Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • 1 year later...

Cool stuff.

 

One such force in the delta was X-Ray Platoon, SEAL Team ONE, which arrived in the region in October 1970, where it was stationed in Ben Tre City. Clinton Majors was a petty officer in X-Ray Platoon. He recalled, “Our mission was to disrupt the existing Viet Cong infrastructure; to halt the continuance and growth of the Viet Cong … The war in Vietnam was a business, and we approached it that way. … To survive you had to act like a Viet Cong, think like one, look like one.”That part was important because, though they didn’t know it at the time, they were targeted. “They were in the eye of the storm,” Del Giudice said. Part of the reason for that was the fact that their area of operations was both the communists’ breadbasket and an important source of revenue. Control of the region, or more importantly loss of control, would have an enormous impact on their prosecution of the war. There was a political reason, as well; Ben Tre was where the Viet Cong movement was formed in 1959. Despite the platoon’s success in disrupting Viet Cong operations – capturing prisoners and more than 100 pounds of documents and destroying numerous enemy caches, bunkers, weapons factories, and other sites – during its deployment, X-Ray Platoon found itself encountering an unusually high number of ambushes. Ultimately the unit suffered 100 percent casualties, with four members killed. The unit’s last mission was on March 4, 1971. In it, the platoon’s commander, Lt. Mike Collins, was killed, and a number of others were severely wounded. Following this action, the decision was made to rotate the platoon back to the States. An investigation later revealed that its missions had been compromised; one of its South Vietnamese commandos was actually a Communist agent.

 

X-Ray Platoon, SEAL Team One (Oct 1970 - Mar 1971) -- LT Michael Collins (KIA- 4 March 71); MC Frank Bomar (KIA- 20 Dec 1970) (CTE 116.0.1.8)

 

Chief Betz

CWO Ed Jones

PO1 Lou Dicroce

RN2 Harold L. “Happy” Baker

EM3 James L. Riter (KIA- 20 Dec 1970)

Doc Caplenor

Gordon Clisham

FN Harold E. Birky (KIA- 30 Jan 71)

Clint Majors (list additions provided in email)

Paul K. Barnes

Allen Vader (list additions provided in email)

David Shadnaw

Rick Hetzel

Mike Trigg (aka: Trigger)

James MacCarthy

Don Barnes

Sam Brown

Clayton

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My prized UDT Plaque now donated back to its proper owners.Got this in Olongapo at The Beggars Banquet Bar around the mid to late 90's.One very famous name here.post-5515-0-92758700-1480151874_thumb.jpgpost-5515-0-73842800-1480152207_thumb.jpgpost-5515-0-73842800-1480152207_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have Al Schaufelberger's shirt that he is wearing on the cover of Newsweek after his assassination.

 

I know HT2 Shaw.

Yes,I have seen that post of yours.I used to have that issue around that time.He was also featured in an article of Life Magazine I recall.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...