info

This page is set aside for stories, general information, and comments from Delta Company 1/12 members. As such this page is "under construction" and YOUR INPUTS are hereby solicited. The 1966 Battalion History document (see link at left) is a good source for triggering those long buried memories. E-mail the webmaster (recondelta@embarqmail.com) your inputs (stories, topics, poems, and observations, or questions) and they will be posted here. They can be one sentence or a long story. Use your imagination to entertain your fellow troopers.

Recently, at the Branson Reunion, a few story topics were discussed. While much elaboration is needed, these topics summaries do not do justice to the actual stories, they may stimulate some thought, or better yet maybe someone will send in a paragraph for all to read.

Starting with events in the 11th Air Assault:

Chuck Rose and ?? digging a 6 by 6
Rodney Harris making a still in the barracks
The man who passed out receiving a shot after harassing others about their fear of shots
The naked women running through the barracks, just before deployment to RVN
Green dying of shirts and underwear. Exact color required
At the Ft. Benning rifle range a machine gun belt was thrown into a fire. Lots of repercussions.
How Cocharon "stole Dwights air" during a jump and Dwights not so timid reaction

Events while in transit aboard USS Geiger

"Protect Your Rear" movie line and how it was used
Five inch gun pointed at the USS Geiger "I've got it under control" line to the CO upon his return to ship.
Who was the officer who showed in a cab at the boat in Hawaii wearing only his boots?
Drawing straws to "assault the beach" first. (It was unknown at the time just how much resistance there would be upon landing. It could have been another Omaha Beach.)
Bravo Company brought blanks to the war. So the other companies were forced to divide up our live ammo.
No Naval Gun support so no one knew what might happen
Merchant marine paid someone to bracket the ship with mortar fire so they could earn combat pay bonus
Heavy P.T. done at Guam after BBQ and beer party. Many gastric casualties.

Events while in Vietnam.

There are many possible observations and topics. Here are a few suggested story topic examples. There are many others: Those in Red added while at Branson 2013

Initial use of Pup Tents and how they floated away in the monsoon rains
Marijuana plants growing wild around the camp (not recognized by many)
The Hon Cong perimeter sniper activity and how three 106's were used to quite him.
Deiter Arnold took the first patrol up Hon Cong mountain.
How Dwight Edwards almost shot Lt. West, obeying his command to "shoot anything that moves". Fordyce hit the rifle so he fortunately missed
Medic called over birth event
Harlow Clark KIA in helicopter crash on greenline (see his photo page link at the bottom of the Rakasan page on this site)
How the heavy monsoon soon filled a helmut full of food (or anything else)
Deiter Arnold's classic "up dick leach" adventure and his mouth full of bees from a coke can
The formation of the 11th Air Assault, Training, and the trip to Vietnam.
Advance Party operations. Building the base camp.
First Operations in 1965. Learning Experiences.
Ia Drang and Chu Pong experiences in 1965 (1st Brigade was there before anyone)
Sloan singing "My Girl"
An Khe visits to town early on, and "Sin City" later
Various fire fights (Nov 1 1965, April 7 1966, and others)
What happened on Dec 17, 1965?
How the "Shit House" really got burned . SFC McClaurin was not happy with the result
R&R (Everyone has a story here.)
Visits to An Khe and Sin City (anonomous submits are OK)
Malaria gets around (it's a cheap way to get an ice bath)
Short arms inspection
Night patrols (Remember entering Cambodia with no dog tags?)
Errant M-79 rounds (Childers, are you OK?)
Recovering bodies from the downed plane (C-123 dropping flares for C Company)
The Mountainyard women bathing in a river and who broke the ice
The base camp pets (the monkey trained to sweep money off the poker table, dog)
Fun on the green line
Attack of the RVN patrol. (Hint: both sides called in ARA and the helicopter pilots decided something was amiss)
Bong Son (LZ Uplift, LZ English)
Battleship New Jersey firing 16 inch rounds that passed 50 feet over our heads (please no short rounds)
How many villages can be burned in one day?
Six Man LRRP's
The joy of Patrolling up mountains on Hot days
Pig patrol (watch out for wild boars)
How to jump through brush fires going down hill
Brush fires can set off grenades
Leaches are ubiquitous and they crawl into sensitive areas
Someone in RECON actually shot a pheasant on patrol, giving away our position?
The "Lost Patrol" with the one day wonder substitute PSG
How someone got shot in the foot on short final approach
Who shot himself in the foot, and why?
Snakes are good to eat after months of C's
CIDG patrol, or how not to win hearts and minds
A Scorpion can keep you awake on guard duty
Don't shoot the elephants with an M-16. They might get mad.
The day they air assaulted us into what turned out to be a lake.
Who got left behind on patrol?
Return to LZ Xray and the Chu Pong/Ia Drang area
Tasty 1944 C rations
1944 Mortar Rounds
How many hot showers in one year? How many hot meals?