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PHOTO #1 - It's early morning aboard the US Navy barracks barge, APL-30. Troops of D Company have been up since 0500 hours readying for the day's mission. PHOTO #2 - Confined sleeping quarters aboard the non-propelled barracks barge are now empty as the company chows down in the galley. PHOTO #3 - After mess call D Company assembles with their gear on the pontoons, a floating dock alongside APL-30, where they will board Armored Troop Carriers ( nicknamed Tango boats because of the letter "T" in their registration number) that will take them to their company's Area of Operation. PHOTO #4 - Once aboard the troop carriers, the small flotilla gets underway. PHOTO #5 - At the AO, the Tango boats hold their bows steady on the river bank and drop their bow ramps. D Company dismounts and assembles on shore. PHOTO #6 - Once assembled into squads, D Company steps off towards the first of many tree lines. Today the company will be traversing the worst combat terrain in South Vietnam, open fields, mucky rice paddies, dense stands of palm and tropical growth, streams, and canals. PHOTO #7 - Inside the tree line a trail is discovered. Trails offer the advantage of easier going at the greater risks of booby traps and ambush. PHOTO #8 - A muddy steam flows through the growth. There are no footbridges. After securing the opposite bank, D Company carefully wades across. Although the water feels cool, South Vietnam's streams and canals are full of blood-sucking leeches. Once across the stream troops have to carefully check themselves and their buddies for infestation.
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PHOTO #9 - A small village is encountered beyond the steam. D Company approaches it vigilantly. PHOTO #10 - VC contraband is found in a haystack at the edge of the village. It is burned. PHOTOS #11 & #12 - Village hootches are carefully checked for VC and weapons. PHOTO #13 - Papa san's water buffalo suspiciously eye's D Company. This particular water buffalo isn't VC, it lets the company pass unmolested. PHOTO #14 - Across another cultivated field lies yet another hootch and another tree line. The Delta is a vast checker board of inundated rice paddies, muddy cultivated fields, stands of jungle, and waterways. The mission is physically draining on D Company. PHOTO #15 - A large, 500-pound, bomb crater -- evidence of an earlier battle -- is encountered. PHOTO #16 - A final rice paddy is crossed. Although the soldiers are now muddy, wet, and near exhaustion, good sound and distance discipline is maintained. It is lonely for each man, but they keep far apart incase the enemy opens fire on them, or one of them trips a booby trap.
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PHOTO #17 - Back on the river at the pick up zone the Navy is waiting. There will be cold Kool-Aid and water waiting on board. |
