Vietnam 1st Battalion
Wayne Smith
D Company 1971
First of all I just want to say thank you all for welcoming me. I have received emails from several of the guys, almost immediately after signing the guestbook. From the emails that I have gotten, I feel like part of a large family!!!! I thank all of you for that. I am still shocked that I found this site. It has brought back a lot of memories. I have some photo’s that I would like to share with the guys. Some are from FB Bastogne, Birmingham, Camp Eagle, and FB Veghl. Unfortunately, some of the names I don’t remember. I do know my “in country” best friend SSG Fred Stinson. I have not heard from him since 1971. If anyone knows him or his whereabouts, please let me know.
I came into country September of 1970 to Bien Hoa Air Base. I was originally assigned to 4th Bn 23rd Mech. Inf. 25th Inf. Div. in Cu Chi. After a short time, the battalion was sent back to Hawaii, and I was transferred to 2nd Bn 12th Inf. 25th Inf. Div. We were based out of a place called Husky Compound, which was right in the center of the town of Xuan Loc (which is NW of Siagon). Our AO was Ho Bo Woods, Bo Loi Woods, Nui Ba Dien (Black Virgin Mountain), Michelin Rubber Plantation and Cu Chi Province. Sometime around March 1971 the 2/12 was sent back to Hawaii and I was transferred to 1/327th. They had just come out of the field, and were on Tomahawk at the time I joined them. I was in the “Above the Rest” from March 1971 to September 1971. (I think my actual DEROS date was 9 Sept. 1971).
I was on Bastogne, Birmingham, Veghel, Tomahawk, and Camp Eagle, during this time. I was a Staff Sergeant. I was a Squad leader and between Platoon leaders and Platoon Sergeants, I was acting Platoon Leader, and Platoon Sergeant some of the time. These jobs were split up between me and Fred Stinson. In 1971, I participated in Lam Son 719, (I think I got the name right). We spent about a week or maybe longer at Birmingham, and then we were inserted onto a mountain top LZ. I think the name of the Mountain was Dong Cu Mong. It was in the NW corner of the country bordering Laos.
