Contributed by Terry Wheeler - 45th MID 1967-1968

There is a lot of confusion about the 45th MID and its dates, operations and how it fits within the traditional structure of 1st MIBARS.

Since I am the only Member that seems to be one of the original 45th MID members, it is important to me to keep the historical record as accurate as possible.

In an effort to do that, I will try to be very precise in what I know or remember and try to give sources for the information I identify as correct or refer to the information of best guess, an inference or even a memory, which may not be accurate.

To the best of my knowledge, I never served in Det E or Echo Detachment and I have no recollection of that unit designation until years later, when looking for any information about the 45th MID.

I did run into a document, which is an Operational Report - Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion, Period Ending 30 April 1970, which reported... "On 14 April 1970, Detachment E was formally deactivated as a result of the reduction of personnel ordered by Headquarters United States Army, Vietnam, on 1 January 1970."

I placed this document in the Archives on this site, so that anyone can check the information themselves.

I was also able to check some records and found that I would have been first assigned to the 45th MID at Fort Bragg NC on or about

28 May 1967, and although that would not necessarily be the creation date for the unit, I was certainly among the first reporting.

The unit would have left Fort Bragg NC as a unit, on or about 21 November 1967 via commercial flight to Oakland Terminal and boarding the troop ship along with 1500 Marines, the USS Gen John Pope, which transported us over the course of approximately 21 days to

Qui Nhon, the Republic of South Vietnam, via Okinawa and the South China Sea.

We would have arrived at our first duty station, Phu Cat, around mid-December, if you calculate the dates... one day travel to Oakland, 21 days at sea, one day at Qui Nhon would give you 23 days and when added to 21 November would give you a date of about the 13th of December, but that is a calculation. I also notice I was assigned to the 45th MID, USARV, not 1st MIBARS, although I know the unit was under the authority of 1st MIBARS.

I have another date of 11 April 1968, which would have been when the 45th MID left for I Corp and/or I left for I Corp, which I cannot be certain, because the unit went another way, unknown to me and I went by a small ship, I believe to be an LST, but I am uncertain of the type of ship. I remember that it took about four days and I slept on the deck, ate all day and watched the crew (Asians) play Ma Jong all day long.

My records show that I left on or about 20 October 1968, which presents another problem.

First, I missed my original DEROS by a couple of days and had to wait in Saigon for a couple of days, until I could be slotted on a plane for the World. Secondly, we are missing a month with those dates, which suggests that the 21 November date was the expected date to enter the USARV at Qui Nhon, which means we would have left Fort Bragg and traveled for 21 days, starting in October.

One thing I know for sure is that upon returning to Fort Bragg, I was assigned to Det A 15 MI Bn and I was never in 1st MIBARS Det E.

1st MIBARS Det E would have had to change from the 45th MID sometime in December 1968 or later.

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