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A joke that you guys can tell the grandchildren: “Knock, Knock” …. Who’s there?….. Murray…”Murray who?”……………………………Murray Christmas!
Almost lost my coffee this morn when I read this!
I had an email to Ron Hurst bounce back as undeliverable so I called and talked to Ron. He has a new email address that I posted to the roster section of this web site. He and Jan are doing well. He said that Tiny and Fred Passe will be coming down to visit them.
Plow Boy, Jr. has been moved from ICU to a step-down unit was up and down most of the night. He is still on dialysis.
Great news! Please keep us informed.
larry–at 1 time–I think doc did not care to hear from us. Good to hear that has changed,
Russ. my memory of that was they sent us in with armor (I guess it was F-troop if you say but I don’t remember) and I think we were decoys to draw fire, which w e obviously did. Bill Young and I were together and when the shit started, we got down behind a berm and then realized that there was AK fire from both sides. I have this image in my mind of a tank or APC backing out of there real fast and almost running us over. I think they were getting RPG fire.
I had an email to Top Silverman bounce back as undeliverable, so I called Top. He had changed his email address and houses he lives in. I updated his contact information on this web site. He and his wife are doing just fine he said. He said they are just slowing down and taking it easy.
Short Round:
You asked if I have ever heard from Doc. Grunge. Yes, I have talked to him a couple of times. He lives in Scottsdale, AZ and his contact information is in the roster of the web site.
Photo link says “Page not found”
I remember Doc Grunge clearly. I also remember hearing (I didn’t see it) that when Danny Roberts was hit, Doc Grunge crawled out there to try and save him. We were in the middle of a U-shaped ambush as I recall. I saw Tennessee hit but didn’t realize it. I thought he had tripped the way he fell forward. I’m not saying that I would have been heroic as Grunge was. Just saying what I saw. That was a rough stretch from Jan-March of 70.
Ya Jim, U-shaped as in ‘cross fire’ as I recall. I remember F Troop left us behind and I do not remember how the hell we got out of there.
Larry–have you ever heard from Steve McCully ? He was wounded on 16 March of 70. Nickname was doc grunge–and he was grungy. Bunch of grunts wounded that day. Ga–the former VC was KIA that day. I forget the medics name that I helped load on a medevak–he was fairly new–replacing the 2 medics we lost on that booby trap on 2 Feb.70.
Larry–THANKS MUCH for the website–easy to say–HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all you old grunts–rather than send cards.
Ya SR, remember Doc Grunge well…..all good memories. And remember 16 March well. Never would have remembered his real name. We started calling him the “Grungie Medic” and Doc Grunge stuck.
Lt Shepherd–what day were you wounded ?
Talked with a AZ. buddy here today. He was an officer that got there after us–late bloomer. He keeps up on Nam books. Recently a 24 year old gal wrote her 2nd book about Nam. How any why and
what piece of water buff manure would even publish her fairy tales is beyond me. Just another example of media manure. Those not there should be banned from book writing.
LAGER IS THE TERM USED FOR A NIGHT DEFENSIVE PERIMETER ACCORDING TO THE GLOSSARY OF MILITARY TERMS. AN EARLY “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY GRUNT BROTHERS!”
LT AND TAI
I like a Dark Larger. Have a Merry!
Jim and Chuck, I remember there were two shifts for being on guard when there was the usual….. ” fifty percent” alert…..8 PM to midnight and midnight to 4 AM…..If I was assigned to the later watch I could never fall asleep until around 11 PM and be rudely awakened an hour later…..Yep, there were quite a few nights when I only got one hour of sleep. I guess it was pretty much the same for everybody else.
Never was on a 50% alert. Remember passing of the watch and always disliked the last watch because I always believed the sun was late coming up because i had it.
We also set of trip flares. I never called on sitreps. I was always locked and loaded at ALL times with safety on. Stood guard with my M-79 with a canister round with one close by while I carried it.
Thanks Chuck.
Somewhere I found that the spelling is laager or lagger or someting. I’ll check. Believe it or not, it is from South Africa.
All of this research from you guys will probably be in one short sentence or two. That’s the way it is done. Usually about five pages of homework for a paragraph in journalism but it’s more important to get it right.
Infantry
I think Danny was the medic for 1st plt. that was wounded with myself , marty pltSgt, my RTO, and two others day after thanskgiving 1969. I believe Lt Smith was killed next day on the same hill.
Thanks guys. More questions. funny how stuff that we did evry day is forgotten. No, I guess it’s good!
Anyhow. Regarding being on guard at night. We set up claymores around the perimeter in our night lagger(meaning you guys-I, as a lazy 90mm guy never had to do set up trip wires, though I did pull guard) Was there anything else we set up? Also, did we use the word “Perimeter” or is that something I learned from watching TV all these years?
Also. Whoever was on guard, called in sitreps. Was it every 15 minutes? Or was it random or what?
