Author: SgtGrit

Ugly Angels in Vietnam

I served three tours in Nam, first tour 67 to 68. I have attached a picture of some ugly angels. These came in to drop off some Marines from the Float. They took out dead and wounded. This is on the beach about two klicks north of the mouth of the Cua Viet river where it meets the Tonking Gulf. The water you see behind it is the Gulf of Tonkin. I was with the 3rd Mar div. 1st Amphibious Tractor Bn. B Co. 2nd Plt. My track is B-24. I am taking these pictures from it. We were operating out of Camp Kistler. We are called Amgrunts. We did it all. Grunt, Trac, Artillery. The DMZ is about 4 more Klicks North of this picture. After they left we returned there. A Company of , I believe 3/1 had been hit and we were in support.
Art Johnson
USMC read more

Vietnamese Opera

I am sure I mentioned to you Thu An had been an opera singer. The type of opera is Cai Luong and is performed by troupes who travel the countryside. They give live performances at hamlets and villages. Cai Luong has fallen out of favor as a live performance for the citified masses who now prefer pop, rock and roll and everything else modern and western. Out in the boonies, Cai Luong can still draw everyone except the young guys who would rather shoot some billiards and drink beer. read more

And there I Was

And there I was, surrounded, on the eve of Tet, a lone American in Da Nang, without a weapon. But the circumstances now are a little different than 34 years ago when I was lost in Da Nang after curfew. Now I am surrounded by beautiful Vietnamese women preparing my bride for our wedding. Where I am now is in room 303 of the Thuong Hai Hotel sitting on the bed. We are about a click or two from old MAG 11 and about two clicks from Dog Patch. The hotel is new, near the airport and the city seems filled with young people who have never known the war. read more

Vietnam Photos

Here are some photos for you. I believe ‘Out5’ is just down the road to the left of the frame from ‘Marine16’. Marine 15 and 16 were described to me as a place where Marines had compounds. As you can see the area is a huge industrial complex.
Marine 15 Marine 16 Out 5 If you look at Big tp Da Nang map you will see Dien Bien Phu ST running just under the big letters Q. Thanh Khe which is in the upper left. This street runs out of town to the left to the hills in the previous email. This road is the same road on the larger area map that runs out to Hoa Son. Hoa is a word for commune and may not relate to older maps that will have names of villages and hamlets. read more

PROJECT DAI LOC

PROJECT DAI LOC A group of 7th Marine Viet Nam vets continues to make history…this time, some 35 years after the war, with a humanitarian effort to build a health clinic in the village known so well to those who served in the Danang area. read more

Declared Sane

Minh did a good job explaining the mental health check deal. He said the committee didn’t accept a report from a US private doctor and I needed to be examined at a hospital.

Going there was an interesting experience and I have been having fun explaining this event with my colleagues here in the US. I knew no one at the mental hospital could speak English so I was expecting some mischievous fun. It started with the filling out of a certain form which was, of course, all in Vietnamese. Some of the lines I recognized from filling out the numerous visa applications and entry papers because they are bilingual. I know what a dia chi is, so I put in Thu An’s street address. This caused a minor ruckus. The lady, of course, didn’t buy it and wanted my US address. So I started over with a new form. From her reaction, these forms must be very expensive. On the next form, I didn’t know what a few things were, so Thu An tried to help me, unsuccessfully. They do the same thing we do in Paris. If they think you don’t understand what they are saying they say it louder the second time. I think she and the admitting nurse took over and finished it for me. I then had to sit across from another unhappy looking woman who looked it and me over for an exaggeratedly long time for no obvious reason. read more

Memorial Day

Marines from Korea to the present honoring a Marine from Clearview, Ok on Memorial Day 2009, named Anthony Grundy, killed in Vietnam, 1968.

Mike Doak
USMC 69-71

Vietnam Reunion

Don,
I recently completed, with 10 other former or retired Marines, all Vietnam veterans, a 14 day visit of Vietnam. Arriving in HaNoi on 27 April then traveling to and around the old I Corps area from Chu Lai to the DMZ. We visited all of the significant Marine positions and traveled what used to be part of the Ho Chi Minh trail from Khe Sanh to DaNang through the A Shau Valley (a 10 hour bus trip). read more

Marine Commendation Medal for Valor in Vietnam

Sgt. Grit Sir,

Please find attached Official Citation for Marine Commendation Medal for Valor while serving in South Vietnam with U.S. Marines (1966-67). I was originally recommended for this medal in October, 1966. But never received it. Yesterday history caught up with me and the long over due medal was presented at the Marine Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tn. read more

An Hoa Ammo Dump

I was on a radio relay shot at An Hoa when the ammo dump in DaNang went up. Even though we were about 30 miles away it was still a spectacular sight.

I can’t remember if it was before or after the DaNang dump went up but sometime that same spring the ammo dump at An Hoa went up. Here are some photos I took of the explosions that night. I used an engineer’s stake for a make-shift tripod and took a long exposure. Several times that night a huge blast went off and night turned into day. The picture of the shrapnel is what we policed up around our hootch and radio bunker. The toe on the right will give you some idea of scale. read more