1968 - A Troop 4th Squadron, 12th US Cavalry

December 1968

Post category:1968 December 1968

December 6th 1968 SSG Guy Creep killed doing thunder run. Took RPG in swim vane and 50 cal shield. SPC Jones wounded, mechanic wounded (lost part of his skull cap), and two others wounded. I was in 2nd platoon then. i was in charge of track 23 & 24. I got over to Sgt. Creep's track that night before "doc" could get there and saw he was dead. we were all so mad at the dustoff pilots because they wouldn't come in and get guy because they were scared somebody would fire a star cluster into their chopper. hell, they were…

October & November 1968

Post category:1968 November 1968

October 1968 1St platoon sent to Camp Eagle by way of LCU to Hue.October 8 Talk of being attached to the 101 down in Hue. Alexander no longer CO. Ended up a CO of company in 1/77. We lost a great CO.October 20 Now attached to 101st north of Ha Vong Pass (sp). Raining for six days. Lt. William McShane November 1968 6 Nov 1968: Nixon elected president. American troop strength is at 540,000.Returned to Quang Tri.From Lt. William G. McShane 3rd Platoon 1968-69Nov 6 Prior to this date we break off with the 101st and drive north past Wonder Beach…

September 1968

Post category:1968 September 1968

A-18 hits mine near C2. Swinny, Mills, Tulki and Gaylor A-18 hits mine near C2. Swinny, Mills, Tulki and Gaylor shaken but there were no major injuries. Photo of A-18 Crew I'm still not sure of the time of this event but it must have been at the end of Aug. or early Sept. 1st platoon had been pulling road guard on Highway 1 keeping the road between Dong Ha and Quang Tri secure at night. How we got to where we ended up is still locked away. Any way we ended up on a Recon near, I believe, C-2. We did our Recon of…

August 1968

Post category:1968 August 1968

Quang Tri base camp occupied Quang Tri base camp occupied4/12 Cav assigned to guard road between Quang Tri and Dong HaThe following is from Keith Short of C 1/11th Infantry: On 6 Aug 1968, A/4-12 Cav replaced C/1-11 Infantry in a place called "Red." Red appears to be the area around FSB Pedro area to the north of the Thach Han River. It begins at 13:41 hours when A/4-12 Cav start calling in their locations at check points #1, #7, #23, #25, #50 and #70. I'm assuming these were places were east of FSB Pedro. At 15:59 hours the location of A/4-12 is at YD258526,…

July 1968

Post category:1968 July 1968

July 1968 (ORLL Beginning First Period 1/5 th Inf Div (M) Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam 1 Nov 68) Phase III Movement to Vietnam: On 1 July 1968, an advance party consisting of 300 personnel and 85.5 short tons of cargo departed Peterson Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado. This lift required seven C141 aircraft (3 for passengers and 4 for cargo). Upon arrival at Da Nang Air Base, the advance party moved to Quang Tri Combat Base to establish a temporary base camp and prepare to receive the main body of the Brigade. The main body started moving on 22 July…

February & March 1968

Post category:1968 February 1968 March 1968

Feb 1968 TET offensive initiates additional troop buildup in Vietnam March 1968 1st Brigade 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Ft. Carson, CO begins receiving troops buildup and training for deployment to Vietnam. Formation, Training & Deployment to Viet Nam April 1968 Civil Disturbance Training and deployment to Washington D.C. riot control; in the time frame of the end of March and the first of April. Pineapple: Barbara and I were out doing the Thanksgiving shopping tonight and while waiting for her to clear the checkout I went over to the book rack and picked up a book about Nam (surprise surprise). I always check them…

A Troop 4th Squadron, 12th US Cavalry, 1st Brigade 5th Infantry Division

Post category:1968

A Troop 4th Squadron, 12th US Cavalry, 1st Brigade 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) The TO&E of a Cavalry Troop in the 1960's called for three platoons. Each platoon had a platoon leader's vehicle, a scout section of two scout squads with each squad having two vehicles (4 vehicles in the section) a tank section of three tanks, an infantry squad and a mortar squad. Many Cavalry units reorganized the platoons to have 9 M-113s when they deployed to RVN - 11th Cav is the best example. However A/4-12 kept its original organization when it deployed to RVN with one small…