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Ed "Spooky" Nored RVN Sep 69 - Sep 70 Click on image to enlarge
2-1-70 Boonies (Nored) There is an incident that happens while I'm gone. that neither Jim or I have down in our letter. The following happened sometime when I was at C.L.C at Bien Hoa. 3rd platoon had gone out on a patrol and were on a trail. The platoon came to a junction where the trail split. The set up a parameter. Lt. Piekarski, Pineapple and two other individuals venture down one of the trails leaving the rest of the platoon behind. They come to another split in the trail and the group of 4 split up. Piekarski and Pineapple go down one trail and the other two the other one. They both move a short distance when the Lt. and Pineapple come to a small clearing. At this point they both spot a gook across the clearing. The individual has spotted the other two guys who went down the other trail. The enemy is stooped over a little and is slowing walking backwards. Pineapple and the Lt. both have their weapons raised and the gook in their sights. At this time the Lt. has realized the awkward position he has put himself in. He realizes he is out of sight of the rest of the Platoon. Not to mention the other two guys on the other trail. If they open up there is a possibility everyone else will open up on their position. The Lt. plays is safe and decides not to shoot. Soon the gook still walking backwards, disappears from sight and all 4 return to the platoon parameter and call in artillery in the area. End of incident. (From JW's diary.) A man in second platoon accidentally shoots himself in the foot early in the morning while on guard. Woke everybody up thinking it was the enemy. (Duty officers Log in the rear says medavac was completed at 0700. Mans initials were R.S.L. and wound was not serious) Company resumed standard routine of more patrols and then moved about 1 click and set up night Lo in rubber tree plantation. 2-2-70 Boonies 2-3-70 Boonies (J.W.) An automatic ambush goes off and kills a dog or wolf. An automatic ambush is a claymore mine set up like a booby trap. Humped 2 klicks thru swamp up to our knees. Hot days cold nights. You can see your breath. (Check out Marcell Gorree's aka "Pineapple" 2 photos on this page. He captured us moving thru the swamp areas.)
2-4-70 Boonies DOL reports Jerry Spurlock of Delta Company was medavacd. There were was no additional information on how he was hurt or where he was medavacd from. 2-5-70 Boonies / Log day Designated Log bird "Black Bandit # 618"
2-6-70 Boonies (J.W.) Company humped (walked) 7-8 clicks. Jim Smichdt fell down twice. We moved thru swamp. 2-7-70 Boonies (Nored) We moved several clicks and met up with one tank and 3 A.P.C.s. My squad bought a case of sodas from them. I put 4 into my pack."Good grief they were good". One of the guys on the A.P.C. had a tape player on playing the Iron Butterfly. It really brought back memories. These armored guys were in a different world then us. As grunts I dont think any of us got use to being out in the open and making as much noise as they did. Same war but 2 different worlds. (J.W.) We humped 4 Ks through swamp again. They have been running us ragged. Past few days all we do is hump. Got late start to setting up nightlo.It was raining as we were putting out flares. Went to bed wet. Everyone PO'd at the C.O. 2-8-70 Boonies (Nored) On 2-8-70 third platoon was told to secure the landing zone for 1st. platoon which was rejoining the company. You can see in the photos the field is gigantic. All we could do was send my squad out into the clearing a short distance and cover the area the best we could. When the weather was good and I had film for my camera I kept it in my shirt pocket. This was the case this day and I took these shots of 1st. platoon as they arrived. Gordon Swenson of first platoon is on one of these copters. While first had been operating on its own they had a friendly fire incident with another unit of the South Vietnamese Army. (Swenson) This was my 1st fire fight! Our Platoon was attached to a mechanized unit (tanks and armored personnel carriers) for a period of time. We had decided that we didn't really want to be around the tracks (term used for tanks and armored personnel carriers) during the night. So we walked out about 1000 meters or so from them and set up a NDP (night defensive position). During the night we had spotted what appeared to be a fire some distance away. We fired artillery and it finally went out. Didn't think to much of it. The morning of the 3rd we woke up and were just eating and getting ready to walk back to the tracks so we could ride with them during the day. Our "Kit Carson" scout had to go "outside" the perimeter to "take a shit" while he was out he spotted 2 individuals and opened up on them. All of a sudden all hell broke loose. We had rockets (or so we thought) coming in lots of small arms fire. I was carrying M60 rounds for our M60 machine gunner during this time. So I remember the gunner (his nickname was TJ) yelling for me to get more rounds for him. I had to crawl about 10 meters to get them and then crawl back so we could load them up. Suddenly lots of people started yelling to "hold you fire" "friendlies"...... Turns out that we had just engaged with a group of popular forces that were in the same area. Looking back it seemed weird that the rounds coming in sounded just like our rounds (M79 grenade launchers) etc, etc. Also the small arms fire was M16 (just like ours) When everything was over the first thing I noticed was that all of the rubber trees that were around us had rubber coming out of them about 3 feet higher and up. (This is why we always stayed low). Fortunately no one got hurt on either side.
