Author: SgtGrit

Hello Sgt Grit,   Here my story for you. We in Amtrac were known as Amgrunt, had the Tracks to drive but we  did alot of foot patrols. When I first got to 1st Amtrac up by the Cua Viet river we had to be a initiated into the platoon, this was done to see if we could work together as a team, first the old timers would put a ring of sand on the ramp of the amtrac, next we took a few swings with a sledgehammer to see if we could hit the center, then came the blindfold, to see if we still could hit the center, but unkown to us we were beating the h-ll out of our cover[ keep mine for a ong time]. Sure had a good time doing it too the newbees, But my first time was cut short, on my first patrol to the DMZ I was wounded, spent the next 41 days in the hospital at Cam Ranh Bay before I went back to my unit. sending you some photos of the first copterIi took a ride on, I was on a stretcher up by the door, talk about a cold ride,[ but another story]. here are some pictures of me and the Amtracs. Thats me looking out of the drivers hatch. Use the ones you want,   Semper Fi Sgt. Larry Walker Nam 67-70

An UH-34 in the air at the Rockpile. If you look close, you can  see T.L. Smith standing in the door of his UH-34 with the tail  number 6 on it. How Many Marines have a picture of themselves  taken in the field while flying a resupply mission to those of  us who held the Rockpile? They were our "Life Line", and I'd  like to be able to thank him after 45 years.   If you don't know about The Rockpile, the attach word file is  from Time Magazine in Oct 1966.  S/Sgt. Ted Dudley   Time Magazine, October 1966   The terrain was as tough as any the U.S. Marines had ever  contested. It combined the horror of a Guadalcanal jungle with  the exhausting steepness of the slopes at Chapultepec. Added to  that were fusillades of bullets as ferocious as at Tarawa and  showers of shrapnel that turned the forest into a tropical  Belleau Wood. But "the Rock-pile," as Viet Nam's latest big  battleground has come to be called, is weirdly unique. There,  just south of the inaccurately named Demilitarized Zone, a task  force of six Marine battalions has been battling two entire  divisions of North Vietnamese regulars whose apparent aim is to  invade Quang Tri province. So far the Reds have failed. Over the  past few months, Hanoi's hordes have shifted away from their old  infiltration route, the Ho Chi Minh trail, which empties into  the isolated Central Highlands. Instead, more and more have been  striking directly southward into the populous coastal plain (see  map). The aim of the Marines' "Operation Prairie" is to cut  those arteries from the DMZ and push the Reds so far west that  they will once again be forced to use the trail.   Key to the fighting is "the Rock," a jagged, 750-ft. fang of  granite that thrusts upward at the intersection of three river  valleys and two enemy trails. During July's Operation Hastings,  the Marines established a reconnaissance post atop the Rock, and  a lone sniper fed by airdrops of C rations controlled the area.  Now it is a Marine battalion command post, under almost steady  siege. Across from the Rock rears the Razorback-a steep ridge  whose sides are pocked with caves dug by the Japanese in World  War II, but now occupied by North Vietnamese. Several hundred  yards below the Rock, the Reds have dug "spider holes" from  which they lob mortar fire and mount ambushes. Two miles to the  south stands Hill 400, dominating the Rock-pile and infested  with Reds. Last week the Marines moved simultaneously against  the Razorback and Hill 400. By week's end, both were in their  hands.   Snakes & Lanterns. Fighter-bombers seared both hills with  flaming napalm, then returned with rockets, heavy fragmentation  bombs and machine gun fire. For three days, the Reds on Hill 400  hit back with mortar and small-arms fire so intense that Medevac  helicopters could not land to take out Marine wounded. Finally,  Marine pilots used 1,000-lb. bombs to blast craters deep enough  to provide cover for the choppers, and a few critical cases were  evacuated. Then the Marines moved out, stormed the hill with  satchel charges,* and blasted the Reds out of their holes. They  found a Communist regimental command post replete with  underground rooms and trenches.   Near the Razorback, Marines were treated to an eerie spectacle  at night: dim lanterns moving back and forth on the ridge across  from them. "The North Vietnamese are afraid of snakes," sneered  one Marine. "That's why they carry them flashlights." Whatever  their purpose, the lights provided excellent targets for  artillery and air strikes. To date, Operation Prairie has killed  943 Reds, and the Marines have taken moderate casualties in the  process.