assaulted in. One of the rockets hit the palm tree. When I took this photo I didn't know a teenage girl lay seriously injured behind the tree.
Dave Combs drinking coconut milk.
A terribly overexposed photo of Finton holding a punji stake. There are thousands of them stuck in the sand pointing in all different directions.
An H-13 recon helicopter. It was shot down just after I took this photo.
I ran to this helicopter when it crashed. It landed upright but then a skid collapsed causing it to fall over.
When I got to the helicopter, two men climbed out and told me to get away because they had grenades and ammo aboard. No one was injured.
If you want coconuts and can't climb the tree, the next best thing is to cut it down. The red stain on the ground is from a red smoke grenade.
DeWar.
Another photo of our squad by a Viet Minh monument. Obviously we found some sugar cane along the way.
Dave Combs holding an old live artillery round. Have no idea why it was there at an LZ.
An Lao Valley. A sniper killed one of our men here. There were many tunnels dug in the mountains.
Another photo of An Lao Valley.
One of our gourmet evening meals. C-rations warmed by a heat tab.
Cloud of white phosphorus. Before the jets dropped their bombs, a small spotter plane would fire a white phosphorus rocket to mark the position.
It seemed we were flying in Hueys constantly.
The doors were always open. It was entirely possible to fall out if the helicopter banked steeply.
Coming in to an LZ.
I wore glasses all the time. I used an elastic band to make sure they stayed put. I even wore them at night. There's no time to search for glasses in a war zone.
The white specks in the photo are thousands of leaflets being dropped by US forces. The VC could use these to surrender.
The hilly countryside.
Looking out towards the South China Sea.
Occasionally we had a dog handler with us, but I never witnessed the dogs doing anything all that useful.
Heavy loads could be carried with just a simple device.
I taped a cleaning rod to the forestock of my M-16 so I would always have it with me when the rifle jammed which was about half the time.
We set up in the field in the background. I was watching the trail and got lazy by getting a chair out of a nearby hootch. That's a bunker just behind me.
These were VC that we captured and turned over the South Vietnamese Army.
This jackfruit looked awfully good but we couldn't get to it because of the water buffalo. They were known to attack.
Artillery was called in to hit the tree line in the distance but came way short.
Another photo of the 105mm rounds landing way too close to us.
White phosphorus (willie peter) grenade.
At LZ John, a small outpost just outside Camp Radcliff. We stayed there several days in late February - early March 1967.
Lt. Wolfe was one of our platoon leaders. He is holding a carbine version (CAR-15) of the M-16 rifle.
The sun sets behind the "Greenline," the outer perimeter of Camp Radcliff. Photo taken from LZ John.
This was our chaplain at LZ John.
A Special Forces explosives expert came out to LZ John and showed us how to clear trees.
Clowning around with a .50 caliber machine gun.
The 106mm recoilless rifle.
Got a new covering for my helmet and drew the state of Florida on it and where I was from.
A fiery speech making fun of the KKK.
Finally got rid of my M-16 and got an M-14 with an auto selector switch. This rifle NEVER jammed but I was the only one who had one.
My M-14 that was a fully automatic rifle. Later, when I returned to Vietnam the second time, I used an M-14 with a sniper scope. Again, I was the only one who had one.
Look carefully and you can see the white smoke from a white phosphorus rocket and the explosion of a 500 pound bomb.
The next six photos were taken near the South China Sea in mid-March 1967.
This Navy boat is dropping off two locals that were picked up on a small island.
The boat heading back out to sea and the small island where the locals were found.
I like dogs but one of these tried to bite me but only managed to rip a hole in my sleeve.
Getting ready to go on R & R to Taiwan. March 23, 1967.
I have no idea why I took this picture but I've included it anyway.
AnKhe airport.
Photo taken from inside a hospital plane. Man standing outside is Henry Fonda. He greeted all of us before we boarded.
Me at Cam Rahn Bay.
Dave Combs.
Our third platoon, C Company, 1/5 Cav., 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)
Sgt. Ellender.
1st Cavalry Division Camp Radcliff with Hon Kon Mountain.
AnKhe.
Sin City.
On the way to Bien Hoa somewhere near Saigon.
Only photo I have of the men in the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate). I was with this unit until DEROS on August 24, 1967.