AUTHOR'S NOTE: THESE POSTINGS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED BY RALPH FRIES, VIETNAM VETERAN WHO SERVED WITH RIVER SECTION 535
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River Section - 535
Activated: October 18, 1967
Nha Be, SVN River Division – 535
Nha Be, SVN River Division – 535
Unit Designation Change: September 1, 1968
De-Activated: November 15, 1970 Moa Hoa, SVN
Activated: Vietnamese River Patrol Group - 64
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Eldon W. Tozer
Eldon W. Tozer
11/20/69
EMC Eldon W. Tozer, Natick, MA - (Kien Giang)
EMC Eldon W. Tozer, Natick, MA - (Kien Giang)
(DOW) Patrol Officer PBR-725
Vinh Te Canal (VS 736 610)
19 K/M West of Hui Giai Mountain (Hill 549),
29 Miles South West of Chau Doc
29 Miles South West of Chau Doc
Buried - Riverside Cemetery, Cullens Brook, Quebec, Canada
16W103
Just a note: Chief Tozer had to take emergency leave a month earlier because his wife had been killed in a car accident. He arranged care for his four children, age 4 to 9. The Navy said he didn’t have to go back to Vietnam but he wanted to finish his tour of duty.
Upon Chief Tozer returning back to his duty station, he departed on his first patrol back from YRBM-20 located on the Bassac River near Chau Doc as Patrol Officer onboard PBR-725 for his first combat patrol back. His Boat Crew was Boat Captain QM1 Michael J. Toomey, Fwd Twin .50 Gun Mount Gunner GMG3 Michael C. Morris, Engineer EN2 Garold K. Chisman, VNN Sailors SN Vuong Ngoc Than and SN Ngo Tho.
Patrol Officer, Chief Tozer had directed his Boat Captain QM1 Toomey and Crew to position their PBR several miles west of the Vinh Te Canal’s Vinh Gia PBR Base Camp, just past the west bend on the north side of the canal for their Night Water Borne Guard Post location (VS 736 610).
0134 - Just before the B-40 Rocket attack Patrol Officer EMC Tozer was standing with an M-16 rifle in his hand, just forward of the port side engine splinter shield cover where the Honeywell MK-18 40mm Grenade Launcher was mounted, but aft of the coxswain flat, Boat Captain QM1 Toomey was at the Helm in the coxswain flat, Engineer EN2 Chisman was sitting on top of the Canopy with the M-60 Machine Gun as an observer lookout watch, Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount Gunner GMG3 Morris had been asleep after standing his observer lookout watch on the Canopy but still on the Canopy, and the two VNN Sailors were laying on the Engine Covers with M-16’s in hand.
Upon receiving the first two B-40 Rocket strikes from an unknown enemy ambush, rockets pass through the Port Bow Side of the Hull. EN2 Chisman called out immediately, “Let’s get this boat out of the area.” GMG3 Morris was asleep on the Canopy, awoke and climb down off the canopy, pulled up the PBR’s anchor up off the beach. He then pulled his Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount gun covers off and climbed into the mount. Immediately commence firing his Forward Twin .50 Cal Gun Mount toward the direction of Cambodia where the B-40 Rockets attack had came from. EN2 Chrisman remain on the Canopy.
Boat Captain QM1 Toomey, immediately started the engines to back the PBR off the beach and out in the canal’s channel. Even thou the electrical system became inoperative due the explosion. GMG3 Morris continued firing his .50 Cal weapon manually until he completely expended all his .50 Cal ammo.
In the meantime, the third B-40 Rocket had struck a devastating vicious murderous blow to the entire boat crew when the rocket exploded upon impact on the stainless steel water cooler on the port side, next to the coxswain flat, wounding all hands onboard. The explosion blew Patrol Officer Tozer and the two VNN Sailors back past the engine covers splinter shields to the stern on top of the Jaccuzzi pump covers. EN2 Chisman remained laying on the Canopy, moaning about how much pain he was experiencing from his wounds. Boat Captain QM1 Toomey was at the helm when the explosion knock him down and off the helm onto the coxswain flat deck.
