Army Artillery
In late 1966, 2 Army artillery battalions were sent to the DMZ to be attached to the 3rd Marine Division’s 12th Regiment. My unit was the 1st Battalion 40th Artillery composed of 105mm SP’s. The other unit was the 2nd Battalion 94th Artillery composed of 175mm SP’s. The 1/40’s base camp was at Dong Ha and we rotated the firing Batteries between Dong Ha, the Rockpile, and Gio Linh. The 2/94 was based at Camp Carroll. I was an artillery surveyor and was all over the DMZ and was at the ammo dump September 3, 1967 when the ammo dump was hit by NVA artillery.
One of the things I love to do is harass Marines who were there in 1966 and 1967. The average Marine didn’t know that a couple of Army artillery units were there firing in support. I’ve had several Marine’s get upset with me saying that I was at the DMZ those years, but when I start naming places, Dong Ha, Cam Lo, Con Thien, Gio Linh, Ca Lu you can see the change in there attitude about my comments.
I am so proud that we were sent to the DMZ to support the 3rd Mar Div. We received the Navy Presidential Unit Citation for the very period I was there in recognition of our actions, and we saw a lot of it.
Mike Bateman