18th Brigade, 45th Group, 39th Engineers, Company D
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November 1
Went on police call. Found out we would be leaving LZ Bronco by convoy and the rest of the company would move along side battalion later at Chu Lai. Loaded some plywood on the trailer. Went to A.P.O. and got a money order. Took nine u-shaped pickets to the motor pool to be cut in half. Ate lunch and painted 3 blue strips on all our tools. Barker and I tried to drive up to Nui Dang (Duc Pho Hill, a.k.a. Montezuma) in the jeep but the road was too bad. Went to PX but was too late to get in. Came back and rested till supper. Ate supper and wrote a letter and went to bed.
November 2
Went on police call and then slept till about 11:00am and then had to help a new arrival, Schmitz, bring his stuff up from supply. Ate lunch. Tried to go back to sleep but couldn't. Went up to the bar and ate cheese. Ate supper and hung around Stub's hooch till a little after 9:00pm. Went to bed.
November 3
We are now back on mine sweep, North. 2nd platoon left for Chu Lai today. Went out on QL1 and sat in 3/4 ton truck while working on the by-pass around 1st platoon's blown culverts. Came in about 5:30. Ate supper. 
Had to put a culvert back on the 5 ton truck that fell off onto the access road from LZ Bronco to QL 1. Some people had to go work on the airfield tonight. Went up to commo bunker and talked with Bess till a little after 10:00pm. Went to bed.
November 4
Went on mine sweep. Charlie blew out culverts (A Company's) where we usually meet A Company on sweep. Sat around till lunch. Ate lunch and went to perimeter and patched up fence holes. About 3:00pm we had to go help 1st platoon put their culverts in. Even the cooks, motor pool guys and company clerk showed up. Quit about 6:15pm. One of the local's trucks loaded with beer bottles turned over. It was involved in an accident with one of our officer's jeep. Ate supper. Stub and I took the motor out of the recorder and oiled it. Went to bed about 11:00pm.
November 5, Sunday
Went on mine sweep. On radio. Had guard the rest of the day. The platoon put in another triple concertina fence in front of bunkers 30, 31 and 32. Had an alert which lasted all night.
November 6
Came off guard duty and went on mine sweep. Got speakers for recorder. Went to burro pit and monitored radio 
and counted loads. Ate lunch. Got recorder. Went back to burro pit. Came in about 3:00pm for the "Doughnut Dollies" program. Went back to pit till 5:30pm or so. Ate supper and took a shower. Played new tape which Stub had recorded from new first sergeant's tape. Went to bed about 10:30pm.
November 7
Stayed back from sweep to burn ... stuff. Laid around and listened to recorder till sweep was over. Was sent to burro pit to monitor radio and count dirt loads. Ate lunch. The dozer pushed a boulder off the hill at the pit 
and hit the loader. It broke a cap on the rear wheel and it was dead-lined. Used the 4th's loader. Ate supper, took a shower and went to bed.
November 8
Went on sweep. Dug up pot holes on QL 1. Ate lunch. Filled the holes with dirt and came in about 4:00. Had 
to police up 2nd platoon's area. Ate supper, took a shower and listened to recorder.
November 9
Went on mine sweep. On demo. Found a road block that Charlie built for us just on the other side of the church. We pulled part of it over with a strand of barbed wire and blew the rest with TNT. Went to burro pit 
and worked to 11:30am. The loader wasn't supposed to come back after lunch. A little after 2:00pm the loader did come back so out to the pit I went again. Quit at 4:00pm because the loader operator had to start back. The loader belonged the 555th Engineers. Went to take a shower but no water. Someone decided to send our compressor to Chu Lai so we won't have water for the shower for 3 days. Shaved, ate supper and listened to recorder. Got 3 shots today
November 10
Went on sweep south. Went out on QL1 to dig up pot holes. Hired popa-saun to do it for us. Got a little wet. Ate lunch. Didn't have to go back out for some reason but the rest did. Burg and Buc got back from R&R. Listened to the two tapes that Burg and Buc bought for me while in Hong Kong. Ate supper and then the party began. Lasted till the lights went out around 10:30pm.
November 11, Veteran's Day
Went on sweep. Had guard all day. Was on from 10:30am to 2:30pm in Bunker 35. I fired about 3 M79 rounds in front of my bunker (34), for what reason I don't know.
November 12, Sunday
Went on sweep. Went out on QL1 to fill pot holes. We hired a few Vietnamese to do our work for us. Buc and I played with two little Vietnamese girls, Niez and Nam all day. Quit about 5:40. Ate supper and took a shower. Had a peaceful night of just listening to the recorder. Our Chaplin was critically injured today by a mine between C Company and A Company. Two guys with him died. One was a boy named Smith who used to be in this company. The Chaplin is at the hospital here now.
Went on mine sweep. Went out on road and dug pot holes. Played around with the girls. Came in about 5:15pm. Ate supper and gave up recorder to Stub. Burger, Bess, Moody and myself went with Mayer to check the guards. Took a shower and climbed in the bunk about 10:00pm. The Chaplin was sent to Chu Lai and is off the critical list. He is suffering from inflamed lungs probably caused by the smoke bombs in the jeep.
