18th Brigade, 45th Group, 39th Engineers, Company D
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August 1
Went on mine sweep. One of our Company platoons missed a mine this morning and a jeep from the 101st hit it. One sergeant was killed and two Spec 4's were injured. I stayed back in our area pulling security with an MP from the 101st who was waiting for a jeep to come pick him up but never showed. Came back in at 12:30 with the MP and dropped him off. I partially cleaned my weapon and was then put on detail unloading sandbags at S-3. Took a shower at the water point and left for A Company early. Got sick and vomited a couple of times and had diarrhea.
August 2
Went on mine sweep (flank). Came back in and rested till lunch and then went to causeway and worked. 
Didn't feel to good. Left for A Company early after a shower on ... our new concrete floor.
August 3
Went on mine sweep. Went back to A Company after sweep and gathered up our stuff. Got things straightened away in our hooches till lunch and was then supposed to work on causeway but didn't have enough people so went down to culvert yard and built culverts with the rest of the platoon. Quit at 3:00pm to go to the beach but we couldn't get transportation. I fell asleep till supper at 6:00pm. Came back and took a shower and went to see a crummy flick.
August 4
Got up at 6:30am. No mine sweep this morning. Ate breakfast and went down to work on culverts. Still not feeling too well. Quit at 2:00pm and went to the beach till about 5:30pm. Went to movie.
August 5
Got up about 6:15. Put in culverts on road at end of airfield runway just below the motor pool. Sgt Dedmond mashed his fingers. Worked till about 4:00pm. Went to movie.About 1:00am Sunday Charlie mortared the 25th's mess hall. The tent caught on fire and I believe several were injured. Charlile entered the perimeter and dropped a grenade into an MP's jeep killing him. We were on 50% alert till daylight. Mom's birthday today.
August 6, Sunday
Got up about 6:15am but didn't eat breakfast. I stayed in bed till it was time to leave for the causeway. Worked there all day and came back in about 4:30pm. Had guard tonight but nothing happened. The walking guard around our company area began.
August 7
Got everyone up at 5:45am. Ate breakfast and then came back and went to sleep till I had to go help Mayer, Compos and Brennen take down come concertina wire so a dozer could run a drainage ditch out of the perimeter and into a creek. Finished at 12:00 and ate. Stub (Stubblefield) and I decided to order a tape recorder and did it. Just rested during the day. DX'd some pants and a shirt. Went to the movie and saw "The Masque of the Red Death".
August 8
Got up about 6:15am and ate breakfast. Went back to sleep till Sgt Dedmond told us to fix the hooch so we could put 2 layers of sand bags on it. While we were gathering the telephone poles I was put on a supply detail to go get 105 cement bags at the beach. Was back by lunch and had them unloaded by 2:00pm. Talked to Parker for awhile and then came back up to help Dizon with hooch. Was put back on supply detail to unload the lumber for the mess hall. Came back and rested and showered. Went to movie. The other side of the hill had a fire fight with Charlie this night. Artillery, gun ships and tanks were used. No alert was called.
August 9
Went on mine sweep north. Came back and continued work on hooch. Got the telephone poll supports in both hooches. Dizon, Lanaham and I went to pick up a bundle of P.S.P at the beach. It started to sprinkle about 2:00pm and lasted till 8:00pm. Put P.S.P. on hooch. Took a cold shower about 6:30pm and started my walking guard at 8:30pm till 10:30pm. Walked again from 2:30am to 4:30am. Accidentally woke up the platoon sergeant while hunting for Guerra for K.P.
August 10
Went on mine sweep. Returned and then went to have some of the local Vietnamese fill some sandbags for my hooch with Stub, Buckley and Dizon. They weren't finished by lunch time so Stub, Buc and I brought the truck in for lunch and took a tray out to Dizon. The Vietnamese stole about 150 of our sandbags so we didn't pay them their promised price. Put the sandbags on the hooch and Lanham had to get 70 more. We put those 70 on and sat around the rest of the day. Went to flick but it wasn't any good so I came back and wrote a letter.
August 11
Stayed back from mine sweep. George [Brennen] and I cleaned the shower and then slept till the rest of the platoon came back from mine sweep. Sat around and talked till lunch. Got a letter saying brother Bill would be in the R.V.N. the 25th of this month for 15 days.Cleaned tools from 1:00 to 2:00pm and messed around the rest of the day. Went to flick and saw "Castle of Horrors".