After the third B-40 Rocket struck, even thou wounded from the explosion, GMG3 Morris got out of his Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount, stood on the starboard gunnel for a moment, just long enough to see that no one was standing around. Gunner went to the Coxswain Flat to help the Boat Captain QM1 Toomey get back up on his feet and back on the helm again. Then went to the Canopy to aid EN2 Chisman, smoke and steam was coming off everything as a smoke grenade had exploded in the storage cabinet during the B-40 Rocket attack. About that time, Gunner Morris heard a “pop” of a grenade spoon , luckily it was only a smoke grenade again. Gunner went immediately to the coxswain flat where Boat Captain QM1 Toomey was laying on the deck again, stating, “I can’t see anything.” At that instant, GMG3 Morris heard tree branches brushing the Canopy as the PBR hit the beach. He immediately placed the Boat Captain on the engine covers.
Forward Gunner GMG3 Morris, even thou wounded, took over the helm then, backed the PBR off the beach, started his transit back to the PBR Vinh Gia Base Camp. Upon his departure from the Kill Zone, he placed the engines in full throttles with the pump gates in a forward position, discovering that he only had half power on one engine. All the helm’s console operating guages and controls were either damaged or destroyed as well as the radar monitor from the rocket explosion.
During PBR-725 transit back to the Vinh Te Canal’s Vinh Gia PBR Base Camp, in the meantime, the Mobile Riverine Force’s (Call Sign Brass Rail) dispatched their ASPB-10 to proceed from their Night Water Borne Guard Post to PBR-725’s Night Water Borne Guard Post location (VS 736 610).
Just prior to beaching PBR-725 at the Vinh Gia PBR Base Camp (VS 720 602), GMG3 Morris sound the boat’s siren to arouse the base camp personnel. Because Gunner thought his PBR’s radios were inoperative because the whole console in the coxswain flat had been destroyed by the explosion but weren’t, also he couldn’t find the radio’s hand mike either in the darkness. Upon beaching PBR-725, the engines quit running at the same time. That is when GMG3 Morris heard someone say, “Somebody help me, Please, I’m dying.” He found a battle lantern, went back and found Chief Tozer laying on the pump covers along with the two VNN Sailors. Chief Tozer was still conscious upon arrival.
0144 - When Mobile Riverine Forces’s ASPB-10 arrived at PBR-725 Night Water Borne Guard Post Station but PBR-725 had already left and was underway back to their PBR Base Camp at Vinh Gia. ASPB-10 remained at that location until the next morning in order to maintain surveillance of the area.
0145 - HAL-3 Seawolf Helicopters arrived at PBR-725 Night Water Borne Guard Post location (VS 736 610) to illuminate the area to locate any more enemy activity with negative results.
At the Vinh Gia Base Camp, PBR Officer LT Rolland Kidder and Base Corpsman HM1 Grey Wrather provided all the best possible medical assistance to no avail, Chief Tozer expired just before the medevac HAL-3 helicopters arrival. Chief Tozer’s last words to LT Kidder and Doc was “I will be with my wife now.”
0221 - HAL-3 medevac helicopters from YRBM-20 arrived to evacuated all the wounded and deceased to Chi Lang. Here medical “Dust Off” flights could transport the wounded patients to advanced Medical Facilities.
0345 - All “Dust Off” medevac flights were completed. EN2 Chisman was later medevaced back to the states for further medical attention.
FYI - GMG3 Michael C. Morris was awarded the Silver Star for his heroic actions during this combat actions.
