VIETNAM DIARY October 1966

In a letter I wrote on this day I wrote that I was picking up commercial radio stations out of Japan. I hear American music just like it was an American station. Here are the lists of songs that I mentioned hearing off of the Japanese station:

Getting closer to Japan and I tell my girlfriend that my favorite song from the Summer of 1966 is playing on Japanese radio:

It's funny, one of my favorite songs of the 80s was another Kink's song "Come Dancing" which was very relatable as I had three older sisters and experienced a lot of those memories from the old days back in the 50s.

One station in Japan is playing Beatle and Chubby Checker songs exclusively! at least on that night.

It's strange how I wrote so many small experiences that would have been lost forever had I not written it in a letter home. One of them was what I wrote to my girlfriend about hearing an obscure Chubby Checker song that the Japanese played on that night. I asked Linda, my girlfriend at the time (and later my first wife) if she remembered the Chubby Checker single that came out in 1964 that I was hearing. It was called Trouble, Trouble and I challenge any of us to recall it without listening to it first. I know I didn't recall it until I found it on YouTube. I wrote Linda that what made me recall it was that I saw him do it on the show Shindig.

Photo taken from an old Kinescope recording showing the actual time on Shindig when Chubby Checker debuted the song "Lovely Lovely.

Mail was being collected on this day for the final day before we arrived in Okinawa.

On this day I wrote to my mother, "Last night was pretty exciting. One of my buddies, Johnny Martel, woke me up at 1 AM. The ventilation system in our compartment was not working and air was not being pushed into our compartment. We are down on the 4th deck with no portholes and it got stifling down here.

"Hey, Bill, Bill, there's no air down here. I've heard about things like this happening. It's not going to happen to me, not me. I'm getting out of here." I wrote that I kidded Johnny, telling him, "Don't get panicky. Take it easy. You can't get up on deck anyhow because they lock the doors up there on the outside." Johnny's eyes widened and he said, "What do you mean, they lock the doors up there. I'm getting out of here!"

I followed him upstairs but before that I dropped from my bunk and I noticed there were guys allover the floor! On the bunk below me Skip Barnhart was half in and half out of his bunk and looked weak. I told him Johnny and I were going up to the top deck to get some air. Skip looked up at me with sad eyes and said, "Go, save yourself. I'm too weak to make it."

As it turned out we all survived the evening. I don't know where exactly Johnny slept, but I napped on a coil of heavy rope. It wasn't very comfortable, but plainly softer than the steel deck. An hour we went back to the compartment and were delighted to see that the circulator was back functioning. I did mention that when that air was being pumped in it was pretty cool for us and I was about five feet from the discharge end. It got even better after Johnny and I figured out that if we took the screws off the grate we could direct the air right on top of us.

I mentioned to my Mom that we were told that we would have R&R (rest and recreation) six months after our tour begins. I mention that I want to got to Hawaii (later I learn how expensive it is there and opt to go to Taipei). Hawaii was a favorite for the married men as they could meet their wives there. That must have been tough to end those meetings; having to say goodbye a second time.

I note last pick up of mail was to take place at 1200 hrs on October 6th for an Okinawa mailing.

"We've had calm seas for about a week now. Nothing like the north Pacific where the seas were very rough.

Meals are not as bad as they were earlier. Breakfast is real bad news. We have the same meal for breakfast each morning. They give us a little container of milk, warm and far from fresh. I guess it's better than nothing."

As we get closer to Japan I am able to pick up many more radio stations. I mention hearing this song:

On this day, Dave Cunningham went to some of his Platoon friends and had them sign this two dollar bill. He kept it for forty-nine years and during the 2015 reunion in Erie PA Dave donated the souvenir to the Alpha Association. It is still in perfect condition after half a century.

I flipped it so you could read what was written on that 2nd side: 'Bound for Vietnam, Oct 4, 1966' is clearly visible. On the side is written 'USNS Gen Nelson M Walker'. You can see that he also wrote 'Wpns (weapons) Plt, A/2/12 Inf' on that side.

