BW-02: Richard Derrick (VT), 1st Platoon, shown in some thick stuff. He was a tall, lanky guy and could hump with the best of 'em and tote more than most. Derrick was a real asset in the boonies. It must be thick stuff, for there are at least three others in the photo. Was he from Maine or Vermont? - Gunfighter Photo Collections, Company A, 1/6th Inf.- powered by SmugMug

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A-1-6 > BW_New_9-3: Less than 30 days in country. Duc Pho. First we were perimeter guard on the 4th Div. base. That is where the Texas flag over the bunker situation occurred. 1st Plt. Sgt. Van Horn put up the Texas flag near the 1st Platoon bunkers at Duc Pho. Gary Caneva (CA) put up the California flag, which sports a bear. Van Horn, and maybe some other Texans took a shot or two at the "queer bear". A colonel or some other higher up finally objected to all the ruckus and told Lt. Wendover to take them down. (See a photo of the Texas flag by clicking on Armand at the bottom of the photo collections page. The photo is in the Alan Allen Collection in photo AA-4, in the background right over Allen's head.) Then it was on to guarding the Navy's landing site where the monkeys threw rocks at us and we learned you could buy 20 pre-rolled marijuana joints for less than a pack of smokes. Found out what Tiger beer was and beer La Rue. Pictured here is that basketball star and Co. A RTO Thomas A. Bush (PA), Cpt. Francis X. Brennan (MA) A Co. CO, and Sgt E-7 Oz, a Special Forces Australian teaching us newbies along with a couple of Montagnard (Mountain Yard) platoons in the coastal mountains. Oz had been in country 42 months but said he'll go home sometime. Sounds like our Sgt. Walker. Working in the field with the Yards really set us straight on how to move in this terrain, which was a lot different than Fort Hood or anywhere else any of us had ever been. Do you remember the night our ambush just east of our bridge security detail fell asleep? How many illumination rounds did 4th platoon fire that night to try and wake them and reply to our radio calls? How about Sgt. Van Horn teaching us to let the truck convoy onto the Hwy 1 bridge but not opening the other gate till we found the beer, food, etc. A 30-day duty to get used to the climate is what they called it. After a couple weeks with the Yards 1st Plt. A Co. had learned a lot and in appreciation Cpt. Brennan had hot chow flown in and the Yards were so surprised . Sgt Oz told us it was their first hot meal delivered to them in the field. Turned out to also be a pretty special occurrence to us in later days.

A-1-6 > BW-01: Irving Carter (OH), a replacement, came to Co. A soon after Lo Giang(1). He was one of the relatively few to receive three Purple Hearts. His brother Al told Alan Allen, also of 1st Platoon, that Irv died 11/11/00. Carter loved motorcycles, had an old Indian, and sometimes said he wanted to join the Oakland (CA) Chapter of The Hell's Angels. Note the cigar--we'd likely just been resupplied, and there's also a lot of cut-brush laying around, as if we'd cleared a helipad for the resupply chopper. Carter's fatigues look clean and fresh, and he looks like he's had a bath recently--or maybe we just made the boonies.

A-1-6 > BW-02: Richard Derrick (VT), 1st Platoon, shown in some thick stuff. He was a tall, lanky guy and could hump with the best of 'em and tote more than most. Derrick was a real asset in the boonies. It must be thick stuff, for there are at least three others in the photo. Was he from Maine or Vermont?

A-1-6 > BW-03: Thomas Burnside (TX) and Charlie Brown (GA) take a break in the thick stuff.

A-1-6 > BW-04: Jim Bertrand (FL), came to Co. A as a replacement three weeks prior to Lo Giang(1). Note the trash, and cigarette carton (and radio). We must have just gotten resupplied. "The first time I met Alan Allen," says Bertrand, "was at LZ Bayonet. They delivered me in a jeep, and Allen was on the road, going down to Nuoc Mou. Someone introduced me as a new replacement, and Allen said, 'Ah, fresh meat.' It made quite an impression."

A-1-6 > BW-05: 1st Platoon Squad Leader Sherwin Hall (CA), did a good deed during a night attack. Shooting a rifle in the dark shows your position via the muzzle flash, so those in the firefight were relying mostly on hand-grenades. When 1st Platoon began to run low on grenades, Hall crawled around the perimeter to other platoons to get more. Note his military wristwatch. At the time, most of us thought of Hall as a fairly old guy...he was probably about 30.

A-1-6 > BW-07: upper left, Vic Girling (MN), up front, SGT Darrel N. Ackerman (OR), and center right, Joseph "Doc" Picarelli (NJ) - KIA 5/15/68. Girling was our NCO FO from 1/14th Arty, and spent 18 months in the field with Co. A. Thanks to Bill Wendover for the caption update!

A-1-6 > BW:08: 1st Platoon's James Randall Jones (GA), rolls over so Lt. Wendover can take his photo. A guitar picker and a quiet, very nice guy, Jones was a good grunt and pointman, and had a great time on R&R.

A-1-6 > BW-06: 1st Platoon Squad Leader John Hacker (CA), went over with the original bunch, and Larry Brandt (WA) came to Co. A right after Lo Giang(1).

BW-02: Richard Derrick (VT), 1st Platoon, shown in some thick stuff. He was a tall, lanky guy and could hump with the best of 'em and tote more than most. Derrick was a real asset in the boonies. It must be thick stuff, for there are at least three others in the photo. Was he from Maine or Vermont?