Chaplains were assigned to the Brigade Level. The Brigade Chaplain was Episcopalian and there were three Assistant Brigade Chaplains. One of these, Father Lynch, was Roman Catholic, and provided Catholic services throughout the Brigade. The remaining two Chaplains were Protestant. The other chaplain was primarily responsible for the 3rd Batallion, 12th Infantry, and I took the 3rd Batallion, 8th Infantry; we shared responsibilities for the 1/8 Infantry and 6/29 Artillery.
0112 Brigade Chapel, Dak To, during rainy season
There was a Brigade Chapel at Dak To, but most of our time was spent forward with the batallions. Initially at Dak To, my units were located on the mountain above Dak To called Rocket Ridge. The two main locations, along the top of the ridge, were called Firebase 5 and Firebase 6, with smaller units on hills lower down, titles like Hill 1039 and Hill 995 (named for their heights in meters) come to mind. There were trails between the locations, and once I went with a patrol from one location to the next, but for the most part the only way in and out was by helicopter. The high location and rainy, foggy weather meant that it sometimes took more than a day to get a ride to a location, and once there, could require an overnight before returning.
Thursday, 1 August. Visited B Company 1/8 at Firebase 5 -- Sermon 2 (21 in attendance)
Letter to home, 2 August, Dak To. Yesterday evening I spent a couple of hours in the emergency room with a man brought in with heat exhaustion and another who had been run over by a bulldozer.
Friday 9 August -- A Company 3/8 at Firebase 30 -- Sermon 2 (35 in attendance)
0047 Chaplain on Bunker Above Dak To
Saturday 10 August -- 704th Maintenance at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (13 in attendance)
Sunday 11 August
3/8 Trains at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (15 in attendance)
3/12 Trains at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (9 in attendance)
Letter to home, 13 August, Dak To.
The other day we went to Tan Canh for a Buddhist War Memorial Service there and part of it after a monk and an ARVN leader and Major Beebe from our brigade put wreaths on a memorial and then we went to the ARVN compound to the apartment of a young widow whose husband had been a second lieutenant, and there she was trying to hold the tears in, and their three children all wearing white bands around their heads for mourning, and the Vietnamese captain made a presentation, and then the monk made a long prayer or speech in the very soft, melodious way he speaks, it really got to me.
I'm afraid I've swung over to the hawk side since coming here, it's really amazing how poor newspaper coverage is in the states, you never hear any of the positive things being accomplished here, only the negative.
Letter to home, 14 August. Dak To.
Finally got out today – walked into the Brigade aviation office and asked what was flying. "Where do you want to go?" "25 and 31" Lieut. Harvey gave Bentley the go ahead sign, and Bentley jumped up eagerly.
Bentley is a warrant officer, about 21-22, I'd guess, all he flies is the bubble, a little 2 passenger craft. The call sign for all the small birds is "hummingbird" and the number, but he prefers to use the call sign "Chickenheart 3 " himself. They apparently harass him in the office and he's glad for any pretext to get out.
We flew up a valley I hadn't been up before. On your map it shows a route 14 above Dak To, going eventually to Da Nang. Don't believe it. The road is barely visible. At one point it crosses the river and there is this black hulking wrecked bridge across it. Roads have always fascinated me; dead ones really depress me, I really got feeling melancholy on the chopper flying over the road, the first ride I've had when I wasn't really exuberant. We finally got to Firebase 31 and the mountain had a cloud all around it, but Bentley started flying around the mountain and suddenly there was a break in the cloud and he got in. Really something. Later I got to 25 by a couple of hops, was finished there by lunch time, but no birds until 7 PM, I really was surprised by that time that I didn't have to spend the night there.
B Company 3/8 at Firebase 31 -- Sermon 3 (13 in attendance)
C Company 3/8 at Firebase 25 -- Sermon 3 (16 in attendance)
