1st Battalion 22nd Infantry May 1970 Page 1

May 1970

When I first arrived in Vietnam an old timer, Paul Flartey, took me under his wing and one of the first things he told me to do was keep a detailed record of my Combat Assaults, CA’s. A grunt needed 25 CA’s to qualify for an Air Medal. Paul allowed as how the record keepers in base camp would sometimes beat a guy out of his Air Medal unless he had his own date/place/time etc. record. Thus, I kept a log of my every CA. If we were CA’d from one unknown spot in the boonies to another unknown spot in the boonies and I knew neither grid location, I would label it with some memory hook such as “from the valley of yellow butterflies to the hunger hill area”. Even 20 years later these would trigger my memory. I kept it on a writing tablet that the Army provided for writing letters home. The Army was very big on encouraging a person to write home regularly, which I did and as far as I know, no letters survive. I would love to see one. It was not a very large tablet, maybe 6x10, unlined paper. I kept it in a doubled-waterproof bag in the side pants pocket of my jungle fatigues. Many years later it served as a diary of sorts. It served as my month-by-month record keeper, as to my personal dates and locations, together of course backed with official documents. Since I first began to entertain the thought of writing about my time in Vietnam, around 1990, I always figured to make the CA list a monthly keeper of the chronological basis of my time in Vietnam and thus, it has and does.

In many cases some of these are simply stand-alone stories, others connected, that I randomly wrote at various times throughout the years, exact date, and exact location unknown to me although I’m probably within a month or two of when they occurred. Also, some of them I did not date when I wrote them, so some were written in the early1990’s, others later. Memories. They are simply memories. Now a story.

2nd Platoon, Bravo Company 1/22 Infantry An Khe, March 1970

Top Row Standing, Left to Right:

James Killian, Robert Bostwick, Joseph Kidder, Jerome Klopenstein, Robert Pederson, Robert Holloway

Partial Row, Partial View:

Between Killian & Bostwick is John Broussard, to Bostwick's left front is Unknown Obscured, Between Klopenstein & Pederson is Harry Beck

Middle Row, Standing:

James Henderson, Bernie ?, Willard Rose, Stephen Wach, James Hinzo, Richard Buenzle, Louis Ybarra, Donald Gary

Bottom Row Kneeling:

Wilfred Farland, Jack Phelps, Joseph Akczinski, Jimmie Carter, Albert Brick, Cecil Dykes, Reynold Blazon

“It is not known exactly when this Photo was taken but it is basically the same group of men that were together and went into Cambodia
in May 1970. It was taken in An Khe while on Stand down either Jan 18-20 or Mar 18-21”

Photo courtesy of Albert Brick

The first two days of May found us on LZ Niagara, or FSB Niagara, whichever term is used they are basically interchangeable. LZ standing for Landing Zone and FSB standing for Fire Support Base, sometimes simply Firebase. We had arrived two days earlier. In all we spent 4 days on Niagara, and it was a most pleasant time. For whatever reason, luck of the draw I guess (lack of luck?), B Company never spent much time on firebases. If we did, we were usually the ones breaking ground on new firebase and tasked with much manual labor. But, on Niagara, it was an older and established firebase, we had time to relax, get haircuts, get clean clothes, drink a few beers and kick back. On the 3rd of May we rode in a CH47 Chinook to An Khe to begin what was a two-day standdown.

Rear doorway of Ch-47 Chinook Helicopter

Photo courtesy of Harry Beck

CH-47 helicopters transporting American soldiers

Photo by Larry Burrows —The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

It was pleasant in An Khe for those two days. More beer, more and better resupply and preparation for the invasion of Cambodia. That story follows.

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