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Ed "Spooky" Nored RVN Sep 69 - Sep 70 Click on image to enlarge
7-1-70 Boonies (log day) (Nored) Lt. Holden is going in on the log bird to take a 7 day leave. Doug Gorton the old timer of 3rd.platoon is finally getting out of the bush after 11 months. It was good to see him finally get out of the bush with about 24 days to go. I'm very glad he was going to miss out on July 12. He didn't need that.........We all got wet this morning. It had rained all night till about 9 AM. 3rd platoon went on patrol and then came back and waited for the log bird. Duty officers log says "Serpant 237" was designated log bird.
7-2-70 Boonies (DOL) Very little is noted in the DOL about Delta Company except for Map coordinates. It was Alpha Companies log day and after completing that task they saddled up and moved out. They had moved less then 100 meters when the enemy opened up and on them. One man was killed and one wounded. See entry # 30 for details on Alpha's loss. 7-3-70 Boonies (J.W.) Humped about 700 meters down steep hills and back up other side, about an 80 degree angle. Company sets up a patrol base and 3rd. platoon goes on patrol then returns to the company parameter. The company saddles up heavy and moves about 200 meters and sets up a night lo. (DOL) Another bad day for Alpha company. As they were working a trail they encountered the enemy at a bunker complex and suffered 2 killed and 8 wounded buy small arms and B-40's (RPG). One of the K I A was a Kit Carson Scout. See enty # 22 for more on the Alpha contact. Delta also found a trail and a couple of old bunkers. 7-4-70 Boonies (log day) No I.D. is given for Log bird. Received 9 sorties between 1500 and 1740. J.W.Got up early and humped to log pad. We had to chop one out of the jungle. Got logged late. It rained all day and got real soaked. Everything was wet. After log we moved to a night lo. We set up about 19:15. Went to bed wet. 7-5-70 Boonies (Nored) Quote from July 5th letter. "This damn rain is really getting to me. Its overcast 24 hours a day. Im caked with mud and half the time soaked. Its miserable and always a hassle. Damn the monsoons!" Letter also mentions Jay Selby and Eugene Laurie go in for R&R next month and Dick Fowler and Jim Schmidt will go in later this month. (J.W.) Got up early again and humped back to our log pad. We sat there till 1400 to get 2 people (airlifted ) out . We then moved to another hill top. We went on patrol down to the river. It rained and showered all day. It was very rough going in the mud. Went to bed wet and muddy.. 7-6-70 Boonies (J.W.) Our squad (Ketchams) has point for the company and leads it out of the night lo. We move a ways and then set up a patrol base. It showered all day. (Jim also mentions the friendly fire incident described in detail below.). (Below is letter from Ed Nored to his girlfriend.) Dear Linda , July 6 th VN Boonies Hey! I got time for a letter. . I better tell you while I gotta chance. Lately hon we've been humping our rear ends off. We go from one hill top to another. And damn what a hassle. The hills are nothing but mud. It's not unusual to hear someone fall down and go sliding pack and all till he's stopped by a tree or clump of bamboo. At the moment it looks like its going to rain like hell. But it don't mean nothing cause its all ready soaked me once today. My squad had point today and wow what a bitch. The next 2 months are going to be miserable. My pants are soaked and filled with mud and ripped from my you know what to my knee. Tomorrow we get logged and I hope to hear from you. The winds blowing and its raining, be good honey I'll write more later. (night lo) Theres a lot of guys trying to get in for different reasons. One guys temperature is 102 degrees another has a boil under his chin that gets bigger all the time. The rain makes everything miserable hon ,no kidding. Everybody is really down. I thank God I'm going home soon. I can't take much more of this. Today we set up our patrol base and 1 st . and 2 nd . Platoon went on patrols in 2 different directions. Some how they got turned around and ran into each other and the point man of 1 st platoon fired on group of the 2nd . He wounded 2 guys and was lucky he didn't kill anyone. The area were in, which is close to the Cambodian border , is thick and hilly. There's thorn bushes everywhere and there always catching on you somewhere and ripping at you.” My letter continues to mention an assortment of dreams. See The Dream below and read John Butlers account of what really happened with the friendly fire incident. John Butler joined Delta company sometime in March. 70. He was placed into 1st. platoon when Lt."Moose" was in charge. He was one of the shooters in the friendly fire incident. 3rd platoon was securing the patrol base why 1st and 2nd platoon went out on patrols. The following is what John remembers." When I was new on point we had been sent out in one direction and another platoon (2nd) was sent in a another direction but parallel to us. Me and the old point man, who was carrying the 60, were not informed of the other platoons actions. We had just crossed an open area and had started to move back into the cover of the bamboo when the old point man came up to me and commented that I had made a mistake in moving out into the open area when I should have stayed in the cover of the bamboo to move around the open area. About that time we heard movement to our front.The old point man dropped to one knee. I was on his right and we both raised our weapons and aimed in the general direction of the noise.Then came the familiar noise of someone stepping on a piece of fallen bamboo. We both opened up on the area of the noise and needless to say we shot two men from the other platoon. One man was hit in the shoulder and the other in the side of his face. As the Medavac was coming in "Moose" was frantically breaking down the bamboo by hand with the other soldiers. Not a nice day. Sure wish we had been told about those guys before going out."
