John Hiemstra
Vietnam Diary
Web Page 3
THE BEST OF CHARLIE HORSE
VIETNAM
1 August 71 QT
It is Sunday, my day off again. I cashed my money order
from Kathy and spent half of it at the PX buying film and some
food for the hooch. ARPS were inserted in the punchbowl
in the bunker complex. They ambushed a patrol of
NVA killing two of them. That was the total for the
day. Bob Ramsey got a telegram from the Red Cross this
afternoon stating that his fiancée, Theresa Gray, was
seriously hurt in an auto accident. Bob is furious that
101st will not let him go to her.
2 August 71 QT
Most of our blade time was spent around A4 trying to get a
clearance to work the area near the pink. We had to go
through six people to find the owner of the AO who then denied
us permission to work it. Capt Hogg landed at C2 to talk
things over with the American advisor. Wow, we went IFR
in the dust at five feet off the ground! We hovered down
until we had gained contact. There was a country-western
floor show at the “O” club tonight. It was comprised of
Vietnamese, but they were good. Bob Ramsey left for a
thirty day leave to be with his fiancée today!
3 August 71 QT
We went on a tour up the Red Devil
road through the Punchbowl. We also found a team
of ARVNs on AL1 south of the pink, all of them were blown
away. We nearly got wiped out by loose PSP as we landed
to the parallel. Capt Hogg was the AC. The
aircraft was severely damaged by the accident.
4 August 71 QT
I had standby today with Steve Wing. 1st team got shot
at up on the pink. There are five NVA regiments somewhere west
of the Ba Long. We’ve got to find them. An attack
is expected on Dong Ha/QT by 18 August.
5 August 71 QT
I flew 2nd team with Larry Dunagan. Mr. Foster came back
last night and flew AMC for 1st team. As they were
coming back on Red Devil road from Ke Sanh, Foster took a
round through his rotor blade. Our team caught
four gooks sunbathing by the stream on the valley floor
opposite Sarge (firebase). We killed two of them immediately
and had to return to QT for rearm. When we came back the
bodies were gone despite the arty going in during our absence.
We couldn’t find the bodies or the live ones either so we
called it a day and went home.
6 August 71 QT
Today we flew out to Sheppard (firebase) and were going to VR
the Da Krong but the low clouds prevented it. We worked a
little in the Backyard. Mac Cockerel came back today.
7 August 71 QT
I was on standby with Steve Wing. First and second team
went north of Fuller and ran into all sorts of gooks.
They killed a few. High winds grounded the crews during the
afternoon.
8 August71 QT
I flew with Mac on 1st team. He is really great, always
teaching me something new and important. We worked NE of
Al first mission, not much activity there. The last
mission was in the rocket belt. Frazier flew Walker’s front
seat.
9 August 71 QT
Capt Hogg was my AMC today. We flew up north of Fuller
and south of the Rock Pile. Not much happened today. I
bought a new cap and. had “Mad Dog Hiemstra” embroidered on
the back of it. The guys say I’m the makings of a new legend
for Charlie-Horse. Hah, that waits to be seen. Mr.
Dunagan killed a rat that I saw dash in between the sandbags
and the front door to our hooch. It caused a lot of
excitement. (He used. a .38 to kill the rat) What else is
there to do? Everybody came around to admire and praise
Dunagan for his sharp eye and steady hand. It looks like
I’ll get to go home on leave about Sept 21 if nothing prevents
it.
10 August 71 QT
I had standby today with Walker. Catkiller was shot down in
the pink. He was killed on impact and his body will not be
recovered. We had gooks probing our perimeter
today. A 2/17 shot 3 rockets down the parallel but
didn’t hit anybody. Maj. Seer Is our new CO. This
is his 3rd tour.
11 August 71 QT
Yesterday a major road being built by the NVA was discovered
just inside the pink, running from N to S. This is where
“Catkiller” crashed yesterday. I flew with Dunagan
today. We checked out a suspected cache site. What we
found was a lot more than a cache site. It was a
battalion base camp nestled in between the ridges of a very
steep valley (ravine); bunkers, hootches, heavy trails.