"We're due in Okinawa tomorrow" Our progress was being impeded by having only one of our screws (propellers) working. I believe that was because of boiler issues.

"We're around 500 miles from Okinawa now. I'm listening to Okinawa radio and they are broadcasting the World Series (Dodgers are playing the Orioles in this first game." This day the Orioles win 5-2 and would eventually sweep the Dodgers in 4 straight.)

"It is raining on and off this morning and it's keeping the temperatures nice and cool"

"The next time I get paid will probably be in November because they tell us it will take a while to set up finances. What I need is stamps to pay for packages. Letters go for free. I want to send home the film in my camera so you can have it developed"

I had only two dollars left and I had to turn that in because use American money in Vietnam They are going to pay us in MPCs (Military Payment Certificates). I'll send one back. It will make a good souvenir."

Later In a letter that I wrote at night I complained to Linda that I was picking up mainly Japanese language radio stations and decided to go on deck and watch two movies on this night. The first one was called "Father Goose" with Cary Grant, the second movie was the Jerry Lewis movie" The Disorderly Orderly". Both movies were, again, from 1964, two years earlier. Starting to see a trend? I guess the army probably figured that we saw these movies with our girlfriends at a Drive In Theater and probably missed most of it anyway....I guess.

Apparently after the movie, I was able to find a station that was playing American music and I mention hearing this minor hit of Johnny Tillotson that came out in, you guessed it, 1964.

It's amusing now thinking back to those rock and roll songs that were merely an upgrade of standards that went back decades in America. 'My Own True Love' is a perfect example of that practice. That song was originally performed by the MGM Studios Band in 1939 to be used as the theme for the classic movie, 'Gone With The Wind'. It was then called Tara's Theme. It would be another 8 years before Margaret Whiting would perform the song with lyrics and the title was changed to "My Own True Love". Add a little doo wop and you get the Duprees song It's no wonder that our parents would hear those old songs and said, "Gee, they're brought back that old song again?" We would naively respond, "No Mom, that song just came out two weeks ago." Ah, to be young again!

The next song I mentioned hearing that night in the letter home was one today I had to find on YouTube to remember. It charted at 32 and came out the month before we sailed to Vietnam.

This group broke up but their lead singer would return to music in the 80s scoring a big hit on the pop charts called

In country music he was known as the 'Gentle Giant'. After 6 decades of touring he decided to hang up his guitar and has stopped touring. He was then 77 years old then.

As you can tell, we had a lot of time, with little to do onboard and writing home helped us pass the time during the long tedious voyage.

"It's morning now. It won't be long before we reach Okinawa. I'm listening to a radio station that is broadcasting the World Series." This is the second day and after the drubbing the Dodgers took the day before, it wasn't much better the next day:

Game 2/

  Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Baltimore Orioles            0  0  0    0  3  1    0  2  0     6  8  0
    Los Angeles Dodgers          0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0     0  4  6

Both games were played at Dodger stadium!

We arrived in Okinawa at 10AM and spend the day here. Earlier troops were allowed off their ships and it took hours to round them up so

we are confined to ship except  for a short period where we went on the dock to do physical training.

"By Sunday (October 9^th) or Monday (October 10^th)we should be in the Big V. I'm very curious as to how the people are over there.

It's going to feel strange being a foreigner for a change."

DATE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1966

We begin leaving Okinawa at 7am.

I took that picture above that morning as we left the pier. It shows two Japanese ships in the harbor.

To Linda, I wrote, " I heard these songs broadcast from an Okinawa station:

"I Really Don't Want to Know", Ronnie Dove

"I've got You Under My Skin", The Four Seasons

I also mention that the pick hit of that week in Okinawa was this song. Boy did they get that wrong. It reached #48 on the charts and died.

"Please Mr. Sun", The Vogues

On this morning we found out that the mail that we were hoping to get from home had not arrived in Okinawa in time to be put on the ship.

"Everyone onboard seems to be very quiet this morning. You can tell that we are getting close. It won't be long now and everyone realizes that.

