Who are these guys?
Most of us are affected with some level of CRS*. This page is to help others help us remember. These are pictures of 1/1 Marines whose names are currently unknown. They were there and have names and stories. If you have pictures of 1/1 people, send them in to post here. If you recognize anyone, please email who they are and what you know about the picture.
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I cant remember this Marine's name, but I think that this was his first operation. I think the op. was with "A" Co. on the island near Hoi An. -photo from Frank Hallas |
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Steve Evans, unknown, Jim Hill, all radio operators on a F.A.C. team. '66-'67. -photo from Frank Hallas |
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These two Marines are from Alpha Co. third plt., but once again I can't remember their names. Any help would be appreciated! -photo from Frank Hallas |
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Amtracs with Alpha Co. can't remember Marines circa 66-67 -photo from Frank Hallas |
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Col. Bell and Maj. Stokes on Amtrac with "A"Co. going to the island. Who are the other people?-photo from Frank Hallas |
| Hi! I'm responding to your question about the photos of the Amtrac
unit attached to 1/1 in early 1967 (for I think maybe a month or so).
While I don't recognize any of the 1/1 Marines -- other than Col. Bell --
the Amtrac unit is "A" Co. 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 3rd MARDIV.
(The vehicle unit markings on the Amtrac in the 2nd photo below appear to
be "1-A-34," which stands for 1st Amtrac, A Co., LVT #34. Our battalion
was based outside of DaNang at the time. While operating with Col Bell and
the boys, we had a patrol of 3 LVTs ambushed on a river by VC who had set
up a recoilless rifle in the riverbank treeline. Lost a friend that day.
They sunk one of our Amtracs, killed the radio operator with a bullet
through the neck (divers had to recover his body from the bottom of the
river), and injured a number of other AmTrac Marines. By the time the rest
of us arrived as a reaction platoon, it was too late to be of any help
other than to attend to the wounded and pull the sunken AmTrac from the
river. The VC were long gone. Shortly after our stint with 1/1, in early
April, 1967, our entire Amtrac Battalion was ordered north to the mouth of
the Cua Viet river on the coast of the South China Sea, due East of Dong
Ha. That's when our battalion became the AmGrunts. "A" Co. was converted
to an infantry role and "B" Co. provided transport, resupply, and medevac.
The battalion operated out of Cua Viet until 1969. You might find some of the Amtrac websites of interest: http://www.amtrac.org - Hugh T. Connelly I just received the entire Battalion Command Chronolgy for 1st AmTracs covering 1965-69. Looks like our "A" Co. was in support of most of the 1st Marines from at least Jan. '67 through the second half of April '67. Also, found the report on the AmTrac that got sunk during a resupply run up the river. According to the Chronolgy, that particular run was from 1/1's base to resupply 2/1. It was on March 6, 1967. Although reported as 57mm recoilless rifle fire, it was subsequently determined to be RPG-2 rounds. (Never knew that before.) There were 2 KIA and 4 WIA. The Chronology says that Recon Swimmers were brought in the next morning to recover the 2 bodies. It also says the VC attacked from the east side of Song Vinh Dien river. Apparently, there were two Amtracs hit (1-A-28 and 1-A-27). While the first one was sinking, the second one was hit, but made it to shore. |
* Can't remember shit
