Chu Lai, Vietnam 1967-1968

Communal bunker:  Chu Lai, Vietnam

This photo was taken at the Marine Air Base, Chu Lai, Vietnam in 1967.  Chu Lai was my home for 13-months (January 1967 through February 1968).  We lived in these plywood hooches as best we could, and just hoped the flimsy structures wouldn’t be hit with incoming rocket or mortar fire.  When I first arrived in-country we didn’t have these large communal bunkers between the hooches, but in the later part of 1967 we got them dug and sandbagged.  Although they wouldn’t withstand a direct hit, they did provide some protection from flying shrapnel.  On January 31, 1968, at 0400 hours, our attack sirens went off after the first rockets exploded—the Tet Offensive of 1968 has just been launched.  As the sirens wailed we grabbed our rifles and helmets and attempted to exit our hooches and make our way into the larger bunkers for protection.  Even as we belly crawled our way across the sand towards safety the rockets began to impact in the living area destroying more than a few of our hooches.  The hangers and flight line in the background were already on fire, and the perimeter guard force was fully engaged with enemy ground forces trying to breach our defenses.  Two of our aircraft were destroyed and burning, the hangers were heavy damaged and the rockets and mortars kept coming (an estimated fifty-plus 122mm rockets hit our compound, and mortars too numerous to count).  A coordinated 2-prong ground attack was underway—one from the south at Dong Binh II and the second from the north at An Tan village.  Sappers managed to penetrate our perimeter and successfully blew up our bomb dump setting off an explosion equivalent to a 7-kiloton atomic bomb (the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in WWII was a 9-kiloton bomb).  My hearing was never quite the same after the explosion.  The bomb dump burned for over a week.  Navy Lt Stanley “Doc” Lewis MD and Marine 2nd Lt Richard Kerr were killed instantly when their bunker sustained a direct hit, and a number of additional Marines were wounded as shrapnel continued to fly.  The Tet Offensive continued on for some months, but I departed Vietnam on February 8, 1968 to return home.  In 2004 my son Shawn and I stood atop Hill 43, and looked down on what remained of Chu Lai.  The hooches, bunkers and hangers were all gone, but the concrete runways and revetments remained.  We burned incense as a memorial offering, and drank a couple of shots of Scotch to fallen comrades.    Almost 46 years ago …

Semper Fidelis