Remembering

[frisco-kid]

I was puting some of the pictures of our VN trip of earlier this year into an album, and got to thinking about Kontum when I ran across this photo. On our trip, this was kind of a side trip. Kontum is about 30 mi. north of Pleiku on Hwy. 14. There are no decent roads from there to the coast, which was our next destination, so we would have to double back to Pleiku to catch Hwy. 19 to take us over Mang Yang Pass to Qui Nhon. 60 mi. roundtrip could take 3-5hrs., so we weren't going to stay very long in Kontum. That was okay with me. I didn't remember much of the town anyway. Spent most of the time there in the mountains. Just wanted to know that I had made it back there, and James got some bragging rites for being able to say he has been there . Like most of the other towns that we made it back to, it had significantly grown. We drove around the town abit, stopped for a nice lunch and left town. Probably stayed about 2hrs.. Some of this is in the movie, for those of you who have it.

The countryside around Kontum, and west to Cambodia, is some of the most rugged in VN. Steep mountains with narrow fingers running off the sides of them. Many of the peaks were 700'-1200' elevation. When operating here, we often had to use ropes to haul each other up some of the hillsides. When I was there in '66/'67, most of it was still covered with triple canopy jungle. As the war progressed, some of this, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, was knocked down with Agent Orange. Today, alot of it has been cleared with logging and slash-and-burn clearing to make room for the coffee and spices plantations that the Central Highlands are now covered with.

In early DEC66 all 3 Bns. of the 101st was moved from Tuy Hoa over on the coast, to Kontum. We deployed into LZs in the Plei Trap and Dak Akoi valleys. It was some ominous country, and in DEC it's shrouded in low, misty clouds most of the time. This was heavy NVA country, and some of the fiercest fighting of my tour was in this area.

A couple days before Christmas '66, we were pulled out for a standdown at a basecamp just outside of Kontum City. We were set up around a PSP airstrip. There was an ARVN Ranger or Airborne unit there, also. The day after Christmas, my CO asks if anyone wants to make a jump with the ARVNs on the 27th. Myself and 2 buddies, Beetle and Coz, decide to do it. There's also some guys from some other companies and some LRRPs that decide to make the jump. We spend most of the rest of the day practicing PLFs off of the back of a deuce and a half.

The next morning we're boarding C-130s. After we take off and fly over a couple of mountains, I wonder where the hell the DZ is. I assumed we were jumping somewhere near the airstrip. I can see out of one of the doors and when the jumpmaster stands us up, I still haven't seen anything but jungle. Then the green light is on. When it's my turn in the door, I'm still only seeing mountain side in front of me. As I make my exit and my 'chute opens, I finally see that we're jumping into a narrow valley. It looks to be wall to wall rice paddy. I also notice that the wind is kicking pretty good. I'm thinking this maybe wasn't such a good idea. As the ground comes up to meet me, I do a PLF in about a foot and a half of rice paddy water. I don't even have a chance to stand up. My 'chute is dragging me until I hit a dike so hard, I thought I broke something. It slows me down enough to where I can get up and collapse my parachute. As I'm doing that, 2 ARVNs get dragged over the dike and it doesn't even slow them down. OUCH! We're eventually picked up by trucks, and I spend most of the ride back trying to get the mud out of my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. I make it into town the next day looking for a little comforting from one of the local ladies. I find it.

Two days later we're back out humping the mountains. The early morning hours of 2JAN67 is one of my scariest nights in Nam. By daybreak my company has 7 dead and 18-20 wounded. The brigade leaves Kontum around the end of JAN67 for an operation around our home basecamp at Phan Rang. Had a few good times there, but wasn't sorry to leave. AHHH, the memories.