Same situation-guard duty. M-16. Full magazine installed of course. Was it locked and loaded-round chambered with safety on? or full magazine, but not locked and loaded?
Perimeter is correct. The location is a “Night Logger” or a “Day Logger”. As I recall, sit-reps were every hour. don’t forget the “Starlight Scopes” that were passed on from guard to guard. Remember that each guy would also pass the wrist watch to the next guy. everybody would tweak it a bit and the guy on the last guard duty would be stuck with a longer shift. Our M-16s were locked and loaded all the time with the safety on. One in the pipe with Charlie’s name on it….
Short Round/Greg.
I mean where were you from before Uncle Sam? For some reason I’m thinking Indiana. Was it Arizona or somewhere else, like Pluto or a galaxy far far away?
Also. I know Jan 11th was in Tam Key area. Is that where we were Christmas 69? I know it wasn’t the exact same place but was our area (AO?) called Tam Key? If not, does anyone else have a name or description? Or, I could say we were about 20 miles south (what’s that, 33 klicks?) of Da Nang.
Jim
We spent Christmas on a small hill just west of Hawk Hill.
Was that Col Nerone dressed as Santa in the chopper that buzzed on that hill on Christmas 🙂
This is from Pat Brown, the wife of John “Plowboy, Jr.” Brown. He’s really been in bad shape the past few weeks, but it getting better.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank all the friends, churches and anyone that offered a prayer up in John’s name. Today we got to take him off the ventilator. Last week this time we were told he had no chance of living and by the grace of God today he is breathing on his own. He’s not completely out of the woods but he is here with me today. I call him my Christmas Miracle. Please continue to pray for him he has a long road ahead, but with God’s help we will make it through.”
Hi guys. Thanks for your alias short round!
I’m making up the 12 days thing as best i remember with some imagination involved. I have questions about some stuff that I don’t remember clearly.
M-60s. Did we call them hogs or pigs?
When FO called in HE or WP, did he say something like “4 rounds, fore for effect” or was it not a number and not rounds?
When on guard duty every night. Did we have a term or phrase for whoever was on guard at the moment. Like “guard” or something? I do’t remember though I do remember”SItrep negative” which is what we wanted it to be.
As far as I can tell, the cease fire or truce was one day only. Anyone know different?
Chuck Missar from Chicago, South Side, right?
Short Round. Where were you from back then?
Larry Harper. Ft. Collins, CO then?
thanks guys
Infantry
The M-60 was called both a Hog and or a Pig.
I called in a lot of artie from up on Hill 251. As I recall, i would give them the grid coordinance and request lets say 6 rounds of HE at my command. I used to order a lot of VT which was a veriable time fuse which would explode about 50 feet above the ground.
I’m guessing that when calling in a sit-rep, we would give the platoon and squad number. It’s hard to remember since I was usually asleep…… Just kidding…..
And yes….. I was from the south side of Chicago….. You got a problem with that? Once again, just kidding…. Or am I!
Good luck on the jingle…
Jim:
I am from southeast Colorado not from Ft. Collins which is on the north central state line of Colorado. I live 16 miles from the Kansas state line and about 30 miles from the Oklahoma state line.
I was wounded same day as Danny my medic I saw note about him I remember he was hit in heel left foot, was he hurt any other places . I know that my wounds were more then I thought , spent two weeks in IC before be sent to japan for a month then month in hospital in fort benning. Was danny ok ? thanks ist plt c compay.
LT Sheperd:
I didn’t see where we was discussing any Danny’s. Who is the Danny you are talking about?
Larry—last I heard–doc grunge did not wish to be involved with grunts—ooopppsss—Steve
McCully—–been a bit since chuck and me got together.
Offhand–don`t remember Jim
I got some bad news the other day about John Brown being in the hospital and his kidneys have stopped working and he is on a respirator.
I remember John got to the company the end of February or early March, 1970. He was in 3rd platoon. There was a guy by the name of Roger Huffman that got the name of “Plowboy†and he was not real fond of his nickname and John knew about this. One day someone called Roger Huffman by his nickname of “Plowboy†and John came to his defense letting them know he was not fond of his nickname. Since he took up for Roger they gave John the nick name of “Plowboy Jr.†After Roger left the field, I think everyone just dropped the Jr. off his nickname.
We need to keep John, his wife Darlene and their family in our prayers and thoughts.
Jim Armstrong’s email address updated on the roster section.
JIM–REAL NAME IS GREG COOK–BEEN IN AZ. SINCE 1987–COULD MOVE TO FLORIDA–WILL SEE–MORE RELATIVES THAT SIDE OF THE COUNTRY–AND FURTHER AWAY FROM LARRY H.
SURE GLAD NO RUCKSACK AND THIS POINT IN LIFE–TOO OLD TO HUMP ONE–FOR SURE.
