704th Maintenance Battalion
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I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Thanks....Homer
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Homer, I served with D co 704th Maintenance Battalion, 4th ID from April 28,
1969 - April 8,1970. The account Linc sent is accurate. I would like to get in
touch with our CO Cpt Mathew and 1st Sgt., however, I can't remember their
complete names. I will attach some photo for the
photo gallery.
Mark Hedrick Sgt
motor pool and later "Fat Albert's VTR TC"
If you want to contact Mark, email me at the
swampfox address below and I will forward your response to him.
Lincoln Walkley
Hi Homer,
If you feel my e-mails might be of interest to your
visitors, please feel free to post them on your site. I've
had your site on my favorites list for awhile now and just
realized how many times you and I were in the same area in
'Nam, at the same time!
I enlisted in the Army in September of 1968. I'd
completed a couple of lackluster years at Cornell and didn't
have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I planned to
take a semester off, then see if Syracuse would consider me.
My local draft board had other ideas for my future. I was
approached after 3 weeks in Basic Training at Ft. Gordon,
Ga. to see if I might be interested in signing up for the
OCS course. I wouldn't be able to take the school I'd
enlisted to get (small arms repair), and Infantry was the
only OCS school available, so I declined. I was the
"Distinguished Graduate" for my class in Small Arms Repair
at Aberdeen Proving Ground and (not too surprisingly)
received orders for RVN upon graduation. Where else were
they likely to break weapons? I arrived in RVN 3/18/69 and
was ultimately assigned to D Company, 704th Maintenance
Battalion, who had just moved from Dak To and had set up at a tiny spot
called Soi Doi. I believe it was between Pleiku and the
Mang Yang Pass. We were only there for a couple of weeks after I joined them,
then moved to An Khe. My company area
and our shop area were at the base of Hong Kong Mountain.
Shortly thereafter I was informed
that the company hierarchy felt a classmate of mine from
small arms school, who had attended Trinity State College
for gunsmithing, might be a better repairman, but they
needed an instrument repairman and wanted me to cross-train
for that. I reluctantly agreed. This later became a very
important incident during my year in 'Nam
After trying to learn instrument repair from a fellow who
was totally unable to communicate his knowledge to me, I was
allowed to return to small arms repair. Several months
later my section chief came to me and told me they were
sending me out with the HQ Company's "CMMI" (Command
Maintenance Management Inspection) team. On the morning of
the appointed day he told me it had been called off for some
reason. A week later I was told to report the next morning
for the same inspection. Again it was called off. A week
later I was again told to report for the inspection team,
then that was canceled - they needed an instrument inspector
instead. The next day I was informed that the 2 jeeps and
one pickup, loaded with a total of 13 inspectors, had driven
off the main road to inspect a tank on "strong point".
After completing the inspection, they returned to their
vehicles and the pickup backed into the tank "turn-around"
area. The right rear wheel on the pickup hit an anti-tank
mine and the explosion killed everyone but the driver in the
furthest jeep. If I'd continued with the cross-training,
I'd most likely have been the one on the inspection team
from my company (I very nearly was, anyway).
There were several other hair-raising events during my
year in 'Nam. One of the really close ones was the time I
was sent to Qui Nhon to pick up parts for my shop. They had
some parts that didn't have any labels and we hoped to
recognize something we could use before the parts were
"disposed of". The fellow I rode with had been in 'Nam for
a couple of tours and had specific ideas of what was and
wasn't safe. He expressed a desire to leave well ahead of a
large convoy that was headed out the same direction that
morning and I (very wisely, it turns out) deferred to his
judgment. We arrived at the gate at Qui Nhon well before
the normal 5:00 pm closing, only to find the gate already
closed and the MP's hunkered down behind their M-60's.
Much to our surprise, we were hailed with "HALT, WHO GOES
THERE?". There is something very intimidating about having
two M-60's pointed at you - especially when the guys behind
them are really nervous! It turns out that the convoy had
been attacked somewhere on the An Khe Pass and they'd had a
long firefight. We were the only truck that made it through
that day! I remember going down the pass, thinking
something "felt" odd. I had my M-16 on full auto and I was
leaning out the window trying to spot whatever looked out of
place. I guess we were far enough ahead of the convoy, that
the VC let us go by, in the hopes of a chance to cause more
damage.
Have I mentioned yet, that I was (am) a very fervent
pray-er? I've never won much of anything in games of chance
or drawings or whatever, but I absolutely did the equivalent
of winning the lottery several times in 'Nam. Way too many
times to explain it away as being "lucky".
Around the end of December or early January of 1970
I was part of a small detachment that was sent to LZ English
as "forward support". I flew by chopper to visit most of
the LZ's in the area. One time I hitched a ride on a
chopper with a bunch of brass. As we approached the pad at
one LZ, a 105mm howitzer shot a direct shot at a sniper
position. The pilot veered away quickly, then came in again
to drop off the brass (a full-bird Colonel, a Lt. Colonel, a
couple of Majors and a Captain, as I recall). The pad-man
came over to talk with the pilot and then we took off again.
