12th Campaign
Revision Date: 03/27/02
During this time period the 2/94th
took part in Consolidation I.
(07-01-71 to 11-30-71)
Description of Consolidation I
This period witnessed additional progress in the Vietnamization program, which included turning over the ground war to South Vietnam, sustaining the withdrawal of U.S. troops, and also continuing U.S. air strikes on enemy targets.
South Vietnam assumed full control of defense for the area immediately below the demilitarized zone on 11 July, a process begun in 1969. Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird announced completion of Phase I of Vietnamization on 11 August, which meant that the U.S. relinquished all ground combat responsibilities to the Republic of Vietnam. The participation of U.S. forces in ground combat operations had not ceased, however. U.S. maneuver battalions were still conducting missions and the 101st Airborne Division joined the 1st Army of Vietnam 1st Infantry Division in Operation JEFFERSON GLEN, which took place in Thua Thien Province in October. This was the last major combat operation in Vietnam to involve U.S. ground forces. Following the close of Operation JEFFERSON GLEN on 8 October, the 101st began stand-down procedures, and was the last U.S. division to leave Vietnam.
U.S. troop strengths decreased during
Consolidation I. American battle deaths for July 1971 was 66, the lowest
monthly figure since May 1967. By early November, U.S. troop totals dropped to
191,000, the lowest level since December 1965. In early November, President
Nixon announced that American troops had reverted to a defensive role in
Vietnam. (End of description)
On XXX,
Specialist William Wynn of C
Battery was Medevac'd.
On XXX,
Specialist Charles W. Moore of
C Battery was Medevac'd.
On 3 July 1971,
Staff Sergeant Donald M.
Pearson, of? Battery was Medevac'd.
On 5 July 1971,Specialist Randall W.
Myers of C Battery was Medevac'd.
LNO Assignments as of 5 July 1971
Name/Rank LNO/FO (with) Last Reported Location
Captain Andrews LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Sergeant Basten LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Specialist Lerma LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Captain Cline LNO 1st ARVN (Hue) Hue
Sergeant Garnett LNO 1st ARVN (Hue) Hue
Lieutenant Lipke FO 2/17th Cavalry Camp Eagle
On 5 July 1971, A Battery departed Veghel and moved to the heavy artillery area at Gia Le.
On 6 July 1970 at 0700 hours, Gia Le received severe weather warning, winds 15 (50?) knots, rains 7 to 10 inches for the next 24 hours.
On 10 July 1971,
Staff Sergeant Macel Ely
of Headquarters Battery was Medevac'd.
On 14 July 1971, Staff Sergeant Vernie D. Hicks of? Battery was Medevac'd.
On 20 July 1971, A Battery conducted a raid to Veghel. This raid was terminated on 25 July 1971 and A Battery returned to Gio Le.
On 25 July 1971 at 1205 hours, A Battery departed FSB Veghel. Closed at 1410 hours at Gia Le.
On 15 August 1971, A Battery conducted a raid to FSB Quick. On 20 August, raid was terminated and battery moved directly to FSB Bastogne.
On 18 August 1971,Specialist Ernest S. Rodriguez of HHB Battery was Medevac’d.
On 20 August 1971, A Battery moves to FSB Bastogne.
On 24 August 1971, MSG Willard
A. Youts of HHB Battery was Medevac'd.
On 24 August 1971 at 1815 hours, Captain Seymour reported an incident just north of Hue on QL1 with Vietnamese and 2nd 94th personnel. Requested gun ships or gun trucks and MP assistance.
Account from one of the 2/94th
men in the back of the truck on the convoy above:
I
remember the incident when 1 of our guys pointed his M-16 at a civilian on a
motorcycle and almost caused a riot. There were approximately six of us in the
back of the truck outside Hue at the time. (End of account)
On 26 August 1971,Specialist Alvie J.
Barela of C Battery was Medevac’d.
On 30 August 1971, SFC Mariana
Garcia of A Battery was Medevac’d.
On 30 August 1971,Specialist John L. Hamilton of HHB Battery was Medevac’d.
On 3 September 1971, C Battery moved to FSB Nancy and was placed under OPCON to the 1/39th to provide additional support for Operation Lam Son 810.
On 3 September 1971,Specialist Arnulfo G. Perez of? Battery was Medevac'd.
During September 1971, C Battery was selected to perform an Artillery Raid to Vandergrift. The battery moved from FSB Birmingham, to FSB Sally, to Quang Tri - Dong Ha area, and to Mai Loc. For several days while at Mai Loc, a lot of rounds were fired into the DMZ.
