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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels MelodyPatterson3
Story of a Mortar Attack on Det 3, Pleiku
Received from Bob Wilford, September 2018.
In response to an aerial photo of Dragon Mountain, one of the group posted a comment “looks like a good target-did anyone ever try to mortar the site”, the answer is, “Yes, on at least one occasion someone DID try to mortar the site. The photo doesn’t quite capture the steepness of the slope, the height of the summit, or the narrowness of the area at the top. Certainly our “attacker did not understand these. It was a hot summers afternoon, in the middle of the afternoon, when we heard the first unmistakable sound of the round leaving the tube. Several off- duty AFVN’ers rushed to the “perimeter of the mountain to determine the scope of the attack and reached the bunker line in just a few minutes. And just in time to listen to another round “incoming”. Impact was about a quarter of the way up the side of the slope. We were all pretty amazed as we watched a third round impact. It was quickly evident “he” was never going to reach the top of the mountain, let alone be lucky enough to land inside the narrow strip of land at the top. But it was enough to piss off our CO, Lt. Homer S. Cutlip. LT ordered some of us to grab our rifles and return fire. When several magazines had been emptied we all paused for a response. Another round. The bored assailant was walking the round up the mountain. Lt. Cutlip was not amused. He ordered the M40 to join the riflemen in a volley or two. The response was yet another round. Cutlip order the M60 to the line. Another Round. Now somewhat pissed off, Cultip order Gunny Johnson to the line with our 105 Howitzer (Yessiree, we had one that had been traded to who knows who or what, but we had one.) Several of our rounds now went down the mountain. And a Cobra gunship from the 4th division provided the finale with a sweep of the gulch with full miniguns firing. That shut him up. Later patrols found no trace of a firing position, not a single blood trail. Our lone assailant clearly had access to a tunnel. And, P.S. Gunny Johnson later acquired a mini gun we mounted on the back of a deuce-and-a-half.
Youtube Video of Det 3, Pleiku, in 1967
By SSgt Cedric Williams, USAF
Consists of still photos plus captions.
[Received from Michael Goucher in November 2018.]
Please note that in the captions, Michael's last name should start with a "G" not a "B."
At the end of his video, Cedric wrote:
Forty-three years after returning home, I found the AFVN website (Gocities version?). There I learned that less than six weeks after I left for home, my friend Thomas Franklin Young was killed and my friend, John Deering was taken prisoner at Hue during the Tet Offensive. My friend, Robert Young, found me through the website. When he called I learned he was dying of liver cancer--possibly from agent orange exposure. History has shown that none of the so-called "national leaders" who sacrificed the lives of these three men, "To keep the dominoes from falling," were anywhere near the quality of the young men I knew. Well, the dominoes fell anyway....
When Michael submitted this link, he wrote:
I discovered a video last weekend on You Tube which is a silent film composed with still photos of scenes and personnel on the mountain. I saw myself in one shot which was taken in our makeshift "news room" and was of SP4 Randy Anderson (Army) and me, SP4 Michael Goucher. From the photo I couldn't tell if we were doing anything productive except staring at the camera. However, Anderson is not identified and my name is spelled with a B instead of a G. That said, I was thrilled at the discovery of a history of the founding of the Dragon Mountain AFVN installation which was a BEAR to get up and running. As always thank you for your work and dedication to it. You have no idea how many of us are replenished by your efforts. It keeps us young!
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Untitled-1
Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels Untitled-1
Type your paragraph here.
John Steinbeck and Westy Miller enjoying the sun at Pleku, Det 3.
More photos of Detachment 3, Pleiku are shown at--
Photos & Stories
Michael R. Goucher SP5, USA Pleiku 1967-68
Bruce A. Wahl 1LT, USA (Infantry) OIC, Plieku 1970
Louis A. Waters SP5, USA Saigon / Pleiku 1968-69
Cedric H. Williams SSgt, USAF Qui Nhon / Nha Trang / Pleiku 1967
The story of Det 3 being nearly overrun is in the Group Conversation titled:
Book about AFVN / Navy with AFVN / Attack on Det 3 - Marc Yablonka
(Scroll down or search for "Det #3".)
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Unknown
Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels ID-Promo3
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Unknown
Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels ID-Promo1
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Unknown
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Melody Patterson
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Karen McQuirk
AFVN\Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels KarenMacQuirk
Pleiku Promo ID (Slides) -- Chris Noel
AFVN\Website7_Uploads-SlideShows\LouWaters7\PleikuID-MOdels ChrissNoel
The Pleiku Detachment 3 staff in 1967. [left to right, rear] Robert Young, SSG, USA; Bob Adams; Charles D. Bertsch, Jr. SP5, USA; Unknown
[left to right, front] Bob "Ricky" Nitzburg, SP4, USA (Medic); West G. Miller, GySgt, USMC (NCOIC);
2LT Joseph L. Cook, USA; Cedric H. Williams, SSgt, USAF; Randy Anderson. SP4. ISA
Received from Robert C. "Bob" Young, SSG, USA with some names added/corrected by Michael Goucher, SP5, USA
and Cedric Williams, SSgt, USAF
AFVN\Website7_Uploads-Graphics3 Pleiku-Young
One of Cedric Williams' memories of Bob Nitzburg is that Bob had "two very accurate Bulova Acutron watches that
'kept perfect time' however he was constantly frustrated by the fact that neither one of them kept the same time."
AFVN Detachment 3, Pleiku
AM 10,000 watts 560 KHz
FM 25,000 watts 99.9 MHz
TV 40,000 watts Channel 11