My Year In NAM
submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson
Well, when I got to Lackland you know I didn’t get to change career fields so I went into radio operations so at least I would be near some electronics. By the way, the reason I wanted electronics was because I had just spent 2 years at the local technical college learning electronics technology so to me it was logical that I go into electronics in the AF. The Air Force, in its wisdom, decided to send radio operators straight out of school to Vietnam so that if they were lost then the AF didn’t lose as much money and we radio operators could interface with the Army and help the FAC/ALOs out. At least that is what I was told.
Thus in 1967, three classes of apprentice radio operators, straight out of tech school at Keesler AFB, MS went immediately to training in NATO and US weapons of all types. We then went to Fairchild AFB, WA for escape & evasion training as well as survival training so we would know what to do if the Viet Cong or NVA shot our plane down and decided to keep us instead of shooting us outright. Of course they would keep the pilot but a lowly one-stripe radio operator had no chance, but the AF wanted us to at least have a fighting chance so they trained us anyway.
Then off we went on the train to Seattle and then bus to Fort Lewis and then a Boeing 707 to land in Cam Rahn Bay about 22 hours later after refueling in Elmendorf AFB, AK and Yokota AB, Japan. The first thing that everyone noticed was the smell that hit you with the power of a hurricane as soon as the airplane door was opened, that and the heat. There was no escaping it and so we were welcomed to Nam by something that would be with us for the next 365 days, night and day. I and most of the other radio operators that I came over with waited around the terminal at CRB for most of the day until we were escorted out to a C-47 that was older than I was, made in 1942, the door plate said.
Then to Nha Trang, still a nice looking base and almost like stateside, I guessed duty wouldn’t be too bad here and started looking forward to the year. That bubble was quickly burst the next morning as we were greeted by the First Sergeant of the 21st TASS, he looked at us and said, “Somebody has made a big mistake sending you people over here to get killed.”
We didn’t stay at Nha Trang long either, I got sent to the 1st Calvary Division (Airmobile) at Camp Radcliffe along with four or five other radio operators from the 21st TASS to support the “Cav” as they flew around Vietnam in their helicopters, UH-1s and Cobras. I was lucky, they made me a REMF for a month until they found a need for me in their operations. I got to paint buildings, burn the “honey buckets,” carry the mail to the forward locations, heck, I even got to go to LZ Two Bits and build a new two-holer for the use of the AF detachment there as well as repair the sleeping quarters. I also got to work in the TOC on duty and lose a paycheck learning how to play poker with some of the off duty NCO’s.
Back at An Khe I started flying missions with the FACs as well as doing some admin work for the ALO, Maj. Kahlert I believe was his name, but memory loss has struck. I did a lot of flying equipment around from forward locations to wherever it could be repaired – An Khe or Nha Trang, so I got to do a lot of flying on most of the AF’s inventory as well as some of the Army’s airplanes. I got to ride C-123s, C-130s, C-47s (both AF & Air America), C-7s (they were the most fun), some choppers but never any fast movers unless you count the 123s with JATO.
Then in December of ’67 we lost Major Blair and Airman First Class Romero, they were on a scheduled flight around the operational area and there was a position report on schedule then nothing. The area where they were flying was triple canopy jungle so there is the possibility that they went straight in and didn’t leave much damage to the top canopy and the SAR people missed it.
They were finally declared officially MIA in March of ’68. Major Blair’s remains were supposedly found and repatriated in the ‘90s but Vic Romero is still missing over there somewhere. The thing that will always haunt me is that Vic and I swapped pilots that day, I was supposed to fly with Major Blair and Vic had drawn a 1st Lieutenant. Vic wanted to fly with Major Blair instead of the Lieutenant so I swapped with him and now Vic is on The Wall and I am here living his life.
Shortly after that incident I was transferred to Pleiku to work in the II DASC, this was in the II CORPS MACV Compound just outside Pleiku AB. This was very civilized living for me, flush toilets, running water, showers, you know, just all the stuff that we missed from the real world, why they even were building a swimming pool down on the AB. If it hadn’t been January we would have been able to go down and swim a little but the Viet Cong seemed to sight off that pool so it was not finished before I left in March of ’68 to go to Bao Loc and MACV Advisory Team 38.
Then it was the end of January and the Vietnamese New Year, Tet, was approaching, MACV began to hear some rumors about Communist buildup so we AF “soldiers” were placed around the MACV Compound perimeter to augment the Army troops. Since we had M- 16s and thus a faster rate of fire than the Army and their M-14s we were placed in two’s spaced around the perimeter to provide mini-machine gun nests. Tet came and went with us finding the compound barber in the wire with a rucksack of explosives as well as some of the other help found here and there.
Shortly after that I was transferred to Advisory Team 38 down at Bao Loc where there were 300 Army Advisors and six AF Advisors and 2,000 ARVN troops, it was supposed to be a good place to be because there wasn’t much action. Some one forgot to tell the Army that because shortly after I got there the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade moved into the operational area as well as a couple of MACV SOG units. There is where I would have gotten three Purple Hearts if my medical records had been there, but they were in Pleiku or Nha Trang and the Army’s medical reports never made it to my records. I was sent down as the senior Airman on the compound but I was only a two striper, everyone else was of a lower rank or time in grade than I was. It was interesting to say the least. There were two officers, a Major and a Captain, and four enlisted men, another radio operator, an intelligence specialist, an airplane crew chief and myself. The enlisted lived in one room and the officers in another in an old French villa that the MACV Team had taken over, I guess because the walls were very thick. I did flight following as a R/O, I helped the intel guy figure out where Charlie might be, did all the generator maintenance that I could – if that broke, then we had a spare and the 21st TASS could also send another one on the next plane coming our way. Back at the compound I pulled guard duty around the perimeter and Command Post duty every other night. During this time I learned that the officers were just human beings just like we enlisted men were, and there from that stemmed my lack of acceptance of the chicken scratching and authority when I returned to the States for the rest of my enlistment.
I learned many things from the FACs and ALOs in Nam, I have many happy or at least pleasant memories from there also. I also saw the elephant and he scared me almost to death but for some unknown reason I was allowed to return to the world and continue on. Thanks to the many of you who touched my life in Nam and even though I’ll never remember your names I see your faces in my memory all the time.