Lang Vei

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.langvei.com/home.html

[Bobcat]

I just saw a special on the Battle of Lang Vei on the Military Channel last night and was going to do a search on it on this site. Amazing men that showed once again what America's Best are capable of.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Bobcat

I just saw a special on the Battle of Lang Vei on the Military Channel last night and was going to do a search on it on this site. Amazing men that showed once again what America's Best are capable of.

If you wondered about the guys trapped in the bunker and how all that happened around a "bunker" go to their site and look in the gallery. You'll see a picture of the bunker under construction. Note how deep it is.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

I remember when this went down. I was commanding Mang Buk at the time and everyone in Nha Trang went nuts putting out directives that required every A-Team site to have an in depth tank defensive plan-no exceptions. Now you have to realize that the only way into or out of Mang Buk was by foot or air, the terrain wasn't foot friendly unless you were a forest critter, and the water ways were riddled with falls and steep pitches. Regardless, we had to "do something" to prevent another tank assault and send the plans to Group. So my young demo sgt and I loaded up ourselves with as much C-4 as we could carry, found the only trail that was marked on the old maps that could support an ox cart and would be identifiable to the staffers in Nha Trang that we never saw,and created an abatis that would have slowed down Rommel. If you want to know how stupid this was, other than the training we gave the yards in setting charges, check out the terrain below.

[Monsoon65]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

I remember when this went down. ...

Hmmm, don't think too many tanks would be moving around terrain like that.

Beautiful area, tho!

[incommin]

Originally Posted by Monsoon65

Hmmm, don't think too many tanks would be moving around terrain like that.

Beautiful area, tho!

I think you would be very surprised at the terrain where the NVA was able to move some light armor into.... We has some recon teams report tank activity in a couple of locations and the Intel people in Saigon refused to believe it....


Jim

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by incommin

I think you would be very surprised at the terrain where the NVA was able to move some light armor into.... We has some recon teams report tank activity in a couple of locations and the Intel people in Saigon refused to believe it....


Jim

Trust me, they would not have been able to negotiate that terrain. However, I went through similar problems with getting folks at higher to believe that we had tanks operating across from Ben Het when I took command of that site. In one of my normal act first and ask for foregiveness later, I put in a mine field.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Monsoon65

Beautiful area, tho!

Absolutely incredible. Orchids in the trees, crystal clear water, tigers, elephants, jake no shoulders of all kinds, pine trees at elevations where it got damn cold at night, pineapples and grapefruits in the river valleys, cinnamon trees that the yards would peel bark from and chew, and vertical terrain that would make a mountain goat cry. If I were a tropical sort of person and wanted to pick a place to live, this would have been the place. It did have its draw backs with a variety of nasty critters and leeches so plentiful that during the rainy season they would wave back on forth standing on their tails hoping to latch on to something warm blooded. Damn things were so thick they looked like waving grass. The leech repellant we put on our boots would catch gold dust from the fast moving streams when we waded at crossing sites. At lower elevations everything seemed to have a thorn, but at higher elevations you could move quietly and rapidly and view vistas that would have been worthy of Ansel Adam's camera. I could go on, but then it is hard to capture it all in a small space. Sunsets were always incredible and the night sky during the dry season was indescribable.

[CoLawman]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

Absolutely incredible. Orchids in the trees, crystal clear water, tigers, elephants, jake no shoulders of all kinds, pine trees at elevations where it got damn cold at night, pineapples and grapefruits in the river valleys, cinnamon trees that the yards would peel bark from and chew, and vertical terrain that would make a mountain goat cry. If I were a tropical sort of person and wanted to pick a place to live, this would have been the place. It did have its draw backs with a variety of nasty critters and leeches so plentiful that during the rainy season they would wave back on forth standing on their tails hoping to latch on to something warm blooded. Damn things were so thick they looked like waving grass. The leech repellant we put on our boots would catch gold dust from the fast moving streams when we waded at crossing sites. At lower elevations everything seemed to have a thorn, but at higher elevations you could move quietly and rapidly and view vistas that would have been worthy of Ansel Adam's camera. I could go on, but then it is hard to capture it all in a small space. Sunsets were always incredible and the night sky during the dry season was indescribable.

The waterfalls photo captured my attention. Is that photo taken during the monsoons? I would have never imagined waterfalls like that in VietNam.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by CoLawman

The waterfalls photo captured my attention. Is that photo taken during the monsoons? I would have never imagined waterfalls like that in VietNam.

This was in the mountains of central Vietnam which supported a triple canopy rainforest. There were many such waterfalls, some that fell over a hundred feet. These pictures were taken during the dry season. Vietnam highlands were beautiful and a world very different from what was seen in the news or even today. Of course the waterfalls and stream headwaters that eminated from these mountains were of interest also because the hostiles needed water and would often work from such areas either as base camps or as stop overs enroute to bigger targets closer to "civilization". These pictures were taken from the back seat of a "birddog" as part of my planning process to set up my operation plan for my AO. In the center of this slide is a series of waterfalls that were in the northern part of my "turf".

[incommin]

The COL is right; the Central Highlands had some beautiful terrain. Little wonder that it had been a vacation area for rich Europeans for a long time!

Jim

[whitesnake]

Anyone interested in the Battle of Lang Vei, should find the book
"Night of the Silver Stars". It is an incredible narrative of the battle and the involved Team Members. It is OUTSTANDING!

Got the book in my library. It's on deck.

[Merlyn]

Got the book. Read it. Good history, very poor writing.

[Monsoon65]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

Absolutely incredible.....

Beautiful sunset!

My father was in Nha Trang on his first tour, in the delta on his second. He said that Vietnam was probably one of the most beautiful places he's ever seen.