LNO Assignments as of 5 September 1971
Name/Rank LNO/FO (with) Last Reported Location
Captain Mixon LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Specialist Frye LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
On 6 September 1971, C Battery moved to a field position at Dong Ha.
On 7 September 1971, C Battery moved from Dong Ha to Mai Loc. The battery commenced heavy firing in the afternoon.
On 10 September 1971, C Battery moved to FSB Vandergrift and continued heavy firing until they departed on 18 September. This was the first occupation of Vandergrift by 175mm guns since 2/94th departed back in April of 1971.
Account from C Battery FDO,
Lieutenant Marchand:
I remember at that point,
Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl, our
Battalion Commander, was looking in on us about every day. I recall that the
transmitting element on our RC-292 Antenna was physically broken and hanging by
a thread electrically. As the blast of the guns knocked everything around, we
were bound to lose the use of that antenna. I had not been able to get that
part from anyone locally so I asked Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl to get it for me.
The next time he
showed up, he had the part.
From
Mai Loc, C Battery moved to Vandergrift, and using Air Observers, went after NVA supplies, etc.
in the very northwestern part of RVN using Air Observers. C Battery shared the
load with the Air Force, since the Battery stopped firing when the Air Force was
dropping bombs. C Battery got its share of secondary explosions.
We
fired about 1000 rounds. We actually had 2 guns attached to our battery from
1/39th FA. All tubes were 175mm, giving us a six-gun 175 battery. Not bad. At
Vandergrift, we were the only ones there, other than an ARVN 105mm Battery just
down the road. It was pretty lonely there. We were probably there about four
days. As I was FDO, I went with the advance party back to FSB Birmingham. I believe that
our mission to Vandergrift may have been the last westward deployment of 175mm
guns in I Corps. I believe that JJ Carroll may have been abandoned at that
point in time. The 8/4th was a month from stand down.
Just for the record, on the way back to the coast, a Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl promoted 2nd Lieutenant, who I have not been able to locate while enroute. Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl, by helicopter, found us and stopped us to perform the promotion some where on QL 9. (End of account)
Observation of chronicler: It is thought that this northwest displacement of C Battery referenced above, was the last displacement of any American Artillery that far to the Northwest in the Vietnam War. (End of observation)
During the late summer of 71, C Battery was a show Battery to all sorts of dignitaries. I believe I had the Deputy Commander of Vietnam in my FDC at one time or another. They came with platoons of Lieutenant Colonels carrying briefcases. I guess the brass needed something to do, as there were a lot less people to look after. (End of account)
On 14 September 1971, PFC
Donald G. Kershaw of C Battery was Medevac’d.
On 14 September 1971,Specialist Joseph Simmons of HHB Battery was Medevac'd.
On 17 September 1971,
Staff Sergeant Larry
K. Damron of HHB Battery was Medevac’d.
On 18 September 1971, C Battery departs Vandergrift. Note by chronicler: Doesn’t indicate battery’s destination.
On 19 September 1971,Specialist Guy A. Tuck of HHB Battery was Medevac'd.
On 19 September 1971,Specialist Claude J. Hyshaw of HHB Battery was Medevac’d
On 24 September 1971,Specialist Thomas H. Rhinehart of A Battery was Medevac’d.
On 25 September 1971 at 0930 hours, at Camp Eagle, the Battalion held a
Change of Command Ceremony. Lieutenant
Colonel Kirk
assumed command of 2nd Bn 94th Arty from Lieutenant Colonel J. Ganahl.
Observation of chronicler: I think that it is safe to say that Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl had been in command during some of the most trying of times for the 2/94th Battalion during it's six year stay in Vietnam. With the most aggressive battalion displacement and artillery support during the Lam Son operation on the border. (End of observation)
In September of 1971, the 2/94th was under XXIV Corps. HHB was located at Camp Eagle (home of the 101st) southwest of Phu Bai. At this time, the 2/94th had firing batteries at three different firebases: Rakkasan; Bastogne; and an unknown firebase, possibly Birmingham.
Account from C Battery FDO, Lieutenant Marchand - During the wet season Rakkasan was only accessible by air. It is very high in altitude. Due to extensive difference in altitude between the target and the battery, the normal computation of "site" which compensated for the difference in the vertical interval (differences in altitude ) did not work, as it was too great. Therefore, the FDC had to do a separate calculation to compensate for the "nonrigidity" of the flight of the projectile under these circumstances. (The descending branch was too short or too long in civilian terms for the quick and dirty calculation) (End of Account.)
