18th Brigade, 45th Group, 39th Engineers, Company D
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September 1
Sat around till about 8:30am and then went with 1st squad to rebuild a culvert's headwall at the SE corner of the airfield. Was finished by 10:30am and returned to area. Ate lunch. Stub and George [Brennen] and I sat around and talked about art ... well... at least they did. Read a little and then fell asleep till supper. Had guard again tonight ... already.
September 2
Moved my stuff over to my new hooch in 3rd squad. Went to supply and traded in my M14 for M79 and .45 pistol. Went to site where some Vietnamese were filling sand bags for us. Came in about 5:30pm. Ate supper, took a shower and found out we couldn't leave the area at night for a week (I think). We were the alert force. Wrote a letter and went to bed.
September 3, Sunday
RVN Election Day. Woke up about 6:10am and the radio was still on and playing "Once Upon a Time". Was told we were on alert to go out in-case Charlie started acting up during elections. At 10:00am we went to the Vietnamese sand bag filling site. I went with the lieutenant to drain some water from the airfield but the ground was too hard for a shovel so I went on out to the sand bag site. Quit there at noon and ate lunch. Layed sandbags on roof of bunker 41. 2nd squad is building the rest. Finished about 2:30pm, came back to area, didn't get any mail, read the newspaper, finished a letter to the Parrishes and slept till supper, 4:00 to 5:45pm. Took a shower.
September 4
Test fired my M70 and .45 at range at beach. Went to ASP. Directed the 290's operation's and got to drive the dozer. Got in at 6:30 or 7:00pm. Had guard again tonight.
September 5
[No entry for this day.]
September 6
Went on mine sweep. Returned to camp after sweep. Tape recorder arrived today. We played with it till 12:10pm and then ate some lunch. Messed with recorder till 2:00pm and then went to dig drainage ditch at 
P.O.L. at NW corner of airfield. Relocated some P.S.P at airfield where the planes exit the runway. Was back in the area by 4:00pm. Found the electricity was off. The generator was shut down because of a short somewhere. At supper it started to rain and we didn't' get any power till 8:30pm. Played tape recorder till 11:00pm.
September 7
Went on mine sweep. Came back and electricity was off again. The line to our hooch had been cut. We needed heavier electrical wire. Tried to find some heavier electrical wire but didn't. Went to airfield again to do a little more work on that P.S.P. Came back for lunch. Went back to airfield to permaprime the disturbed area on the airfield where we were putting down the PSP. Was through by 3:30pm. Stub rounded up some heavier wire from Sergeant and we spliced our hooch back into the line. Took a shower and found out that no one would have power tonight because of a bad short. Ate supper and around 7:30pm we got power from somewhere. Some of the group came down and we listened to the recorder till 12:00am.
September 8
Stayed back from mine sweep. Loaded the garbage and then listened to the tape recorder. Worked on making frame for bunker 33 ( was 39). Ate lunch. Continued on bunker 33 till around 4:00 or 4:30pm when we finished. Had guard tonight.
September 9
Went on mine sweep. Went to sandbag Bunker 33. We had to throw the sandbags from the truck to the ground and then throw the bags from the ground up to the bunker roof because the First Sergeant couldn't wait for another truck. Quit at 5:00pm because I was going to work at the A.S.P. all night tonight. We quit at the A.S.P. at 9:30pm because of rain. No more mine sweep till we complete A.S.P.
September 10, Sunday
Got up at 10:00am and wrote a letter. Ate lunch. Sat around all day. Cleaned my .45 caliber pistol for the first time. Went to communion services at mess hall. Worked at ASP at night monitoring the radio and counting truck loads of dirt. Knocked off at 5:00am.
September 11
Slept till 12:00 and ate lunch. Tried to sleep more after lunch but it was too hot. Worked all night at ASP again.
September 12
Slept till 12:00pm and tried to eat lunch. It stunk. Listened to tape recorder all afternoon.Went to work at ASP at 7:00pm. About 9:00pm a M-60, M-16, M-50 and tank fire opened up on 3 to 7 VC outside the perimeter. It lasted for about an hour.
September 13
Slept till 12:00pm and ate lunch. Rested the rest of the afternoon and stayed up till 12:00am listening to the recorder and arguing.
September 14
Had KP all day till about 9:00pm. Showered and listened to recorder till 10:00pm and went to bed.
September 15
Spent the day with Sgt Nagy sitting in the 3/4 ton truck monitoring the radio and reading and writing letters at A.S.P. site. Got a small pox and some other shots. At 5:30pm it started to pour and I got soaked coming back to area from A.S.P. Changed clothes and ate supper and went on guard. Rain stopped about 7:30 or 8:00pm.
September 16
About 7:30am we went to supply and moved some lumber inside the TDY's tent. Layed around till after lunch and then went to A.S.P. The A.S.P. was too saturated with rain. Came in and played tape till around 12:00am. Went to bed, got up and vomited. Went back to bed, went to sleep.