2-9-70 Boonies (Log day) The DOL listed helicopters "Snoopy # 440" and "Chickenman # 610" but failed to make a distinction between which one was the "Charly Charly" (command and control) bird and the log bird. In most cases the DOLs listed the "CC" bird first. (Nored) Vinny Sciaretti of 3rd platoon leaves the company to escort the body home of a friend who was killed in another unit. (J.W.) Log Day. Moved about 1K. Easy day. Hotter then hell. Felt good to rest. TET started to pick up. Expect action in a few days..
2-10-70 Boonies (J.W.) Humped about 1K. Went on patrol.Not much happening. No rain,hot day and nice night. 2-11-70 Boonies (Log day) (Nored) My squad and Krsyminskis during the day set up an ambush just off one of the roads leading into Quan Loi. I commented how the "kick out" of rations dented most of the cans. Makes them hard to open.. "log day" All we get is a "kick out" 2-12-70 Boonies 2-13-70 Boonies (Log day) Designated Log bird "Killer Spade # 318". (Nored) A Feb. 14th. letter states that "yesterday (the 13th) we got a new man from Indianapolis." "log day" (J.W.) humped (walked) 2 clicks set up by stream.
2-14-70 Boonies (J.W.) Company humped 6 clicks. The CO got us lost and everybody is pissed. It's very hot. (Nored Info / quotes letter to Linda.) The company saddles up heavy about 0830 and moves about 300 meters then sets up a patrol base. 3rd platoon goes out looking for a "Redball" (road). Hours later they return without finding the road. The letter mentions "Garys squad" also went out so this would confirm Gary Borkowski is squad leader of 3-1. At 1400 I scribbled down that a man with the nick name "Borax" accidentally popped a smoke grenade on his pack. At 1430 Garys squad returned from patrol. We move out again and at 1620 I wrote "Jay Selby made contact with an estimated 40 red ants. We engaged the enemy with bug spray and came out victorious. There wasn't one red ant left on his pack." The company is still looking for that damn road. Amoung us we speculate, as soldiers will do, that "6" (company commander) is lost. 1711hours the company pops smoke and is working with a Loach helicopter. As it would turn out we wore our selves out looking for the road. In the morning were suppose to start blowing down trees and make a clearing to be airlifted out. In 3rd were all mad because in the earlier patrol we found a beautiful clearing we could have used as a pickup zone. Instead we humped heavy 4 clicks to where we are now. I mentioned Dick Fowler of my squad stayed true to his nickname and bitched every step. This was humorous to me and I kept laughing about it. I also wrote I was going to get something from "Doc" to help me sleep. My nights are crazy with dreams. 2-15-70 Boonies / Quan Loi / Ft Compton / Boonies (Nored) Company is extracted to Quan Loi, then by Chinook to Fort Compton. Then back to the boonies. (J.W.) A man passes out from the heat.
2-16-70 Boonies The DOL ,Duty Officers Log, says Delta Co. is under "opcon" ,operational control, of the 1/7th Cavalry. (J.W.) Were in very hilly area working a large trail. 3 clicks from the Cambodian border. Jets keep flying over.
2-17-70 Boonies DOL. Delta Co. still opcon to the 1/7th Cav. More up an down hills. 2-18-70 Boonies / log day Designated Log bird is "Chicken Man # 185" Delta Co. still opcon to 1/7th Cav. 2-19-70 Boonies Delta still opcon to 1/7th Cav. (Nored) After a LRRP lunch of Beef hash,peanut butter/jelly on crackers. Our platoon operating on its own. Humped heavy down to a stream where we found very fresh footprints in mud. We formed a parameter and dropped our packs. One squad was left to secure them and then with my squad (3-3) at point we moved out. Jay Selby at point, me and then squad leader Ron McGlothlin. Were not on a well established trail but are simply tracking the footprints of 1 or 2 individuals. We stopped and called up the "Kit Carson scout". This was an enemy soldier who switched sides. He was taught English the best he could learn in a short period. But still Earl Falkinburg was translating the scouts broken english after we asked him to look at the footprints. He said they had been through here yesterday or today. What scared all of us watching this young man was the fact he was trembling with fear. He was shaking like a leaf and was anxious to walk to the rear. So he did. I turned to Jay and said "and with that encouragement my friend let us drive on." Jay went into slow motion. A lot of seconds were passing between steps. A few minutes passed when I heard Ron behind me in a rather frantic urgent whisper saying "Ed. Ed." I turned around and heard something race by my feet. It was the blackest snake I ever saw. I jumped about a foot and at the same time trying to be perfectly quiet and calm. Jay turned and asked softly,"Whats wrong Spooky?". I answered and he replied "Ahh a little snake aint gonna hurt you." I remember I never did see the head or tail of it just what seemed to be an endless middle. Our attention quickly returned to the business at hand. We continued tracking the trail until it grew fainter or we simply ran out of time. I do know that each step we took brought us closer to killing someone or being killed. That tension is very exciting. You dont forget that. After all these years I wouldn't change anything about that day. We returned to our packs. Saddled up and moved up a "steep ass hill" and set up our night lo.
