September 1967

6 September 1967:

“… That article on the M-16 rifle was very interesting. As an example of the confidence I have in it, I turned mine in & am now carrying a shotgun, which I managed to procure. I have some shells containing spikes, which are guaranteed to stop anything.“

"In a few weeks, we’re supposed to move 70 miles down the coast to Duc Pho to rejoin the rest of the 3rd bde. I’m afraid we’ll be out in tents again down there, but the situation is about the same as far as the VC go. Next week we’re to go north about 15 miles to bail out the… marines. Yesterday, they had 54 killed & managed to kill only 100 VC—a terrible ratio. On Operation Benton, our btn. killed about 120 & I don’t think we lost over 3 men. We’re fighting the same enemy in the same area as the 5th marines. “Last night, 2 VC btns. attacked the town of Tam Ky, 6 miles up the road from us. Amazingly the South V. garrison there responded & killed about 200 VC (losing only 5 men). The bodies were left in the streets of town all day to reestablish the people’s confidence in the S.V. army. A good move I think, due to the filth & lack of respect for life around here.”

Lt. Rasmussen with the Red Cross jeep that provided a means to transport medical supplies to forward command posts. It also served as an ambulance.

17 September 1967:

“I’m right now at Duc Pho—60 miles south of Chu Lai, on the coast—with the rest of the 3rd brigade. However, most of the btn. is at the moment 20 miles north of our former position after having come to the rescue of the marines. The… 5th marine regiment last week took one of the biggest losses that we’ve had over here: in one day 160 killed, 430 wounded, & they only killed 300 VC. We were all supposed to come down here then. I came down here with the convoy to set up the aid station. The road is supposed to be very insecure, but we encountered nothing, although all the permanent bridges had been blown. My jeep, also the ambulance, was the last vehicle in the convoy which was not too good. The btn. should be down here shortly, as Charlie won’t seem to mess with us (the 1st bde. 101st abn. div. was also called up from here)—only the marines, but they did hit 2 North V. regiments. However the 1st/14th practically destroyed a North V. regiment (2 btns.) on the Cambodian border almost a year ago. If they’re still not down here in a week or so I’ll probably be flying up, since the doctor is still up there. We got another btn. surgeon several weeks ago & he’s the best we’ve had as far as I am concerned….“

"I’ll be taking my 7 day leave next month…."

"The monsoon is beginning in full strength here.”

24 September 1967:

“As it turned out, I never did go back up north & the btn. got down here today. But I’m glad that what I did instead is over. Another lt. [lieutenant] and I have been up on a mountain for the past week building the btn. CP with 50 replacements who have just gotten over here. What bothered us was that these troops were green & didn’t know exactly what the score was. To add to the problem the whole mountain has been mined by the French and the VC & was only partially cleared when we got up there. We’ve now cleared most of it by blasting & the btn. is moving out there tomorrow. It’s about 8 miles from here (only 1 mile from the sea) & overlooks our entire area of operation. Only several days before we got out there, the VC had planted a flag on top of one of the peaks, but they didn’t mess with us & would not have been too successful had they tried because of the mines.…“

"This area will be a bit less active as the 3rd bde T.F. [task force] (minus 1st/14th) has done a tremendous job here in the past 4 months.”