We are now heading to the South China Sea."

We are now getting closer to Vietnam and we notice that there is a ship in the distance. We've not been told but we suspect that it may be an escort as we are approaching Vietnam and we are due at Vung Tau, Vietnam in two days.

"The further south we travel the warmer it should get, but it isn't much warmer than it was for the last two weeks. The difference is the intensity of the sun. If you stay on the shady side of the ship it's really rather pleasant.

I wonder of you could send me some film for my camera. I think we may have a problem getting film (actually it was a problem for the first few months anyway. Color Film for our cameras was scarce and we had to make due with color slide film for a while if we wanted to shoot in color).

I own a Kodak 104 Instamatic camera that takes size 126 film. I get 20 pictures using that cartridge. (Actually you got 24 pictures from one cartridge...see below)

We were told where we were going this morning. The name of the place is Ben Cat and it's 60 miles northeast of Saigon. (actually we never went to Ben Cat which is situated on the northeast corner of the Iron Triangle northwest of Saigon. See map below.) There is suppose to be many rice paddies and rubber trees located there. (Dau Tieng had not only the largest rubber plantation in Vietnam, the Michelin Plantation, but many rice paddies in the area).

On this day, we are told that we were going down the coast of South Vietnam, and this first picture was taken by Frank Balasus who had been with us since basic training. It shows the first sighting of Vietnam for us guys.

The second picture was also taken by Frank and it shows from left to right, Frank, Robert Carter and John Geraghty, all 2nd Platoon members:

"It's now 9:30 AM and Vietnam is now off the right side of the ship. We have been following the Vietnam coast for about two hours now.

It's clear out here but you can see heavy clouds hugging the mountain range I see here. I suspect that we are seeing the southern half of the Central Highlands"

"We see long sandy beaches along the coast. It's really quite a sight to see. As for now we're not sure how long we will be in the harbor before we are brought to shore. They tell us it may take 4 or 5 days before everyone makes it to shore.

Tonight I saw the first signs that a war is going on along the mountains. We see flares and flashes in the hills. As far as we are out, we can still hear them. There are many naval ships all around I presume to protect us while we are on the ship. We can even see an aircraft carrier nearby."

We anchored off the Cap de St. Jacques (Vung Tau) this morning. The mail from home arrived on this evening. We are told that we will be brought to shore on Friday or Saturday. We made it to shore on Friday.

On this day we were told that we would not be going to Ben Cat, but not told where we were destined to be sent to eventually.

For the next three days, we wait as other units of our brigade are brought to shore. We spent our evenings on deck where we would see occasional flashes in the distance from artillery strikes. It seemed so surreal to us.

Somewhere around 9AM we climbed down the side of the ship on nets ("Hold only the vertical ropes to assure no one steps on your fingers"). We landed small floating barge where we lined up to board the Landing Craft which would take us to a waiting welcome group at Vung Tau. The picture above was taken by a B/2/12 who were on deck preparing to next go down to the barge to board another LC. It was obtained from Paul LaRock for our archives.

I got this photo out of a military history book that I use for research. Although it doesn't show us as we were greeted on that morning, the reception committee was very similar. Thee welcome was accorded to us by Vietnamese dignitaries, military figures and of course those beautiful young ladies dressed in their best Ao Dai dresses. As we passed by them the band was playing a rousing rendition of "Stars and Striped Forever". How appropriate as the 12^th Infantry Regiment helped to attain victory at Fort McHenry which inspired Francis Scott Key to wrote our National Anthem.

This photo shows some of the men from the second platoon as they prepare to board trucks to take us to Bear Cat, our first duty station. The base named after Camp Martin Cox was originally a French artillery base, later used by the Japanese in WWII and eventually the Special Forces of the US and the 1st Division occupied the base up to the point of our arrival. In January it was taken over by the 9th Division upon their arrival in Vietnam.

This photo shows the movement to Bearcat as we passed by a number of small villages on our way north. It was taken by 2/77th artilleryman John Mascaro and used with his permission.

