Under this thread I will attempt to show and tell a little about living and transporting during Lam Son 719--Operation Dewey Canyon--1971, although I was not there I have researched and have many dear friends that were, by organizing the Gathering I have been fortunate in getting the albums and stories of those that "gave all and gave some"---this mission in support of the south going into Laos was not only deadly but just a dirty, rough, and sleepless way of life---I will also ask Ugly Ranger to come over here and help----------------Driver
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Larry, will you be including Chesters account???????? He talked about it quiet a bit one night to Edd and I in chat! Would like to make sure that I wrote it down right.
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These photos are from the album of Capt. Donald Voightritter--We lost the Capt. in an accident after his return home---RIP Capt.----these photos show the move north from where we were in Cha Rang Valley----Not a bad move but these guys had no idea what it was like where they were going-----Driver
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Shortly after the begining of Lam Son 719 some pol tankers were sent out to see if they could navigate the narrow roads around Vandergrift and at night, it was crazy---they no more then got going and were hit, Soule was driving the Protector and died that night, The guards tried to stop the truck but the crew was not going to let their convoy go down without a fight, they drove passed in a cloud of dust, He was the first American killed during this operation, anouther was WIA on the truck--LT. Hoskins he lost his sight, Later they named Camp Soule after the driver of Potector----Driver
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These photos come from the album of Mike Lavin, He was CO of the 515th trans--The 515th went into Lam Som with only one gun truck (Baby Sitters) so they were givin a APC which Capt Lavin loved to ride in---Most these photos are from Khe Sahn 71, they are on the small side and may be a little hard to see, but I think you can get the idea of what these guys lived like----Driver
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Let me first give credit to Rich Killblane the US Army Transportation Corps Historian who I have gotton some of this information from, the rest I got from those that were there and I will try to ID them as we go along----This whole thing (Lam Son 719 to the Vietnamise, Operation Dewey Canyon to the US) started because it was thought that the NVA (Bad guys) were building up supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail, but seeings how by law we couldn't invade Laos we had to find someone that could--so--enter the ARVINs (South VietNamise Army)--its been said that they got the roads during the day and we got em at night--some of that may be true but I have an idea we were out there 24/7--its also been said that we weren't allowed into Laos other then by air--again--not true--kinda like the 25 miles inside the Cambodian boarder during that deal--and I know for a fact we went farther then that, so who knows how far we went into Laos, but one thing all the truckers knew--when going into the badlands gun trucks were a must, they knew that from the past that air, tracks, and ground troops just could not protect convoys the way their gun trucks could-----one more thing--I will along the way here make some mistakes---its bound to happen but I will do my best at this------Driver
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The Move---The 57th trans was already in the area Da Nang, Phu Bi area--and the 572nd (Gypsy Bandits) was on their way up north from Long Binh, they had no gun trucks so they barrowed Highland Animals from the 541st and Set Me Free a APC truck from the 563rd, its been writtin by Rich that they got their name from the MPs finding nine jeeps they weren't supposed to have after their move----------Driver
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Lam Son 719--Living & Transporting
