GO AIRBORNE!
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| "I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense." |
Posted on 05/25/2015 12:26:48 PM PDT by kathsua
This Memorial Day is special to those of us who served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Sep.) in Vietnam because this month marks the 50th anniversary of the Sky Soldiers deployment to Vietnam. The deployment marked the beginning of the American takeover of the Vietnam ground war.
(Excerpt) Read more at my.telegraph.co.uk ...
He and his buddies also smeared BGen. Barry Goldwater with the ‘warmonger’ label when he said he wasn’t going in.
Goldwater would have gone in early and hard: bomb Hanoi and the dikes on the Red River, and mine Haiphong so the Soviet ships couldn’t get in with SAMs. Not waiting until 1972 to do all that.
Johnson wasn’t just a liar, he was an idiot.
Nixon had more sense than LBJ.
My Dad was Airborne and a Ranger, and spent a lot of time in and out of Bien Hoa, Xuan Loc, up in the highlands and other places, `66-67.
He died from Agent Orange complications on Christmas day. I miss him every day.
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| "I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense." |
I recall my dad joking back then... He said a guy told him if he voted for Goldwater we would get into a big war in Vietnam.
My dad said he voted for Goldwater any way and sure enough, we got into a big war in Vietnam. ;-))
In November 1967, the Brigade was ordered to the Central Highlands, where they fought a major battle at Dak To against an entrenched North Vietnamese Army regiment on Hill 875. In some of the most brutal fighting of the war, the paratroopers captured the hill on Thanksgiving Day, winning the Presidential Unit Citation for bravery in action.
After more than six years on the battlefield, the Brigade was withdrawn from Vietnam in August 1971. During combat service, they suffered 1,606 killed in action and 8,435 wounded in action. Twelve paratroopers of the 173rd won the Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery in battle.
I completed jump school in 1965. Most of my class went to the 173rd in Okinawa while I, being only 17 at the time, was assigned to the 101st Abn.
When I turned 18 I got orders to the 173rd already in Viet Nam. When I arrived in Saigon the 173rd was engaged in battle with North Vietnamese regulars in War Zone D.
The need for replacements was high and I found my mos was changed from recon scout to infantryman.
I landed at Bien Hoa VIA Branniff Airlines (no 2 planes were the same color)Feb. 9 1967. I spent a year and 3 months at Vung Tau, came back May 9 1968 and got an early out after 1yr 9mos. in service.
I never looked back...I don't regret one day of it.
In 1962, I was stationed at Clark AB in the Philippines. One afternoon, some guys in my squadron and I were playing flag football out on the quad. One of the guys looked up and in a few seconds, everyone was looking up. Guys came streaming out of the pre-WW2 barracks, looking up. Seeing airplanes over a forward air base is not newsworthy. Seeing little dots exiting the C-119s was for us pretty exciting and seeing the little dots enlarge into paratroopers. A lot of us would have signed up for jump school on the spot. We learned in the Pacific Stars and Stripes the following day that they were from one of the 173rd’s Battle Groups from Okinawa and were participating in some joint war games.
If I recall, the “Third Herd” as they were called made the only mass tactical parachute jump in Viet Nam. I also recall that the 1st Infantry Division secured the drop zone. Go Sky Soldiers!
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