Most people will remember April 4, 1968 as the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated. While that was a more histrionically important event, that date will always seired in my mind as the date of a battle we fought in Vietnam. I was only in country for a couple of months and the loss of comr
Published: Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 @ 10:20 am
By: Tony Adams
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A heart warming story about Ann Margret and her Vietnam gentlemen.
Published: Sunday, December 24th, 2023 @ 11:25 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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This is what I call making a difference. If you are or have ever had a teacher like this, say a private or public thank you if they are still around.
Published: Monday, June 6th, 2022 @ 11:26 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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I am writing my most difficult book report ever at 70 years old. It is about another GI I did not know, and an enemy I never wanted to know. Yet we were all in the same place forty-eight years ago along with a bunch of others, with us trying to kill him and his comrades and him trying to kill us
Published: Monday, May 30th, 2022 @ 1:03 pm
By: Tony Adams
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Many may have heard of Desmond Doss, Here is another hero's story. I knew him.
Published: Tuesday, January 26th, 2021 @ 1:32 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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As a Dustoff Pilot, I would fly out for pick-ups in the field. Each day I would see the conditions that the ground troops had to endure and I would draw comparisons to my own situation.
Published: Sunday, October 18th, 2020 @ 8:07 am
By: Alex J. Ortolano
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Just two bad days in a long year
Published: Sunday, May 24th, 2020 @ 9:00 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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Long goodbyes have a finality that I have avoided most of my life.
Published: Sunday, May 24th, 2020 @ 1:36 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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Most of my stories to the grandkids start with believe it or not. In 1963, believe it or not, my school was segregated and the only confusion was with two ethnic Japanese sisters.
Published: Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 @ 9:23 am
By: Ted McDonald
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The war with France in 1946 and a final war with Cambodia in 1978 are like book ends to 30 years of conflict. Maybe West Point studies this one.
Published: Saturday, April 21st, 2018 @ 5:26 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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In 1960s Jungle, you could not call a taxi. You could radio base for a Chopper ride and mark your clearing with Smoke.
Published: Tuesday, April 17th, 2018 @ 9:56 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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The Military has a simple 10 week method to determine mental health ... called boot camp.
Published: Monday, April 16th, 2018 @ 3:28 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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Cambodian Genocide (The Killing Fields) was the dream of Pol Pot to return Cambodia to an agrarian society by murdering the elite.
Published: Wednesday, April 11th, 2018 @ 6:17 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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Vietnamese are not fond of mixed children and I am told the Chinese offered to send troops but got a 'thanks but no thanks'.
Published: Sunday, April 8th, 2018 @ 9:08 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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I truly wish that our founding fathers had been a bit more clear on what they meant when writing the 2nd Amendment but numerous contemporaneous writings clearly show their intent was for individual possession and ownership of firearms.
Published: Saturday, March 17th, 2018 @ 9:06 am
By: Bobby Tony
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One of my Standard Operating Procedures when I hear of a Vietnam Veteran in the news is to research them to find the 'Story behind the Story.
Published: Friday, March 2nd, 2018 @ 1:56 am
By: Bobby Tony
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"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL"
Published: Tuesday, January 30th, 2018 @ 10:50 am
By: Bobby Tony
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The recent hurricane Irma reminded me of one of the now primitive techniques we used during 1968-1969 in Vietnam.
Published: Friday, September 22nd, 2017 @ 4:25 am
By: Bobby Tony
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Alex Ortolano recently posted an article here on BCN which explained how a Medivac crew located and picked up wounded soldiers during his tour in 1965. Here is another tribute to those Lunatics of the Sky.
Published: Saturday, April 8th, 2017 @ 7:25 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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The documentary shows the tactics of both sides. I have not seen another documentary with these details. This battle was between Australians and Vietnamese.
Published: Monday, March 20th, 2017 @ 12:40 am
By: Ted McDonald
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I did not serve with Lt. General Harold Moore but I benefited from his trail blazing techniques in the use of helicopter warfare. May have possible seen the movie about the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14-15, 1965 at LZ X-Ray in South Vietnam.
Published: Saturday, February 18th, 2017 @ 12:30 am
By: Bobby Tony
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Here are the North Vietnamese. No series would be complete without mentioning both sides of a conflict. South Vietnamese communist were labeled Viet Cong.
Published: Thursday, January 12th, 2017 @ 1:06 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) surrendered in 1975 ending foreign domination started by the French in 1861.
Published: Tuesday, January 10th, 2017 @ 4:59 am
By: Ted McDonald
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New Zealand provided a force of combat soldiers despite protests at home. A total of 3800 served in combat resulting in 37 killed in action and 187 wounded.
Published: Monday, January 9th, 2017 @ 5:52 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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The battle of Tra Binh Dong was between the South Koreans and North Vietnamese.
Published: Sunday, January 8th, 2017 @ 2:47 am
By: Ted McDonald
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The Army had a detailed method for accounting for the location and duty status of each soldier in each unit. Each unit submitted a morning report showing strength and number of soldiers in each unit as of the date of the report.
Published: Tuesday, December 20th, 2016 @ 5:21 am
By: Bobby Tony
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For many civilians, the memories of a military event are an abstract memory. However, for the participants it is the faces, names, and specific events that mark the event. Here are some of their stories.
Published: Wednesday, December 7th, 2016 @ 4:56 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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An average day in the life of a grunt in the II Corp area Northeast of Saigon in 1968 consisted of Eagle Flights. We would form groups of six in two columns. The Huey helicopters would come in to pick us up. Usually three men from each side would upload on the Hueys.
Published: Saturday, November 26th, 2016 @ 8:36 am
By: Bobby Tony
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A visit from an old combat buddy rekindles the guilt and angst again.
Published: Wednesday, November 16th, 2016 @ 2:54 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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I recently had a chance to reconnect with a fellow Combat Brother after 48 years.
Published: Tuesday, November 15th, 2016 @ 12:50 am
By: Bobby Tony
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Survival techniques that are not so useful back in "The World."
Published: Monday, September 19th, 2016 @ 3:01 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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Below are some pictures from the Charlie Company Website. This was the field meals as delivered by helicopter in case quantity. Usually the case was opened (sometimes using the old M16 prong flash suppressor as shown on left below – put over wire and twist until broken) and then turned upside down
Published: Saturday, August 13th, 2016 @ 2:40 pm
By: Bobby Tony
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The US Army can train an infantry man in 10 weeks after a 10 week boot camp.
Published: Saturday, August 6th, 2016 @ 4:09 pm
By: Ted McDonald
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My memory is cloudy on this exact dates but sometime around March or April 1968 we made an incursion into Cambodia.
Published: Wednesday, July 6th, 2016 @ 1:47 am
By: Bobby Tony
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