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337th RRCo - 1967-68
First assignment was with 337th Radio Research Co., supporting 1st Infantry
Div. in Di-an, RVN. When I arrived in Jan. 1967, everyone was living in
tents, but there were wooden buildings for OPS & Signal Maintenance.
Besides keeping the TT-4s running, I also helped out repairing R-392 &
PRD-1 radios.
In military nomenclature, the "P" in PRD-1 stands for
"pack or portable", but those three large wooden boxes seemed far from
portable! (Did you know that the military had a designation for a
carrier pigeon? "AN/ABC" stands for "airborne pigeon communications".)
A new company area was being built with wooden buildings for barracks
and a dual Quonset hut for operations. The new area was on land that had
been just added to the post; which put us out on the perimeter. (Good
secure spot, eh?) Soon after we moved into the new area, during an alert
we found that there were GIs manning the old perimeter with their guns
pointed at us because they didn't know the perimeter had been expanded!
While at the 337th I made many trips out to forward locations (Lia Khe,
Phuc Vin, Quan Loi) & fire bases when our equipment needed repair. Usual
travel was by chopper and since our circuits were so important, never
had a problem getting a seat. (I always wondered if that major knew he
had been bumped by a lowly SP4.)
Just before I left, the 1st Inf. Div. announced that they were moving
their HQ to Lia Khe. This meant that 337th would have to leave all their
nice barracks & Ops building after less than a year! Arrived in Viet Nam
a PFC and left as a SP5 with a new MOS 33B20 (forgotten what that was,
must have been some sort of radio repair).
Left RVN early in Jan. 1968 (just before the big Tet offensive) and 48
hours later I was skiing in upstate New York!
