Sgt Grit,
Three weeks before this picture was taken, I had observed a string of dim lights coming down the slopes of a mountain on the western side of Happy Valley. I had requested a fire mission and it was denied. A week later, a squad of Marines from either 1/7 or 3/7 ambushed an NVA rocket unit on it way toward Da Nang. I guess having sighted the original string of lights, those in the know sent me out with the 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion commanded by Capt. Hoang Pho. Capt. Hoang Pho and the 37th ARVN Ranger Bn.
This picture was taken by Sergeant First Class Willard Langdon, the senior enlisted Ranger advisor with the 37th. What I remember about this picture was that it was taken on the first day of a three day climb up the mountain which if I remember correctly was above 1200 meters high. This was one of the few level spot we would encounter before reaching the summit. The reason I know it was the first day is that it is sunny because it rained the rest of the week we were on the mountain. It started raining the first night. I had left my poncho back at Hill 55 and opted to carry two extra radio batteries. That night and for the next seven, I walked wet, ate wet, slept wet and woke up wet as the rain was constant, not hard, just constant.
On the second day of the climb up the mountain, we lost sight of the sky, my compass and binoculars were almost useless. The jungle was thick in this area and had a triple canopy. Another memory I have of this climb up the mountain was that the Vietnamese Ranger in front of me had a monkey's arm in his pack. What caught my eye was that the middle finger held high in an international salute. I remember also that the arm seemed to be growing shorter and on the fourth day I discovered that this man was in my mess group, and he had been contributing monkey meat to the pot. This arm was not smelling well in the heat so I began opting for the Vietnamese C-Rations which consisted of a bag of precooked freeze dried rice, small minnow-like fish, concentrated orange bar, nu'oc mam and red pepper sauce and some very strong coffee and sweetened condensed milk. I soon grew fond of the nu'oc mam and nu'oc cham (a sweetened variety, and there is some in my fridge today.
On the third day we reached the top of the mountain and there we rested and set up defensive positions. The first layer of canopy was about ten feet above our head, but underneath the canopy it was fairly open, and for good reason. We were on a bivouac site, it was well kept, but obviously well used. We remained in our positions throughout the evening. During the cool nights, sound traveled far and we often heard the loud grunting noises of Bengal tigers which lived in this area of Vietnam. I had heard of a RECON team which had shot one in these tigers trying to carry off one of their dark green Marines who was able to fight free from its mouth and while his fellow Marines dispatched it with small arms fire. It had measured nine feet from the tip of its tail to its nose. I had heard also a rumor that these tigers gleaned the mountain battlefields in search of an easy meal.
After seven days of looking we only found evidence of large numbers of troops having been in the area. This operation (Bihn Quan 12) took place in November and December 1967. On January 29 the Tet Offensive began in earnest and I was leaving for home.
I don't recall the names of these Marines in the picture with me, I am in the center. The Marine on the left was from the Comm Platoon of Hq. Brty., 3rd Bn., 11th Marines. The Marine on the right joined us at Hill 10, and I believe he was an Arty F.O. In Da Nang we were used primarily as Arty observers. Having been in the 2nd Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) I was somewhat familiar with calling in Marine air strikes, but we were never used in that capacity.
Once 3/11 moved to Da Nang from Chu Lai, we Naval Gunfire types seldom fired Naval Guns because of the Air Base and our distance (Hill 55) from the sea. One of our task became Counter Rocket Observation from a system of towers throughout the Rocket Belt which were called CROT (Counter Rocket Observation Towers). I was at O.P. Lou on Hill 41 for several months in one of these towers which some of us called " tree houses". During my last month on Hill 41 and at the end of my two year tour, I got the chance to fire a TOT or Timed On Target mission against an NVA Rocket Battery in the process of firing it's rockets. They managed to get off 10 rockets before our rounds began impacting in their battery center.
Incidentally, Capt. Hoang Pho's 37th ARVN Ranger Battalion acquitted itself well at Khe Son, where the NVA figured to roll up the South Vietnamese 37th Ranger Battalion in quick order, but the Rangers badly mauled the regimental sized unit that attacked them. The NVA soon discovered that the Vietnamese Rangers were some of the best South Vietnamese units in the war. I have located Colonel Hoang Pho who now lives in Athens, Texas and talked with him about his Rangers. He said that during the battle for Da Nang, his Rangers stood and fought nearly to the last man. The 37th ARVN Rangers lost 400 dead at Da Nang in 1975. When the war ended only 250 Rangers were alive and most of them were sent to prison (Re-education Camps, the North Vietnamese liked to call them) and many of those who survived the war died
in prison.
Doyle Sanders
GySgt. (retired)
Semper Fi brother I was in the 3/11 NGF section from August 1966 until August 1967