0030 An Altar Made of Ammo Crates
19 August. Dak To.
Letter to home. Some action north of here last night, couple of battalions of NVA tried to overrun a Special Forces camp at Dak Seang. Result: 1 GI slightly wounded, 2 Montagnards slightly wounded. Over a hundred NVA dead and 10 captured, of whom about seven were wounded. When they attack they're so incredibly bad – they do OK lobbing in rockets and mortars, but this ground attack business, they'd better hang it up. They brought the captured here. Really made an impression me
A VC prisoner dressed in black was brought in to the Brigade base with his eyes covered with a bright yellow bandanna. I was struck by how young he looked. I wrote a poem: Gook
Tuesday 20 August -- Hill 1089 -- Sermon 3 (46 in attendance)
Thursday 22 August
B Company 3/8 at Firebase 31 -- Sermon 2 (24 in attendance)
E Company 3/8 at Dak Seang -- Sermon 2 (12 in attendance)
Sunday 25 August
C Company 1/8, C Company 3/8 at a bridge -- Sermon 2 (26 in attendance)
Brigade Chapel -- Sermon 3 (35 in attendance)
Letter to home, 26 August. Dak To.
This afternoon Bruce and I are flying down to Pleiku. Will do some business, go off post downtown to the hospital to visit I Brigade soldiers there....
Yesterday on Firebase 6 Bruce and I were just up there having conducted a service and waiting for a helicopter to take us off this mountain top when one landed out hopped two doughnut dollies in red cross uniforms.
Letter to home, 29 August. Dak To.
Pleiku was hectic, but I didn't stay longer than I had to. Too much like the Army down there – regulations, formalities, etc. People work all day and nothing happens – reverse of here!
Spent some time with John, he reports for work at 7 AM and gets two half hour breaks for lunch and supper and gets off about 10:30 PM. He works in General Stone's HQ, which explains it, kind of a cloistered scribe in a monastery.
The big hassle at Pleiku turned out to be a CONEX container (it's about 8 foot cubic, steel, with doors, used for transportation and storage.) The Chaplains had maintained which now was to be called back in. One of my errands was to check it out. I got there. "Hey, chaplain, what do you want to do with the stuff in your Conex? They're going to take it away in five minutes." I argued myself two days with it, looked inside, inventoried it, turned in some stuff, gave some to Division, and the rest on a trailer to come up here. Including two field organs, which I'm going to have our organ man make into one serviceable one.
Also drove across town to the 71st Evac hospital to see any I Brigade people there.
Letter to home, Friday 30 August. Dak To.
There's going to be a combat assault northwest of here, but whether this will kill my chances of getting anywhere or make it more important, I'm not sure. I'll just have to hang loose.
Units visited, according to sermon record:
Thursday 1 August -- B Company 1/8 at Firebase 5 -- Sermon 2 (21 in attendance)
Friday 9 August -- A Company 3/8 at Firebase 30 -- Sermon 2 (35 in attendance)
Saturday 10 August -- 704th Maintenance at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (13 in attendance)
Sunday 11 August -- 3/8 Trains at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (15 in attendance)
Sunday 11 August -- 3/12 Trains at Dak To -- Sermon 3 (9 in attendance)
Wednesday 14 August -- B Company 3/8 at Firebase 31 -- Sermon 3 (13 in attendance)
Wednesday 14 August -- C Company 3/8 at Firebase 25 -- Sermon 3 (16 in attendance)
Tuesday 20 August -- Hill 1089 -- Sermon 3 (46 in attendance)
Thursday 22 August -- B Company 3/8 at Firebase 31 -- Sermon 2 (24 in attendance)
Thursday 22 August -- E Company 3/8 at Dak Seang -- Sermon 2 (12 in attendance)
Sunday 25 August -- C Companies 1/8, C Company 3/8 at a bridge -- Sermon 2 (26 in attendance)
Sunday 25 August -- Brigade Chapel -- Sermon 3 (35 in attendance)
0118 The Airstrip at Dak To was the focus of all activity. The small helicopter, a "Light Observation Helicopter" (LOH - pronounced "Loach") was used for command and control. The larger helicopter, a gunship, supported combat.
0117 Supporting troops in the field required massive amounts of supplies -- food, water, and ammunition. The red bags contained mail.
The Refrigerator
0114 A bunker gets a refrigerator
0113 The comforts of home
Life in Dak To was spartan. Camp Enari, however, had a PX, and eventually a trip to the rear was possible. On our return, my assistant and I had acquired a half sized Japanese refrigerator. The next challenge was getting it to fit through the opening of the bunker. Finally, we had the comforts of home.
Events elsewhere during the month:
August 21, 1968. Soviets invade Czechoslovakia.
August 28, 1968. Democratic National Convention nominates Hubert Humphrey while thousands of anti-war protestors and police battle in streets.
