Chapter 144E

2/1/2010

Transport Company

simple twists of fate & the art of war

Vietnam Convoy Trucker 2014 book by trucker Bill Patterson

These oil paintings were brought back from Vietnam by brother-in- law Pete Kanches. The gold one is mounted in my den but the blue one sadly is tacked to the inside of my closet behind the coats. I like them and now they are at least shared just a bit after 40 years.

Trying to show a little different angle rather than just another war story. Pete served as a cook with the 319th Transportation Company (light trucks) at Long Binh, Vietnam from Sep 68 to Aug 69 and suffered some bouts with malaria and mortar attacks. Many links below to illustrate what that portion of the war was like. It was rather a shock when his Schenectady Army Reserve 1018th unit was called up as that had not previously been normal practice. Furthermore, he had been separated from his local supply unit (which went to Da Nang where they lost James H McNeilly, a driver to small arms fire) and reassigned to a company from Augusta, Georgia. Pete's original local unit filed for but lost a court injunction because this was not a declared war. A mess hall sergeant at Fort Lee caused a delay in leave of absence for Pete when his wife was expecting a baby. The sergeant received 10# of sugar into his new Mustang for the snafu. The Transportation Company hauled mucho supplies under adverse conditions all over the southern war zone but sustained few casualties.

This guy in his company, Roy Miller died of non-combat related injuries. The truck drivers worked long days and grabbed sleep wherever they could. Roy had sacked out under a truck wheel while another driver had gotten into the cab and somehow released the brake, crushing him (described here) . Some months later as I served on permanent MP duty in Augusta, Ga at Fort Gordon a drunk sergeant drove a truck thru a column of marching Signal Corps trainees killing and maiming several soldiers. I had also been trained, licensed and drove the above medium duty truck, the M35 Deuce and half , at basic training in Fort Dix, NJ transporting troops. The US Army Reserve Center in Augusta was renamed for Miller, the same center my nephew served at in 1999.

In another twist of fate, I happened by and snapped this dramatic picture of N2551B a short distance from the Army Reserve Center (at Daniel Field Feb 21, 1970) when a Civil Air Patrol student pilot died during a failed takeoff. Instructor lived. Guy in center blue jacket was Humphrey Godfrey, a very interesting MP I palled around with. Believe he transferred from the Stockade duty to internal affairs or CID Criminal Investigations Division.

Pete with wife Dottie and I celebrate our names being mentioned starting Chapter 5 of the 2014 Vietnam Convoy Trucker book. We drank too much and it was good. Stories flowed along with the beer. His daughter was born while in the temporary holding period at Fort Lee. After about 9 months in-country he earned a 5 day leave and met Dot for R & R in Hawaii. But he was coming down with severe Malaria and the doctors at the Tripler Army Hospital kept him there for an extended period.

During that time the USO gave him some complimentary tickets to the Jimi Hendrix concert at the Waikiki Shell. Three performances were held in 1969 on 31May , 1Jun and 2Jun. So here he was in the front row of a rock legend's concert in a tropical paradise during the war. (But he was still sick as dog even after being sent back to Saigon.) The concert musical performance was not the highest caliber. You can judge for yourself on Youtube.

Pete worked rotating shifts in the 319th Mess Hall for a while but was eventually transferred to another company where he picked up a part time job running the Long Binh Officers and NCO Club. Good sounding bands were brought in from the Philippines. The most popular song was "We gotta get outa this place" by Eric Burden and the Animals. Pete had a longtime involvement with clubs, his own Jammer, and musicians. Unknowingly met and played golf with the Allman Brothers in Schenectady, after some drinks he found out who they were and they gave him free tickets to their concert in Saratoga.

I'd mounted the blue painting above and returned it to Pete so he could hand down to his kids.

We were at the Charlton Tavern with it's historic 1787 roots. You can take an E-tour of the old taverns here. Ebenezer Olmsted lived at 4228 Jockey Street, Charlton in the 1700's. Another ancestor Edward M Olmsted born Charlton 1824.The Tavern is located near the corner of Stage Road that the stagecoaches used to travel in the old days.