His Awards are as follows:
- Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V”
- Purple Heart Medal
- Good Conduct Medal with 1 Bronze Star
- Combat Action Ribbon
- National Defense Service Medal
- Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon
- Vietnam Service Medal
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Devise
- Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation
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Fred M. Ellis
Fred M. Ellis
12/29/69
GMG3 Fred M. Ellis, Stockton Springs, ME - (Kien Giang)
GMG3 Fred M. Ellis, Stockton Springs, ME - (Kien Giang)
(DOW) PBR-729 Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount Gunner
Vinh Te Canal (VS 815 605)
28 Miles West of Chau Doc
Buried - MT Prospect Cemetery, Stockton Springs, ME
15W107
The Vinh Te Canal ran parallel to the Cambodian border and was the only US patrolled barrier between Cambodia and South Vietnam’s IV Corp area to repel the North Vietnamese troops infiltration and movement to the south. The French built canal was generally 20 meters (66 feet) wide.
During this phase of River Patrol combat operations on the Vinh Te Canal, PBR’s were posted along the canal at their Night Water Borne Guard Post positions along the canal, about 1000 yards apart. The mission was to deny the North Vietnamese Army access into South Vietnam from Cambodia.
On this night, PBR-729 Boat Crew, Boat Captain GMG1 Paul Walters, Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount Gunner GMG3 Fred M. Ellis, After .50 Gun Mount Gunner GMG3 Wiles C. Cox, Engineer EN3 Ronald Bonneau. The Patrol Officer was River Division-535 Executive Officer, LT Russell Miller had established their Night Water Borne Guard Post on the Vinh Te Canal at (VS 815 605). The PBR was moored with the bow of the PBR pointing north into the canal bank.
A small steam with trees lining its bank, flowed north where the stream joined the Vinh Te Canal, just south of their Night Water Borne Guard Post position. The geographical landmark made this particular position, an ideal location for enemy movements transiting south after crossing the canal.
The PBR Patrol personnel directed their attention to the north from which enemy movement was expected and reported. Their mission was to watch for all activity along their patrol area to deny the enemy the ability to cross the Vinh Te Canal and move further south in Kien Giang Province.
On this night, enemy combatants had anticipated the PBR Night Water Borne Guard Post as an ideal crossing point, was either hiding in concealment within the foliage along the south bank or had made their way there by navigating the small northward flowing stream.
Here, the enemy sprung their murderous ambush attack on this PBR Night Water Borne Guard Post from the south tree lined bank of the stream with a single B-40 Rocket. The Rocket was fired across the Vinh Te Canal that struck the after thwartship Canopy Railing, close to the center line, above engine covers of the PBR. The rocket exploded upon contact with the metal railing, resulting in multiple shrapnel pieces. A large piece of the railing shrapnel struck GMG3 Ellis that penetrated his chest cavity, mortally wounding him.
Other pieces of the railing’s shrapnel struck LT Miller, causing a serious head injury. At the time, both LT Miller and GMG3 Ellis were on off duty Observer Watch, were laying on the engine covers, resting which was normal procedures on night patrols. The explosion carried forward toward the Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount where the Boat Captain GMG1 Paul Waters and Engineer EN3 Ronald Bonneau was sitting on top the boat canopy as listening lookout observers. All personnel onboard were wearing their flak jackets and steel helmets.
During their briefing prior to their patrol, the PBR patrol was informed that there were “Friendlies” in the area along the south side of the canal along the tree line. Thus their patrol observations attention were focused towards the north for any enemy movement from Cambodia, the normal direction of most enemy attacks on the boats.
Upon the attack on PBR-729 location, PBR-727 was to the west and PBR-724 and 726 to the east, each were at their Night Water Borne Guard Post position, left their positions immediately in order to render aid and assistance. PBR-727 to the west, had a squad of Vietnamese Chinese Mercenaries in place on the north bank to cover that position should the NVA use an attack on PBR-729 as diversionary method in order to cross the Vinh Te Canal without detection.
