The black market had a lot of the MPC in their hands so it was time to change it. It was in 1969 and we were stationed at a little outpost just outside Danang. We knew a lot of the girls in the surrounding Vills had a lot of MPCs from a little boom booms. So myself and 2 of my buddies decided we would go out to the bills and tell the girls we would take their MPCs and exchange them for 50 percent. Our idea was good but we had to find out a way to get off the base. The Guards wouldn’t let us out the front gate , so we decided to sneak out of the base, but it was surrounded by contstitena wire so we had to find a place where there was no trip flares. We managed to get out OK but I ripped the ass out of my fatigues on the way out. We got to the Ville and told them our plans. One of the Papasans didn’t like it. We told him 1/2 is better than nothing. He finnaly agreed and us three nuts headed back to our base. We couldn’t find the opening where we got out. While doing this a jeer was coming down the road shining the spot light. They seen us and stopped (thank God they didn’t shoot us). They loaded us into the jeep and took us into Danang. There they put each one of us in what looked like dog cages. They called our unit and told them to come and get us. Un be known to us the phone call was answered by a Corporal and he told them he was a Major and he would be right there. After about an hour one of the MPs let us out of our cages and turned us over to the “Major””. When we all seen who it was, our buddie had a cover on with the Major insignia on it, we had all we could do trying to hold our straight faces.We made it back to camp and when the keep came through the gate, the guard stopped us and saluted the Major. We all had a good laugh and we kept the end of our bargain and gave the Villes Papasan his 1/2.
Sgt Grit wants to hear from you! Leave your comments below or submit your own story!
WOW!!
Hmm, never ever heard a Marine call his utilities fatigues.
You took the words right out of my mouth we always called them utilteys I wan in from 1954 to 1964 Semper FI
Amen brother, I smell a rat.
BIG RAT another want to be !!
Where did you serve know it all, probably some cushy protected base as a company clerk. Don’t ever go around calling another Marine a wanna be with out knowing the facts first. There are easy ways to find Marine units and where they served. We had bigger rats at KheSanh than you are. I don’t care one bit about whether they were utilities or fatigues .What did you call your skivies? Tightly whites. In closing don’t ever call another Marine a wanna be unless you know. I stand behind my story as true
We didn’t wear skives in the bush in I Corps, just our utilities with no socks in our boots ! Thanks for serving.
I LEARNED REAL FAST NOT TO WEAR SKIVES. I PAID FOR IT FOR WEEKS. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH WHEN I CAME HOME IT TOOK ME A LONG WHILE TO GET USED TO WEARING THEM. MY WIFE THOUGHT I WAS NUTS.
OK Doug Give me a brake !! A red flag . Anyone that was ever a duty nco would always answer stating unit and rank who in their right mind would say they were an officer without knowing who was on the other end of the line !!
His way of speaking and describing his activities seems far fetched. I don’t believe a word of this. MPC is just what it is, Military Payment Currency.
Danny Gun Six, actually, it is Military Payment Certificate, still got some. Semper Fi.
First of all, if you were in Nam you knew that we were paid in MPCs on pay day When the black market got too much of this, our government always decided to change the currency, sometimes different colors and other ways. When they were going to do this they put all bases and out posts on lock down. Anyone that had any old military currency could turn it into the new ones . Now picture this there were a lot of prostitutes in the surrounding villages that had a great amount of old MPCs. There was no way they could come on bases and exchange theirs. So we decided to try and go to the villages and get their currency and exchange it, and make a little profit for us. The outpost that we were stationed was probably about 2 miles outside of Danang.And yes the MPs patrolled the roads at night outside of Danang. So Danny six gun believe it or not, I don’t give a rats ass at what you believe. For all I know, you probably didn’t even serve in Nam
There was an episode of MASH on TV exactly as described here except the person was A doctor doing this.
I was thinking of the exact same episode! I think it was Major Winchester.
This newsletter seems to get curiouser and curiouser every week.
WERE YOU AT GIO LINE AROUND SEPT OR OCT 1969????? DO YOU REMEMBER SGT. D. L. KING???? RON SIZEMORE, MARTY BALLARD.
Really? Fatigues? A Jeep? A Jeep with a spotlight? What was exchanged for the black market MPCs? A corporal impersonating a major? No reference to the Great Pumpkin?
Fatigues? Cpl impersonating a major? Jeep driving around at night w/ a spotlight turned on. Doesn’t pass the sniff test. (Although it does smell).
Exchange the MPC’s for what??? I knew of some guys that would exchange “greenbacks” (US currency) for MPC at a favorable rate in Dogpatch. You could change your MPC for greenbacks within 24 hours prior to going on R&R or rotating back to the land of the Big PX.