We called in arty but it didn’t do much damage. 1Lt. Bell
found a pith helmet close by and cap¬tured it after tossing a
grenade nearby to assure that it wasn’t booby-trapped. Mac
Cockerel had a forced landing at Cam Lo. He feared that
he was losing his hydraulics. He did fly it back to QT
though. G. Richardson, Quinn, J. Weisend, J.Hayes were
playing hearts in my room tonight. I was cooking popcorn
for them,
12 August 71 QT
Steve Wing was my AC today. We flew one short mission this
morning north of Fuller to check out some spots. We saw an
airstrike by a single jet. Today has been a very bad
day. About 03:00 the Cam Lo MACV advisor camp was
overran by a sapper battalion. Two teams were scrambled
to help suppress the enemy. The sappers blew up a few
hootches and damaged a lot more. None of the friendlies
were killed but quite a few were injured. I don’t know
at this time how many sappers were killed but I do know that a
good number were found this morning in the wire. Some of
our guys got NVA packs as souvenirs.
First team was working west of C2 and A4 this afternoon about
17:00. C2 was taking incoming. Jim Weisend looked
back to his rear and exclaimed, “Hey, there is a big fire
behind us”. Walker looked and said, “It looks like an
aircraft”. Calls were made to 27 on all three radios but
no answer. It was him. His rotor blade could be
seen slowing fluttering down trailing the flaming
wreckage. It will probably never be known what caused 27
to burst into a fireball and plummet straight down 2000 feet
to smack into the ground 500 meters south of the light bulb
(073672). He never made one transmission on the
radio. A scramble was made from QT and soon the sky over
the crash scene was crowded with aircraft. ARPs
(Airborne Rifle Platoon infantrymen) were inserted and began
the ugly task of poli¬cing up the remains. As 26 (Capt
Carey) was on final he took ground fire and was forced to make
a go-around. Two Cobras shot up the area and two ARA
(Airborne Rocket Artillery) helos on their way back to QT came
over and shot up the area. Finally six torn and burnt
bodies were lifted out with the ARPs. The bodies were
scattered as much as 200 meters from the burning remains of
27’s aircraft. Mr. Kelley was imbedded in the wreckage
which was still burning so he had to be left. 1Lt
Thompson, his copilot, was brought out. Another body
might still be in the wreckage, no one is sure at this
point. The toll, two pilots, one gunner, 4 ARPs.
The crew chief was not with the crew and so missed his call.
Rockets hit all the FSB bases today except Holcomb.
13 August 71 QT
Mr. Kelley was pulled out of the wreckage today and sent on
his was home. Very little trouble was encountered during the
recovery, only light sniper fire. It was amusing to
listen to the ground party earnestly discuss which part of Mr.
Kelley’s body to cut off if they couldn’t get the torso
out. Really, it doesn’t matter. Mr. Kelley is no
longer there, only his earthly remains. They did get all
of his re¬mains out. I flew with Mr. Rickabaugh today, 1st
team. We put in one mission north of the light bulb and then
sat the rest of the morning out. Our first mission of
the afternoon was to escort two 0-1s to the site of the 0-1
crash of the 11th of August. As we were flying cover for the
photographic runs of the 0-1s, we flew right over a large
anti-aircraft gun. Why it never fired at us I’ll never
know. The Catkillers (0-1) really have a hairy job
flying low over the DMZ. I admire them. They also
took photos of 27’s crash site. A4, C2, Camp Carol,
Sarge, Fuller Al, C1 all took rocket fire today. There
is a great increase in activity along the pink. The Reds
must be getting ready for a big push. As we were about
to RTB (return to base) we saw an ARVN track (APC) blow up 2
klicks west of C2. Apparently he was hit with an RPG.
Between his fuel and ammo, there were five large fireball
explosions, very spectacular. Catkiller caught
five gooks escaping the scene of crime but we couldn’t get
clearance to fire on them until 35 minutes later which was too
late. The stupid ARVNs are cutting their own throats by
making it so difficult for us to work for them.
Hue said nine ARVNs were killed, 11 captured, 11 wounded, and
21 NVA killed in the Cam Lo sapper raid on the 12th. We saw
the funeral procession for the dead ARVNs. I got a shirt
and shorts from an NVA pack captured at Cam Lo.
14 August 7l QT
1Lt.Wimmer flew front seat today for me. Good experience
for a scout. First team ran onto two live .51 cal
positions. The scout took fire from one and then flew
over the other and took fire from it. The guns killed
both .51 crews. This evening Nui Ba Ho came under ground
assault. As the choppers flew around the mountain they
took assorted ground fire and air bursts, gray smoke clouds
from active 37mm guns. A4 is also under ground attack.