Upon PBR’s 724 and 727 arrival on scene, their boat crews began immediately, providing medical aid to all wounded PBR-729 boat crewmembers as well as setting up a security perimeter around the area. Upon arrival, PBR-726 set up a security perimeter Water Borne Guard Post on the South Bank, thus to prevent any more Enemy attacks. Prior to PBR-724 & 727 arrival, even though severely wounded in his leg, the Boat Captain GMG1 Paul Walters started to provide medical aid to his crew. EN3 Bonneau was performing CPR on GMG3 Ellis as HAL-3 Seawolf “Dust Off” arrived to medevac him, even thou he had expired during this time. During this time, PBR-726 moved from their location on the south bank to the north bank to assist PBR-724 and 727 PBR crews in loading the dead and wounded from PBR-729 onboard “Dust Off”.
All PBR-729 deceased and wounded crew members were carried physically to the area where they were loaded onboard the HAL-3 Seawolf Helicopters as they had to land on the levee between the Vinh Te Canal and the rice paddy just north of their Night Water Borne Guard Post position in Cambodia to be evacuated to YRBM-20. It was a moonless night but the Helicopters Pilots was able to land without any lights or assistance from any land personnel - Outstanding Piloting. No units returned any fire to the south bank area.
FYI: Executive Officer/Patrol Officer LT Russell Miller was medevaced from YRBM-20 to Saigon and on to the states where he spent nearly a year at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital with head wounds. He was eventually medically retired from the US Navy. He went on to marry and raise a family, living a fairly normal life even after that night of hell.
His Awards are as follows:
_________
The PBR Patrol personnel directed their attention to the north from which enemy movement was expected and reported. Their mission was to watch for all activity along their patrol area to deny the enemy the ability to cross the Vinh Te Canal and move further south in Kien Giang Province.
On this night, enemy combatants had anticipated the PBR Night Water Borne Guard Post as an ideal crossing point, was either hiding in concealment within the foliage along the south bank or had made their way there by navigating the small northward flowing stream.
Here, the enemy sprung their murderous ambush attack on this PBR Night Water Borne Guard Post from the south tree lined bank of the stream with a single B-40 Rocket. The Rocket was fired across the Vinh Te Canal that struck the after thwartship Canopy Railing, close to the center line, above engine covers of the PBR. The rocket exploded upon contact with the metal railing, resulting in multiple shrapnel pieces. A large piece of the railing shrapnel struck GMG3 Ellis that penetrated his chest cavity, mortally wounding him.
Other pieces of the railing’s shrapnel struck LT Miller, causing a serious head injury. At the time, both LT Miller and GMG3 Ellis were on off duty Observer Watch, were laying on the engine covers, resting which was normal procedures on night patrols. The explosion carried forward toward the Forward Twin .50 Gun Mount where the Boat Captain GMG1 Paul Waters and Engineer EN3 Ronald Bonneau was sitting on top the boat canopy as listening lookout observers. All personnel onboard were wearing their flak jackets and steel helmets.
During their briefing prior to their patrol, the PBR patrol was informed that there were “Friendlies” in the area along the south side of the canal along the tree line. Thus their patrol observations attention were focused towards the north for any enemy movement from Cambodia, the normal direction of most enemy attacks on the boats.
Upon the attack on PBR-729 location, PBR-727 was to the west and PBR-724 and 726 to the east, each were at their Night Water Borne Guard Post position, left their positions immediately in order to render aid and assistance. PBR-727 to the west, had a squad of Vietnamese Chinese Mercenaries in place on the north bank to cover that position should the NVA use an attack on PBR-729 as diversionary method in order to cross the Vinh Te Canal without detection.
Upon PBR’s 724 and 727 arrival on scene, their boat crews began immediately, providing medical aid to all wounded PBR-729 boat crewmembers as well as setting up a security perimeter around the area. Upon arrival, PBR-726 set up a security perimeter Water Borne Guard Post on the South Bank, thus to prevent any more Enemy attacks. Prior to PBR-724 & 727 arrival, even though severely wounded in his leg, the Boat Captain GMG1 Paul Walters started to provide medical aid to his crew. EN3 Bonneau was performing CPR on GMG3 Ellis as HAL-3 Seawolf “Dust Off” arrived to medevac him, even thou he had expired during this time. During this time, PBR-726 moved from their location on the south bank to the north bank to assist PBR-724 and 727 PBR crews in loading the dead and wounded from PBR-729 onboard “Dust Off”.
