Diary of a Marine Corps aviator during his first tour in Vietnam

2 May -

[S?ed] a day CAS [Close Air Support alert - Jack Tuttle - close air when some marines 30 south of Da Nang - had 16 HK-S1 and 4 HK-77 - another CAS later - Things are picking up as predicted.

7 May 1967

Late listings - Harry Sieglenger [?[ out of UK -17 after [?] into GU - It seems Hydralic Scrubber didn't work - Had a bad whip lash and hose broke spraying fuel down the intake - Result - fire - frozen controls - he puched - Picked up by Marine helo out of the water [?] Hue - [?]. He's got a bad stoop [?] on his neck - must have been on his back when the chute deployed. Generally very stiff but OK - UK-17 was one of two ECM birds we had - too bad -

Then two a day the first four days of May due to big fight up by Key Sanh - as predicted something big happened and will probably continue for some time - another operation west of Hue started today.

Friday - 5th - went to Danang and chatted with Hank Castle about [?] [business?] then smuggled back 68 cs of booze 8 cs of cigarettes and misc supplies

Detained as [?] - no bep that day. Next day sent Jackson up with C-117 and they picked up J2 case freezer and a small cocktail sink

No replacement yet for Campbell and its getting tight.

Good hop with Major [hicheualder?] - CO od H & HS - downed helo [?] - almost dark and we bombed a ridge line / sniper - 1 secondary - having delivery conditions - due to [?] [?] and mainly friendlies

Must start thinking about moving although late for - 121 being replaced by 311 - Sulley & Mac & Ken are going to [DuaKine?] they loaded out - Plachu, Joe Heller, Al Karsen. Mike Reeves, Me Staying.

26 May -

Slept late after the DEV "C" - uneventful - didn't even go far enough north to get into the Sam [c?]. - Slept till - 1000 - Listened to strike brief [?] any 6.2 this afternoon. - not bad - handy info [?] dubs and went a few words with to Hart. - [?] Lange is working steady on E-5 club - whose plan [?] completed today - all I have to do now is write up a [?] sys [?] them & turn over to S-4 -

Turn in master hour for O-club we see what happens -

LTCOL McGee & 4 other field grade & 1 CAPT lanched on an iron hand mission this afternoon. Skrike - 2 more - 500 L.T. - sounded lik a good hop.

Another TPQ tonite DO15 strike. Hope to get to [?Ian?] tomorrow as we're running out of beer & certain other supplies

29 May -

Lost an A/C & pilot - Mike [To???n] during a NAPALM run - 22 miles west of [C? b?] - just yesterday - Mike & I had a hop in the DMZ 15 orbit with a [?] in a free strike zone - [20?] miles from [Fru?] bridge - Took - 50 ft sneak in from sea - I dropped four Haps sticked with AURs continue look on - he couldn't drop 51 and made another attack & he [d?] off all [j?] - MAJ Centuary was loading today & he watched Mike's drop then looked up to see him roll uncontrollably & crash - Later cover flight reported heavy auto 50 cal fire. I was in Danang all day Shuttling suppliers - we've [?] low on beer - ship due in in about 4 days so just picked enough to last us.

That's sarn A/C and 3 Pcho in 6 months for UHA-121

Didn't fly today - I've got 31 sorties & 40 hours all ready - more than I ever had in [?] [?] when

I was in a squadren - Due largely to three operations. Khe San, Hickory Nut & Union . Out of those 30 probably 22 are nite hops DH2 is really getting hot - from AAA, Sams - all kinds of every radar tracking you - blah - 50 cal, 12.7, great fun. The nube of 'strike' hop has [?] tremondously

5/D is used as to whether [?] & [?] have [incendery?] [?] maybe they censored it because of ARR-23

Flew the C-117 yesterday for just time in a multi-engine - Hope to do more in future & really see what that kind of flying is like.

LTCOL McGee [ce?] to lanch with Shrikes & ARR-22 - Hoping to get himself a Sam site.

[letter] 4 June

Well - VHA-121 is gone to Japan - what's left of the original group anyway - Derry are shore patrol from 2200 to 0600 3 AirForce GV brought in 34 & took out 121 - It was a [lazy night & trying to complete a flight schedule was a bit rough.

