.....In 1962 Viet Nam was not anissue. If there was any mention it was on a back page. In 1962 I was22 years old and bouncing around from one small job to another and Iwanted to pursue my career as a professional photographer butcouldn't because I hadn't been drafted yet. So on a cold November daywhile on my lunch break I made the decision to Enlist in the Army. Ichoose the Army because they guaranteed the school of your choice. Iwas to take the Oath on February 3, 1963 and proceed to Fort LeonardWood, Mo. but the Mid U. S. was in the grips of a sever cold snap.The Butt Cans were freezing in the barracks at Leonard Wood and theentire base closed. I was diverted to Fort Ord in Sunny California.After 10 weeks of basic I went to Fort Monmouth in New Jersey forspecialized training as a Photo Lab Technician / Photographer. Duringthe indoctrination into the School we were asked to specify a dutytheater where we wanted to go after school. Out of 200 students 199asked for Japan and the Pacific and One asked for Germany. I wantedsome of those famous cameras.
.....In my barracks everyone hadreceived orders for Europe and as yet I had none. One afternoon as Iwas returning from class and my name was posted on the board and itsaid; Pvt. Donnelly, 23SWAD Viet Nam. What is a 23SWAD? I asked andthere is a war over there! I went to the Old Man and asked him if heknew what a 23SWAD was and he said he didn't know but he knew someoneat the Pentagon and would find out. Almost immediately he receivedthe curt reply, " DON'T ASK, if you want to keep your bars. Just gethim on a train to California. 1 week latter I was boarding a UnitedAirlines 707 MATTS flight, with real Stewardess and 36 hours latterwe were doing what I was to latter learn was a combat landing in a707 at an airfield with an unpronounceable name at a place namedSaigon. My first impression was of utter shock when they cracked openthe hatch and was met with an almost unbearable rush of hot, humidair.
.....In 1963, the command in Nam wasfragmented at best. There were no central locations where recordswere stored and it was up to you to find them before you could reportto your unit. For instance my medical records were in Plie Ku and theonly way to get there was to hop a flight and pick them up. Quite afeat for a Raw Recruit. Then you had to find your own transportationto your unit. If I thought that finding out what a 23SWAD was toughat Monmouth , it was an even better kept secret in Nam. Finally Ifound them at a place called Nha Trang. The only problem no one wasflying there. It took three attempts on 3 C-123's to finally getthere. The first time we tried to land the wind was so great that wealmost crashed and we aborted. The second time, we made it to theground but the field was under small arms fire and so that landingwas aborted. After 3 weeks in country I finally made it to Nha Trangand found the 23rd. The only problem was they weren't there. The hadgone to Ben Hoa but lucky for me there were a couple of guys left todo some clean-up and I was welcome to stay with them and leave in themorning.
.....My memories of Ben Hoa are few.There was a runway that was over 2 miles long. We were told that itwas originally built to land B-52's so they wouldn't have to fly fromClark AFB in the Philippines. There were many banana plantationsaround the base, there were almost nightly fire fights at one end ofthe runway or the other we didn't pay to much attention to thembecause of the length of the runway. Another memory was of having tofill sand bags. Privates were especially good at doing that. We wouldload up a Deuce and a half and head out to the boonies where therewere large sand dunes. One day while we were there was a fire fightand a few seconds latter a bunch of ARVINS came running over the topof our dune in a hasty retreat. I am not too sure who was morefrightened them or us but there was almost another fire fight.Another thing I remember was ridding "Shot Gun" on the courier truckinto Saigon. This I recall because I had been to Saigon and had leftthe night before the 1st coup. I have a picture of a memorial statueof Madam Khnu taken that day.
.....It was one of the 1st thingsblown up during the Diem Coup. Unfortunately, my most vivid memory ofBen Hoa was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I guesseveryone will remember where they were at when that happened. I spentmost of my time at Soc Trang while the 23rd was at Ben Hoa andunfortunately I was not there when they made the famous trek to VungTau. In my recollection, we didn't spend too much time at Ben Hoa andmost of my vivid memories are at Vung Tau and Soc Trang.
.....In those days, The CommandingGeneral of all the forces in Nam was Brigadier General JosephStillwell, Jr., In my opinion, the last real soldier General. Afterhe left at the end of July, 1964 all the others were Politicians inan Army Uniform. Just before General Stillwell left, he visited allthe camps and bases and gave a farewell address. In it he stated thatwe had already won the war with WWII equipment. At that time I couldalmost believe it. The only weapons that the V. C. had were what theycould get from attacks on the ARVINS and to some extent locally madeweapons. I saw Zip type 7.62 mm single shot rifles fitted out tohandle the standard 20 round magazine from an M-14. There were timesthat we actually picked out bamboo bolts from cross bows from theaircraft... When I first arrived in country the hit pattern on ouraircraft was toward the tail of the planes and when I left in 64 theywere getting real close to the nose.
This image illustrates how the North Viet Namregulars used sand paintings to show the V. C. how to lead thetarget. You will notice that there are several representations ofHawks there. I think that in those days the V. C. really feared theMohawk.
