The Magnificent Bastards (60 page)

AIT
Advanced Individual Training

AK-47
standard Communist 7.62mm automatic rifle

Amtrac
LVTP5 amphibious tractor

AO
Area of Operations

Arty
artillery

ARVN
Army of the Republic of Vietnam

Birddog
O-1E observation plane

BLT
Battalion Landing Team

Blueline
a stream or river

C&C
Command-and-control helicopter used by commanders to supervise field activities

CAR15
shortened, all-metal version of the M16 5.56mm automatic rifle

CAS
Close Air Support

C-4
plastic explosive

Chicom
Chinese Communist (usually refers to enemy hand grenade)

Chinook
CH-47 transport helicopter

Claymore
aboveground antipersonnel mine

CO
Commanding Officer

CP
Command Post

Crusader
Navy A-7 jet fighter-bomber

DHCB
Dong Ha Combat Base

DMZ
Demilitarized Zone, dividing line between North and South Vietnam on the 17th parallel

E-tool
Entrenching tool, military term for a collapsible shovel

FAC
Forward Air Controller

FO
Forward Observer

FSB
Fire Support Base

H&S
Headquarters & Service Company

HE
High Explosive

HHC
Headquarters and Headquarters Company

HST
Helicopter Support Team

Huey
nickname for the UH-1 series of helicopter

Illum
illumination round or rounds

KIA
Killed In Action

Kit Carson scout
Communist soldier who defected to the allies and volunteered to serve with U.S. units as a scout interpreter

Laager
nickname for a unit’s night defensive position

LAW
66mm Light Antitank Weapon

LCU
Landing Craft, Utility LD Line of Departure

LIB
Light Infantry Brigade

LP
Listening Post LZ Landing Zone

M14
nonstandard U.S. 7.62mm automatic rifle

M16
standard U.S. 5.56mm automatic rifle

M60
standard U.S. 7.62mm machine gun

M79
standard U. S. 40mm grenade launcher

MAB
Marine Amphibious Brigade

MAF
Marine Amphibious Force

MAW
Marine Aircraft Wing

MIA
Missing In Action

Monitor
LCM-6 gunboat with revolving turret

NCO
Noncommissioned Officer NVA North Vietnamese Army

OCS
Officer Candidate School

OP
Observation Post

Opcon
Operational Control

Otter
M76 amphibious tracked vehicle

Phantom
F-4 jet fighter-bomber

RPD
standard Communist 7.62mm light machine gun

RPG
Rocket-Propelled Grenade

RTO
Radiotelephone Operator

S1
personnel officer

S2
intelligence officer

S3
operations officer

S4
logistics officer

Sea Horse
CH-34 helicopter (Korean War vintage)

Sea Knight
CH-46 transport helicopter

Sea Stallion
CH-53 transport helicopter

Sitrep
Situation report

Skimmer
nickname for the fourteen-foot assault boats used by the Marines (they were made of fiberglass and had 35-horsepower Mercury outboard motors)

SKS
Communist rifle

Skyhawk
A-4 jet attack-bomber

SLF
Special Landing Force

Spooky
AC-47 gunship

TacAir
Tactical Air Support

TAOR
Tactical Area of Responsibility

TF
Task Force

TOT
Time On Target (method of artillery fire involving several batteries firing on the same target at the same time)

VC
Viet Cong

Ville
village

WIA
Wounded In Action

WP
White Phosphorus (“Willie Pete”)

XO
executive officer

Berry, Lt. Col. F. Clifton.
Chargers
. New York: Bantam, 1988.

Crum, James E.
Pigman, Vietnam 1968-69
. Canal Fulton, Ohio: J.E. Crum, 1988.

Cutler, Lt. Comdr. Thomas J.
Brown Water, Black Berets: Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam
. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute, 1988.

Grant, Zalin B.
Survivors
. New York: Norton, 1975.

Helms, E. Michael.
The Proud Bastards
. New York: Zebra, 1990.

Krulak, Lt. Gen. Victor H.
First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps
. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute, 1984.

Lowry, Timothy S.
Valor
. New York: Berkley, 1988.

Telfer, Maj. Gary; Lt. Col. Lane Rogers; and Keith Fleming.
U.S. Marines in Vietnam: Fighting the North Vietnamese, 1967
. Washington, D.C.: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1984.

Braestrup, Peter. “‘Magnificent’ Is the Word for Marine Fighters.”
Pacific Stars & Stripes
, 29 May 1968,11.