On 2 October 1971,Specialist Emilio
Colon of A Battery was Medevac’d.
On 2 October
1971, Private First Class Leroy G.
Veasley of HHB Battery was Medevac’d.
On 2 October 1971,Specialist John K.
Ericson of HHB Battery was Medevac’d.
On 4 October 1971,Specialist William F. Crowder of? Battery was Medevac’d.
LNO Assignments as of 5 October 1971
Name/Rank LNO/FO (with) Last Reported Location
Captain Scott LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Sergeant Bastin LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
Sergeant Baskin LNO 101st Division Arty Camp Eagle
On 13 October 1971, 8th Bn 4th Artillery In Vietnam stood down. The 8th Bn 4th Artillery (companion 175mm unit to the 2nd Bn 94th Artillery) unit colors were sent back to the States. Those men that stayed behind were assigned to the 2/94th.
On 19 October 1971,Specialist Allen
W. Oaks, of? Battery was Medevac’d.
On 20 October 1971,Specialist Joey
Labriloia, of? Battery was Medevac’d.
On 22 October
1971,Captain Robert W. Scott assumed command of Charlie Battery from Captain Neal S.
Doby. The next day, Typhoon Hester hit
the area with high winds and heavy rainfall.
The bridge between FSB Birmingham and Camp Eagle was washed away.
Account from Captain Neal Doby C Battery Commander
(who went through the Typhoon): Lieutenant Colonel Ganahl (with Captain Scott's
OK, I guess) had told me to stay on Birmingham, but out of sight, for another
day in case Captain Scott wanted my advice; but
the typhoon came up and I could not get off the firebase. Ended up spending three or four more days
holed up on Birmingham. Then the
weather broke for an hour or so and they stuffed an OH-58 with rations for the
mess hall and flew it to Birmingham.
(HQ Battery had picked up the rations for C Battery after the bridge
went out.) We unloaded the rations and
I flew back to HQ. The weather closed
back in and stayed bad for another three or four days.
Considering the time that
you were with the 2/94th, I'm sure times had changed. We had two trailers, each mounting two 10KW 110V generators, and
had power lines strung to every bunker. In
the mess hall, we had a 17 cu ft commercial refrigerator and a 15 cu ft
commercial freezer (when I got there).
Later, somebody was shutting down and the ration truck came back one day,
followed by the wrecker, with a 65 cu ft reach-in refrigerator. We off-loaded it and set it above ground
beside the mess hall.
When we drew rations, the guys at the ration
breakdown point were lazy; and when things like meat were packed in 100- man
packs, they would give us the whole box; even though we only had about 80 folks
on the firebase. So the freezer and
refrigerators slowly filled. Even with
the Mess Sergeant cutting roasts into steaks and cooking them over charcoal on
Sundays.
When I left Birmingham, we
were still eating out of the freezer and refrigerator. A couple of weeks later, I saw Captain Scott at
staff call, and after the meeting, he related the following to me. He went (as I had) up to the Infantry Battalion TOC
every evening for a firebase meeting.
One evening, the Infantry Battalion Commander asked, "How are you folks doing for
rations? We are getting pretty
desperate." Not realizing that the
infantry was deep into their five-day basic load of C-rations, Captain Scott said,
"If we don't get rations in the next couple of days, we are going to have
to start eating C’s."
The
infantry was not amused!
On 30 October 1971 at 1100 hours, 3 new officers arrived in the
Battalion: Captain Wilgen, Lieutenant Williams, and
CW2 Clark.
On 31 October 1971 at 1300 hours, received new officer today, CW2 Rainey.
Notes and discussion from 1 May 1971 to 31 Oct 1971, 19th Battalion Operational Report
Expenditures by caliber: 175mm 20,277 8-inch 15,383
A firing battery could suffer critical loss of men and material if it not allowed to use the awesome firepower at its disposal upon arriving and occupying a raid area when enemy attack is imminent. Waiting as long as an hour is unacceptable to obtain firing clearance.
It is highly recommended that approval for a battery to employ direct fire be cleared before occupation, so it can be part of prior planning. Also, once clearance has been granted to employ direct fire, the firing battery should not be bound to check higher headquarters before initiation. The first seconds of a ground attack are the most critical, and any delay may deny the unit the opportunity to engage the attacking force at optimum range with those fires.
KIA - 1 Specialist Wayne Stephen Murphy, Battery unknown, from Dallas, Oregon.
