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Contact Info
Last Address Perry, Iowa
Date of Passing Feb 25, 2021
Location of Interment Violet Hill Cemetery - Perry, Iowa
Description This campaign was from 25 December 1965 to 30 June 1966. As the war continued, the Navy continued to patrol the coasts and rivers in brown water operations. Minesweeping craft begin patrolling the Long Tau River leading to Saigon to keep that vital waterway open to merging traffic.
Navy patrol craft worked to keep Vietnamese's harbors open and safe in operation stable door. Navy helicopters called Seawolves began supporting the newly arrived Navy PBR in Game Warden missions.
On 1 January 1966, the Sea Force was renamed the Fleet Command and reorganized along functional lines. Flotilla I, comprised the submarine chasers (PC) and escorts in Squadron 11, the motor gunboats in Squadron 13, and the large support landing ships (LSSL) in Squadron 15. The minesweepers in Squadron 17 were responsible for sea patrol, inshore patrol, river patrol, and minesweeping duties, respectively. Flotilla II controlled Squadrons 22 and 24, which consisted of the Vietnamese Navy's landing ships and craft, coastal oilers, and other vessels providing logistic support.
Throughout this period, the Vietnamese Navy continued to suffer from serious deficiencies. Perhaps the greatest was the careerism and interservice political activity of many naval officers, which hamstrung coordination and cooperation in operations and lowered the morale and motivation of naval personnel. The emphasis on politics disrupted the training of sailors, many already educationally unprepared in the technical skills essential for the operation of complex vessels, weapons, and equipment.
Aside from the political factor, training in gunnery, seamanship, and communications skills was hurt by the Vietnamese stress on instruction at shore-based schools, rather than on board ships. Unfortunately, few Vietnamese sailors were released from operational duty to receive training ashore.
At the same time, the Recruit Training Center at Cam Ranh Bay, the Advanced Training Center in Saigon, and the Naval Training Center at Nha Trang, which included the Naval Academy, were hard-pressed to handle the great number of men entering the service during this period. Some relief was afforded by the training of Vietnamese officers and men on board U.S. naval vessels and in the United States. The quality of training improved somewhat as a result of these measures and the hard work of many Vietnamese sailors and American advisors.
The material condition of the navy raised even more serious concerns. Officers and men in the operational units often showed little regard for the maintenance of their ships and craft. Compounding the problem was the inability of the ship and boat repair facilities to cope with the growing backlog of work orders generated by the increased tempo of the war and the doubling in size of the navy.
The lack of skilled workmen severely hampered operations at the Eastern Repair Facility at Cuu Long near Saigon and the Western Repair Facility at Can Tho, which handled River Force and Coastal Force work. The same condition existed at the smaller establishments at Danang, Cat Lo, Qui Nhon, An Thoi, and Rach Gia, which supported the Coastal Force exclusively. A number of these repair operations barely functioned.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1965
To Month/Year
December / 1965
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Camp Tien Sha the First Year 1965 -1966 An old abandoned French Camp taken over by the USN By Darwin McKee, aka "Mac" The first year on Tien Sha was 16 to 20 hour days, 7 days a week. Was there 10 months before I got a hot shower. Lots of C- Rats. First chow hall was powdered this & powdered that and really not as good as the C-Rats. I was with Camp Security. If we wern't on perimeter watch or on occasional patrols including Monkey Mt. which was just a path to follow on it. We would be filling sandbags , building bunkers, helping with construction of towers & re stringing wire as the old French fence could be kicked over almost anywhere. Camp in the beginning was no more than a fire camp as a buffer for Danang. New barracks were being built at the end of 66 for to house Navy Hatch teams. We had no Marines on the Camp as they were needed elsewhere at this time. No Vietnamese on camp after daylight working hours. Most of the old French buildings on the camp were not occupied for a long time and all needed to be repaired or torn down. Beer & pop was free and was drank warm as there was no ice or refrigeration. We spent a few weeks in Coronado Ca. getting indoctrinated to going in country (Vietnam) Then several weeks at Camp Pendleton Marine Base for weapons training and grenade chunking. Loaded on to C-130 troop transport to fly to Nam. Flew in to Wake Island. Was supposed to be there 17 hours but had to stay for 3 1/2 days. Nothing on Wake except air strip, chow hall, barracks and the Drifters Club which was opened 20 hours a day. Beer & mixed drinks were cheap. I spent $80.00 while we were there. Club closed from 0400 to 0800 to swab it out. At 0400 we would crawl out on the beach and sleep till sunrise. Head to the chow hall for breakfast, shower & back to the Drifters club. Flew out of wake to Clark AFB in Philippines. Chow & fuel and back in the air. Flew in to Danang & circled the air strip a few times. The pilot then informed us that would be landing as soon as they got the burning chopper off the runway. My first thought was if they can hit that chopper how in the hell are they going to miss this big ass tub. Landed without incidence. First thing you notice when we unloaded out the back of the plane was the smell. Hard to describe it but after a few days in country you get used to it stinking like crap. Spent the first day at the White Elephant (HQ for NSA) spent the first night on the USS Navarro a troop transport anchored in the harbor. Next day got orders to Tien Sha back in the bush from Danang and next to Monkey Mountain, Son Sa village and China Beach. We were the first ones in there to start the rebuilding process of the camp. I was assigned to Camp Security. Most fire fights took place at night. Mostly took sniper fire. I had a VC open up on me with an automatic weapon from an abandoned Buddhist temple once while I was running to my red alert bunker and he sprayed around 10 rounds that hit right in front of my feet. I dove to the ground and crawled in behind a stack of plywood and commenced to empty two 20 round clips from my M-14 into the old temple. Also had a grenade bounced off my bunker one night with the pin left in it Camp came under siege just once. There was a report of a very large group of VC & NVA moving towards Camp Tien Sha from the other side of Monkey mountain. There was only about a hundred on the Camp at this time. Camp CO called for Naval call fire. A Cruiser and a couple Destroyers opened up from the Danang harbor. They were lobbing ordinance unto the other side of the. mountain. Jet fighters from Danang then came in and commenced to give Charlie what for. Bunkers would shake when the Navy was shelling the enemy. Long story short, they never made it to Camps side of the mountain. Camp Tien Sha was latter a huge facility. Was being built up to house Navy hatch teams. (aka) Cargo handlers. Son Sa Village was a small fishing village off of China Beach. Camp Tien Sha was right beside the village. We did swim out to a few gun boats anchored off China Beach a couple times. Climbed up on board and shot the bull with the guys on the Gun boats. Sand sharks would swim up right along side of you and you could reach out and stroke their dorsal fin. I once was at the Danang hospital to visit a friend when a dust off full of wounded Marines came in. I helped haul stretchers in to the ER. They were all in critical shape. Don't know how many of them made it. Vietnam & Camp Tien Sha during my tour was Long days & nights, insects, snakes, hard work, bad chow, cold showers, hot & humid days, cold & wet monsoons, sometimes a little female companionship, fear , laughter, sadness, anger, regret, but a lifetime of memories & brotherhood with those you served with and even those other veterans that you didn't serve with. I lost 35 pounds during my tour. I wouldn't take a million bucks for the experience and wouldn't take 10 times that much to do it again.
