Category Archives: Vietnam War

November 22, 2009 · 12:16 pm

Report from Vietnam


Foreign Correspondent John Hlavacek

As I walked out of my hooch one afternoon to perform my daily mail clerk duties, I ran into a man whose face I had seen many times on TV back in the ‘World’. It was John Hlavacek a reporter/foreign correspondent for KMTV-TV in Omaha, Nebraska, and he was looking for me of all people.

His mission was to film and interview soldiers serving in Vietnam from the TV viewing area around Sioux City, IA and Omaha, NE. He was putting together a program to be viewed as a TV Special during the 1970 Christmas Holidays. The families of the soldiers were notified by the TV stations ahead of time so they could watch their loved ones when the program aired.

He wasted no time interviewing after I told him Charlie Troop 1/9th was a prime target for frequent mortar attacks. He asked a few questions, did his filming, and quickly moved on but not before I got his autograph…

A letter and videotape was sent to my parents by KCAU-TV in Sioux City, Iowa.

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November 7, 2009 · 9:41 pm

Tragic Event


Freak Accident in Blues Hooch

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As one of the Blues was sitting in his hooch cleaning a 12 gauge shotgun it accidentally discharged killing their hooch maid instantly. She apparently was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. A shotgun was sometimes used by the Blues point man on recon missions.

Shortly after 1st Sergeant William Herder wanted me to drive the thirteen-year-old sister (babysan) of the deceased hooch maid to her home in Phuoc Vinh Village and break the news to her family. I got the assignment because I was the jeep driver, and I was authorized to enter the village.

As she stepped into my 1/4-ton jeep, she was extremely upset and hysterical to say the least and when we approached the village she became quite vocal. There were groups of South Vietnamese soldiers walking along the road, and I noticed how stirred up they had become listening to what she was crying out. She kept saying “GI killed my sister” and that made me very nervous because they probably thought I did it. With that my speed increased, and I kept my loaded M-16 at arms reach.

I dropped babysan off in front of her family’s home (pictured below) and
sped back to our company area without an incident. I chose not to stick around and talk to her family, mainly because of the language barrier and of course my safety was in jeopardy.

About a week later 1st Sergeant Herder and I visited the family and told them they would be compensated by our government for their loss…
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November 3, 2009 · 9:49 pm

Village Laundry


Mamasan taking care of Business

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I never knew her real name. She was a really nice lady, and I always wondered if she survived the war after I left.

The village of Phuoc Vinh was off limits to all 1st Air Cavalry Troopers. It had been that way since violence erupted in the early months of 1970. I made it down there only once before it was closed off when I was a FNG in ‘Country’ back in March.
As part of my new Charlie Troop mail clerk job, I was allowed to enter the village. The main reason was to take dirty laundry down to mamasan for a select few Charlie Troop ‘lifers’. I always made sure I had my loaded M-16 along because friendlies and unfriendlies had similar faces. By day, they could look like friendly village people and at night they could be ‘Charlie’ shelling our firebase.

I recall one day I pulled up in front of mamasan’s laundry business and a young boysan approached my jeep. He spoke broken english and was telling me about his older sister the school teacher. He was trying to divert my attention while his buddies ripped the gas can off the back of my jeep and beat feet…

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October 31, 2009 · 10:13 pm

A Short Move


No longer with the Blues

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I moved out of one of the Blues hooches on the left to the most distant one across the road.

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In my new AO with Roy McDonald and Robert Porter.
Porter was with the Blues, and I could never figure out exactly what McDonald did. All I remember is he hung around Major Nelson a lot.
In front of us is a stack of 33 1/3 rpm records left behind by fellow Blues when they went back to the ‘World’.

I still have these old record albums in my closet but haven’t played them for thirty-nine years. One of these days I’m going to purchase a turntable so I can listen to some of my old favorites, among them is an album called ‘HARRY’ by Harry Nilsson. That record album was given to me by John (Mike) Cody a fellow Blue.

John is second from right in the picture below…

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Our medic (?), Cadenhead, Struck, Cody & Roger
‘Cavalier Blue’ Mike La Chance is stooped down in front of Staff Sergeant David Roger perhaps studying a map to locate our position. We all look a bit lost…

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Here is a picture of Roy McDonald in front of Charlie Troop Operations bunker. Maybe he was Operations Sergeant, but as I recall he was a Specialist 5.

I just spent an hour on the phone today with New York State Senator Roy McDonald. Roy was one my best friends in Vietnam and after all these years, we had plenty to talk about.
I wasn’t one bit surprised when I found out he entered politics. I had a feeling that was his calling.
Roy told me his MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in Vietnam was an Artillery Forward Observer.
And now we know…

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The Operations bunker was heavily fortified in the event of a mortar attack.

Another trip to Binh Hoa.

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October 30, 2009 · 2:24 am

Charlie Troop Mail Clerk


An offer I couldn’t refuse

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And I got ‘wheels’

My meeting with ‘Top’ (First Sergeant) was brief and to the point. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He said my records on file, qualified me to be the mail clerk for Charlie Troop. Prior to being drafted into the Army, I took a Civil Service correspondence course and at Fort Knox, I got a license to drive a military vehicle.

Along with sorting Charlie Troop mail this job would require me to toot around Phuoc Vinh in a 1/4-ton Jeep running errands and chauffeur for the upper brass. Another duty was taking dirty laundry down to Phuoc Vinh Village to be cleaned for a select few Charlie Troop ‘lifers’.

Was I going to be bored with this type of job? Would I miss the adrenalin rush I got from combat situations with the Blues? How about pulling blood sucking leeches off of my body after humping through the hot steamy jungle all day? Could I possibly miss any of these things with this new job?