This photo was taken as we pulled into Bear Cat and was provided by Fred Berardi.

This photo was provided by Porter Harvey and it shows members of A Company's Third Platoon that was taken just after they got off the vehicle that took them to Bear Cat.

This photo is from my collection and was taken on that first day at Camp Martin Cox. It shows Jim Hey, my hometown buddy and me as we settled into Vietnam.

"I'm now in a base camp near a place called Bear Cat, 30 miles form Saigon. We got here around noontime. The first thing I noticed about Vietnam were the kids. They cold soften the coldest heart. They lined up on the sides of the road, laughing, waving and clapping in their own way with their fists closed. They seemed so happy, yet, pitiful.

I'm glad that you received my letters that were sent from Okinawa. You got two of the three letters so far. Good.

I'm told that the monsoon season is over and now it is very dry and hot. The sun is very hot, but not unbearable.

"Bear Cat was the home of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division and they have now moved out.

Falling asleep is a bit of a problem as all night long our artillery is firing rounds out at suspected enemy locations. They fire about eight rounds out every ten minutes as I reckon. Next comes flares which regularly are fired off. My tent is about fifty yards off the berm set up around our base. Extending beyond the perimeter is barbed wire and mines, so we feel pretty safe here.

Men on the line seem to be jumpy as last night there were quite a few of them firing off across the berm. This happened throughout the night.

As far as the boat voyage, all I can say is I didn't get sick. A lot of guys were not so lucky".

"It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the hottest part of the day. The sun is searing over here. I'm in a hut and it's not too bad here. I have a telephone, two radios and a switchboard to watch. I am monitoring the radio transmission from Alpha Company's men on the perimeter and transmitting the situation there on up to battalion.

Armed Forces Radio plays a variety of music. From 7 to 8 at night they play just pop music. During the day they mix it up. They play a lot of Oldies but Goodies on the station. This morning I heard "I'm So Lonely I Could Cry" by BJ Thomas . (This song was written by Hank Williams in 1949 and inspired by his rocky relations with his wife Audrey. It was covered by many singers, but the one that most of us young people recalled was the BJ Thomas version which came out in early 1966.)" Another one of our favorite songs is playing, "Dear Heart" by the Andy Williams. Different meaning over here."

"Just like the song we sang to in the summer, "Sunny Afternoon", I'm sipping on an ice cold beer. There's plenty of beer here and cheap too, ten cents a can! Surprisingly, coca cola costs more here than it does in the states. Those cost fifteen cents a can."

"It's Sunday now and I'm listening to my radio and guess what song they are playing. It's an Oldie but a Goodie, but I mean really an Oldie. They are playing the 1928 song, "Vagabond Lover" by Rudy Vallee. Nothing but the best from Armed Forces Radio. ( I didn't realize it back then, but old Rudy wrote that song.)

Charlie, as the enemy is affectionately known here, paid us a visit last night. Around our base camp there is a wall of dirt maybe 5 feet high with defensive positions dug into them. We don't man all the positions but we keep moving around so the enemy doesn't know which positions are manned.

From one of those positions the men could hear digging out in front of them. We don't shoot at what we hear because the flash from our rifles would give our positions away. Instead, we throw hand grenades. We wanted to see what was out there by using our starlight scope, but they hadn't been unpacked yet. Eventually, they were scared off. We checked to see if they had planted some booby traps at daybreak. We didn't find any.

It's 2:30 PM and it's very hot with the temperature over 100 degrees. There is rarely a breeze. The Vietnamese who work in the camp are not affected by these temperatures, so I guess you get used to it."

"I just a visitor in the communications tent today. Paul LaRock came over to tell me that your sister wrote him a letter and he was going to write to her. (Paul wasn't getting any mail so I set him up with Linda's sister as a pen pal).

I don't get to see Jim Heys as much as I used to as he's still in Third Platoon and I'm in HQ. He tells me that he and Linda are getting along just fine and he hears from him often (Linda and Jim have now been married close to fifty years).