2-20-70 Boonies Delta still opcon to 1/7th Cav. (Nored) Working in extremely hilly area up-down-up-down. About 11 am we ,3rd.platoon, rejoin the rest of the company. My letter also mentions Ed Bryson who was walking behind me took a bad spill down a hill we were climbing. Half way down he managed to get out of his pack and then it rolled down the hill the rest of the way. (J.W.) Found a lot of gook clothing.
2-21-70 Boonies / Log day Designated Log bird is "Chicken Man # 825" Delta Co. opcon to 1/7th Cav. today but will go back to 1/8th Cav on the 22nd. Tomorrow. (Nored) After completing the log the company moved to the top of a very steep hill and set up our night lo. Word was passed around to us that we would be moving to a p/z tomorrow and be extracted. Info from Feb.23rd letter. 2-22-70 Boonies / Ft Compton / Quan Loi DOL. Delta company is opcon to 1/7 Cav. Michael Aronnie is picked to go to the next Combat Leadership Course. Mikes Deros date ( a persons go home date) is Dec. 2 1970. (Nored) "The morning of the 22nd we moved out and humped about a click to an area that was bombed out by napalm. There was only enough room for 1 copter to land. So after sitting around from 11 to 4:30 that afternoon we were lifted out and taken to Ft.Compton". My letter also says in so many words the commanders weren't sure where they wanted us to go but after we unloaded at Ft. Compton about 5:30 a few minutes later we boarded a Chinook copter and were taken to Quan Loi and pulled quard. This would be Delta companys last visit to Quan Loi. In the coming days all operations would be moved to Song Be at the base of Nui Ba Ra mountain. Info based on 2-23-70 letter.
2-23-70 Quan Loi (Nored) While on guard at Quan Loi Masson-Norris, Bob Angle, Jim Watradowski and JIm Smichdt rig up "boobie traps" using blasting caps, to kill the rats that infest the bunkers we sleep in. 2-24-70 Quan Loi Life on the "Green Line" (Nored / Linda) Jay Selby and Dick Fowler went to the P.X. and on the way back managed to borrow some ice from the airfield. They were both soaking wet by the time they got back to our bunker. It was fantastic to drink cold sodas. There's a prostitute at bunker 5. Yesterday our squad checked the barb wire in our section and we ran into 2 "mamasons" on the other side of the wire who offered us pornographic photos and pot. Jim purchased 3 bags of pot for 10 bucks. (J.W.) Went to the PX, sat around all afternoon. Drank beer then went to the gate and watched the Vietnamese civilians go home.(Many local Vietnamese had work doing odd jobs at the base.) Had a good time with Jim Smichdt and messed around with Bob Angle. We made up booby traps with blasting caps to kill the many rats that infest the area. They work pretty good.
2-25-70 Quan Loi (Nored / Linda) Ron McGlothlin finally left for his R&R. He is going to meet his wife in Hawaii. He hasn't seen his wife in 8 months. He was very excited about it. I'm happy for him. He's a hell of a nice guy. I am appointed temporary squad leader. Dick Fowler is going to the rear to get his teeth fixed. That leaves us with a 9 man squad. 2-26-70 Quan Loi (Nored) Got a chance to go to the famous swimming pool which is part of this huge rubber plantation that the Quan Loi base is built around.
(Ed Svoboda is wounded in the mouth and shoulder while unloading a case of M-79 grenades. One accidentally goes off.) 2-27-70 Quan Loi (Nored / Linda) They broke down the first squad and gave me 3 more guys. Our squad size is up to 12. In my letter I write and say we flew to Buc Prang. Jim Wastradowski's diary says Bu Prong and on the officers log there's mention of Duc Phong. Humorous to say the least. The correct spelling is Duc Phong. It is located due east of Song Be/ LZ Buttons about 30 km. L.Z.Audie is located due North of Duc Phong about 25 km. The engineers that helped build Audie was Bravo company of the 8th. Engr. Bn. 1st. Cav. We begin to work the enemy's system of infiltration trails called the "Jolly Trail". Please refer to the maps section for more detail. Left Quan Loi and flew by fixed wing to Duc Phong. We were on a C-130 and the pilot decided for some reason or another to do a "touch and go" landing on the dirt air strip. It scared the hell out of all of us. We landed the 2nd time around and found ourselves the center of attention of the local villagers. There was a lot of 8 to 10 year old kids joking with us. I remember a lot of them smoking. A group of copters arrived shortly after and flew us to a new area in the bush where we secured it for a new L.Z. name Audrey. (GS note: name was "Audie") (Nored / Linda) In reference to the kids who crowded around us I wrote."The young kids are real cute. We stayed in one spot for about 15 minutes then moved out. There was a real young kid about 5 or 6 standing next to me and I gave him my "16" to hold why I threw on my pack. He was cute. He held my "16" like it was a baby and seemed to be prouder then hell to be helping me. I wish we could work in or close to a village so I could learn something about the people damn it. but were always out in no mans land.".
2-28-70 Boonies DOL. Map locations show first platoon, 1/6, is working away from the rest of the company and have their own NDP ,night Defense position. (J.W.) Company humps off L.Z. Audie. A trip flare goes off during the night and a claymore is detonated. No kills.
You are on page 13 Grunts & the gear we carried (start here) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-misc
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