Found Collection of VN Combat Art, Negatives, Contact Sheets

[noexpert]

MG Ewell (left) gesturing toward the 2/39th mess hall at Rach Kien as Lt Gen Mildren listens. The disinterested GI walking in the background is wearing the common footwear of Delta infantrymen out of the field...flip-flops.

[noexpert]

Col. Hunt and 9th Divison Command Sergeant Major. Colonel Hunt was the Division Chief of Staff, but at the time of the photo was acting First Brigade commander. This was taken during Lt Gen Mildren's visit to Rach Kien.

[noexpert]

MG Ewell, Lt Gen Mildren, Lt Col Schroeder on their way back to Mildren's chopper. Ewell, who's reputation was not as a happy-go-lucky guy, was joking almost the whole time and kept saying to me "Make sure you take lots of pictures of this guy, he likes his picture taken..." and stuff like that. I was just a kid...it was like seeing my high school principal at a birthday party.. sort of surprising that he had a human side, but sort of creepy too.

 

The light gray structure behind them, for the arcitecture buffs out there...and for the real Viet Nam buffs, is a "pisser." In a world populated only by men, as it was back then, that's how it was. The taller, dark gray structure is the movie screen and stage, where regular showings of Elvis movies and bi-weekly showings of Doctor Zhivago (which, I think, the Army much have had some money invested in considering how many copies they had of it) were conducted and where USO shows, by really bad Filipino bands, were put on.

[noexpert]

USARV Deputy Cmdr Lt Gen Mildren's Huey and accompying Cobra at Rach Kien, 1968.

[pmanton]

...and for the real Viet Nam buffs, is a "pisser." In a world populated only by men, as it was back then, that's how it was

 

WOW I forgot about those----- I sure remember the 55 gal drums cut in half for the crappers but completely forgot about the pisser.

 

Getting old sucks.

 

Paul

Salome, AZ

[noexpert]

Sketch used to illustrate an article in The Old Reliable about the 9th Division Sniper School.

[Salvage Sailor]

........ and where USO shows, by really bad Filipino bands, were put on.

 

They were truly hilarious at times, with guitars longer than they were tall. They spoke hardly any english but could sing & play US pop tunes note for note. The Elvis renditions were classic.

[noexpert]

Well, in keeping with the "arcitecture" theme which seemed to interest at least some of the older viewers and also in keeping with the fact that, as I've noted, we took pictures of every darn thing from the exotic to the - ahem - not so exotic, here is one of the sites - and smells - that is "burned" into the memory of every Viet Nam veteran. One can go on and on about s**t details, etc, etc. Trust me, they've all been done.

 

This view is of the more glamorous Officer's side. The EM's side didn't have the garbage cans but faced out to the assembly area, so the advantage of rank was one got the illusion of privacy by walking by the burning waste and fly infested garbage cans...and were separated from "the men" by a sheet of plywood. r.h.i.p.

[noexpert]

Assault, Charlie Co. 2/39th, Long An, 1968... Charlie had taken some sniper fire and begun to advance when we came upon this random barbed wire strung out. Just as I snapped the picture fire opened up from the left and the company wound up in a fairly sustained firefight with artillary and air support (there are other pictures I've posted.) The first man on the left is one of Charlie's Tiger Scouts and the last man in the photo is their sniper.

[noexpert]

Airboats that spent some time with the RTAVR Queen's Cobra, they were fairly small. When we went out on night ambush there were two crew and myself and one Thai.

[noexpert]

Airboats arriving at RTAVR position, Queen's Cobra ACAV on left. We had just begun diggin in when the airboats arrived on a rainly afternoon.

[noexpert]

Airboat crew being briefed. Unfortunately the airboat guys had lost a man the month before, apparently when they had been ordered to take a news crew out with them and their CO rode me the whole time they were there about how correspondents were blank-blank-blank-blank's who had gotten his guy killed basically for sport. Nothing I could say - that I wasn't a correspondent, that I wasn't a civilian, whatever - eased it up. His guys just never spoke. I always wound up on his boat, which guaranteed I never slept on ambush that's for sure. The guys were ok, it was such a small unit that they were sort of orphans and were really tight and I think everyone was an outsider. Boy they could handle those things though. Before they left, the lieutenant did come over to me and say he knew what happened wasn't my fault, which I think from him was probably about as good as it got. Worked for me anyway.

[DSchlagan]

Dennis,

 

I always look forward to your new posts.

There's "something" about these last three that are especially intriguing. ...Just been staring, for a while now, at all the various sublime details of the first airboat photo.....that crewman, in the third, just keeps staring back.

 

Phenomenal.

Thanks.

Don.

[noexpert]

Don,

 

Thanks again for the kind remarks and support,

 

D.

 

 

Dennis,

 

I always look forward to your new posts.

There's "something" about these last three that are especially intriguing. ...Just been staring, for a while now, at all the various sublime details of the first airboat photo.....that crewman, in the third, just keeps staring back.

 

Phenomenal.

Thanks.

Don.

[noexpert]

RTAVR Queen's Cobra officer on patrol, Long Thanh area, 1968.

[noexpert]

Thai soldier, RTAVR Queen's Cobra, Long Thanh area, 1968....

[noexpert]

"REMF's" RTAVR Queen's Cobra on patrol, Long Thanh. Being last in line in this kind of terrain was scary as hell, not that being in the front or center was larky. Snapped this looking back at where we had come from. A couple of days later there was a u-shaped ambush in similar terrain. One of the other patrols that day found a huge banner with foot high cloth letters on netting that read (more or less) Thai Soldiers Go Home. They were not happy campers, lucky Chuck didn't hit them that day. I will say that being the only non-American in these types of situations for just a short time gave me a great respect for the guys who went over there and spent a year or more in these situations.

[noexpert]

RTAVR Queen's Cobra establishing HQ base camp, Long Thanh area, 1968. Not a particularly interesting shot except that it was one of the only times I ever saw an M-60 set up on a tripod...

[noexpert]

RTAVR Queen's Cobra, clearing VC base camp, pitching grenade into bunker...

[noexpert]

RTAVR Queen's Cobra, Long Thanh area, 1968, clearing VC base camp 2, grenade going off....

[noexpert]

VC arms cache, Long An Prov, 1968. Even by VC standards a lot of these were antiques by this time though the German pieces (at least to my surprise) did have ammo, and the BAR's were used.

[noexpert]

Post firefight, w/ Charlie Co. 2/39th, Long An Prov, 1968...

[noexpert]

VC base camp taken by RTAVR Queen's Cobra, near Long Thanh, 1968.

[noexpert]

Wounded Thai soldier, Queen's Cobra Regiment, after taking VC base camp. Long Thanh area, 1968.

[noexpert]

Officer, RTAVR Queen's Cobra, VC base camp, Long Thanh, 1968. In the background on of the men is using a captured VC tool to hack out a clearing in an attempt to Medevac the wounded.