August 12
Went on mine sweep. Went to causeway about 10:00am. Sgt Dedmond was in charge so the whole platoon, that is those that didn't get to go to the PX in Chu Lai, organized a revolt against him. On the way to the site we tossed a full bag of cement on to another passing truck. Everyone worked like they were going to die any minute. He complained all day about how slow everyone was working but it didn't do any good. We were back in by 4:30pm and took a needed rest till supper. The shower had no water till after 7:00pm so I didn't go to the movies. Instead I started to rewrite the letter to the AMS [Army Map Service - Louisville Office] for the 3rd time. Got it about 1/2 way through and couldn't stay awake any longer.
August 13, Sunday
Went on mine sweep. I was put to work with Sgt Mike Male on the radio while he supervised over the building up of the road by the airfield just by the exit into Duc Pho. Quit at about 11:15am to get ready for lunch. Was supposed to go back out with Male after lunch but all the trucks were put to work carrying rock from the quarry to the crusher. Worked on the letter to AMS till the rest of the platoon came back in at 2:30pm. Had to go put 
up the Platoon CP tent which will be used for a beer hall. Came back and finally finished my letter to the folks at work [AMS]. Had guard on Bunker 37. [The photo may or may not be Bunker 37 but is typical of the perimeter bunkers that were used around the LZ Bronco compound.]
August 14
Went on mine sweep. Worked on the CP Beer Hall stacking sandbags. After lunch I went to the beach with Dizon, Stub, Stentzen, Al, Music and Brennen to load the 5 ton with sand ... by hand. We then went for a 30 minute swim in the ocean and returned. We had to spread the sand on the Beer Hall dirt floor and bust-up ammo boxes for the construction of the bar. Went to movie but at the regular place they weren't showing a movie and the other place just never got around to showing one. Came back and just talked.
August 15
Went on mine sweep (backed truck). Charlie's demo men blew two of the causeways going North from Duc Pho. I worked on putting culverts together all day. Came back from supper and waited for it to get dark enough to go to the movies or for the shower to be filled, which ever came first. Went to the movie but left early because it wasn't any good and then took a shower and wrote a letter.
August 16
Went on mine sweep. Loaded trash barrels on truck and that was it till after lunch. Then went to beach with Sgt Dedmond, Stub and Stentain and got 5 4x10s. We took them to the rock crusher where the 1st squad was 
repairing the chute. We didn't even unload the lumber. We hopped on the lieutenant's jeep and came back to the platoon area. Started on a letter to Mr. Parrish but got so hungry I couldn't finish it. I then slept from about 3:30 to 5:30pm. Went to movie with Al, came back and took a shower and went to bed.
August 17
Had KP all day. Got off about 8:15pm, took a shower and finished that letter to Mr. Parrish.
August 18
Went on mine sweep (radio). Came back from sweep and rested till lunch. Afterwards, about 1:30pm, me, Stub, Brennen, Lanham, Musik, Murr, Dizon, Compos and Burger went to where 3rd platoon is going to build a second ammo dump. We had to check the area for mines. Found nothing. Was back by 4:00pm and did nothing till supper. Had guard on Bunker 39 with Swander and Brennen.
August 19
Went on mine sweep. Came back and did nothing till 11:00am and then went to new ammo dump site to pick up bricks for our new mess hall's stone wall. Finished up by 2:30 and then worked on a letter home in answer as to what type of tape I wanted, mono or stereo, for the pre-recorded tapes from home. Went to supper.Began to rain retty hard just before supper and continued till about 7:00 or 7:30pm so the movie was rained out.
August 20, Sunday
Went on mine sweep. Had trouble with detectors and vehicles so we didn't get back in till 11:10am. After lunch, about 2:00pm, had to go to supply and help move 70 cement bags from motor pool to S-3. Went to church services and then took a shower. At 5:30pm I was called back to supply again to move cement bags but I sneaked off because I had just finished my shower. Picked up 3 new sets of jungle fatigues today. Was going to movie but about 7:30 it started raining again so no-go.
