The 1/5th Infantry Division (Mech) was my first duty assignment at Ft Carson, Co. and my last duty assignment at Camp Red Devil at Quang Tri, The Republic of South Vietnam.

My first tour in Vietnam was as a member of the 63rd Engineer Detachment (FM). This was a group of at least eight (not counting me) of the best mechanics, welders and machinists with whom I ever had the privilege of being associated. Our ride to Viet Nam. This is a list of our assignments as I remember them. We landed at Cam Ranh Bay(on an LST), it was a pile of sand but when we landed the 299th Combat Engineers had already been there! The 299th was the also the last unit we were attached to during our tour.

Saigon, Binh Hoa, Long Binh, Qui Nhon, then to Valley "A" or Happy Valley outside Qui Nhon. It was rumored that Ho had said he would eat Christmas dinner there, he did not. Ordered to Pleiku thru the "Pleiku Pass" we were shelled on our way to Camp Holliway. The last mission the 63rd was a part of was with the 299th Engineer Btn and the 101st Airborne, we built a Fire Base that would be beseiged during the Tet offensive in 1968. Hallowed ground now we stood on it thru the Spring Monsoon and repeated attempts to halt the construction. An Khe(Home of Black Horse}. First Air Cav's ground was our last stop on the way home.

All this movement took a year, we spent about the same amount of time in each place. I rotated out to Camp Roberts, California. Thank God for Calfornia girls and all the friends I made there!

Side note, we were a ten man detachment that had to move by air several times. The pilots of the planes that moved us got us in and out of some very short and usually PSP covered runways. Very Hairy! Damn great pilots who did some really fantastic things, thanks for the ride!