We got paid today. We got paid for the 1st Division Finance unit which is set up here. I got paid $57. but I can't buy anything here but beer, soda and cigarettes. Cokes are 15 cents, beer is 10 cents and cigarettes are $1.20 a carton. Neither the beer or the cokes are cold as we have no ice to cool them. The PX has been out of cigarettes since last Friday so we've been getting our cigarettes from C Rations that we 'borrowed' from the 1st Division.

We got more mailed today. The letters I got on the 16^th were postmarked on the 12^th, so you see it's not taking long to get to us.

I received the Kool Aid that you sent. The only problem is right now there is not a lot of water to be had here. (I don't explain why that is the case) What water I have had is not bad tasting, but pretty warm. (I should have asked to send me ice, I guess).

I just came form getting a haircut at a Vietnamese barbershop. The barber did a good job using only hand clippers and a straight razor on the hair on my neck. He charges 40 cents but I gave him a dollar.

I also brought my laundry to a place called Lee Lee's, a Vietnamese laundry. They charge 16 cents to have a pair of fatigues washed, pressed and sometimes you even get them starched.

You would never believe how big this base camp is. I've done a lot of walking around and my guess is it's about the length of Brooklawn Park to Coggeshall St in New Bedford. (I got one dimension pretty close when I came up with that figure. From Brooklawn Park to Coggeshall St is exactly 1.16 miles. Bear Cat was 1.25 by 2.5 miles in size. On that map you can see where Chris and I have lived for the last thirty years on the corner of Brooklawn Avenue and Seabury St. I show it as a star).

"This afternoon we had a swam of hornets attacking our tent area. We all jumped under our mosquito nets and that kept us safe. We've already spotted two scorpions so we've got to be on our toes. We occasionally see a rat running around here and at nights we've seen runaway pigs running around. We never really feel alone. (Nothing like reassuring Mom!)

Today I finally had a chance to make it over to the Brigade PX. I picked up writing paper, cigarettes and some peanuts. That's all they had to eat there. I tried to buy film for my camera, but they didn't have the size I needed for my camera.

We get our mail at 7PM, even on Sundays. Tonight I have radio watch from 7-10.

The artillery during the evening doesn't seem to be as heavy as it was during the earlier period.

There are a number of Vietnamese women who work at the camp. They're all pretty small in stature. They have a laid back attitude about how they go about their work, but are generally friendly to the GIs around here.

We were guarded by a very large group of soldiers that we saw on both sides of the roads that we took. There were American troops, South Vietnamese troops and even some Australian troops. The Australian troops stood out for me. They seemed very friendly and happy-go-lucky. By that I mean all the Aussies that I saw along the road along the way were that way. The American units that I saw were from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the First Division, which I'm told had the highest casualty rate of any American unit in Vietnam (no telling what that means. Could very well have been the fact that they were banging it out with the 9th VC Division in War Zone C and D).

Today I exchanged $10 worth of MPCs for Vietnamese money. I'm sending you 20 ps (which is short for 'piastre' named after the French word for 'dollar'. See those 9 years in a French Catholic grade school didn't got for nothing). That 20 piastres is worth about 20 cents in our money. They don't use coins here at all. I got 1180 piastres for my $10. worth of MPCs.

This is the images of the front and back of that 20 piastre bill that I sent home that day. Look real close and you can see the head of dragons that is inscribed in the white circles on each side of the bill. You have to look close.

I also received my Liquor, Beer and Cigarette Ration card. We have to use it each time we buy any of those items. Right now only officers can purchase liquor. (That changed later)."

This is that ration card that was given to me at Bear Cat. As you can see, I used it mainly for cigarettes, but for the most part we got what we needed in the sundries pack out in the field. I bought no beer mainly because if we were in camp, we'd go to the enlisted men's club for a cool one. Once January rolled around we were mostly in the field and you'll see that I didn't buy anything that I needed the ration card for during this period. Note also the date that I received my ration card, 18 Oct 66. this day fifty years ago. The letter was correct.

