War Stories From Vietnam

me

[MarcoPolo]

Since the Vietnam War is so much in the news these days, I thought it might be good to start a thread in which Vietnam Vets or, as in my case, children of Vietnam Vets can swap war stories about their or their parent's experiences in Vietnam.

I guess I'll go first. My father was a Sgt. in the Air Force during Vietnam. In April of 1969, he was flying along with 220 other troops from the Air Force, Army and Marines over to Vietnam on a super DC-8 or a "stretch 8" belonging to Seaboard World chartered by the Flying Tigers. The Air Force boys were heading to DaNang Air Force Base in Vietnam to join with the 366th Munitions Maintenance Squadron. DaNang was under attack that night, so all the surrounding airbases had their runway lights turned off. The pilot mistakenly thought that the airstrip below him was on the DaNang base. It turned out that it was not. They were landing on Marble Mountain Air Field.

The DC-8 typically needed 10000 ft. of runway to land safely. Marble Mountain has a helicopter base with only 4500 ft of landing space. On any other base, the pilot might have been able to touch and go back up again. Not at Marble Mountain. This airstrip ended right in front of a steep mountainside.

Nothing was said to the GIs on board, but signs of trouble soon became apparent even to them. When the plane touched down there was no squawk, squawk, squawk as there is in a usual landing. Instead there was a continuous squawl of the wheels on the pavement with the brakes in full blast. The flames from the engines shot out for several feet further than usual as the plane was in full reverse. This sort of landing would have been reasonably do-able had there been no passengers or cargo on the plane. The odds of it being safely accomplished while fully loaded were very long.

By the grace of Almighty God, the talented pilot landed the plane and stopped it a mere 21 feet from the end of the runway. It was about 2 A.M. at touchdown. The AirForce men on board stayed at the base until sunrise when a bus from DaNang came to take them to the base. The Army men and Marines were still there when they left. Dad arrived at DaNang just a couple of days after the I Corp Bomb Dump on Freedom Hill at DaNang blew up leaving craters 100ft. deep in the ground.

I am so thankful to God that His beautiful and mighty hand was protecting my father through these events. If he had not, my siblings and I would never have been born.

[leadpenny]

Good golly, Miss Molly!

I was stationed at Marble Mountain on my 2nd tour (Nov69-Nov-70). For the last few months I worked in the 212 Avn Bn's S-1 shop. In my files I had a 8 X 10 B&W photo of that DC-8 sitting on the MM runway. The story I heard was that the pilot just barely got it stopped. They took all the seats out, put minimum fuel on it, and took off in half the runway to get over to Danang Air Base.

[leadpenny]

BTW, you should have a rule that all War Stories begin, not with, "Good golly, Miss Molly!," rather, "This is no "$h!t, there I was!"

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[MarcoPolo]

That may be the case, but by the time they did that my dad and all the Air Force boys had been transported to DaNang via Air Force bus.

BTW, you don't still have a copy of the photo of that DC-8 do you? Oh, please say you do! My dad would LOVE to have a copy of that picture.

[Fierce Allegiance]

My dad was an "advisor" -That's all he will say.

My uncle was a highly decorated huey pilot. Now sick w/ non-hodgkins lymphoma.

[MarcoPolo]

Oh my! I will pray for your uncle. God bless him.

Incidentally, my uncle (my dad's brother) was awarded a Purple Heart medal for a gunshot wound that he received as a helicopter gunner in a mission over Laos. He was stationed at Dang Ha at the time.

[leadpenny]

I heard they spent a few days getting it ready to bounce over to Danang.

Here is a link I just found w/pic.

http://www.hmm-364.org/sneaked.html

[leadpenny]

I was a huey driver. FReep mail coming at ya.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks PE.

557th Enger Co. (Phuoc Vinh, RVN - Apr 1969 - Nov 1970)

[Paradox]

Found another Here.Do a search for DC- "marble mountain" and you will find a bunch of stuff. SOunds like quite a ride!

[Paradox]

err, I mean, a search on DC-8 "marble mountain". gEts alot of hits on google

[Professional Engineer]

What are the Medals Sam?

[MarcoPolo]

Bump

[Getsmart64]

Hmmm...strange. My dad served at DaNang in '69-'70. He was in CE running the Rapid Runway Repair shop. He never really would tell us about his experiences in Vietnam. One day, I guess I was in my early 20's, I was bugging him for a story and this is the only story I've ever heard from him about Vietnam. He didn't say much, dad was a man of few words, but he described a damaged C-130 coming in for an Inflight Emergency landing. They were all out on the flight line waiting for the plane and as it was coming in, somehow the plane started cartwheeling and burst into flames. The only thing he said about it as it came to a stop, was the screaming voices of the people inside. His eyes teared up and he walked away from me. He never mentioned Vietnam again and I never prodded him for another story.

[leadpenny]

The "Been there" or "The Two Dollar Assortment."

National Defense - Vietnam Service -Vietnam Campaign.

[WL-law]

My father (now deceased) flew (for Seaboard) the flights over to Da Nang, including in 1969, carrying the soldiers into (and out of) the war zone.

BTW, he was a WWII Air Force vet as well -- unusual for service to cover such a spread of war-time periods, I think.

[WL-law]

My father (now deceased) flew (for Seaboard) the flights over to Da Nang, including in 1969, carrying the soldiers into (and out of) the war zone.

BTW, he was a WWII Air Force vet as well -- unusual for service to cover such a spread of war-time periods, I think.

[SAMWolf]

Those are the three everyone who spent time in Vietnam received. The first one is (L to R) National Defense, 2nd -Vietnam Service, 3rd - Vietnam Campaign)

[Professional Engineer]

Thanks for the info.