Bob Babcock Page 4

Bob Babcock

3rd Platoon Leader Nov 1965 - Dec 1966

Executive Officer Dec 1966 - Jul 1967

Bravo Company 1/22 Infantry 4th Infantry Division

LT Bob Babcock on or about December 19, 1966.

This is the AK-47 that 1SG MacDonald took off the NVA that he blew away with his 12 gauge shotgun.
The next day we pulled out of this firebase and went back to base camp until January 3, 1967 -
plenty of time for the NVA to regroup and overcome all the damage we had done in Nov/Dec,
and cause us beaucoup problems in the first half of 1967, when we came back into this same general area.
Makes you wonder why our government was so stupid to call the war off for Christmas
and any other holiday on our side and their side.

December 20, 1966

As Paul Revere IV came to an end, Chinooks lifted out the heavy equipment to move it back to 4ID base camp.

I had no idea how fierce and rugged the terrain we had been operating in was until I flew out of it on November 30, 1966,
to go back to base camp. I had to pick up the payroll to pay the troops (our XO had been promoted out of the Company
and I was ranking Platoon Leader). This was typical of the terrain the 4ID operated in for much of our tour in Vietnam.
I had a one day break and missed a brief firefight as B 1/22 secured a new firebase site for the Battalion to move to.
The next day I was back out with the MPC, paying the troops - with no place to spend it.

3rd Platoon B 1/22 Infantry, Christmas Day 1966

This was taken in the IA Drang Valley in April/May 1967. SSG Jim Benge has the bananas on his rucksack
and PSG Frank Roath is with him. Both were in 3rd Platoon, B 1/22.
The bananas really weren't bananas and never did turn yellow - they rotted before we could eat them.

Red Cross Donut Dollies entertain support troops of 1/22 Infantry at the Oasis, April 1967.

Mortar attack on Plei Djereng forward trains area - March 1967

Portable chapel at Plei Djereng - March 1967

Typical of what Chaplain Sauer of 1/22 could make his chapel look like - and attendance was excellent,
especially after an event such as the mortar attack we went through a few nights previously.

Certificate presented to Bob Babcock upon leaving Vietnam, 1967.

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