7-7-70 Boonies (log day) No I.D. is given on log bird. Between 1125 and 1520 Delta received 7 sorites. (JW.) Received log today,had point,moved out at 1600 and set up night lo at 1730. (Nored) My letter of the 8th mentions we got clean clothes on this Log. The old platoon sgt. Chris Luecke came out and B.S'd with us.
7-8-70 Boonies (Nored) In a July 8th letter I commented our new C.O. (Perry) is pretty good. Everybody likes him. He believes in a good "Log". We've been getting hot meals, plenty of beer,sodas and clean clothes every 9 days. I dont drink half the water I use to. I use to hump 6 qts.. Now I only hump 4 and drink only 2 of them. I mentioned the company size seem to be down around 80 guys. Letter also says "The last 2 times we've had to chop the (log) pad for the copter to sit down." More rain. Heard on the radio that one of 1st Cav's Generals copter crashed and he was killed. (J.W.) We (3rd.plt.) went on patrol about one "K" and then came back to the old night lo for lunch. After lunch we went on patrol again and returned about 1630. We set up in old night lo. It rained all night. 7-9-70 Boonies (J.W.) The company moves out of the night lo at 1000 and moves about 800 meters and sets up a patrol base. We ate lunch then went out on patrol in the afternoon and came across an enemy trail with signs of recent use. We had movement and called in artillery in area of movement. We then returned to patrol base where we set up for the night. (Nored/Linda) July 9th."Well once again tomorrow (the 10th) we get logged and we have to chop a pad cause we didn't find one today. The sun has gone down and I can hardly write to the glow of the lightening bugs that fly around here at night". The next letter I wrote wasn't until July 16th. 7-10-70 Boonies (Log Day) No I.D. was given on log bird. We received one "kickout" sortie at 1615. Dol says will get 7 sorties tomorrow. (The following information on 7-10 and 7-11 was taken from Jim Watradowski's diary he sent me in early 1988.) The company saddled up heavy and moved out about 10 am. We moved about 100 meters and then turned around and returned to our night lo. We then began chopping and clearing (log pad) for the re supply copter (log bird) to set down. We chopped on it most of the day and finally at 5:00 the C.O. decided it was too late and asked the company rear area to give us a "Kick-out" of c-rations to get us through one night until we finished the pad tomorrow. After receiving the kick-out the company again moved to a new night lo.