I thought they were going to take me to the LZ I was
supposed to go to, but suddenly, a "Loach" flew under us and
dropped a smoke grenade on the sniper's position. Then we
started making passes on the position and the door gunners
would alternately take a few shots at it, but their M-60's
would jam after just a few rounds. On about the 5th pass,
they failed to get any shots off. Suddenly, I heard 5
"thunks" (I swear there was a new hole in the floor about 6"
from my foot), and the pilot threw the chopper on its right
side to escape the area as quickly as possible. I was
acutely aware that there was nothing between me and the
trees below. I was trying to figure out if it would be ok
to let my repair kit go to get a better grip on the canvas
bench I was on. Fortunately, the pilot soon righted the
chopper and we followed valleys and finally landed just
outside the gate at LZ Hardtimes. The door gunner leaned
over to tell me we'd been hit in the fuel tank and I should
jump and run when we touched down because the fuel would
ignite easily if the runners caused a spark. I swear, I was
out and standing about 100 yards away watching them drop
the final 10 feet to the ground. At that time, I had just 2
weeks left in country.
Is there any chance you were at An Khe the night we
had the friendly fire? As I recall there were 105 howitzer
rounds walking up towards the MP barracks. Four rounds
landed and if the 5th had been fired, it would have landed
right in the middle of the barracks, but it never came. I'd
forgotten about that incident, but a fellow named Danny E.
(don't know if I should give his full name) was an MSHA
(similar to OSHA, but for mines) inspector, visiting my
gravel pit awhile back. It turns out he was there the same
time as I was.
My company had several towers and bunkers on the
perimeter we had to man. One night I managed to notice
movement in the wire to my right front. It was kind of
overcast and I only saw them briefly. I called on the phone
for permission to fire, but it was denied. They promised to
"light up the area soon". Of course the VC sappers could
hear the phones ringing when I called to report the movement
and they made good use of the time it took the signal
company on top of Hong Cong Mountain to light up my area.
As soon as the spotlight came on my night vision was gone!
As were the sappers. Half an hour later they were blowing
up helicopters at the airstrip. In the Stars and Stripes
account, they said the sappers resorted to throwing rocks
thru windshields to keep the choppers from flying, after
they'd exhausted their supply of satchel charges. I have to
admit I failed to holler "Halt, who goes there", but I doubt
they'd have obeyed anyway.
Once, I was on guard duty at a bunker that had
originally been a tower. It was hit with a B-40 rocket so
they decided it would be less of a target if it was a
bunker. It was the last guard post on the far side of the
Song Ba River at An Khe. One morning, just before dawn, I
heard a rifle shot behind me and a "HALT", and I observed 3
infiltrators being pulled from the river. They'd floated
down on inner tubes. I was amazed to see a whole string of
jeeps lined up on the river bank with their lights on.
They'd been moved into position without us ever hearing
them. I was even more amazed that we, the guards on the far
side of the river, had never been informed that such an
operation was going to take place! The guard position on
that side of the river was almost directly behind us, so
maybe they didn't want us looking behind us when the sappers
tried to float in. Good thing they didn't put up a fight -
we were still under orders not to shoot!
Did you realize there was a sniper somewhere on the
Mountain? Our mess Sgt. got chased into the mess hall once,
by his shots.
Were you there when the guy decided to walk down the
Mountain (cross country) instead of taking the truck from
the communications area on top? When he failed to show up
in his company area we finally lined up and swept the base -
they found him half way up the Mt. with his throat cut.
Were you on base (An Khe) on 6/6/69 when we had a
sapper attack in our shop area? They blew up the fuel tank
for the base generators and then proceeded to do a pretty
good job of blowing up our shop area - which was between the
generators and the Mountain.
Hope everyone is healthy. That Agent Orange crap is sure thinning out the
ranks!
Linc
PS: My company felt the same about the sniper. He never
hit anyone to my knowledge.
If you wish to contact Lincoln, send the email to me and I will forward it to him.
John Rochelle
Co. C, 704th Maintenance Bn
2nd Bde
I haven't read your report in its entirety but I wanted to send to you a "thank you."
I stopped after reading about the incident at LZ Mary Lou with the disgruntled soldier. I remember that day well.
I was a tech supply officer with Co. C, 704th Maint Bn at LZ Mary Lou. One of our trucks coming from Pleiku had
been stopped by this guy at gunpoint after entering the firebase. The driver was an EM who only had a few weeks
left in country. He was very shaken up by the incident. To think that he makes it through his tour unscathed
and then possibly to die from a deranged friendly. Your encounter with him must have post dated this incident.
Anyway, thanks a lot and welcome home!
(Ban Me Thout East, LZ Mary Lou)
Aug 68 - May 69
Posted 18 NOV 2004
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Homer R.
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09/23/2011.
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