I never heard of 1/13. There was a HQ BATTERY 11th MARINES in DaNang. I was over there 18 months and never heard of HQ BATTERY 13TH Marines I was in 12th Marines and after my extension 11Th Marines at An Hoa
YOU ARE RIGHT THEY WERE CALLED UTILITIES NOT FATIGUES. I STILL NEVER HEARD OF 1/13. I’ll ASK A BUDDY THAT RETIRED TO THIALAND. MARTY WAS OVER THERE 2 YEARS. I THOUGHT MORTARS WERE IN THE GRUNTS.?????
YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE 13TH MARINES. THE PART ABOUT THE FATIGUES THREW ME OFF. SORRY TO HAVE DOUBTED YOU. SEMPER FI. I THOUGHT YOU WERE ANOTHER WANT TA BE. I HAVE RUN INTO MORE THAN A FEW. I HAD A FRIEND AT GIO LINH , CORP. JOHNSON. EVERY TIME WE CAME TO DONG HA THAT NUT WOULD WEAR FIRST LT. BARS.
The 13th Marines were part of the 5th Marine Division and 1/13 fought at Khe Son during Tet 1968
This is so lame. I was at Red Beach and if we wanted out of the base we get my M-37 and grab a trip ticket and head to the Air Base to our ice plant or to the NSA or across the road to the Sea Bee base. I had a buddy that had a yen for fun at a local skivy house. He would load is utility pockets with fruit and go thru the wire between guard posts that everyone knew about probably VC too. No muss no fuss!
Sounds like you really had it hard in Nam serving at some beach, going to AirForce and SeeBee bases to get what you want. What did you do during your tour stay in swim trunks all day
WE ARE ALL JEALOUES. I REMEMBER WHEN MY FRIEND WENT ON IN COUNTRY R&R CHINA BEACH AND HE CAME BACK AND TOLD US THE AIR FORCE HAD AIR CONDITIONING AND WERE EATING ON PLATES WE ALL CALLED HIM A LIAR.
Still have some MPC. Looking for anyone interested in a reunion of Mortar Btry 1/13 this summer in Branson Mo.
from 61 to 65 we wore Utilities . Think the Army called them Fatigues.
Agree with most everyone else the new format SUCKS. Go back to what was working.
In the MPC exchange in 1969, I had a Lance corporal who took menopoly money into the Quan Triple & told the locals that it was the new MPC & exchanged it dollar for dollar. That took more guts than I had.
My story was all true just the way I told it.For those of you who doesn’t think there was a Head quarters battery that was 1/13. We supported the 26th marines. HQ battery consisted of Marines with the mos 0844, this stood for fire direction control men. When the grunts called in the artillery mission, it was us who worked up all the info for the howlitzer to use to fire at. Hq battery also consisted of FSCC which stood for fire support command center. They had to get all the clearances so no friendlies or air craft was in the area I don’t really care what any of you think. I was in Nam from Jan.1968 till March 1970, my unit also was at the siege of Khe Sanh. Maybe all you state side Marines called your work clothes utilities but we called ours fatigues . So for all of you know it alls you can kiss my A–
I was a radio operator (2533) with Hq Btry, 11th Marines. 1/13 was part of the Northern Artillery Contonement. So was 1/11, 2/11, 3/11, 4/11, 1st guns, 3rd guns, 8″ SP’s.
Not to be argumentative but I am not a state side Marine and they were always called utilities. You may want to back that down.
WHAT YEAR WERE YOU A RADIO OPERATOR FOR HQ BATTERY 11th MARINES????? I WAS IN FDC 2/11 HQ BATTERY AT AN HOA JAN 1970- OCT 1970
BEFORE THAT I WAS 12TH MARINES GIO LINH MINE SWEEP FROM DONG HA TO GIO LINH APRIL 1969- JAN 1970.
NEVER HEARD OF 13TH MARINE WHILE I WAS UP THERE, GIO LINH, CON TIEN, OR DONG HA.
ONE THING I KNOW FOR SURE I NEVER HEARD UTILITIES CALLED FATIGUES
I was in country March 69 through May 70. Your name sounds so familiar to me. 11th Marines was across the street from 11th Motors and around the corner from Division Recon. 1/13 definitely existed and I am in the process of checking to see if I have their call sign someplace in my old stuff. Definitely always were called utilities. Fatigues were Army.
YOUR NAME SURE SOUNDS FAMILIAR TO ME TO. I JUST CAN’T REMEMBER FROM WHERE.