311 is a little slow getting started - LTCOL [?] being relieved of duty [?ly] MAJOR Hichtlevaller - ex of H & CIS -12 3d has lost 6 pilots already to other squadrons & to group - down to 20 aviators so groupize ougt to do all right once they get rolling. All indicatons are that it will be a dry dummer as far as pilots are concerned.

I've spent last 3 days moving & getting resettled at opponte eval of hut - I delayed MAJOR Castincton intel save Dd be able to stay with 311 area - So far so good.

Still no cement.

5 June -

Slow day - no fly all is still hunting pretty bad for A/C

Spent morning helping guest with his books and arguing with MAJOR Lloyd about o-club plans.

Took most of afternoon off and worked on main living area -

Made a slow start on P.T. Program read & relaxed

Joe Miller left tonite for [?] for a bit of Marine Corps business - Hope he'll pick up & mail my shotgun here - a lot overdue on payments.

6 June -

Another slow day - Slept late - rode a few cmail - Tried to go to Danang in the afternoon but the R-Y was down so spent later part of day at the beach reading R-Y manual

Party tonight (going away type) for LTCOL Munis of 36 so I'm standing the all nite alert for them [-- --]

Just noticed I picked up a slight burn -

Seem to have made no time for thought and reading now that flying schedule isn't so heavy - hope I will [-- --].

New roomates - Doug Benton - 1/LT Dan J Beary 1/LT Bill Loftus [--] second class [-- --] volunteered & returned.

Air Force lost an F-100 inside our TAOR yesterday - not sure if it was hostile fire or whether It just blew up - pilot killed.

8 June 1967

Launched at 0500 another nite alert with Dan Keller - night DAS with napalm and HK81 in the side of a hill north of An Hoi - a bit heavy till it started to get light as peaks went up to 2000 ft and we had to run in from the valley floor - Spooky controlled us & ground troops marched with a spotlight.

All in all quite a night - stood alert while 311 had their going away party for LTCOL [illegible] - then close the bar - slept from 12:00 - 4:00 - Dan woke me up to stand the alert - They 'd run out of sober pilot - we launched soon after -

Slept most of the morning - went back to squadron about 4:00 - trying to [illegible] - let [illegible] they ran out of pilots & planes at the same time -

Good alert at 1100 - Sirens woke us up rapidly - seems they spotted a mortar platoon north of the field - on Ky-Anton-road - possibly fired 3rd rounds - all duds - they only scattered them.

10 June -

No fly day - slept late and made a supply trip to Danang for ice machine chairs & more soda & [illegible]

Flew off the alert Pad yesterday with Dick Jacobs - Cas north of AN Hoi HK - 79 & HK - 82's - Dick had HK-81 BDA - 12 structures destroyed - .? hop - [illegible] rim - Crammed a lot of flying into 45 minutes. -

R & R to Harry King still looks good for the c&d -

Show at E-club "Beauties & the Beasts" Tried to get some flash photos - dubious -

Hoping for a hop tomorrow -

Finished [illegible] back [illegible] for C-117 hope to start flying it soon - Cant ? - taking over for Jerry Cook - looks like another Mitch/Hunt -

Also think should look into flying HUIE's 34' steel slow and need more flying time. - Put off submitting resume to airlines until July - yearly flying time report is submitted

June 11 -

Spend morning evaling with E-club super [?] - [?] party - great for - afternoon - as [v?] club errands -

Sam threat is back on in the DMZ - Two new operators around Hue - Phu bai - Starting to rotate A/C to Cubi for ALQ-51 gear about time!

PT program [?] - then on the beach for work out - It's light late so should be able to continue it [?] the summer - When Joe Miller gets back - I may start running in the morning.

Resulmullering plans for O-club - E-5 club [?] approval & money oked by board - still needs C6 - sign

Got some slides back - few arial shots and O-club construction -

13 June -

No hop - attempt to get the Danang cut turned back when I found out that 155 people ahead of me for a C. V.

So instead puttered around club & hut doing odds & ends of repairs & improvments.

Banged my head against the wall all afternoon trying to figure out plans for O-club electrical & bar systems Didn't proceed very far.

Still no stateside orders although most for VHA121 have arrived.