7-11-70 Boonies (Log Day) No I.D. on log bird was given. Between 1310 and 1635 Delta received 7 sorties. We got up this morning and returned to the log pad and finished chopping the pad. At about noon time we finished and the log bird began its shuttle of supplies to us. At about 2:00 Jim Watradowski, who was in Ketches squad, was told to get on the next flight out. Jim was finally going on his R&R. He was going to Hawaii to meet his wife. We all didn't know it at the time, but he couldn't have left at a better time. (Nored) The following info is from my own memory and info taken from conversation with Ketch at the reunion 18 years later. Sometime that afternoon while the company finished receiving its re supply my squad and the other squad of 3rd platoon went on a patrol to find a new night lo. We moved out light and had gone about 200 meters when we ran into a trail. We turned left and ventured down the trail about 30 meters when we heard chopping noises about 200 meters to our right. We radioed back to the C.O. who simply told us to return to the rest of the company. What we didn't know was that we were about 70 to 100 feet from a large bunker complex. We returned to the log pad and completed the "log". The rest of the company saddled up and we moved in the same direction that we had gone on our previous patrol. As far as I can remember we stopped just short of the gook trail we had found and set up our night lo. (It is possible that our perimeter may have extended across the trail and possibly 1st or 2nd platoon may have been in a position to ambush it.) At one point or another I'm sure that the enemy began watching us. They had plenty of warning that we were in the area as soon as we began chopping the pad or when the log bird landed or it may have been when we went on the patrol. It was common for them to post a guard on a trail. 7-12-70 Boonies (Nored) We got up the next morning, ate breakfast, rolled up our sleep gear and packed away our stuff as we had a 100 times before and prepared to move out whenever the word came down. Our platoon was to have point for the company and it was Ketches squads turn for point. Doc Kloss had finished his daily routine of going around to each of us in 3rd platoon and made sure we all got our malaria pill. Word came from the C.O. and Ketches point man, Wally "shortround" Cezak got his compass out, took a reading and moved out followed by a "Kit Carson" scout then Ketch, his radio man Terry Lawrence and then the remainder of his squad, Steve VonCannon (60 gunner) his assistant (no name available) and 1 or 2 more guys if any. Behind his squad was Platoon Sgt. Kaheiki followed by Harold Hoopengarner on the radio then followed by the point man and backup man of my squad then me, the rest of my squad and then the remainder of the company. "Shortround" had gone only about a 100 feet when he turned and told Ketch there were fresh diggings (holes for bunkers). He walks a few more feet and sees the enemy. He turns and runs back to Ketch and says "There's gooks up there!" Ketch replies "Well shoot the son of a bitches!". Now the Kit Carson yells "Gooks!". An enemy machine gun opens up. In the first 5 seconds of contact the entire company is on the ground and struggling to get out of our packs. (The experienced guys simply pull an emergency strap that instantly frees you from the pack.) A bullet has creased "Shortrounds" helmet. Another bullet has hit Doc Kloss in the head and he is killed. (Doc was walking somewhere between Terry Lawrence and Sgt. Kaheiki.) "Shortround", Ketch and the kit carson run or crawl back to a large tree. Terry has dumped his radio and pack, bullets are striking the dropped equipment. In the first 5 minutes of contact the following happens. The commanding officer and his group of people are on there various radios calling the local L.Z. for artillery support as well as for the nearest air support. Ketch turns and saw that Doc Kloss has been hit and isn't moving. He calls for a medic. The word is passed back and Doc Quinn on hands and knees crawls forward past my squad. From where I am lying I can't even see where Sgt. Kaheiki and Hoppengarner are and I have no idea what's happening "up front". I expect any moment to be called up by Kaheiki but his orders never came. The gun fire is sporadic and it all seems to be coming from the son of a bitch with the machine gun. I can't figure out why no one is firing back. Ketch is now popping smoke grenades to mark his position for a Cobra gunship that is circling above anxious to help out. But the gooks in the bunkers are also popping the same colored smokes. Ketch notices his machine gunner is not firing the gun. He crawls several feet over to it, pulls the trigger but it still doesn't fire. He cocks the weapon over and over but still no luck. Meanwhile Harold Hoopengarner has found a color smoke grenade the gooks can't match. Ketch returns to the safety of the tree and also spots a gook with his head stuck out of the entrance. He sticks his "16" around the tree and fires 18 rounds on full automatic. He checks the bunker again and sees nothing moving. Harold is yelling into the hand piece of the radio to blow away the different colored smoke. The C.O. delays things even further not confident of the smokes color. There is a loud explosion and concussion ripples as far as my squad. The gooks have fired a rocket propelled grenade which has wounded Ketch and Terry seriously. Doc Quinn is wounded and dies a few minutes later but not before calling for his mother. The Cobra gunship finally makes a machine gun pass. Sgt. Kaheiki calls for a machine gun to be brought up and I turn behind me and tell Jay to