The 1/92nd Field
Artillery
Association - Vietnam
Ollies Excellent Adventure
I always like to show these two pictures side-by-side. The one on the left was taken in Honolulu in late November of '69. I was on my way to Vietnam. The other picture is that same boy four months later, recovering from a fever of unknown origin (FUO.) It was Saturday, and the next thing I knew it was Tuesday. I am out at Plie M'Rong, and I still remember that sign in the background said "Tri Le The Loi" although I don't remember all the accent marks or anything. Funny what sticks in your mind after thirty years.
I
carefully labled this picture Buddist Temple, Me Lat Valley. The problem
is, I don't remember where the Me Lat Valley is, although I think
it was towards the coast. Whether it was on QL19 before it joined
Hwy.1, or on Hwy.1 up towards Phu Cat remains a mystery to me. Anyone
that knows, please e-mail me at ollie1019@aol.com/ I would really
like to know where I was. The things you forget after thirty years!
This
is Charlie Battery on convoy somewhere north of An Khe. We were headed
towards a firebase named Emelia, and a couple of the major bridges
were blown; not a good sign! We made this trip twice for whatever
reason. From FB Emelia, we airlifted to an LZ Armageddon. If anybody
knows where these two places are exactly, I sure would like to know.
Not
the best picture I ever took, but these Sky Raiders (we called them
Spads) put on quite an air show over Duc Co coming back from a mission
one day. A Special Forces Sergeant described Duc Co as the "a__hole
of Viet Nam." I think he was given to understatement, so any diversion
like these planes was really appreciated. 
This
is a 175mm gun out at Ben Het. This picture was taken by Jay Livesay.
When I was a new guy on my first firebase at Duc Lap a 175mm fired
for us while I was on pit guard about my third night. I had already
had two full days of rockets, and sniping, and now a nice quiet night
had just erupted into flame and noise like I had never heard. I got
on the phone to HQ, and the battery recorder told me that was Beatrice,
about ten miles to the east of us. The old hands rather liked having
Beatrice around, and I got used to it after awhile.
This
was a little, fake Christmas tree my mother sent to me around the
1st of December, 1970. She sent it with all these little decorations,
and tinsel. The guys went nuts over that little tree. Every day they
would decorate, and redecorate it. It was a little piece of home,
and they couldn't get enough of it. I headed for home the day after
Christmas, and everyone of the guys told me to thank my mother for
the tree. It was hard to leave those guys, but I did.