Sgt Grit,
Great to see the Sgt Walker's photo of the AmTrac near Cua Viet. To supplement his I have attached a couple of photos of amtracs with the 105 Howitzer, which were part of the 1st Armored Amphibian Company, 11th Mar/1st Mar Div. One tractor is set up along the perimeter of our base camp just southwest of Danang. (On the other side of the mountain in the background is Freedom Hill.) We also had a platoon near the Cua Viet, another in Hoi An, and a couple of tractors on Hill 47.
The other photo is of a tractor crew (plus me on the left: company corpsman) taken (spring 69') within our base camp. Note the 105 tube is covered by a canvass tarp. The crew chief (second from left) was killed May 69'.
To answer the question: were amtracs involved in combat? I can confirm that our company certainly was… incoming as well as outgoing… During Tet '69, a few amtracs were firing so many rounds that there was concern that the tube would get so hot as to cause a "cook-off".
As a Navy Corpsman, it was my privilege to serve with a team of skilled and dedicated Marines. And thanks for covering me…
Doc Herb Eschbach
1st ALVT, 68-69