September 17, Sunday
Didn't eat breakfast. Went to A.S.P. at 7:00am. During lunch time Sgt Nagy and I blew up a big boulder. Finished about 1:00pm and came in for lunch. Left again at 1:30pm. Two more charges were placed on the rock. After the first charge blew a hole in the rock we found a stream of running water. It disappeared after the second explosion. Came in at 4:00pm for church services and stayed in. Began to rain at 5:00pm and the generator went out. Rotten regulator. Danny Estrada left for home today.
September 18
Ate breakfast this morning. Shaved, combed and brushed my superfine physique. Sat around the bar till lunch. Fell asleep after lunch until about 1:30. George [Brennen] woke me up. I went down to the chopper
pad with him and the chopper arrived bout 2:00pm. Cleaned my weapons. The electricity came back on about 2:00pm. Listened to the recorder. Oly dropped in. Ate supper. Played recorder till generator shut off.
September 19
Worked on new hooch all day. Had siesta after lunch. Worked till 5:00pm and then cleaned up for guard. While I was on guard in bunker 35, bunkers 31 & 32 got several incoming rounds, no injuries or tear gas.
September 20
Ate breakfast and passed out till about 10:00am. Got up and helped on the new hooch. Stub's tapes arrived but about 3/4 the way through the Henry Mancini tape the generator broke down. Generator started again. 
Hylton brought a family tape from home and played it. There was some country music on it. As soon as his tape was off and the Mancini tape was back on the generator quit. It was raining. I went to bed early.
September 21
Worked on hooch till lunch and then went with Sgt Male to put in a 150 foot 18 inch diameter culvert along airstrip. Quit at 5:45pm and ate supper. Still no electricity. Tried to finish a letter home before dark but didn't make it. Went to the bar. Left about 8:15pm, took a shower and went to bed.
September 22
Just another morning of mine sweeping. Worked on culverts for 45 minutes and then came in for lunch. Went back out at 1:00pm. Installed two 120 feet 18 inch diameter culverts. Quit at 5:00 so I could clean up for guard.
September 23
Had the morning off but Turner, Fowler, Burger and I had to work for Agacon for around 30 minutes. Then got to sleep-in till everyone came in from mine sweep. Went out and worked on culvers till lunch. Went back out after lunch and worked till 5:30pm. Found out the generator was fixed. Had to string up new wires to new hooch from old hooch. Played with recorder till 12:30 or 1:00am.
September 24, Sunday
Went on mine sweep. Built headwall for culverts till lunch. Continued on headwall after lunch. Worked till about 2:00pm and finished. Went to church. Helped connect new wiring in new hooch. Stacked some sand bags for the new hooch till it started raining. Listened to recorder till supper. Listened to recorder till sometime after 12:00am.
September 25
Stayed back from mine sweep. Had to help on garbage collection. Helped load two 36 inch by 20 inch culverts and took them to the airfield where we previously put in the 18 inch culverts. Then had to go to the old abandoned 101st area and sweep the top of a hill for the 196th infantry. Came back in about 5:30pm. Ate supper and played recorder till about 10:00pm.
September 26
Went on mine sweep. Loaded two 36 inch by 20 inch culverts and took them to A.S.P. Came back for lunch. After lunch we put one culvert in and sand bagged one headwall. Came in early to put up the canvas roof on our new hooch but got stuck with Sgt Dedmond loading P.S. P. and muddy 6 X 6s. The fork lift loaded the P.S.P. Ate dinner. Played recorder till 10:00pm or so.
September 27
Stayed back from mine sweep. Went to A.S.P. and spent the day spotting trucks to build up the low areas. Listened to recorder and went to bed early. Charlie hit the bunkers numbered in the 20s with satchel charges this night.
September 28
Went on mine sweep. Returned to abandoned 101st area to sweep hill. Finished up this project today.The 
group moved me into my new hooch. Played recorder and went to bed early. Was told General Westmoreland would be in the area from 10:30 to 11:30am tomorrow.
September 29
Went on mine sweep South. Returned to compound and set around till lunch waiting on Westy. I even shaved. Ate lunch. Tore down old hooch. Was sent to airfield around 3:00pm to help 1st platoon tear up northern taxiway from airfield to parking area. Finished at 4:40pm. Got paid. Had guard tonight. Had a 15 minute green alert. West perimeter of airfield was hit. I heard one bunker got a grenade in it. The bunker next to mine opened up with an A.P.
September 30
Came in from guard duty, cleaned up a little and had to spot trucks dumping sand on our repair job on the airfield. Came in ... or rather sneaked in about 10:30am on 1st platoon's lieutenant's jeep. Went back after lunch and began re-laying panels. Quit at 6:00pm. Was supposed to go back out but was on sweep tomorrow 
so got out of it. Had a short-timers party for Vickers who leaves for home tomorrow. Got to bed about 1:00am. Burger painted a Mr. Lucky cat and a dancing Snoopy in the background on the inside walls of our new hooch. He also added an Egyptian type temple, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and some New York buildings.
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