go up. While Jay has reached the large tree where most of Ketchs squad is scattered, Kaheiki finally calls for my squad and we crawl forward. Jay fired his "60" till it jammed and did his best to correct the malfunction but to no avail. I crawled up to find Ketch leaning back against the tree sitting there dazed and stunned. The C.O. gave the word to pull back into the night lo position since most of the company hadn't even begun to move out of it yet. The enemy had stopped firing and most likely had left the area. On our hands and knees still fearful they would open up again we dragged the wounded and dead back to our previous perimeter of the night lo. We left several packs at the area which the enemy later found. (5 days later a company of the 2/7th Cav killed a gook and on him found pictures of Doc Kloss and some other personal items of his.) Click here to go to "Doc Kloss" tribute. Once we pulled back to our old perimeter a med-a-vac bird was on the way and before 45 minutes had elapsed I had helped put Ketch in a metal stretcher that had been lowered to us from the copter that was hovering above us about 100 feet up. Ketch was strapped in and slowly began his trip home. I stood there and watched him every inch of the way. The prop wash from the bird swaying the jungle back and forth. As soon as the stretcher got about half way up Ketch began to vomit and it seemed only a second later that his right hand extended out as far as it would form the straps that held him in and he gave a thumbs up sign with it. I could only think that with the little strength he had left he was gesturing to the man working the winch in the chopper to hurry up and get him the hell out of here. (end of comments from Ed Nored) (Comment from John Butler) I was point for my platoon but in the rear when the front started taking fire. I dropped my ruck grabbed a can of M60 ammo and moved forward. I came upon one black soldier behind a tree to the right of the trail the forward platoon had been using, he asked for ammo and I gave him one of my M16 bandoleers and asked if anyone was ahead of me, do not remember what he said but I continued to move forward. I came upon the two dead medics one was over the other as if he had been trying to work on him. To my left behind a big tree was a M60 gunner and maybe his assistant gunner both had been hit by RPG no one other then that was there, I turned around a yelled medic two or three times and moved to the two wounded guys I grabbed the one who was on his knees; he said he was not able to hear what I was saying to him. When I turned around it seemed like about 15 guys were trying to get up there and they started grabbing everyone and taking them back. I was standing on the right side of the tree after they moved them back, Snowball from my platoon had came up and grabbed the M60, unknown to him or for that matter anyone until later was when the gunner had cleaned his 60 he had placed the plug in backwards this was the reason it was not firing. I also fired off a magazine in a moment of being dumb but we did not get any return fire from that. We pulled back and later me, Snowball and Platoon Leader and two others moved forward again and picked up some of the rucks we were trying to get more when our platoon leader told us to fall back and unfortunately we had to leave a lot of the rucks there, have always hated that fact. Our platoon medic did an outstanding job that day not sure but think he was the only medic not wounded. (end of comments from John Butler.)
(Hoppengarner) I was the RTO for the 3rd platoon at this time. I had just came back on log day from Cam Rhan Bay (sp) for malaria that I was medivaced for. I came in with a FNG medic. I had asked Ketch to pick up a couple of things for me while he was in Hawaii on R&R. The guys had already drank my booze and one of them (I can't remember who) was wearing the T-shirt I had asked for. Such is the way of the bush. Once your are gone it is iffy if you are coming back. The biggest thing that struck me was how bad these guys smelled! I had just had a shower the night before and they probably had not had one in days or weeks. We set up in the night loc and everything seemed OK until I started getting reports on the radio that people were seeing red lights. The CO said that is was the 3rd Platoon smoking dope again so ignore it. As I remember it 3rd platoon had walked point the day before so it was not our turn. The CO who had a real hardon against us decided we were to go to point again. I can not remember the exact order but Terry Lawrence and Shanchez's radios were crap. One could receive and the other could transmit. I relayed this to Sgt Kaheiki and he said to put them together so we had communications with the point squad. That is the way we walked out of the night loc. Five minutes later all hell broke loose. The next thing I hear is (Voncannon, according to Terry) yelling HELP ME! HELP ME! There is firing going on everywhere. Sgt tells me to get a medic up so I called for one on the radio. The redheaded medic (sorry I do not remember his name) crawls up to us and Kaheiki tells him to be careful as he crawls past. I am on the radio with the RASH bird giving azimuth and yardage for support. Kaheiki tells me to call up a gunner. I do so and Jay Selby comes up and goes beyond us and starts laying down fire. After a while he calls for more ammo. I relay the message and an ammo can hits me in the foot. As I reach back to retrieve it a sapling in front of my eyes disappears. I managed to kick up and pass it on. There were B-40's going off as we were FU at this point. I gave the RASH bird a 50 yard starting point. The only problem