Jim Heys is on a detail riding shot gun in a convoy from the camp to the port and back here. I think he is suppose to be doing that until Saturday. Apparently there is still a lot of gear on the ship. When Jim was out on ambush patrol the other night he told me that they heard some VC passed close to his patrol but never saw them. This happened at 1:30AM.

One of the 2/22^nd guys on the line shot at one of our patrols as they were going out on patrol. Lucky they were a lousy shot and no one was hit."

"They told us that we would be going out on a Company size patrol next week. In your letter you told me that you were helping Laura (Linda's sister) write letters to Paul LaRock. You asked for a picture of Paul, so I'll take one and send it to Laura.

It's like the 4th of July now as they are test firing mortars putting up a FPL (Final Protective Line) along the perimeter.

No I've never heard the song "Winchester Cathedral" Maybe I'll hear it at church on Sunday?

From 7 to 8 PM they play "Sounds of the Sixties" on Armed Forces Radio. Want to hear something funny. I can only pick up two radio stations that speak English. One is AFR and the other is Radio Peking broadcasting from Red China. Radio Peking is funny sometimes. Last night I was listening to their propaganda, which is the only thing that they broadcast. They were knocking down the Russians for taking sides with the US in Vietnam. (This period was very tense between the two Communist nations. it would change significantly)

One thing I noticed about the nights here so far is the dampness. A lot of guys have sore throats but so far I haven't suffered that. The letters are coming through pretty quickly here. It seems to be a priority for the army. Oh yeah, I heard that we're in Ben Hoa Province if that helps any. Below is a modern map outlining Ben Hoa Province. Most if not all the villages are gone today so it's difficult to mark exactly where Bear Cat was located but I think it's close. That large body of water was not there when we were there. It is probably another major reservoir that was built after the war, like Lake Dau Tieng.

I won't be able to write tomorrow because we're going out on a Company size operation. They are predicting it to last 36 hours, but that could change. They say we'll be getting to the area where we will be patrolling by helicopter and they are calling it a search and destroy mission. I don't know where we'll be going but that is not unusual. They did tell us to pack our duffel bags, just in case it's longer than expected.

What follows is what I wrote home late on the 21^st about what took place on the Company size 36 hour operation of October 20^th/21^st

" Our first Company sized operation just ended after less than 36 hours out in the field. The operation was a search and clear operation where we searched the area within 5 kilometers of base camp. At the end of Thursday we set up a night defense perimeter and sent out ambush patrols in the area.

It was a relatively uneventful operation. We fund a small tunnel that showed signs of being used by 'Charlie" We tossed a grenade down it and blew it up. We heard an echo of the blast about 75 yards away and when we investigated where the sound came from we discovered the exit of the earlier found tunnel. We sent someone down to check it out and all they found was an empty pack of Vietnamese cigarettes and a dead bat, probably killed by the hand grenade.

Aside from that we captured a few civilians who were not supposed to be in the area that we operated. There were 10 of them and they were all seemed to be woodcutters. Each had their own bicycles which carried their tools used to cut trees. They were classified detainees and flown out on helicopters to be questioned and probably released. The hardest thing around here seems to be determining who is friendly and who is enemy.

While we were out in the jungle we split the night sleeping half of the night with another man.

I got two letters from home today (the 21^st) which were postmarked on October 17^th, which is pretty incredible. Judging by what I have received from back home, my mail is not getting back to you as quickly.

We will be staying here in the Bear Cat Area for the next two months. (we actually stayed there for five weeks).

We are facing three North Vietnamese Battalions down here. (Technically, we were facing primarily the three battalions of the 9^th VC Division of Vietcong, then made up of mostly local soldiers reinforced with additional North Vietnamese troops).

I have been told who will take our place here at Bear Cat once we leave. (Seeing as I never mention who would take over the base, I have no way of knowing if I was really aware who would replace us. The Ninth Division arrived at Bear Cat on December 16^th and were based there until they were sent south to the Mekong Delta region which they patrolled for the remaining time in Vietnam).