Record of 03 Failure in WWI

[Andouille]

I don't know but I was told that at Long Bien in 1972 the engineers were digging a big-a$$ed hole for landfilling garbage, and found a burried M60 tank complete with main gun.

[Jim Tarleton]

In the late spring of 1971, the Marines were dumping weapons and other stuff into the Bay of Danang. I made about three or four 5-ton truck load trips before I rejoined my unit (I was on walking wounded duty). We dumped what appeared to be new weapons including M60 machineguns. Bunch of grease guns. No ammo or M59's. Many of the weapons were still in wooden crates, some in what appeared to be plastic cases. No clue why they were dumped. I was told there were no TO cards for them. I don't know what a TO card is.

Saw no 782 gear, just small arms weapons (M79's, M16's, etc), refridgerators, typewriters, and stuff like that. We did pry open some of the crates looking for 45's. I found none, but one of the other drivers showed up with several 45's one night. They weren't new, and looked pretty old.

We were picking this stuff up from a warehouse very near the airport, because I kept seeing American Airlines planes taking off.

We off-loaded onto barges and the Navy pulled the barges out into the bay and we dumped the stuff overboard. Shot anything that floated with those crummy little grease guns (usually the refridgerators), then threw the grease guns overboard. I remember the grease guns didn't climb as much as I expected. We were only given one clip/magazine of ammo for each one (three men per truck).

One day I got to the dock before the barge, and I met these cheerful little kids who were hanging around. One had a horrific scar on his forehead. I asked him where he got it, and he said when the VC took over Danang (???). One of the kids was about 5 years old and he was smoking an OJ held in his left hand between his thumb and first digit with his little finger closest to his face (first OJ I ever saw). I took his picture and still have it. I asked them where they lived, and they pointed at what appeared to be a dump (landfill). Life was tough over there. I hope those kids made it, and I would love to meet them now as men.

Jim

[Loy Hamilton]

Jim

One of my contractors was a Marine in nam. One day he said they were out on patrol and he said they ran across a very nicely dressed, fully armed dead nva officer. He said they proceeded to pick souvenirs off him and I guessed what was about to happen before he told me..the nva had zeroed in that spot with a mortar. He said he had smelled a rat and had just started to back away just about the time the first mortar hit, wounding the whole squad.

[Lancebear]

Hey Jim,

Sounds sorta' like an almost fun detail. Never shot an automatic weapon, but those crummy little grease guns could throw out a decent amount of .45 ACP. That had to be a little bit of fun. Shame ya'll didn't have ammo for the M60's.

Have read many books about the Viet Nam war, and several reference the use of grease guns. Seems to have been a popular weapon in three of our wars, I could be wrong though.

I could see the USMC dumping the grease guns, not have to worry about them gettin' snuck home? New M60's that's something else?

As I said I have never fired an automatic weapon, but did have a Mauser Broomhandle pistol start cookin' off rounds at the local indoor range one day. Shot a bunch and loaded a ten round stripper clip. Pulled the trigger two to three times and I was empty. Couldn't touch the barrel. Didn't feel a thing, and the cooked rounds were on target. Maybe the front heavy "Broom" did that.

What is an "OJ" ? Does that mean opium joint?

Remember seeing a show about WWII PT boats. At the end of the war they were all rounded up and burned. Think there are about three or so left in collector hands.

Interesting story, yours I mean.

Regards and death to bad guys,

Robert

[Jim Tarleton]

Yes, an OJ was an opium joint, the bane of the fighting Marine. In the bush I never saw any drug use, but I wasn't a doper either. While at Danang(FLC/China Beach), I saw constant drug abuse. Heroin was as common as a pack of Marlboros. It came in a small plastic vial. I found one once and picked it up. Another Marine came over and told me not to get caught with that vial. He told me what it was. I pitched it as far as I could. I was as nervous as a cat around those guys. They made daily runs with the drug dogs. I watched a Marine hide a 100-pack of OJ's in a stack of sandbags. The dog found them in a heartbeat. To this day, I can't understand why anyone would want to do drugs in a combat zone. I never liked the movie "Platoon" because they made the druggies look like the cool guys, and the hardcores look like murderers. It wasn't that way where I was.

The grease guns were the TO weapon for tanks and amtraks, or so I was told (still don't know what TO means). I was at Albany before my tour, and my job was cleaning out the incoming amtraks (on rail cars) from RVN before rebuild. Among some of the more interesting items I found in blasted amtraks was a human foot still in a boot, a 45, a crucifix, and one of those grease guns with a fully loaded magazine (in the driver's compartment). A lot of them burned, and there was a very distinct smell in those.

We used to send in any newbie first, then we would hit the CO2 fire extinguisher system (doorway switch) and the newbie would come out looking like he had just returned from the artic. Marine humor at work. And yes, they did it to me too. There were a lot of those rail cars.

As for automatic weapons, I fired the M60, the M16, the AK47 and the Ma Duece. My favorite auto weapon was the M16. A hand held M60 with its assault pack was a handfull, which is why most machinegunners were big guys that we protected like he was our mother. Bad part was that he attracted a lot of heavy fire, good part was he could return it as long as his fellow Marines got the ammo to him. I tried to stay as far away from machinegunners, radiomen, and platoon commanders as I could. All three had a huge attrition rate. I will say this, Marine officers in combat are truly impressive to watch. To a man, they were fearless.

We had a sargeant try to sneak an AK47 home in a fridge, and the last time I saw him he was in handcuffs, staring at the ground.

Jim

[Dan Shapiro]

"TO" is short for Table of Organization and Equipment. Essentially it's the bible of what a unit is to have. How many men of each rank, what their issued equipment is, what their organizational equipment is. Some bean counter somewhere has lists upon lists for each level from fire team, to squad, to platoon, to company, etc etc.

[Jim Tarleton]

Thanks, Dan. That acronym has stuck in my mind for 35+ years and not once have I tried to discover what it meant. I always suspected it was something close to what it is. Being a big tuff Marine, I didn't want anyone to know I didn't know what the heck they were talking about. Now I am old and don't care.

Jim

[Lancebear]

Thanks Jim,

Always enjoy your stories and real life information.

Death to bad guys,

Robert