One helo is thought to save been shot down near A4 but no one
knows for sure. The guns are all on standby during the
night. C-H tried to tell the ARVNs that they were going
to get mauled if they made it so hard for us to work in their
AO.
15 August 71 QT
Van Walker was my AC today. After much difficulty our team
(1st) headed for Mai Loc. We worked for 6 awhile screening for
possible enemy movement or positions around Sarge. During this
time F4s were dumping ordinance on Nui Ba Ho and ad¬joining
ridges to knockout anti-aircraft positions and massing troops.
Somewhere along the line the 37mm was put out of action. Still
.51s were firing hot and heavy at anyone foolish enough to
venture near. A 57mm recoilless rifle continuously shelled the
outpost on Nui Ba Ho. Camp Carroll was receiving harassing
fire from rockets as was FSB Fuller and Sarge. A4 was under
ground assault and rocket attack.
A relentless effort was being made to resupply and enforce Nut
Ba Ho but enemy’s .51s kept the choppers away. Finally at
09:50 the U.S. advisors on Nui Ba Ho frantically reported that
gooks had breached the wire on the northwestern side. Guns 44
and 31 joined to strafe and rocket the perimeter. As we
entered our dive a .51 would stitch the air around us as we
wove our shells along the wire and hillside. Seeing
silver tracers 15 feet away was far from enjoyable. My
turret failed completely without firing a shot. I felt
like I was ripe mater¬ial for a pin cushion. As we
expended 44 took intensive .5l fire so we broke for home as 32
and 11 replaced us. No more gun runs were made on Nui Ba
Ho by C-H that day. Miraculously nobody was hit.
F-4s kept up a steady pounding of enemy positions throughout
the day with 5001b bombs and napalm which makes a beautiful
fire ball when it explodes. About 16:00 a battalion of ARVNs
were inserted on a low ridge a few klicks SE of Nui Ba Ho.
Their intent is to rescue the entrapped occupants (of Nui Ba
Ho). I’m not sure at this time if the defenders made it
off alive or not. Somebody said radio contact was lost
sometime in the afternoon. FSB Sarge is sure to be next
on the list of bases to fall.
16 August 71 QT
Smoke still hung over the ridges around Nui Ba Ho. Capt Laster
took fire from en¬trenched gooks on the western rim of Spooky
Valley. We shot at them but I doubt that we killed
them. A 2/17 lost a ship west of Nui Ba Ho across the
val1ey (9650). The crew got out okay.
17 August 71 QT
Last night A 2/17 caught a VC recon man. It turned out
that he was the PA&E gen¬erator operator. D 3/5
pulled the same stunt this morning. The operator is
pro¬bably pretty irked. At any rate, with all this new
activity along the perimeter I decided it was time to get an
M-16 rifle issued to me which I did. Today I flew with Capt
Hogg and Bob Lee. The slick took fire near Nui Ba Ho but we
decided to leave the area promptly rather than toss lead with
a .51. The ARA team up here had a Cobra shot up pretty
bad but made it back to QT. Another ARA Cobra was hit
and managed to get to Mai Loc. It looks like FSB Sarge
is going to get it next. I met Mr. Rorick from B1 at FT.
Wolters tonight. He is flying ARA out of Camp
Eagle. His unit is named Toros (?). lLt Smith and
Capt Waters are our new guys, guns too! They were initiated
with “Cardinal” last night but got horribly drunk.
18 August 71 QT
Wow, all the teams got shot at today. Lt. Roth was
grazed on the right side of his neck. Spec Laws captured
a VC flag just east of Al. I flew with Steve Wing
today. A memorial services were held for 27 and his
crew.
19 August 71 QT
First team spent the first mission checking out Vandy
Valley. There was or is a lot of activity
thereabouts. The second mission was spent escorting
empty slicks into FSB Sarge to lift out 200 ARVNs.
Rain was closing in around us during this mission. We
had to hover down QL9 highway to “home”. Wow, what fun?
20 August 71 QT
I had the day off today so I missed most of the action.
Halevy and crew were shot down north of FSB
Fuller. They had to fight their way to the tip of
the ridge of the ravine they crashed in. Intense AAA
fire kept rescuers away for three hours. Finally Capt
Laster dashed in and picked them up after two F-4s dumped
their loads on the approaching gooks. It was a very
close call. Capt Allen’s EM observer was hit in the arm
this afternoon over Vandy Valley. It was only a flesh
wound. Dunagan and Lee both had their helo grounded as a
result of receiving .51 fire in the ammo bay and main rotor
blade respectively.