WIA - 1 (Unknown at this time)
Non-Battle deaths - 2 Specialist Michael Ray Street, A Battery, from Rutherfordton, North Carolina was an accidental ground casualty. Specialist Anthony Aloysius Price, Headquarters Battery, from New Haven, Connecticut.
Non-Battle injured - 10 (Unknown at this time)
End of notes and discussion from 1 May 1971 to 31 Oct 1971, 19th Battalion Operational Report
On 1 November 1971, at 0900 hours at Camp Eagle a ceremony was held for the 2nd 94th FA being attached to the 101st Airborne Division. Major General Tarpley was present. Comment by the chronicler: So I guess that means you fellows can wear a 101st Airborne patch starting November 1, 1971. (End of comment)
On 5 November 1971,
the 108th Artillery Group began stand-down.
On 6 November
1971, Charlie Battery converted to an 8” battery from a composite 8”-175mm
battery by trading two 175mm guns with A Battery for two 8” howitzers.
On 7 November
1971 at 1100 hours, at Camp Eagle, A Battery left Bastogne.
On 8 November
1971, Charlie Battery displaced one platoon of 8” howitzers to FSB C1 from FSB
Birmingham to support the operation firing into the A Shau Valley from FSB
Nancy. This platoon returned to FSB
Birmingham on 22 November 1971.
On 8 November 1971, a letter from Hq, 2nd Bn 94th Arty was sent to the Bn Met Officer, CW3 Charles Stephenson. Body of letter follows:
1. Paragraph 2, XXIV Corps Artillery Met Newsletter #38, of 1 November 1971 is quoted:
“MOST ACCURATE MET SECTION FOR MONTH OF SEPTEMBER: The 2nd Battalion 94th Artillery Met Section performed the unprecedented feat of recording an error free rate of 0.0% and no unsatisfactory flights. The MQCT extends hearty congratulations to each and every member for achieving this outstanding record.”
2. It is with extreme pleasure that I pass this information to you. This achievement truly reflects the fine manner in which you led your section and performed your mission.
3. I commend and congratulate you for the outstanding results you achieved during your tour of duty in this battalion.
Signed: K. Leslie Kirk, LTC, FA, Commanding (End of letter)
Comment by CW3 Stephenson: It is obvious to the informed that this ”Letter of Commendation” was intended to provide recognition to the 2nd Battalion 94th Artillery Ballistic Meteorology Section in its entirety. The recognition is unique and well deserved, but I am equally as proud of the day in and day out performance of every 93F20 Crewmen, who drew upon his store of knowledge, applied every skill, and worked closely and carefully with his teammates to accomplish the mission of providing accurate and timely Met Messages to the firing batteries. I am proud to have been associated with Sergeant First Class Atwell (my Chief of Section), and this diverse and dedicated group of professional and citizen soldiers. (End of comment)
On 22 November
1971 at 2300 hours, Charlie Battery was alerted to displace from FSB Birmingham
the following morning to move to FSB Hill 34, Da Nang.
On 23 November
1971,Captain Scott flew to Da Nang to make arrangements for the arrival of the
Battery the next day and returned to Camp Eagle that afternoon.
On 23 November 1971 and through the 1st week of January 1972, Charlie Battery was attached to the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, and was OPCON to the 3rd Bn 82nd FA. During this period, the Battery’s mission was two-fold.
First, it provided general support re-enforcing fires for the 196th Brigade.
Second, it was instrumental in training the 102nd
ARVN Heavy Battalion, which was in the training phase at that time. The Vietnamese received assistance in all
aspects of battery functions.
On 24 November
1971 at 0700 hours, C Battery displaced from Camp Eagle along QL1 to Hill 34,
arriving at 1900 hours that evening. On
arriving in Da Nang, the Battery reverted to 8”-175mm components.
On 25 November 1971, Camp Eagle, letter reads: From CO, 1st
of the 39th Arty to CO of the 2nd 94th
Arty. Confidential. Expect that your four guns will be traveling
to Tan My ---- De-scrambled Coded. ---
thoroughly cleaned and have logbooks and all necessary documents completed to
facilitate their turn-in.
Observation of
chronicler: Sounds as if A Battery 2/94th
was getting ready to stand-down.
Previous Campaign was 11th Campaign, Counteroffensive, Phase VII (07-01-70 to 06-30-71)
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11th Campaign
Next Campaign is 13th Campaign, Consolidation II (12-01-71 to 03-29-71)
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