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.....I was most certainly glad thatwhile at school at Monmouth that I had paid particularly goodattention to the instructors when we were getting training on theANTFQ/7 Portable/Mobile Darkroom. Most everyone else figured thatwhere they were headed that was going to be a piece of equipment theywould never come in contact. Secondly, I was sure glad that I didn'tever aggravate my instructors. When I arrived at Ft. Riley to reportto the 20th ASTA low and behold the section chiefs in the Lab Sectionwere none other than my old instructors at Monmouth. But that'sanother story. So the second thing I did after hooking up with the23rd at Ben Hoa was silently thank my guardian angle for that one...Little did I know that for the next 13 months I would spend more timein that 8 x 12 ft. box than anywhere else during my tour.
.....It was during my early stintwith the flight team at Soc Trang that I was one of a few to witnesswhat will be one of the most memorable episodes during my tour inNam, and for that matter one of the most dramatic events in my life.I am referring to the last flight of Hawk 6, piloted by CaptainBisbey. If you don't mind this is my story of The Last Flight of ....
They were "homely" those Mohawks. You know… the kind of uglythat's beautiful. Three tails, how strange. Kind of sway-backed. Totop it off, they had a pug nose.
They went out that day, just like always. Then word came back thatshe had been hit. The hydraulics were out on the left gear. Couldn'tget it down.
They brought her back to Soc Trang Airfield that morning.You want to be close to home you know… It's quiet up there, lonelytoo, even with an Observer at a time like this. Twice before , nottoo long ago this scene was played out. Twice before 2 parachutesfailed.
She soared and wheeled and dove, to no avail. That old gearwas stuck for sure. Hawks carry 800 gallons of JP-4. Thats severalhours of flight time. It's going to be awhile.
Then a desperate move… Captain Bisbey talks to the 'OldMan', why not bounce it loose? Three times he brought her down… Threetimes a perfect landing on a nose and right gear… 3,200 feet ofrunway. That ole' wheel was just flat stuck!
Noth'n left to do… take her up high and point her East andpull the pin. Twice before those Martin-Bakers failed… twice beforetwo brave men were lost.
You got 10 pounds of TNT under your BUTT. That's supposed toblow you 300 feet into the air. The ARVN Observer weighed only 100pounds. When he went out he just flat disappeared. UP… UP… still uphe went. Just a tiny black dot. No one was breathing…… A MIRACLE!…the chute popped open, tears were flowing, we took a hesitant breath.Captain Bisbey radios…" I'm going out"… He and the seat went up, notquiet as high, they got to the top of the arc, a pause, like an arrowbefore it falls to earth. Then slowly, the seat fell back and theCaptain fell forward… and down… down… the chute streams out… and witha SNAP it pops open. Two MIRACLES that day… There is a GOD!
But the old girl wasn't ready to die, not yet anyway. TheCaptain forgot to trim out the tabs for the lost weight. She nosed upand over and slowly dove towards the West end of the field… Whatseemed to be inches from the ground she pulled up… you could see hergrinning. "I'm not ready yet," I heard her say. UP she soared, sherolled out and looked down, this time faster, diving towards the POLdump. Ten huge black whale-like bladders of volatile aircraft fuel.Again inches… a bigger grin… "just kidding," I heard her whisper.
"Not yet," I heard her cry… "I'm not ready yet!" One moretime she dove, right towards the Bomb Dump. Several hundred 200pounders and other things that go BOOM were there. Again justmillimeters this time. She pulled up. I heard her say… "I wouldn'thurt you. It's time now… I'm ready… I'm tired. The bailing wire andthe green tape aren't holding me together any longer. I'm tired ofWar" and with that she dove into the Aircraft Graveyard. One finalbit of glory… A Red Ball of Flame. It was over. I saw Hawk 6 die thatday. A HERO !
--Gordon W. Donnelly
SP-4, 23rd Special Warfare Aviation Detachment
United States Army
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.....At Soc Trang the hooches wereone place and the showers were at another. During the rainy season itwas senseless to dress and walk to the showers. You just grabbed awash cloth and a bar of soap and walked to the showers. When you weredone you went back to the hooch dried off and got dressed. Oneparticularly rainy night I was on my way back when Charlie decided itwould be a great time to do a little target practice on the field.Here I am, Butt naked hugging the runway making like a gopher whilemortar rounds were falling all around me. I laid there for whatseemed several hours until the attack let up and then in a mad dashmade it to the trenches. The next morning when I went back to thehooch there were several largish holes in the side of the hooch nextto my bunk with the shrapnel embedded in my pillow.
Around the same time the American Command had in their wisdomdecided that if you rounded up all the villagers and put them in oneplace it would eliminate a source of supply and refuge to the VietCong. They were placed in what were called Strategic Compounds. Whatessentially was a triangular earthen works fort. They were"protected" by a small contingent of ARVIN troops. There was one ofthese compounds about 20 or so Kilcks west of Soc Trang. One nightjust after in became dark the V. C. opened up on this compound andcontinued until sunrise. The rounds were hitting about once every 30seconds. In that humid heavy air you could not only hear theexplosions but you could actually fell the concussion. After sunrisethey sent out several Huey's to access the damage. There was nothingleft standing higher that a foot or so and there were no survivors.For the better part of the morning there was a continuous shuttle ofHuey's running between Soc Trang Air Field and the compound haulingBlack Rubber Body Bags and dumping them at the end of the runway.They were left there in a pile until that evening until they could betaken away for burial. The sight of those bags sitting there in thehot sun has been burned in my memory ever since and to this day stillhaunts me.
Soc Trang Air Field. 1963