was that the smoke was drifting up and through the canopy. His first and only pass was so loud it was deafening. Also add to that the fact that Terry yelled get that SOB out of here! I called him off. The enemy fire subsided and we called a medic (only one left was the FNG I had just came in with). Sometime during all this the Sgt and I see Short-round running towards the rear to our left. He suddenly does a 720 degree spin. Sgt Kaheiki yells " Shit they got short-round!" A very short time later he comes crawling up to us. The round went 3/4th of the way around his pot between it and the liner. The next thing I see is Terry running at us and I yell for him to get down. He is badly wounded and I grabbed the FNG medics bag and grabbed what I thought I would need and sent him on. I abandoned my radio and left it for the Sgt to take care of. Once all our people were medivaced we moved out. They had bombed and napalmed the area. As we were on the run we popped smoke. They had identified violet. The support identified red. I radioed to smoke the red but the CO said no. We continued until we met up with another company that had been sent in to support us. They had been attacked when they hit the LZ, killing 3. We finally set up for the night and were attacked at first light. This probably had something to do with the fact that we lost 2 radios in the firefight. (end of comments from Harold Hoopengarner)
7-13-70 Boonies (Nored) No letters written. 7-14-70 Boonies (Nored) No letters written. 7-15-70 Boonies (log day) (Nored) No letters written. A Life Magazine correspondent has joined the company gathering information on a future story on the morale and attitude of the average soldier. (In the October 23rd 1970 issue of Life Magazine there is a story done on our sister company, Alpha company, 1st Bn 8th Cav)
7-16-70 Boonies (Nored/Linda) In July 16 letter I apologized for not writing. I mentioned a reporter from Life magazine showed up in yesterdays log. He has long hair and sideburns and all the guys are staring at him. He looks so out of place. Its still raining everyday and my pants just ripped out again. (They lasted 9 days.) This morning the company crossed a river that was waist high. You should have seen all the guys decline from the muddy riverbank into the cold icy water. I have 5 new guys in my squad. Earl Falkinburg went into the CP to work as a 5-Mike or resupply man for us. John (I presume Sanchez) went to another squad with the shake and bake Sgt. Ken. I think his last name was Needler. I mention that I saw the "Life" reporter take a photo of Earl.
7-17-70 LZ Mo The company was extracted from the field and taken to LZ Mo. I became platoon sgt. I gave the squad to Jay Selby. A company of the 2/7th Cavalry killed 1 gook and on his body they found pictures of Doc Kloss and other personal items. This was because on the July 12th ambush we had to leave their packs behind when we pulled back. 7-18-70 LZ Mo
7-19-70 LZ Mo 7-20-70 Bien Hoa (company R&R) The company was flown to LZ Snuffy, then by airplane to Bien Hoa for a company R&R. Our platoon Lt. took our platoon to Saigon for dinner. I believe this was the only time I had eaten at a civilian business the entire time in the country. I never had much interest in venturing off the military base. I am pretty sure it was due to not really trusting the people. In my letters I described how the odor of "pot" was everywhere and just about everybody was drunk. The officers ignored what was going on and everybody let loose.
7-21-70 Bien Hoa
7-22-70 Bien Hoa 7-23-70 Back to the boonies The company was flown to LZ Snuffy by plane. Then by helicopter into the field. A rumor circulating at the time was that "Charlie" company had 21 wounded when our own artillery fell short. Fired from "Snuffy" 7-24-70 Boonies (Nored) On this day I'm still platoon sgt.. Jay Selby is squad leader for 3-3. Staff Sgt. Kaheki. (spelling may not be correct) is the acting officer for 3rd. platoon. My letter says we have 11 "cheeries" . I mentioned how ,"the whole company looks unfamiliar". Bravo company is supposed to be building a new LZ called Betty. The area we are working is flat and open. 7-25-70 Boonies (log day) The guys in the rear forgot to send our mail out cause they thought we were still back in Bien Hoa. After we got logged the company saddled up and moved about 300 meters. In the distance we could hear jets and "Cobras" shelling an area close by. It was reported that they blew something up. The company was ordered to change direction and head for a large open field where we were picked up by copters and flown to L.Z. Snuffy. The copters refueled there then returned us to a new location in the boonies close to LZ Betty. After setting down we had to wait for them to bring out a dog team. (I also mentioned in my letter that Lt. Holden had 27 days left in country. He had just got back from R&R in Australia and was crazy in love with some 18 year old girl he had met and was talking of marrying her.) 7-26-70 Boonies 7-27-70 Boonies 7-28-70 Boonies (log day) Jim Wastradowski returns from his R&R. 7-29-70 Boonies 7-30-70 Boonies 7-31-70 Boonies (log day) Company left the night-lo and moved to an area where we began chopping a log pad. There was some sort of screw up and we only received a partial log. The last bird came in a 6:00 pm. We moved to a night-lo and set up for the night. (Also during the log they brought out a mortar crew who set it up and periodically fired rounds around our parameter. J.W.)
You are on page 18 Grunts & the gear we carried (start here) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-misc
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