A MEMORY I CAN’T FORGET!!! BY TOMMY BROWN

I remember the day I was broken down in An Khe overnight 22 February 1971 having my truck repaired.

The next morning 23 February 1971, I was going to catch the next convoy from the 359th Transportation Company to continue on to Pleiku. But when I got to the gate at An Khe the guards wouldn’t let me out the gate. I could hear the guns firing from the gun trucks and explosions from a distance. And I was concerned for comrades out in the kill zone. But there was no way the guards at  the gate were going to let me out to go help. Then I saw the Huey helicopters coming into the Medical Center or as we called it the Mash Unit. So I decided to run over there to see if I could help. I ran up to the helicopter and was helping unload the wounded. Then I recognized Larry Dahl laying on a gurney and helped carry him into the Medical Center and laid him on the table. I tried to say something to him, but the medic said to me “There isn’t anything we can do for him, he’s gone”. All of a sudden I felt numb; I could smell the blood and sand. It was the worst thing I ever felt before. I think it was because I couldn’t figure out why the medic wouldn’t try to help him. Later I learned that Larry had jumped on a hand grenade and saved everyone else on the Brutus Gun Truck.

I eventually became a member of the Misfits Gun Truck crew and served the rest of my time in Vietnam on it. After Tom Throne left Vietnam I became the NCOIC of the Misfits. I remember I took the single 50 caliber that was mounted on the front center of the gun box and installed two single 50’s one on each front corner of the box. The reason I did that is so you could get them to fire closer to the side of the truck for close contact, that’s what happened 23 February 1971. I left Vietnam 17 January 1972, leaving George Ellis as NCOIC on the Misfits.

TOMMY BROWN,

359th Transportation Company,

1970 to 1972