The more I thought about being a mail clerk this late in my tour just made good sense and my chances of going back to the ‘World’ in one piece and not in a body bag would definitely improve…

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October 25, 2009 · 5:01 pm

Time for a Change


I was to meet with ‘Top’ in his office

If you are right handed, writing a letter with your left hand can be quite a chore. With my right hand in a cast, I wrote only a couple of letters in a month’s time to my family back in the ‘World’ to let them know I still existed.

While I was convalescing from my injury on the greenline the days were quite boring and uneventful. The hardest thing was watching my friends (Blues) leave on daily missions, and I had to stay back.

One day ‘Top’ (Charlie Troop First Sergeant) walked up to me and wanted to know If I was ready for a change. We both entered ‘Country’ about the same time (March 1970) so he knew how long I had been with the Blues. He wanted to meet with me in his office in thirty minutes (I was there in ten)…

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Charlie Troop jeep parked next to the orderly room

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October 24, 2009 · 3:20 pm

AFVN (Armed Forces Vietnam Network)


AFVN was there to Support the Troops

The Armed Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN) provided US soldiers with radio and television programs during the Vietnam War. They played an important role in keeping the troops informed and entertained.

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Pictured above is AFVN announcer Billy Williams with the Orient Express radio program from Saigon…

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October 24, 2009 · 1:55 pm

Got a Break


Broke my thumb in a Bizarre Accident

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and all was quiet except for outgoing artillery going off behind us. Staff Sgt. David Roger, and I was sitting on top of a perimeter bunker on the greenline of Phuoc Vinh firebase. We had a transistor radio and were taking in tunes from a radio station in Saigon (VAFN), which made our guard duty more enjoyable.

I recall what song was playing when my backwards descend began as sandbags I was sitting on gave way. It was “Spill The Wine” by Eric Burdon and War. As I picked myself up off the ground I knew I injured my right hand when I tried to break my fall of about ten feet.

Sgt. Roger couldn’t believe what had just happened and that made two of us. He got on the radio and called for a jeep to take me to the first aid station to get checked out. After X-rays, it was determined that my thumb was indeed broken. They put a cast on my hand, gave me some pain meds and I was on my way.

At that point, I was wondering what Charlie Troop was going to do with me while I was on the mend. I wouldn’t be on any Blues missions for a while in this condition…

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October 18, 2009 · 6:16 pm

Susan Anton


She performed with the Miss America USO Show in Phuoc Vinh

3868417319_5a363be8081 1970 Miss America (Pam Eldrid) with Her Six Runners-up Susan Anton (3rd from left) As I was reading ‘Snake Pilot” by Randy Zahn this morning, I learned something new about the Miss America USO Show that we both attended in a helicopter hanger in Phuoc Vinh. One of the six Miss America Runners-up were Susan Anton before she became famous.4034593870_442e2b7828_m Susan Ellen Anton (born on October 12, 1950 in Oak Glen, California) is an American actress, best known for her role as “Susan Williams” in the various Stop Susan Williams!-related television series and television movies. A 5 ft 11 in. beauty, Susan Anton first experienced fame by winning the Miss California contest in 1969. She was later named one of TIME magazine’s “Most Promising Faces of 1979.” She has also starred in her own variety show, Presenting Susan Anton, and acted in the films Goldengirl, Spring Fever, and Cannonball Run 2. In the early 1990s Susan Anton was well known for dating English film and TV star Dudley Moore with much being made of their height difference (he was 5 ft 2.5 in. or 1.59 m tall)…

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October 10, 2009 · 11:55 am

Pink Team


Hunter-Killer Team

These were a group of two helicopters a Loach, White platoon and a Cobra gun ship, Red platoon. The concept was the Loach would fly low and in tight circles to draw enemy fire. Then when the enemy was spotted the Cobra would use their fire power (miniguns and rockets) to attack.

When the situation warranted, the Blues would be inserted to fix the enemy until a larger force could be committed to the area. The Blues would also search out bunker complexes, possible cache sites, and conduct ground reconnaissance.
The Pink team would provide air cover for the Blues at all times while on the ground.

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WO Randy R. Zahn (Cobra pilot) & WO Walker A. Jones (Loach and Cobra pilot)
Gunner SGT Ford (back)
Photo by Walker A. Jones

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I recently purchased Randy Zahn’s book “Snake Pilot”. As I read it, I felt right back in the thick of things because Randy flew ‘high bird’ on many missions while I was on the ground with the Blues. As Blue India I had direct radio contact with him on numerous occasions. He gives a very detailed account of events as they unfolded before and during his Vietnam tour. He arrived in Vietnam shortly before the 1970 U.S. Invasion of Cambodia and was a Cobra pilot in Charlie Troop, 1/9th.

Zahn writes with authority about the duties and responsibilities of the high bird in a Pink team, the armed helicopter from the troop’s Red (weapons) platoon that kept watch over the Loach (light observation helicopter) from the white (scout) platoon. As a 19-year-old, fresh out of flight school, he went through a five-month apprenticeship in the front seat to qualify as an aircraft commander (AC). As an AC, he had responsibility not only for his own aircraft and the life of his front seater, but also for the little bird and its crew, the Hueys from the Lift platoon that inserted the Blues of the aero-rifle platoon and the Blues themselves once they were on the ground…

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On March 12th, 2000 Walker A. Jones started the Charlie Troop 1/9th message board on Yahoo, which currently has 130 members. It is a way for current and former members, family and true friends of Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), Vietnam, 1965-71 to communicate with each other. Walker moderated the message board for many years from his distant home in France almost daily and recently moved back to the States.

This board has reconnected many men who served together while with Charlie Troop 1/9th during the Vietnam War. Many thanks to Walker for his dedication in keeping Charlie Troop spirit alive…

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