SP4 Gary Leach getting ready for a night ambush.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Memorial service at Thunder III.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Pulling security along Thunder Road (Highway 13, which was little more than a dirt track).
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Haircut on Thunder Road. I had stopped the platoon out in the middle of nowhere when this man arrived and set up shop alongside the road. For just a few P (piastres) you could get a haircut and a Coke. Pricing was interesting. He'd cut your hair for a set price, but if you didn't stop him when he was finished with your hair, he'd move on to your eyebrows (an additional charge) and your nose hair (an additional charge) and... Well, you get the picture.
It always worried me to have a Vietnamese man--and possible enemy soldier--holding a razor at my throat for a shave.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
It always worried me to have a Vietnamese man--and possible enemy soldier--holding a razor at my throat for a shave.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
1LT Ty Dodge at Blackhorse Basecamp, Xuan Loc.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
At Blackhorse Basecamp sporting my handlebar.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Sketch done at a PX when I first arrived n country.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
The track behind the rubber tree hit one of the largest mines we'd encountered during my time in country. It blew off the left track, road wheels, and the driver's legs. We learned that the driver died from his injuries a week or so later. This was during a running 3-day battle in "Frenchie's Plantation," a rubber plantation near An Loc. See more detail in the attached story, "Battle at Frenchie's Plantation."
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
The hole left by the mine in the preceding photo.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Memorial service for our dead at Frenchie's Plantation.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Frenchie's house.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
SFC Delbert "Del" W. Bethel serving chow. VTR (Vehicle, tracked, recovery) in the background.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
1LT Jack Andrews having chow with the troops during the battle at Frenchie's Plantation.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
NVA rocket on bamboo launcher, set to be fired at our NDP (Night Defensive Perimeter, which you can see in the distance) outside the rubber at Frenchie's Plantation.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
1LT Ty Dodge and SFC Stefan S. Tomsinski ("Sgt. Tom," my platoon sergeant) at Frenchie's Plantation.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Resupply
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Resupply
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Battening down the hatches when the Chinooks come in.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
A Vietnamese school surrounded by barbed wire and, perhaps, a minefield to keep out the bad guys. I recall sitting on top of my track thinking, "We are so fortunate in our country. That could never happen in our America!" And yet, it's happening in our country today.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
PFC William W. "Bucky" LeBlanc. Behind him is an unknown ARVN soldier.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
CPT James T. Tutt (I Troop CO), MAJ John H. Sloan (3/11 S3), and SGT Lon planning an operation.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
SP4 Robert L. "Bob" Harvey, SP4 George Ford, Jr, SGT Michael "Mike" C. Czajkowski by our track, I-38.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Tanker, our platoon mascot.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Photo courtesy Ty Dodge.
Tanker and SGT Mike Czajkowski.