November 14
Had KP all day. Pots and pans naturally. Got off at 7:45pm. Took a shower. Ate some C-rations, chocolate fudge, bread and peanut butter. Went to bed about 10:30pm.
November 15
Went on mine sweep. Came back in and laid around for about an hour and then went to repair fence-patch in front of bunkers 30 and 31. Finished about 10:30am and then slept till lunch. Burger, instead of first cleaning the dirt off the tools, put some oil on top of the dirt on the picks and shovels we used to dig pot holes with. Slept till supper. Wrote a letter.
November 16
Went on mine sweep. Worked with Mayer at the Seabees' Mo-gas tank-farm building a dirt-burm around one of the tanks.
November 17
Went on mine sweep. Policed up the 2nd platoon area AGAIN. Got my package with the Christmas tape and Beatles tape. After lunch we policed the area some more. Finished up after lunch at about 2:00pm. Slept till supper. Took a shower.
November 18
Went on mine sweep. Had guard. Pulled guard from 10:30am to 2:30pm.
November 19, Sunday
Went on mine sweep. On radio. Helped put the tailgate on truck 33. Got my slides back from Honolulu. Ate lunch. Mixed cement for a new sump well at the mess hall. Finished about 5:00pm. Got the recorder back from Stub but the speakers were being used in the orderly room. Took a shower and ate supper. Picked up the speakers and then it began.
November 20
Went on mine sweep. Began work on airfield. Had a quite night and wrote a letter.
November 21
Was off mine sweep and went to airfield nice and early. Worked till 6:00pm. Had a wild night.
November 22 [100 days left]
Went on mine sweep. Worked on airfield all day. Celebrated after supper [only 100 more days to go]. We worked on the airfield during the day and 1st platoon worked at night.
November 23, Thanksgiving Day
Went on mine sweep. Went to work on airfield. Was supposed to eat at 1:00pm and have the rest of the afternoon off but you know Uncle's army. Worked till 5:00pm. Celebrated not celebrating Thanksgiving Day.
November 24
We no longer have to sweep south. We get a break ... at the airfield. Played around at the airfield till lunch at 12:00. Ate lunch and we got the afternoon off. Met Ms Letus Phouc. Was paid a couple of visits during the 
afternoon by Ms Phouc and Ms Hoi. Very enjoyable. They will be working around our camp area during the day. Had to eat at 5:30pm so we could leave for the airfield at 6:00pm. Left at 6:30pm. Rolled out 2 of the rubber membranes and laid panels. At 4:30am we began to clean up the tools and come in. Ate breakfast and went to sleep.
November 25
Woke up at 10:30am. Got up and dressed and waited for lunch. After lunch at 2:30 I went down to the guard bunker till supper. Motor pool pulled our guard so we could work at night. Started work a little after 7:00pm. It rained off and on throughout the night. I think 80% of the guys there tonight were either drunk or on drugs.
November 26, Sunday
Woke up at 11:00. Got dressed and went to lunch. Tried to finish the letter I started on guard yesterday but was interrupted most of the afternoon. Burger got his D.R. punishment just before lunch. A 1,000 word composition. At 4:30pm we had to go to the airfield and lay all the rubber membranes. We had to cover the freshly laid dirt in case it rained. Finished a little before 6:00pm. Burger messed his fingers up falling off the 3/4 ton truck. Ate supper. Stub got the recorder so we sat in the hooch and listened to the quite. It was miserable. Went to bed about 10:30pm.
November 27
It started out to be a beautiful day. Rain. It quit a little after 8:00am so to the airfield we went to clean panels. It rained on us several times too. We lost Lt Shamblen today. He was the XO and moved to another company. Captain Collmeyer went to 554th to be CO. We played around cleaning panels all day and quit at 5:00pm. Ate supper. Clipped my finger nails and went to bed. I didn't feel too swift.
November 28
Left for airfield at 7:15am. We rolled the rubber membranes back off the airfield so it could be graded, packed and pente primed. Came back a little after 8:00am and then had to go to motor pool and clean the pente prime off our 5 ton truck. Quit about 11:00am. Waited for lunch and 'et it. Sat around all afternoon. Ms Phouc came by for a visit. Ate supper at 6:00pm. Left for airfield at 7:15pm. Didn't really get started till about 9:00pm because the dirt still had to be pente primed. It rained lightly.
November 29
We quit our airfield work around 5:00am. Came in, showered, ate and went to bed. Woke up about 11:00am and laid in bed till 11:20am. Got dressed and ate lunch. We have a one star general in the area today. "So what ?!" Ms Phouc was in and out during the afternoon. At 4:00pm we went to the orderly-room and got paid and had weapon serial number checks. Burger and Nagy got their port calls this afternoon. They leave here tomorrow and leave Cam Rhan Bay for home on December 3. Ate supper. Went to the airfield at 7:00pm. Only had about 40 feet to lay. Finished up about 9:00pm. Have to wait on more rubber matting. Took a shower. Laid around till the lights went out and then went to sleep.
November 30
Didn't do anything all day long. It rained all day and no rubber mats came in. A few people had to go pound edge pins along airfield. Barker, Smitz and Cavanaugh started checking on how to get home early. Played cards after supper and won $0.85.
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