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Vietnam USMC Recon photographs


Mr-X
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This was originally a color slide. It was taken on Charlie Ridge in early evening. It was already almost dark under the triple jungle canopy but still a bit light in the valley beyond. We had stopped and had planned to set up our night lager site here

 

The arrow shows a running NVA, taken about two seconds before he was dispatched by my point man with his M-14. After this incident, we had to pack up and move a couple hundred meters to another site for the night.

 

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This is a shot of me with one of the Recon Marine's best friends, a 105mm Howitzer. I believe this was taken on the 7th Marines combat base the evening before we ran our company-sized recon patrol into the hills around the base looking for NVA.

 

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This is the same area, but not the same exact view, as the picture in post #50 above. This was taken before we began cutting the LZ for the extraction.

 

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This is a punjii pit. You don't want to step in one of these like I did. Luckily it was an old one and the sharpened bamboo spikes that hit the bottom of my boot broke rather than penetrating. All I got was a small stick above the ankle bone....nothing to write home about. The disinfectant Doc Rock put on it hurt 10 times more than the little puncture.

 

The worst part was not the punjii pit but the vine you can see running across the picture at the top of the hole. The end of it out of view in the bushes had a wire attached to it and the other end was connected to the pin of a US issue hand grenade tied to a stake driven in the ground.

 

I saw the vine and stepped over it......into the hole!

 

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This shot was taken out on the ridge on the side of what we called mortar valley, south west of Danang. It was taken of a couple of the Recon Marines on the ground from my vantage point in the tree where I was observing enemy activity and calling in artillery.

 

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This one goes along with the one above. It's also taken form my treetop perch but this view is out into the valley where the target area was and it looking rather northeast.

 

If I remember correctly, off in the distance and off the frame to the right is Danang. the hills (or mountains if you like) way in the distance in the center is Elephant Valley. Well into Elephant Valley atop one of the tallest and steepest hills in the valley (Dong Den) was the relay site where rotating Recon teams constantly provided security for a radio relay team.

 

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This is Recon Team Crabtree. Crabtree was out sister RT in 2nd Platoon. This shot was taken about April of 1967 before some of them came to RT Grim Reaper.

 

My good friend, Ron Kitzke in on the left in the back row. Interestingly, next to him is Major Allen (Major was his first name, not his rank). Bad time in Nam didn't count on your tour length and with the time he spent in corrective confinement, it took him almost three years to complete his tour.

 

When he finally left Vietnam, he literally dropped out of sight. One day in early September of 1971, my old platoon commander called me up on the phone and asked me if I was watching television. He told me to turn it on and tune to ABC (or whatever network it was at the time) and look at the inmate behind those sitting at the negotiating table. Lo and behold, way in the back was Major Allen!

 

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One more post for now. I may have posted these in a previous thread but can't seem to find it. If so, I apologize for the redundancy.

 

These are two shots of me taken by a fellow Recon Marine after I was wounded by an enemy grenade during an ambush. The leg in the lower one is mine. The guy in the back is Doc Highum digging into his medical bag.

 

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Here is the sign in front of our "club."

 

3rd Recon had occupied Camp Reasoner before 1st moved up from Chu Lai. The club was really little more than a concrete slab with bamboo poles holding up a thatched roof and with some small tables and chairs. that said, it was considerably better than a tent with a mud floor. and when you were in out of the field you could get a couple cool Carlings Black Lable, OB, or Crown beers.

 

Back then there were no pop tops. You needed a can opener (church key) to open the can and the cans themselves were steel, not aluminum. I remember more than a couple times wiping the loose rust off the top before taking a drink. We felt exceedingly lucky when the services NCO was able to snag a couple cases of Schlitz!

 

The sign explains the name of the club.

 

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This is me on my first full day in Nam. I've just received my initial issue of jungle utilities and, my "T" shirt is still nice and white. Top is a closer shot. Bottom is a full shot and the bunker outside the company office is visible. You can see that I'm still wearing the all-leather stateside boots as well.

 

As you might guess from my stateside haircut, I had not yet had my meeting with the 1st Sgt.

 

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Ok......two more related ones and Ill stop boring you for tonight. This one is a shot of me in my brand new camo jungle utilities. Well, that's half right, anyway.

 

The trousers are standard issue jungle camo utility trousers. We were still having trouble getting the jackets so I went to the local Vietnamese shop on the combat base and bought this shirt. It's in the Vietnamese pattern and was meant to be worn tucked in and has no lower pockets. It has standard flap closure shirt pockets and exposed front buttons.

 

It also has epaulets on the shoulders.

 

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Here's really the last one. It's a closer shot of me wearing the same cammies as above. this one shows the details of the shirt a little better.

 

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pwmiraldi67
Here is the sign in front of our "club."

 

3rd Recon had occupied Camp Reasoner before 1st moved up from Chu Lai. The club was really little more than a concrete slab with bamboo poles holding up a thatched roof and with some small tables and chairs. that said, it was considerably better than a tent with a mud floor. and when you were in out of the field you could get a couple cool Carlings Black Lable, OB, or Crown beers.

 

Back then there were no pop tops. You needed a can opener (church key) to open the can and the cans themselves were steel, not aluminum. I remember more than a couple times wiping the loose rust off the top before taking a drink. We felt exceedingly lucky when the services NCO was able to snag a couple cases of Schlitz!

 

The sign explains the name of the club.

 

post-1107-1237587678.jpg

 

That Sir is the coolest sign for a club ever!!! What an awsome club too!!!! great view!!

too cool!

 

P

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I promise not to inundate you all with more photos today. Here are a couple more and that will be it for today.

 

I may have posted this some time ago (in another thread, I think. but I've played with the picture a little and sharpened it up a bit. It's easier on the eyes now. this was taken early in my tour when we were still RT Dutch Oven and I was carrying the M-79. As you can see in the photo, most of us have cards from the Spade suite taped to our weapons. Mine was the 7 of Spades.

 

Front row L-R is our radioman, Mike Bell and "Roddy" Rodriguez, the machine-gunner (I took the gun from him about 3 weeks later when he rotated home).

 

Back row L-R is "Gator" Thielen, me, Stick Nelson, Doc Highum, Ray Triana, and "Gerty" Gugich.

 

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This was taken on the LZ at Camp Reasoner just before boarding the helos for my very first patrol and I was carrying the dreaded M-16. I carried the M-16 for two patrols before taking over the M-79.

 

It's not a good picture as it was taken with a cheap Kodak "Instamatic" camera. the red on my belt is the top of a red smoke grenade.

 

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