Hammond, Lt. Col. J. W. “Combat Journal, Part I.” Marine
Corps Gazette
, July 1968, 20-29.

Hammond, Lt. Col. J. W. “Combat Journal, Conclusion.”
Marine Corps Gazette
, August 1968, 46-51.

May, Tony. “With the 196th Light Infantry Brigade: Letters from the DMZ.”
Vietnam Combat
, 1989, 46-57.

“Soldier Slips Past Enemy Night Perimeter.”
Southern Cross
(Newspaper of the Americal Division), June 1968, 8.

Weise, Brig. Gen. William. “Memories of Dai Do.”
Marine Corps Gazette
, September 1987, 42-55.

Weise, Brig. Gen. William. “They Called Him Big John Malnar.”
Leatherneck
, July 1991, 47-49.

All USMC documents cited are in the USMC Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard; all U.S. Army documents cited can be found in the National Archives’s Suitland, Md., branch.

“The Battle of Dong Ha” (Capt. W. H. Dabney, G3A, 3d Marine Division).

“Combat After Action Report (Operations NAPOLEON-SALINE), Headquarters, 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Divison.”

“Command Chronology, 3d Marines, April 1968.”

“___, May 1968.”

“Command Chronology, 1st Battalion, 3d Marines, May 1968.”

“Command Chronology, 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, October 1967.”

“___, November 1967.”

“Command Chronology, Battalion Landing Team 2/4, December 1967.”

“___, January 1968.”

“___, February 1968.”

“___, March 1968.”

“___, April 1968.”

“___, May 1968.”

“___, June 1968.”

“Duty Officer’s Log, S2/S3 Section, 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, 19 April-17 May 1968.”

“Operations of U.S. Marine Forces, Vietnam, May 1968.”

3d Marine Division Historical Section The tape-recorded interviews conducted at the BUT 2/4 CP at Mai Xa Chanh West on 21 and 22 May 1968. The reel-to-reel tapes are stored at the National Archives in Suitland, Md.

Acly, 2d Lt. Peter A. (G BLT 2/4)

Allen, Cpl. Terry L. (H BLT 2/4)

Barela, LCpl. James L. (H BLT 2/4)

Bennett, Pfc. Thomas J. (H BLT 2/4)

Burgos, LCpl. Joel S. (H BLT 2/4)

Devoe, Sgt. Donald F. (H BLT 2/4)

Emery, Cpl. Kenneth L. (G BLT 2/4)

Ferland, 1st Lt. James T. (G BLT 2/4)

Jones, Sgt. Joe N. (H BLT 2/4)

Knapp, Maj. Charles W. (XO, BLT 2/4)

Kraus, LCpl. Greg R. (CP, BLT 2/4)

Lawson, 1st Lt. Luther L. (CP, BLT 2/4)

Lawyer, Pfc. Gary W. (H BLT 2/4)

Martin, HM3 Larry G. (G BLT 2/4)

McCarter, HM2 Terrell E. (G BLT 2/4)

Morgan, 2d Lt. Frederick H. (G BLT 2/4)

Murphy, Capt. Richard J. (S2, BLT 2/4)

Osborn, LCpl. (H BLT 2/4)

Patton, Cpl. William A. (H BLT 2/4)

Pierce, Cpl. Wendell M. (H BLT 2/4)

Richardson, Pfc. Gary R. (H BLT 2/4)

Stallworth, Pfc. Sylvester (H BLT 2/4)

Summey, Cpl. James A. (H BLT 2/4)

Ward, SSgt. Robert J. (H BLT 2/4)

Warren, Maj. George F. (S3, BLT 2/4)

Whitefield, Pfc. (H BLT 2/4)

Woodruff, Sgt. Bruce (H BLT 2/4)

Zayemopoulas, Cpl. Evangelos E. (H BLT 2/4)

Zimmerman, 1st Lt. William B. (CP, BLT 2/4)

2007 Presidio Press Mass Market Edition

Copyright © 1994 by Keith William Nolan

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Presidio Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

P
RESIDIO
P
RESS
and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in the United States in hardcover by Presidio Press in 1994.

Dai Do maps (figures 1-6) reprinted courtesy of
Marine Corps Gazette
.
Nhi Ha maps (figures 7-9) by Kelly Williams.

eISBN: 978-0-307-53813-0

www.presidiopress.com

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