All PBR-729 deceased and wounded crew members were carried physically to the area where they were loaded onboard the HAL-3 Seawolf Helicopters as they had to land on the levee between the Vinh Te Canal and the rice paddy just north of their Night Water Borne Guard Post position in Cambodia to be evacuated to YRBM-20. It was a moonless night but the Helicopters Pilots was able to land without any lights or assistance from any land personnel - Outstanding Piloting. No units returned any fire to the south bank area.
FYI: Executive Officer/Patrol Officer LT Russell Miller was medevaced from YRBM-20 to Saigon and on to the states where he spent nearly a year at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital with head wounds. He was eventually medically retired from the US Navy. He went on to marry and raise a family, living a fairly normal life even after that night of hell.
His Awards are as follows:
- Purple Heart medal
- Combat Action ribbon
- National Defense Service Medal
- Vietnam Service Medal
- Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device
- Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation
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I Was Just There Last Night
Submitted by Bill Sayers, 9th ID 3rd/60th
Mike stays in touch with a lot of Army guys from the Vietnam War, and I thought that these thoughtful and powerful comments should be passed on.
Rolland Kidder
Submitted by Bill Sayers, 9th ID 3rd/60th
This story came to me anonymously via e-mail, the author, a fellow Vietnam Veteran. After reading his story, I felt compelled to share this with you. If you didn't participate in the Vietnam War, this will give you some insight into how our minds work. He writes: A couple of years ago someone asked me if I still thought about Vietnam. I nearly laughed in their face. How do you stop thinking about it? Every day for the past forty years, I wake up with it- I go to bed with it. This was my response:
"Yeah, I think about it. I can't stop thinking about it. I never will. But, I've also learned to live with it. I'm comfortable with the memories. I've learned to stop trying to forget and learned to embrace it. It just doesn't scare me anymore."
A lot of my "brothers" haven't been so lucky. For them the memories are too painful, their sense of loss too great. My sister told me of a friend she has whose husband was in the Nam. She asks this guy when he was there. Here's what he said, "Just last night." It took my sister a while to figure out what he was talking about. Just Last Night. Yeah, I was in the Nam. When? Just last night, before I went to sleep, on my way to work this morning, and over my lunch hour. Yeah, I was there
My sister says I'm not the same brother who went to Vietnam. My wife says I won't let people get close to me, not even her. They are probably both right. Ask a vet about making friends in Nam. It was risky. Why? Because we were in the business of death, and death was with us all the time. It wasn't the death of, "If I die before I wake." This was the real thing. The kind boys scream for their mothers. The kind that lingers in your mind and becomes more real each time you cheat it. You don't want to make a lot of friends when the possibility of dying is that real, that close. When you do, friends become a liability.
A guy named Bob Flanigan was my friend. Bob Flanigan is dead. I put him in a body bag one sunny day, April 29, 1969. We'd been talking, only a few minutes before he was shot, about what we were going to do when we got back to the world. Now, this was a guy who had come in country the same time as me. A guy who was loveable and generous. He had blue eyes and sandy blond hair. When he talked, it was with a soft drawl. I loved this guy like the brother I never had. But, I screwed up. I got too close to him. I broke one of the unwritten rules of war. DON'T GET CLOSE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO DIE. You hear vets use the term "buddy" when they refer to a guy they spent the war with. "Me and this buddy of mine."
Friend sounds too intimate, doesn't it? "Friend" calls up images of being close. If he's a friend, then you are going to be hurt if he dies, and war hurts enough without adding to the pain. Get close; get hurt. It's as simple as that. In war you learn to keep people at that distance my wife talks about. You become good at it, that forty years after the war, you still do it without thinking. You won't allow yourself to be vulnerable again.
