| Comments by Joseph Mater on Sunday, August 17, 2003 at 14:13 |
 IP Logged |
I was assigned to H&S Co. Maint. Plt. 1st Amphibian Tractor Battalion from May 1966 to the first part of Jan 1968. Made the trip from DaNang to Cua Viet courtsey of the US Navy. My primary MOS was 2142 but most of my work at DaNang was admin in maint office, somebodys got to type. Volunteered to be electrician with Sgt. DeBooth who got badly burned at the battalion generator in DaNang and was medivaced. LCpl John Burns 2142 KIA Oct. 66 along with PFC James Daniels 1833 and Cpl Robert Sisk 0844 when their amtrac bellied up on a mine. Everyone knows where the fuel cells are and where to ride, if you can, but somebodys got to drive. Would like to hear if you had first hand knowledge of this event.
Sgt. Kistler 3531 kia June 67, LCpl Charlie Beavers 1833 Oct 67. The dental unit; LT/DC Robert Mills, USN kia Nov 67 when a direct hit got his tent. Would like the names of the two enlisted dental techs that were wounded when the next round landed just outside their sandbagged tent. Figure the odds. And then there is Sgt. Terri Boettger 2111 the battalion armor and his assistant LCpl William Mc Carthy 1833, I think he was up from the LVTH 6 platoon, both kia Dec 67 from a direct hit on them. Everyone remembers the incoming, the night ambushes, day patrols, filling sandbags,guard duty, sweeps, operations and doing your usual job on top of everything else. The change from the M14 to the M16, yuk. Then there was the observation tower that the sea bees put up, right next to the bn. cp. I guess they wanted charlie to know where they were at. My hats off to the Navy Sea Bees and the our water treatment guys and the cooks. Ever wonder where your drinking water came from? The line charge makes a nice pond maker seeing how the water table was quite near the surface. There was Capt. Whiteside as Maintenance Officer. The nice shiney maint bldg that stuck out like a sore thumb saying here we are.
At Del Mar in 65 for the mechanics class of which there were 31. I have the names of 19 of them. Class number was 2-66 and graduated on March 6, 1966.
I have quite a few pictures from cua viet from its birth april 67. Of course there was GYSgt. Glaw and his 81mm crew, I can appreciate all his hard work and professionalism now. There are 78 of our fellow Marines that gave their all while members of the 1st Am Trac Battalion from July 65 Oct 68. You can view their names at:
www.amtrac.org/at2bn/mem/memorial.html
All of us did our jobs to the best of our abilities. All of us are sorrowed by the losses of our Marine brothers. There are still countless others that were wounded physically. We all will carry the metal wounds of what we did and saw. God bless the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps is still making them the same way and the Marines of today have met the challenges head on just as we did. Be proud be Marine. Being a 1833 took balls taking the grunts to charlies front door. A mighty big thanks to the LVTH6 battery, you put them where I wanted them when I wanted them. And where would we be without a salute to our Marine aviators that brought that ordinance screaming in at tree top level and putting it right on target. A salute to our Navy brothers, just off shore, whos naval guns did a fine job. And can't leave out the airforce with puff and the B-52 drops.
A salute to all the chopper pilots are air crews. A salute to all the medical personnel, especially the doc at your side, and all on the USNS Repose. May God bless America and all the good we stand for. Semper Fi. |
| United States |
|
|
