Hut in Cambodia

Our Company was in Cambodia in early May 1970.  We had invaded Cambodia a week before in a campaign called the Cambodian Incursion.  We were on the move heading toward Rock Island East; a large weapons cache that was discovered by Company D.  Along the way, we walked into an abandoned village and set up there for the night.  While there, I took a snapshot of this hut.

I could not get over how different the hut was from Vietnamese homes.  The more affluent Vietnamese had large homes designed by the French.  Those with a lot less lived in shacks made of scraps of plywood for walls and steel sheet for roofs. In contrast, this house was so natural feeling with its grass roof and walls.  It was as if the Cambodians were 200 years behind the Vietnamese in progress.  Maybe a house like this was typical of rural farmers in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

The villagers had run off recently due to firefights in the area but had left behind a small pig tied to a stake.  One of our Vietnamese scouts decided to butcher the pig and cut the meat into small pieces while we built a fire.  When hot coals from the fire were ready, we skewered pieces of raw pork with pointed sticks and then held it over the fire as if we were toasting marshmallows.  That pork was one of the best tasting meals I ever had in Vietnam.      

Ready for my First Combat Assault

This snapshot was taken in February 1970 on the log pad at FSB Buttons.  I was standing there ready to head out to the jungle by helicopter for the first time.  We were waiting for the helicopters to arrive.

You can see that my shirt, pants and helmet cover were brand new.  The clothes were probably the last of three pairs I had received at Oakland Army Base in California.

In my left hand, I am holding the barrel of my M16 rifle.  I have not fired it yet but someone else used it before me so I assumed it was OK.  Around my neck is a bandoleer filled with 20 round clips of M16 ammunition.  

On my back is a rucksack.  The rucksack weighed about eighty pounds fully loaded.  Sitting on top, just behind my head is what looks like a pillow but in fact is a 5-quart canteen.  Just below the 5-quart canteen is two 2-quart canteens.  On my waste is a 1-quart canteen.  Add it up and I was carrying ten quarts of water.  The water weighed about 20 lbs. and would have to last me for three days.

Below the 2-quart canteens are two smoke grenades.  We each carried about six smoke grenades.  They were used to mark an area when bringing in a helicopter.  Below the smoke grenades is a poncho, poncho liner and air mattress all rolled together and used for sleeping.  In my rucksack was three days of food, a claymore mine, trip flares, frag grenades and an ammo can that was used to keep personal things dry like my writing paper and wallet.

Standing there, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I was just going with the flow and doing what the veterans did.        

North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco

When we were in the jungle and in the middle of a firefight, there were times when we needed heavy duty backup support from F-105 Thunderchief  or F-4 Phantom jet fighters  The fighters came in so low and so fast however that they could not possibly see the targets they were trying to hit.  That is where the Bronco came in to help.

The Bronco had 70 mm rocket pods down low and on either side of the fuselage that contained white phosphorous rockets.  The plane was slow enough and maneuverable enough that it could spot the enemy and then mark their location with a puff of white smoke from one of those rockets.  Then the jets would come screaming in and shoot there 20 mm Gatling cannon or drop 500 pound bombs on the white smoke left behind by that unusual looking airplane.

I can remember these planes maneuvering like a biplane high over the jungle, diving at there target then shooting those white phosphorous rockets.  They looked like they were having fun up there.