My wife knows two people who can get into the soft spots inside me-my daughters. I know it bothers her that they can do this. It's not that I don't love my wife. I do. She's put up with a lot from me. She'll tell you that when she signed for better or worse, she had no idea there was going to be so much of the latter. But with my daughters it's different. My girls are mine. They'll always be my kids. Not marriage, not distance, not even death can change that. They are something on this earth that can never be taken away from me. I belong to them. Nothing can change that. I can have an ex-wife; but my girls can never have an ex-father. There's the difference. I can still see the faces, though they all seem to have the same eyes. When I think of us, I always see a line of "dirty grunts" sitting on a paddy dike. We're caught in the first gray silver between darkness and light. That first moment when we know we've survived another night, and the business of staying alive for one more day is about to begin. There was so much hope in that brief space of time. It's what we used to pray for. "One more day, God. One more day."
And I can hear our conversations as if they'd only just been spoken I still hear the way we sounded. The hard cynical jokes, our morbid senses of humor. We were scared to death of dying, and tried our best not to show it.
I recall the smells, too. Like the way cordite hangs on the air after a fire-fight. Or the pungent odor of rice paddy mud. So different from the black dirt of Iowa. The mud of Nam smells ancient, somehow. Like it's always been there. And I'll never forget the way blood smells, sticky and drying on my hands. I spent a long night that way once. The memory isn't going anywhere.
I remember how the night jungle appears almost dreamlike as pilot of a Cessna buzzes overhead, dropping parachute flares until morning. That artificial sun would flicker and make shadows run through the jungle. It was worse than not being able to see what was out there sometimes. I remember once looking at the man next to me as a flare floated overhead. The shadows around his eyes were so deep that it looked like his eyes were gone. I reached over and touched him on the arm; without looking at me he touched my hand. "I know man. I know." That's what he said. It was a human moment. Two guys a long way from home and scared to death.
God, I loved those guys. I hurt every time one of them died. We all did. Despite our posturing. Despite our desire to stay disconnected, we couldn't help ourselves. I know why Tim O' Brien writes his stories. I know what gives Bruce Weigle the words to create poems so honest I cry at their horrible beauty. It's love. Love for those guys we shared the experience with.
We did our jobs like good soldiers, and we tried our best not to become as hard as our surroundings. You want to know what is frightening. It's a nineteen-year-old-boy who's had a sip of that power over life and death that war gives you. It's a boy who, despite all the things he's been taught, knows that he likes it. It's a nineteen-year-old who's just lost a friend, and is angry and scared and, determined that, "some*@#*s gonna pay". To this day, the thought of that boy can wake me from a sound sleep and leave me staring at the ceiling.
As I write this, I have a picture in front of me. It's of two young men. On their laps are tablets. One is smoking a cigarette. Both stare without expression at the camera. They're writing letters. Staying in touch with places they rather be. Places and people they hope to see again. The picture shares space in a frame with one of my wife. She doesn't mind. She knows she's been included in special company. She knows I'll always love those guys who shared that part of my life, a part she never can. And she understands how I feel about the ones I know are out there yet. The ones who still answer the question, "When were you in Vietnam?"
"Hey, man. I was there just last night."
So was I. How about the rest of you vets-hits home doesn't it!
Share this article with others so they understand why many of today's veteran's behave the way they do be it Vietnam or other conflicts, this is a common thread shared by all.
AUTHORS NOTE: This statement was sent to me by Mike Paluda who was a friend of Bob Olson and who is quoted in the chapter titled “Warrior.” It is from a soldier who served in the 9th Infantry Division which operated in the Mekong Delta.
Mike stays in touch with a lot of Army guys from the Vietnam War, and I thought that these thoughtful and powerful comments should be passed on.
Rolland Kidder
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