August 21
Went on mine sweep (flank). Finished about 9:30am. Rested and then went to dig drainage ditches to drain off water from culverts. Put up white engineer tape to keep trucks off shoulders and walls. Ate lunch. Talked about rebuilding our hooch again. Worked out the plans and figured we needed 9 telephone poles, 75 ammo boxes and a bundle of P.S.P. [Perforated Steel Panels - I think]. Checked on availability of ammo boxes but they were all gone. Finished up "Up the Down Staircase" book, took a shower and went to supper. Went to both flick areas but neither movie was any good so I came back and wrote a homely letter.
August 22
Went on mine sweep. Came back and rested till 10:30am and then went to get some ammo boxes but were all gone. Got a load of fill dirt. Went to lunch. Was going to beach to get telephones poles but S3 claimed they were all gone. We went to beach in 3/4 ton truck and saw buku poles but decided to forget the corner posts and build the hooch out of ammo boxes. Came back and found 20 ammo boxes. Figured we needed 301 ammo boxes. Slept till 5:00pm and took a shower, ate supper and went on guard duty. Dozer leveled hooch site but we still need about 4 or 5 more loads of dirt.
August 23
Everyone got up about 6:15am. Got to A.B. [Artillery Battery] site at 7:30am and waited for about 45 minutes. We then found out they probably wouldn't have any empty ones [ammo boxes] today. Got some fill dirt and came back. Read a little of "Salinger's Nine Stories" and then slept from 10:30 to 11:20am. Ate lunch. Sat around till about 3:00pm when we had to make some survey marker stakes. Took them out to the new A.S.P. [Ammunition Supply Point - I think] and put them in the ground for the surveyors. Was back by 5:00pm. Ate supper, showered, went to flick and saw a war movie, "Ambush Bay".
August 24
Woke up at 6:30am. Went to A.B. site but was none (ammo boxes) again. Had to go out to new A.S.P. with Sgt Male on the radio. Set and read all day. Went to flick and reels were turned all around and one was upside down plus film kept breaking. Was good movie otherwise.
August 25
Got up at 6:30am. Helped Stentain fix 3 of his flat tires. It started to rain about 7:00am and lasted till 5:00pm. Started again around 9:30pm. Sat around in the hooch all day. Tried to get some ammo boxes but all of them had to go to S-5. Ate supper, showered and went to the movie, a good western. Came back and tried to write a letter but the lights went dim.
August 26
Got up up at 6:30am. We went down to build culverts at 7:30am and then went and put them in along side the airfield by a supply storage yard. Finished about 3:30pm and helped Lt Shamblen carry some 175mm canisters 
down to the motor pool so the tops could be cut out of them. They'll be used as culverts. Sgt Dafney went down south and got some heavy lumber for our new hooches. Sat around from about 4:00pm till supper. Went to flick while it was raining and before the movie got started good it poured. Came back, listened to the radio, went to bed.
August 27, Sunday
Cut the top out of the 175mm canisters and installed them as culverts by new building at exit of airfield to Duc Pho. Installed some more at fuel storage entrance near same location. Quit early to attend church at 4:00pm. Went to flick but got soaked before the movie got started good. Came back, went to bed.
August 28
Went to SW corner of perimeter to dig a drainage ditch under the concertina to a drainage ditch in the refugee camp. Was called back to area to cut stakes for the surveyors at the A.S.P. Went to beach at 3:00pm with supply to get 50 cement bags. Had a bad storm about 4:30pm. Hooch was leaking badly but we got it stopped. Was scheduled for guard duty tonight and KP tomorrow but I complained and got off guard tonight. Stub took my place on guard and got soaked.
August 29
Had KP all day till 9:15pm. Sprinkled a little from about 4:00 to 5:00pm. Took a shower and went to bed. Half way through my one year in Vietnam.
August 30
Put in 36 inch culvert at supply yard. We put a 24 inch culvert in the same area a couple of days ago. Finished about 3:00pm and came in. Thought we were going to work on hooch but the chain saw wouldn't work. Gave up and wrote a letter. Swander found out he would be leaving D Company for A Company. Also leaving, Witt, Murr, Jenkins, Hohn, Hall and Thompson. Sprinkled a little around 4:00pm. Had guard this night and it didn't rain. Got paid and we had two practice alerts, one at supper and one after lasting to about 8:00pm.
August 31
Sat around all morning. The people transferring were preparing to leave. Ate lunch and helped Sgt Dizon cut the 6X16s for his new hooch. Knocked off about 4:00pm and sat around CP. Went with Buc looking for lumber. Went to supper. Went to flick and saw "Zorba The Greek".
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