This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Douglas Siemonsma, LCDR
to remember
Brooks, Roger, PNCS USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Alliance
Last Address 117 S. Country Club Ave Brandon, SD 57005
Date of Passing Oct 07, 2023
Location of Interment Hills of Rest Memorial Park - Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Mobile Advanced Tactical Support Base SEA FLOAT (MATSB) Details
Redesignated ATSB SOLID ANCHOR
It was called Operation Sea Float/Solid Anchor by the U.S. Navy and Tran Hung Dao III by the South Vietnamese; a joint US/Vietnamese attempt to inject an allied presence into An Xuyen Province, 175 miles southwest of Siagon. Its purpose was to extend allied control over the strategic Nam Can region of the Ca Mau peninsula. Heavily forested, the area sprawled across miles of mangrove swamp. The site selected was on the Cau Lon river, which connected to the Bo De and Be Hap rivers. These were salt water rivers. Any fresh or drinking water used afloat or ashore had to be brought in by ship. The entire area had been solidly held by the Viet Minh against the French and by the Viet Cong against the Siagon government (and its American ally).
The reality was less grandiose: Commander, Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) begged, borrowed, and shanghaied materials for this operation from various commands in-country. On 25 June 1969, three 7th Fleet dock landing ships (LSD) began the off-load of the 11 ammi barges which became my home between May and November of 1970. There were approximately 700 officers and men on 11 barges; this did not include the crews of a VNN large infantry landing craft (LCIL) or large landing ship support (LSSL) and a USN gas turbine gunboat (PG) which provided protection. SEA FLOAT had a support staff, galley, intelligence section, communications section, supply department, a detachment of HA(L)-3 "Seawolf" UH-1B attack helicopters, a motley collection of VNN-owned and American-advisored river assault group (RAG) boats, two MST detachments with 2 light, 2 medium, 1 heavy SEAL support craft (LSSC, MSSC, HSSC), 3 SEAL platoons, a UDT detachment, 6 to 8 coastal junks, some miscellaneous VNN and USN fast patrol craft (PCF) "Swift" boats. I worked for MST Detachment "Charlie" and we owned the HSSC, an MSSC, and both LSSC.
Best Moment Mail Call with lots of mail. Mail from home was very important to receive. It only came once a week, but when it did, there was a lot of catching up to do in reading letters from home and eating the goodies that came in packages. My Grandmother Olson sent me a rum cake at Christmas but she said in the letter that she could not find enough rum so she used bourbon in stead. I was pretty popular there for a while, at least until the cake ran out. The amount of moving around we did made it such that when we got mail, some of us would get quite a lot.
Worst Moment The call for help, the Sea Wolf?s Hot Turn AroundOn December 30, 1969, BMC Doyle H. Parson left Sea Float with his crew headed for the Ki Nap Canal where there had been a lot of VC action in the days previous. We received a radio call for help from Chief Parson's Boat; he was under attack. We scrambled the Sea Wolf Helicopters to give them air support. The Sea Wolf's made their run, emptying their twenty-four rocket pods, and returned to Sea Float for a hot turn around to reload. Before we could get them reloaded, the call came that the Boat Captain had been hit and they needed a medevac ASAP (As soon as possible). It was a matter of life or death. The Sea Wolf?s made the run and returned with the body of one casualty and we placed him in a body bag. My friend Chief Parson was gone. He made his final trip home in one of the black body bags. His name is on the wall of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. The location number is (NE 15W 109). When you are in the military you don't make a lot of close friends, particularly in a war situation. I had only known Chief Parson a few days, but in the situation we were in, it could have just a easily been my boat that was hit. I had been on the river just the day before.
Other Memories Going down the River in the LCM. Every morning the Commander would make the Utility Boat assignments; on one of these mornings, I was assigned as boat captain for the Landing Craft (M) LCM. I was to take the LCM, my crew, one Seaman as Boat Cocksen, one Fireman as Engineer and one Gunners Mate Second Class who carried one Grenade Launcher, our only fire power beyond our M-16s and a 12 gage shotgun I got hold of. What was our cargo? We were carrying four tons of C-4 explosives, to be delivered to the Landing Ship (LST) at the mouth of the river. We were to spend the night and return the following day. We left early, with an escort of two heavily armed swift boats, and visions of hot food, a hot shower, clean sheets and a bed for one night. Not so for me anyway.
My LCM lost an engine in route to the river mouth. We lost one engine about 1400 (2 p.m.) hours and were continuing on with one engine at a much slower pace, while the engineer tried to repair the other. I knew that low tide would be a problem at the mouth of the river. By the time we reached the mouth of the river, the tide was going out and we ran up on a mud bar, bringing us to a complete stop. The flat bottom of the boat did not cut through the mud like our escorts, the Swifties, that continued on to the LST.
Our escort left us in the mud. My engineer was finally able to get both engines running while we sat for four hours waiting for the tide to come in so we could make headway through the mud. We finally reached the LST just after dark, and as I climbed aboard the LST, I was met with a message to return on the next boat to Sea Float. So much for the hot food, hot shower, and clean sheets I road one of the Swift boats back to Sea Float that night.