No P7 - little sun - relaxed and thought - also a project that is not proceeding as repidly as I would like

Yesterday had an L2P - 4 plane - I had gun pods but after getting airborne I noticed I didn't have the [?] cockpit panel - Brilliant ! -1 & -2 bombed a ville successful -3 dropped lazy dogs and I made -2 day news - ever the internal [?] wouldn't work - nothing ! - - 3 cost his CSD carry home so [?] gaggle coming home - Trouble when you have two leaders in the same section & are

has an emergency . - too many chiefs ! Hope to make it to Danang tomorrow via CH-54

WL-17 blew up on the burner ramp today with John Wilke wathing engine compressor disintigrated & threw blades all over & looked like a flame thrower for a while -

Checked into Hue flying - looks possible - Will have to check further when I return for R&R -

R&R Hong Kong -

19 June

Traveled to Danang yesterday via CH-53 spent late afternoon wandering aroundmet Hank Castle & set up for [?]

Slept late - 1000 ]?] for R&R

Wated around sweating [?] in trans - Seems to be only one I know.

Reading "In Cold Blood" to pass the time. 50c for an Orange ! - talk about Vietnam [?] ! [?] to aAir Force side the another 1 1/2 [?] [?] - now reading -

Finally boarded Pan Am DC-6 5 across didn't allow much elbow room but stewardi & good meal helped. Picked up lots of reading material along the way - will read later - 2+25 tip - all over water - then [?] curtains - [?] - Good R&R [?] & finally bus to hotel - Park as Hilton is full - Tourist season seems to be starting.

First impressions - Like any [?] city - [?] surrounding make me wonder about a missed approach - Small

people & cars - lots of bermdared? cops - Look sharp - Hong Kong dolls / U.S 17 to 1 [?] English across [?] [?] with pictures of Mao Tse Tung on store fronts

20 June -

After two beers & dinner I hit the rack early and slept about 10 hours - Lulled around the local shops but didn't buy anythine

Today had late breakfast and walked to "star" ferry - 5c to Hong Kong Island - Stopped at a few furniture stores - Lamentedly? good stuff - But a problem to ship out - Will have to buy in Okinawa & ship by orders - Taxied to China Fleet Club and there [?] shopped most of day - bought [?] [?] hope lives [?] cloth. and a gay Cashmere Sweater for myself - $16.00 U.S. - almost bought red Jansen ski sweater but they didn't have my size - Walked around Hong Kong looking for a place to get Cdn leather gloves fixed but no luck - Visited Hong Kong Hilton & bought - [?] attacks & negative viewer for minox - Plan to return there [?] for visit to "The Den" which looks like a swinging scene - Walked back to Star Ferry & returned to the Paul? Hotel - took a few pictures but haven't found anything really worth taking yet.

clothing, jewelry - furs, leggers? all well priced but not such different from Japan - Same hustlers all over the place

21 Jun -

Slept late - amazing how I sleep in air conditioning - no jet engines to wake up to in the morning.

Some shopping - Planned to take tour be canceled that when I ran into Phil Raglen - ex-Navy LT and my LSO Instructor at [?] - he's now a flight engineer with Pan Am on R&R run - Tough life - Talked with him about Chu Lai - and the analysis - Later went to Ascot [?] and ordered 6 shirts tailor made - Hoped to meet Phil after Alpa meeting but missed him - Dinner & went to bed about 5:00 - intending to get up at 9:00 but slept right through

22 - June -

Up at 8:00 for breakfast & hot? tour of Kowloon & New Territories at 9:20 - 3 of us (all servicemen) and a driver & guide in Mercedes Covered about 15 miles on Kowloon side - out to Red Chinese Border - Resettlement ava, - mostly a farm town of [?] - narrow roads - busy traffic - careening Mercedes - A few pictures - Surprised at Mts terrain - [?] Braking - or even norten cay - Scrub & Beach Pine plus tropical [?] - Nothing to compare with Colorado

Shopped around in P N - Looking for skin rug of some kind but could only find goat & sheep skins -

Shore & wandering from Pa to Ba - Hotel Barthol is - started at dark - then [?] [?] Mandarin - finally had dinner at Empress Hotel. Out rigger 16th floor - Good Filet Mignon after dinner - centinnel bar [?] - one discothque in Ser? hotel - good live entertainment - Two [?] in Ambassador - By thistime I was getting slightly poluted - called [?] about 1:00 AM -