I WAS IN FDC AFTER MY EXTENSION MY MOS WAS 0848, I WAS STATIONED AT AN HOA. I WAS THERE ( VIETNAM ) APRIL 69 OCT 70, I HEARED OF 26TH MARINES BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONE BY THE TIME I GOT THERE. MY BEST FRIEND STITZ CAME FROM 26TH MARINES.
BUT WE STILL CALLED THEM UTILITIES. NEVER HEARD THE WORD FATIGUES TILL I JOINED THE AIR FORCE RESERVES.
Sgt Sisson, were you ever at MCRD San Diego, Camp Pendleton, El Toro, MCAS Santa Ana, Iwakuni?
NO I WAS AT CAMP LEJEUNE, AND 29 PALMS CALIF. I WAS ALSO AT DONG HA, GIO LINH, CON TIEN AND AFTER MY EXTENSION AN HOA. SOUNDS LIKE AIR WING DUTY. I WAS FDC. ATTACHED TO ARTILLERY. I WAS IN 10TH MARINES, 11TH MARINES AND 12TH MARINES. AT 29 PALMS I CAN NOT REMEMBER THE UNIT.
I know where I had seen your name before. You made a comment about my 54 Ford F100 in an old post in the newsletter. Go to page 31. I knew the rust on my brain housing group was not that bad.
Can’t argue the fact about the 13th Marines being in Vietnam but ,your story is still way out there. Always utilities never fatigues.Just like a 6X being called a deuce and half that is army lingo. Harry RVN 4 Apr 68- 22 Apr 69
STAND DOWN on this one Marines. After 3 tours in RVN believe me I can tell you 1/13 was a very real artillery unit and one of the best. Yes, not only did they support us (26th Marines) at Khe Sanh when we were OP CON to 3rd MAR DIV on the DMZ but also when we were OP CON to 1st MAR DIV in southern I Corps. Yes, there was a 1/13 HQ battery that controlled not only the artillery but also 4-dueces, heavy mortars. Being an FO for 3/26 and 2/5 I know of both 1/13 Charlie Battery and 11th Marines. BTW 1/13 was actually a 5th MAR DIV unit as was the 26th Marines that fought in only one battle before being reactivated for Viet Nam That was a small Japanese held island in WW II called IWO JIMA, Ever heard of it?
YES I HEARD OF 26TH MY FATHER WAS IN 26TH MARINES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. I THOUGHT THEY WERE IN 4TH MARINE DIVISION. MY FRIEND WAS IN 26TH MARINES BEFORE HE GOT HIT THEN HE CAME TO 11TH MARINES AT AN HOA. WHEN I WENT DOWN SOUTH ALL I EVER HEARD OF WAS 11TH MARINES OUT OF DA NANG.
The 5th MAR DIV units was the 13th, 26th, 27th and 28th Marines during the Viet Nam. 26th and 27th in country and the 28th based stateside. The 4th MAR DIV units in WWII were 23rd, 24th and 25th. By the time of Viet Nam the 4th MAR DIV was the Marine Corps Reserve. Remember when you got out, if you had not served 6 years of active duty you were assigned to a unit of the 4th MAR DIV unit classified as active or inactive reserve.
I JUST REMEMBERED I KNEW A SGT. CONLEY I MET AT 29 PALMS HE WAS IN 26TH MARINES ON A HILL OUT SIDE KA SANH WHERE HE HAD HALF HIS FACE BLOWN OFF. WHEN I GOT OUT HE WAS FIGHTING TO STAY IN THE CORP.
After us Marines left Khe Sanh, we convoyed down to Camp Carrol, which was an Army artillery unit that had 175 howlitzers that supported us with fire power. When our convoy got there they let us take showers and issued us new camouflage “Fatigues”, most of ours were all red clay and dirty. The 26ths Marines next assiignment was to control highway 1 from DMZ to Danang. Around February 1970 the 26th Marines and all support units were given orders to pull out of Nam and head home by boat. So wheather you want to call the clothes what ever, I was proud to serve 3 tours with 1/13. For fighting in Nam for so long L was diagnosed with multiple myeloma which is a form of cancer from agent orange. This was in July 2012, don’t know how long I have left since this is not curable So in ending my brother Marines I still stick by my story, but I guess only the Marines that were with me know it’s all true. Semiper Fi fellow jar heads.
SEMIPER FI DOUG.
I HAVE HAD BADDER CANCER TWICE MYSELF STILL WAITING FOR IT TO BE PUT ON THE AGENT ORANGE LIST.
