Left - Plumes of black gasoline smoke rising above Dong Tam were typically not from battle damage. There was no central sewage system on the base. Human waste was incinerated in steel, 55-gallon, drum halves using gasoline for an accelerant. Center - The harbor master controlled traffic into Dong Tam harbor from an elevated office (at the foot of the center water tank in this view). Right - LST USS Hickman County is already offloading replacement ammunition the day after the Communists destroyed much of the ammunition sores depot.

The manmade harbor at Dong Tam included a narrow inlet at its southwest corner, a marine repair facility (including dry docks) on its east side, and a large, open, turning basin in the center. The harbor masters tower was on the north bank of the basin west of where the Four Deuces mortar barges were anchored. The turning basin was quite deep and larger ships, like the APB barracks ships could safely enter for repairs. The large, white, low-slung vessel in the photo to the right is the civilian dredge New Jersey. Prior to the arrival of the New Jersey, the Jamaica Bay - the world's fourth largest dredge - did most of the work. It, unfortunately, also proved to be one of the world's largest targets. On January 10, 1967, VC infiltrators boldly mined and sank it at its mooring in the middle of Dong Tam turning basin!

The Four Deuces battery mounted four, M-30, 4.2" mortars on two barges. They were manned by the 3/60 Infantry and semi-permanently berthed on the north bank of the harbor. The path of incoming rounds were detected by radar triangulation and mathematically calculated reverse trajectories that enabled Four Deuces to accurately return fire. It took a veteran ear to distinguish exploding incoming rounds from the bark of outgoing rounds. Both produced an nerve jarring BOOM!

The March 26, 1969, ammunition dump detonation received national notice when the Associated Press International picked up the story. The attack on Dong Tam, however, was only one of many attacks against US installations that night.

Dong Tam inlet was a narrow gauntlet of water with the base occupying the east bank and dense jungle growth and fishing shacks along the west shore.

Because of the Mobile Riverine Force, the 9^th Infantry Division enjoyed a close relationship with the US Navy. About a third of Dong Tam's facilities were dedicated to the Navy. These brown water sailors wore green jungle fatigues, fought in olive drab vessels, and - in general terms - had the same instincts as infantry. It was hard to distinguish the two from each other. For both the action got personal and both intimately understood what it meant to be on the ground. After 30 years I can still visualize the sight of an ATC (armored troop carrier) rounding a bend in the river and hear the muffled growl of its diesels - always a welcomed sound.

The DISCOM compound was on the south side of Dong Tam, across Basin Street from the harbor. My initial impression of the brown water navy was color: row after row of olive drab vessels all flying the brilliant ensign of our county. The repeated flashes of red, white, and blue contrasted strikingly against the green of the jungle, the pale blue of the sky, and the mud brown of the Song My Tho (river). It was quite a sight, an audacious visual statement that boldly proclaimed: THIS VESSEL IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! Even political skeptics (had they been privileged with the view) certainly would have felt a twinge akin to nationalistic pride…but perhaps not. You hade to experience the vacuous loneliness of coping with sustained fear to comprehend the emotion. Back in The World our fellow citizens were burning and desecrating our flag - here we were dying for it.

In another of those anomalies of the Vietnam War, US Marines in Vietnam operated primarily as ground infantry while 2^nd Brigade infantry of the 9^th Infantry Division primarily operated as waterborne infantry (a good description of a Marine).