21 August 71 QT
I flew with Van Walker today. We captured two more VC
flags near the site of the one we captured on the 18th.
I spotted the last one we captured and directed the team to
its location. Both flags went to other people. I
felt that I should have had the last one as did the rest of
the gun team but Bell, in so many words, said “go to
hell”. ARA tried out a new idea on NVA troops at Nui Ba
Ho. Two Cobras saturated a small area with CS (a
riot gas) then two more snakes rolled in with a load of
nails. The scout was put down to assess the effect of CS
and nails. He met a hail of AK-47 fire from some very
upset people.
22 August 71 QT
I had standby today, so I didn’t do much. A 2/17 lost a
LOH (OH-6 helo) near Nui Ba Ho today. The crew got out
okay. Our guys were shot at today but no hits.
21 August 71 QT
The ARVNs had their comeback today. After three
arclights, a heavy arty prep for an hour and 6 ARA ships
expending on target, the ARVNs inserted 60 troops slightly
west of the lip of the punchbowl. They found 30 bodies,
mortars, ammo, automatic weapons, the works. Our scout
found a .51 in excellent condition and a .51 broken down in a
separate bunker. The decision was made to destroy the
weapons rather capture them. We tried to do this but
failed. TAC air was called in to do it.
Afterwards we dis-covered that the gooks got away with the
.5ls before the TAC air could get on sta¬tion.
Were we ever disappointed! We did a VR of the backyard
and rocket belt before calling it a day. I flew with
Dunagan today.
22 August 71 QT
This morning we did a quick VR above A2. It looks like
the NVA are getting ready to destroy A2. Later on today
we did some screening for a Ranger insertion going in on the
ridge NW of Nui Ba Ho. We were uptight to say the least.
After this we worked the valley next to Red Devil road before
it climbs up to the lip of the punchbowl. There is lots of
heavy activity there In our intelligence briefing this
evening we were told of planned attacks on QTAB, Dong Ha, A1.,
C2, A2, A4, C1, the hamlets, Cam Lo, the works. It
doesn’t look good at all. The major is making plans for a
quick evacuation of QTCB if it looks like we are to be overrun
and destroyed. The mail is still coming in very
sporadically.
25 August 71 QT
I was on standby with Van Walker today. Both teams were shot
at. They found heavy vehicle tracks along the stream bed. Just
northeast of the lip of the punchbowl. A 2/17 lost
another LOH today. The crew got out okay.
26 August 71 QT
Our team went out to check on the vehicle tracks that were
found yesterday. Just as we flew over the northern lip
of the punchbowl, a big, BIG gun opened up on Capt
Allen. He didn’t take any hits. I was the only one to
see the long red stream of bullets reach up into the sky
toward us. Nobody took any hits. A 2/17 lost
another bird over Ke Sanh strip but it was later retrieved in
the day. Herrick is getting his AO check to get his scout
bandanna and number.
27 August 71 QT
Not much happened today. Both teams did normal VR, the
Bai Long, 100 Bunker Valley, the DMZ. No action to
report. I flew with Bob Lee today.
28 August 71 QT
Today I went to Phu Bai to check out my financial
situation. I had soft ice cream at the “Oasis” PX
concession near Camp Campbell for the first time in Vietnam! I
greatly dislike riding one hour in the CH-47. It has an
awful noise from the trans¬mission and engines, but it’s a
ride. The guys were shot at again today but no hits, but
they may have killed some gooks. The FSB’s are still
taking a lot of rockets every day. Our perimeter
defenses captured a member of a recon element. We are
still looking for a sapper raid in conjunction with the
upcoming S. Vietnamese election.
29 August 71 QT
I was on standby today with Larry Dunagan. The weather
was poor today so not much flying was done.
30 August 71 QT
I had another day off today. My hours (flight time) are
too high. I enjoyed this to say the least. The
scouts took fire again but did not get hits.
31 August 71 QT
Quinn was my AC today for the first time. He was a lot of fun
to fly with. He likes to give me the controls after he has put
the aircraft in a tight descending turn. A ton of fun.
We didn’t do much today, a quick VR of the pink and a sortie
near the Bai Long.
Page 4 - September
1971