Sgt Sisson were you ever stationed at Lejeune ? Bladder cancer is listed as one of the illness associated with the “BAD WATER” at the base. If you were, contact DAV or other service org to start a claim Good luck & SEMPER FI Harry
YES MY WIFE AND I LIVED AT GEIGER TRAILER PARK. I WAS IN 10TH MARINES. I HAVE BEEN TO THE VA ABOUT IT WITH OUT ANY LUCK, THERE ARE ABOUT 3 OTHER GUYS I KNOW OF THAT HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP. I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING WITH THEM SINCE 09 WHEN I GOT THE CANCER THE 1ST TIME AND 2014 THE SECOND TIME.
SGT Sisson Don’t try to fight the VA on your own. Ask for help from a trained National Service Officer My choice has always been the DAV They are ,in my opinion, the most informed on what steps to take.Bladder cancer is not on the presumptive service connection for compensation but the VA is granting some vets on a case by case situation.The VA will still treat your illness though without having any co-pay the same goes for any meds associated with your illness.Sorry to hear of your illness Keep Fighting!! Harry
THANKS. I HAVE THE VFW FIGHTING FOR ME. AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT THEY SAY THEY ARE DOING. A COUPLE OF THE GUYS I HAVE MET ARE GOING THROUGH THE VA HOSPITAL FOR THEIR TREATMENT I AM NOT. IT IS A LONG STORY BUT I AM RETIRED FROM THE AIR FORCE RESERVE. SO I HAVE GOOD MEDICAL ( TRI CARE ). I HAD TO GIVE UP MY 10% (HEARING LOSS, BUSTED EAR DRUM) WHILE IN THE RESERVES BUT IT PAID OFF IN THE LONG RUN. SO FAR WE HAVE SENT THE VA A TELEPHONE BOOK OF INFORMATION. NOW I AM WAITING FOR A HEARING IN FRONT OF A BOARD. THEY WANTED ME TO DO IT BY TELEVISION BUT I WANT IT IN PERSON
Sgt Sisson are you by chance from the Pittsburgh Pa area ? There are a few Sisson,s in my area . Just asking. Harry
YES I AM FROM PITTSBURGH. REALLY OUT SIDE PITTSBURGH A BORO CALLED WEST MIFFLIN.
That is so cool !! I am from a coal mine town just south of Wash Pa. been to Kennywood many times.
I LIVE ABOUT 10 MINUTES FROM KENNEYWOOD. I WORKED FOR U.S.STEEL NOT 10 MINUTES FROM THE PARK. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE TOWN YOU ARE FROM???
AS A MATTER OF FACT MY COUSIN AND I WILL BE ARCHERY HUNTING AROUND CLAYSVILLE AT THE GAME LANDS THIS SATURDAY.
I live in the little town of Marianna off I-79 south.I will be at a football game just south of Claysville (West Liberty) WVA
I GO TO MINGO CREEK PARK ABOUT 5 OR 6 TIMES A YEAR. THIS MORNING WE ARE TAKING A RIDE TO OHIOPYLE. I THINK MY FRIEND IS OUT OF HIS MIND. WE WILL SEE IN 30 MINUTES. HE JUST BOUGHT A NEW BIKE AND WANTS TO PUT SOME MILES ON IT. SEMPER FI HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Robert, I had the DAV sponser me, It took a little time but they got the VA to finaly give me my 100 percent disability. You also get your claim retroactive to date of original filling. So get ahold of your nearest DAV office and get started. Good luck and Semper Fi Doug
Thanks for the information. I have been dealing with this lady at the VFW since 09 and am still waiting. Then the cancer came back in 14 and I really got pissed. They said they were going to set up a face to face with someone from the VA and I am still waiting. I never even knew about the water at LE JEUNE until a friend at work told me after the first bladder cancer I had. I will go to the DAV next week. I have a good friend who was in the same area as I was and has had prostrate cancer and he got 100% right away. The lady at the VFW office told me bladder cancer was going to be put on some list for agent orange and I would get back money for all this time back to 09. I’ll believe it when I see it. My friend told me since I have the COMBAT ACTION Ribbon I should not have any problem.
Did you go to the DAV in PITTSBURGH PA??????S
This is nuthin’ but a lotta’ smoke ‘n mirrors!
I rescind my prior submission, as there’s no way to retract or delete. FIX THAT!
Go to the attached website & then down to 1st Bn, 13th Marines. They were obviously in RVN. This is an excellent historical site with tons of official information. Check out your unit and see what you may have forgotten by now. Happy reading. http://www.recordsofwar.com/vietnam/usmc/USMC_Rvn.htm