Vietnam’s MR1, Point Allison.

Excerpt from; “Striking Eight Bells: A Vietnam Memoir.”

“The arrival of USS Rich (DD 820) on the infamous Vietnam gun line, brings about big changes to the crew’s onboard life.”

In less than two days since our ship, USS Rich (DD 820) had arrived on the Vietnam gun line, our shipboard life had changed completely. It no longer bore any resemblance to the old normal underway routine. The major changes were not much sleep for anyone and very little time for food. Showers and clean laundry would now be a thing of the past. For the next several weeks, there would be no sleeping in our berthing compartments.

For example, the operations berthing compartment where I lived also contained the upper handling room for mount 52, the after gun mount. With ongoing gunfire support missions essentially around the clock, there was constant activity in and around the mount 52 upper handling room. They had commandeered many racks to hold empty powder cartridge cases. Ever try sleeping directly under a shooting 5-inch gun? Probably not going to happen. When not on watch, at GQ stations, or in the middle of underway replenishment evolutions, sleep was in the form of short cat naps. We napped anywhere we found enough deck room that was out of the way. Many found that their flak jackets also served as quite decent pillows.

Meals now mainly came from C-rations, since most of the cooks and mess cooks were assigned to the gun crews, working either in the magazines, handling rooms, or in one of the gun mounts. C-rations, or the Meal Combat Individual (MCI), were distributed around on the ship to the crew at least once, sometimes twice per day. Each C-ration or MCI was packed in a small, rectangular cardboard box. Each box contained individual cans with a meat-based entree item, crackers/candy, a flat spread, and a dessert item.Another issue that had developed was stowage of the empty powder cartridges cases. Empty powder cartridge cases were being stowed in berthing compartments and anywhere there was available space. In some areas, particularly at night, it was a matter of finding ways to navigate around or through the stacks of empty cartridge cases in order to get around the ship. Typically each morning, empty cartridge cases were moved from below decks to above deck stowage locations. Empty cartridge cases were saved with the intent to transfer them back to the ammunition ships during the next underway replenishment. Normally, the empty cartridge cases were sent back to the ammunition supply ship (then called retro-grade) near the end of each replenishment evolution.

The C-ration boxes also came with the P-38 can opener and a mini cigarette pack, containing five cigarettes (Marlboro, Winston, and Kools). The P-38s and the cigarettes were the two more popular items. There were some nonsmokers on board who would trade their cigarette packs with smokers for their C-ration canned items. At first, some felt the C-rations were an improvement over the food served in the ship’s galley.

The evening watch (1800 to 2400) back on station at MR1 was uneventful. The long title for MR1 is the Republic of Vietnam Government in I Corps Tactical Zone/Military Region 1 (ICTZ/MR1).  Just off the coast of Quang Tri Province in the area of MR1, but very close to the DMZ, was a gun line position designated as, “Point Allison.” Naval gunfire in South Vietnam was under the control of the U.S. Marine Corps 1st Air and Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO). ANGLICO was a Fleet Marine Force detachment consisting mainly of  forward artillery observers, close air-support specialists, and radio operators.

Starting on the mid-watch, November 29, the first gunfire support mission call came in from the ANGLICO spotter just before 0100. That fire mission lasted until the cease-fire order at 0525, with 174 HE rounds fired. Thus began the routine from watch to watch for the next two days. The ship stayed in its assigned sector ranging offshore from Quang Ngai to the south and to Quang Tri in the northern part of the sector. During the prior 48-hour period, the ship had fired 375 illumination and high explosive (HE) rounds in gunfire support missions.

On the afternoon of November 30, the rumor around the ship was that we were going to attack Tiger Island that night.

Hon Co Island had earned the name “Tiger Island” from U.S. Navy aviators. Navy aircraft were not allowed to return and land on their aircraft carriers while still carrying live ordnance. As such, for years, Navy bombers dropped any unused bombs over Vietnam on Tiger Island since the island was only inhabited by North Vietnamese troops. As a result, Tiger Island was loaded with anti-aircraft gun batteries and fire control radar sites to shoot down any U.S. aircraft flying over or nearby…To read “Striking Eight Bells,” use one of the links to various booksellers: Amazon.com: Books, Barnes and Noble, BAM –Books A Million and Smashword.com eBooks.

The stories in these posts and the book; “Striking Eight Bells: A Vietnam Memoir,” reflect the author’s recollection of events. Some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed to protect the privacy of those depicted. Dialogue has been recreated from memory. Dates, times, and locations were recreated from declassified U.S. Navy records and others. Photographs used are either public domain or owned by the author. Illustrations and maps used were either created by the author or in the public domain. The stories in these posts and the book are solely the opinion of the author and not the publisher, Richter Publishing, LLC.

*Image was found in public domain or it could not be established after reasonable search, that any claim existed to the image. Image used for illustrative purposes only and is not the property of the author. Where ever possible, credit for the image is indicated in the caption.