| The Road - QL 1 and Other Pig Tracks |
Every Unit has a primary mission, a reason for being. As it
was in I Corps RVN, '67 & '68. "B" Company's reason for
life was the "Road", mostly QL 1 but also other dirt tracks
that were much glorified by the fact that they were even
given a name. 547 ( Hue to the A Shau ), 535 ( Hill 63 to
Que Son ) and 533 ( Tam Ky to God knows where ).
Roads always going someplace that no one in their right
mind would ever want to go.
"B" Company's responsibility was simply to upgrade these
paths to a condition that would accommodate military traffic
- and to keep them that way. To include repairing all the
creative sabotage that "Charlie" could do - as well as the
ever present Mine Sweep Patrols. Each day just before
dawn the "fortunate" combat engineer platoons would set
upon their days task - sweep several miles of road,
removing the trash metal that had accumulated overnight and
the mines that just seemed to have grown in place. In "The
Hurt Locker" every day - long before it was even COOL!
We would also med-cap the sick, injured children and smile
back at the polite, grinning locals that seemed to have a
never ending supply of homemade mines.
When a mine was detonated or a culvert was blown HQ
(Equipment) Platoon would spring into action fill the crater
or replace the culvert or do some other magic required to
keep the road open.
The photos included in this section were mostly taken on
several road recon missions conducted by the 9th Eng Bn
Reconnaissance Section during the spring and summer of
'67. Many of the photos are of poor quality, still they do
illustrate the abominable condition of road QL 1 in Quang
Nam, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai providences.
was in I Corps RVN, '67 & '68. "B" Company's reason for
life was the "Road", mostly QL 1 but also other dirt tracks
that were much glorified by the fact that they were even
given a name. 547 ( Hue to the A Shau ), 535 ( Hill 63 to
Que Son ) and 533 ( Tam Ky to God knows where ).
Roads always going someplace that no one in their right
mind would ever want to go.
"B" Company's responsibility was simply to upgrade these
paths to a condition that would accommodate military traffic
- and to keep them that way. To include repairing all the
creative sabotage that "Charlie" could do - as well as the
ever present Mine Sweep Patrols. Each day just before
dawn the "fortunate" combat engineer platoons would set
upon their days task - sweep several miles of road,
removing the trash metal that had accumulated overnight and
the mines that just seemed to have grown in place. In "The
Hurt Locker" every day - long before it was even COOL!
We would also med-cap the sick, injured children and smile
back at the polite, grinning locals that seemed to have a
never ending supply of homemade mines.
When a mine was detonated or a culvert was blown HQ
(Equipment) Platoon would spring into action fill the crater
or replace the culvert or do some other magic required to
keep the road open.
The photos included in this section were mostly taken on
several road recon missions conducted by the 9th Eng Bn
Reconnaissance Section during the spring and summer of
'67. Many of the photos are of poor quality, still they do
illustrate the abominable condition of road QL 1 in Quang
Nam, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai providences.
And of course the omnipresent tramp munitions and unexploded ordnance! |
