Chapter 144C
6/19/2009
Cpl Olmsted Attacked by Tiger
a simple twist of fate
Corporal Gerald Olmsted (no direct relation) died of a tiger attack while on night patrol near central highlands of Vietnam 1/10/69. He was an infantryman in the Ivy Dragoons based at Camp Holloway, Pleiku. Three weeks later, as I entered basic training in infantry I'd fully expected to be assigned to advanced training in infantry the biggest need for soldiers. The picture above is of a different Indo- Chinese Tiger that was also a casualty of the Vietnam War and KIA 12/22/68 in the northern I-Corps by Marines on recon patrol above the DMZ. This was a beautiful animal, but don't feel sorry for him, they are literally man-eaters. A marine was on night patrol asleep awaiting heli extraction when all of a sudden he felt his whole body being lifted away by his head. He didn't understand what was happening to him but could feel the fur and hot and cold breath blowing down his neck. You could say he was lucky to survive the cat and the war. Another marine had been killed a month earlier near there sparking a 3 day Marine tiger hunt with a Vietnamese guide. My earlier Chapter 143 tiger statue story commemorated the luck great Uncle Bud had surviving the world's largest earthquake in Japan.
My neighbor for 35 years, Larry Dippold, told me last week about his tiger incident over a chance glass of wine. Larry was assigned night security duty for a month in sector 13 at the Quang Tri Naval Seabees Camp Rhodes base, Third Marine HQ for the northern I-Corps near the DMZ (like Pete) . He could see what he thought was a tiger and was aware these had been renowned hunting grounds for tigers. Not wanting to be attacked by a wild animal he called on the land-line to Naval HQ to "Request permission to fire at tiger." "Permission denied", as they were generally protected species plus they'd have to go up the chain of command to get Marine HQ approval. "We'll give you illumination", and a white phosphorus flare was sent up turning night into day. Cat slinked away, but later he apparently heard about the incidents mentioned above and with that Tiger hanging at his base.
Larry was a Seabee Navy Mobile Construction Battalion NMCB-11. He, like Pete, trained at Camp Pendelton, CA in the Spring of '68 and was also assigned to the same area in Vietnam in April '68. Larry, as luck would have it, completed his 13 month Vietnam tour and finished his 4 year hitch including another Pacific assignment at Okinawa. He had also been in the Civil Engineering program at Syracuse University at the same time I attended but he had to drop out in '66. After a year's deferment, he chose to enlist with the Seabees getting a guarantee of a plumbing specialty rather than take pot luck with the draft (Albany board was drafting Marines).
In another twist of fate, Shawn wont have his best buddy as best man next week because his sister is getting married the same day. In that wedding Larry's daughter is Maid of Honor.
extraneous details (unpleasantries omitted):
After landing at Quang Tri, the Seabees had to sleep on the ground for a month before getting into tent city. They had an Iguana with his leg tied to a string and a sand bag to eat the mosquitoes. The cutest Tiger Geckos
are found there. A boa constrictor was allowed to stay around to eat the rats until he got in a newbie officer's (fresh out of the Naval Academy) sleeping bag. He freaked and blew it away with his M-16. Larry never worked so hard in all his life; pulling 12 hour days 6 days a week in Bravo Company mostly land surveying for a variety of construction activities building soldiers' shelter structures, landing zones, runways, bases, etc. Rebuilt Khe Sanh during the Tet offensive.
Swimming down the Cua Viet river with some native kids and young girls. Strong current so when they came out of the river it would be far downstream. One time when they came out an apparent Viet Cong put a pistol right in his face and was yelling something. The young girl said something and the guy put away his pistol and left. I believe that was the last time they went swimming like that.
references:
CB's:
Officer Bruce Geibel Myspace profile Navy writeup Seabee photo sharing site Geibel's MCB11 excellent & Lukanic's MCB74 Quang Tri 69 surveying MCB-11 deployment
Tiger:
1965 Neener '65
1968 3rdreconorg 3rd Recon teamMorris Cpl Soldner Sgt Morris Col Ripley Seabee Doherty New Zealand 9 Dec 68 Marine tiger hunt Leland axis powers
1970 Erick Schwartz FLICKR PHOTO SET (amateur but pro quality- you can FEEL THE POST TRAMATIC STRESS OF A MARINE RECON PATROL)
1964-2006 Thailand Seabee returns 42 yrs later a story Dale could have written