You have some guys closer to you than I am. I think Jim Grose, Charles Missar and Steve McColley may be smiling about your possible move.
GO ARMY! It’s about time they beat NAVY!
It’s only been 13 years!
Larry,
13 years! Really! At my age my mind time travels. 13 years can only be a minute in my little world.
How do I change my email address for this site?
You cannot change your information, I have to do it which I have now done. No telling what would happen to the roster if we leave it where anyone can change contact information.
Hi Larry and Chuck. I got your messages. But, Larry I did not get the spreadsheet. I use jimintravia@gmail.com
It was not there nor in spam folder, unless you are the sexy housewife looking for me.
I also checked my old aol email. Same story
So, please try again to the gmail account. Thanks.
Christmas 1969. I mentioned this a few years ago. Christmas eve or day of 69 there was a cease fire. A bunch of us were on a hill making up our own words to the “12 Days of Christmas.” It was stuff like. “12 choppers chopping”…..etc. The only two I remember exactly were (and we really enjoyed singing these two lines)
“Five RPGGGGGGGGGGGGGGs” and then on down to
“A sniper in a palm tree.”
I write a bi-weekly thing for a local newspaper. Usually lighthearted stuff, like a film review of “SHarknado” and things like that.
I would like to recreate, as best I can, Christmas 1969 and submit it for publication. I don’t remember most of the words and a lot of them wouldn’t work in a newspaper; like, we might have had “shitburning detail” or something worse.
I am pretty sure they will publish it. I would explain the circumstances of course. I have a whole list of things that I can’t type in right now. Stuff like malaria pills, freedom bird, etc. I believe I can do us justice.
I usually get paid $25 for my little column. This $25 would go to Larry’s website.
Anyhow, I would like some help. Anyone who remembers this, tell me what you remember. For example, does anyone know what hill it was? I know some guys might have kept journals. Does anyone know who was singing. I only remember myself.
I would like the names and city/state of anyone who remembers anything and of course the nicknames. For example, Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Slaughter I think is maybe Larry Harper and Chuck Missar? Short Round-what’s your real name?
And so on. I also intend to put, at the end, a requeim thing for the guys who were there then and didn’t survive. Arky, Jake, Danny Roberts, the two medics. That may be a downer and maybe doesn’t belong in a Christmas thing. That will be up to the editor/publisher.
In a few days, I’ll give you what I’ve got in my head so far. Stuff like “On the second day of Christmas the medic gave to me; a malaria pill and a cure for dissentery”
You can post here or email me at jimintravia@gmail.com
I hope all are in agreement that this is a good idea. We enjoyed ourselves that day and it seems worth sharing.
be sure to include nicknames.
Message to Larry. When I went to KIA, I get a list that is cut off. I can’t scroll down past Cammarata. Can you email me the complete list? My computer is an XP and that might have something to do with it.
“Infantry” Jim Intravia
Wow Infantry, an XP computer. Did you get that a couple of years after you got home from Nam? :>)
I sent you an excel spread sheet with the information you requested. Does your computer use excel?
I remember the monsoon season well but I can’t remember what months it covered. I believe Oct-Dec. A war story from that season. I went out with I believe with three other guys for listening post. We were in the mountains in a clearing on one of the mountains. I really didn’t know the other guys so I must have been selected. We went out on the trail that was between two mountains. Dark as pitch black. Someone brought a poncho. At sometime during the night a monsoon rain came. We all got under the poncho to stay dry. We all huddle together and fell asleep. If the NVA had come down the trail in that heavy rain they would have tripped over us. By day break the rain was over. The luck of the stupid.
LARRY–WOW–those 3 OLD grunts that visited can still see well enough to hunt ????
T-day 1969 memories–myself and another SMART grunt was in chu lai and being smart, we “volunteered ” for K.P. yes, we ate well and slept in warm beds in order to recuperate from over-eating. At that time C co. was in the bush observing the monsoon rains,up close. Also too many booby-traps. Had orders for A co. but got changed to C co.—WHEW–a luck out for sure.
Greg,
You would be amazed how real those cut out targets look today to old guys who can’t see plus how close the wild life specialty frozen meat store is. You can get anything from frozen deer to pheasants.
Bill
If you ever get to Walsh Co ask where you can find the wildlife
specialty store is they will want to know what planet your from. We had a great time on the hunt even though it’s hard to
see sometimes. If you throw enough lead around your bound
to hit something.
Wally,
During my tour we always threw a lot of lead around hoping to hit something we had no idea what we were shooting at!
The old grunts not only can see great but was among if not the leaders in skeet shooting and bird body counts. I think we are all battle field ready.
I remember the monsoon you are talking about. It rained hard for several days. We ran out of those great c-rats as we could not get in resupply choppers.
You are not kidding about lucking out and getting Charlie Company instead of Alpha Company.