In March of 1971, the 25th Infantry Division was packing it up and leaving Vietnam. Those of us not having nine months in country were reassigned to other units still fighting the war; I went to the 101st Airborne Division with many of my friends, and others I knew, went to the Americal Division near Chu Lai…some flew out to FSB Mary Ann temporarily until a permanent home was assigned. This deadly attack occurred during their second night there!
Running down the hallway of the battalion tactical operations center (TOC), Captain Paul S. Spilberg charged into a cloud of tear gas just as he reached the commander’s quarters. Staggering blindly back the way he had come, Spilberg made it to the north exit, crawled up the stairs, and out the door into the fresh but bullet-ridden air. Forcing his eyes to focus, the shaken captain was stunned to hear the fire of AK-47s and the crash of rocket-propelled grenades from inside the base’s perimeter. In amazement, he watched as numerous small figures darted catlike among the spreading flames. Everywhere he looked he saw the scurrying silhouettes, who were enemy sappers feeding the chain of explosions devouring Fire Support Base Mary Ann on that afternoon in 1971.
Four days before the fatal attack, Spilberg had arrived at the FSB by helicopter. He was an old hand there, having previously served at Mary Ann as a company commander. Along with three assistants, he now had returned as a marksmanship instructor. His team had established a training course using targets on a crude rifle range set up on the FSB’s southwest slope. The hill was garrisoned by Company C, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry (1-46), 196th Light Infantry Brigade, assigned to the 23rd ‘Americal’ Infantry Division.
The battalion commander, Lt. Col. William P. Doyle, was a serious professional. Along with the Company C commander, Captain Richard V. Knight, Doyle had molded this handful of reluctant draftees into one of the better combat units still in the field in 1971. Mary Ann was in a generally quiet sector, and the soldiers atop the hill had come to regard their outpost as something of a rear echelon area rather than what it actually was — the division’s most forward firebase.
Three hours later the American firebase was rocked from within by a series of powerful explosions. Spilberg was asleep deep inside the TOC. The structure was a sturdily reinforced, half-buried bunker, and from its interior Spilberg initially had a hard time recognizing the muffled crashes. Thinking the base was taking mortar fire, he rolled off his cot and began pulling on his boots and shirt.
Before leaving the bunker, he grabbed his .45-caliber pistol from under his pillow. On the afternoon of March 27, 1971, after the soldiers had completed their target practice, the three officers remained on the shooting range. They plinked with various weapons and talked awhile, and then Doyle and Knight headed for the mess tent. Spilberg remained behind to take a few more shots. He had only the base’s mascot dog for company. The mongrel suddenly bristled and began barking and growling at something downslope that Spilberg could not locate. He had never seen the amiable mutt behave like that, but try as he might he could not detect what was agitating the animal. Finally deciding the dog must have scented a tiger or cobra, Spilberg set out after the other officers. Much later he related: ‘I never said anything to Doyle about that dog being on alert, but I should have known. It bothered me for years and years. It was my second tour. I should have known.’
One of the sappers had thrown tear gas into the TOC officers’ quarters, and Colonel Doyle was trying desperately to escape his gas-filled room. As he struggled to unlatch the plywood door, a satchel charge detonated in the hallway, blowing the door from its hinges and flattening him. Picking himself up, he turned toward the door and faced a sapper wearing nothing but bush shorts, a gas mask and a full-body coating of camouflage.
When the Communist drew back to hurl another satchel charge, Doyle raised his own .45 and shot him square in the chest. As the man fell backward the bomb went off, blowing him to bits and flattening Doyle a second time. Three more charges exploded in the hall before Doyle was able to dig through the rubble and leave the bunker.
By then he was bleeding from fragmentation wounds in one leg and both arms. He was unable to hear through his blood-filled ears, and could barely see through gas-seared eyes.
For 45 minutes, the infiltrators sprinted throughout the firebase, expertly planting their charges among the frantic, befuddled Americans. As the assault concluded, the TOC was a towering pyre. Spilberg picked up a damaged M-16 he found on the ground. Wincing from three grenade fragments in his back, he made for Knight’s company command post to see if the captain had survived. The CP was a bonfire and beginning to collapse. As he reached the crumbling entrance, Spilberg could hear ammunition exploding in the flames. He peered inside but saw only a blazing vision of hell. Somewhere within that inferno, Knight lay dead.
The company CP and battalion TOC had been the primary targets for the brilliantly executed sapper assault, and Knight was one of 30 Americans killed. On the morning of March 28, Doyle and Spilberg were among the 82 wounded GIs evacuated.
The first indicator that something bad was afoot had come on the night of March 25-26. Lieutenant Scott Bell was on patrol, on what was supposed to be his last night on the hill. As he squinted into the surrounding silent, mist-cloaked jungle, he sensed an almost tangible uneasiness in the air, and felt a primordial sense of dread that motivated him to organize one last big rat kill before his departure. Maybe that would keep his men alert.
The soldiers knew the drill. They constructed ingenious rattraps from empty C-ration cans laced with cheese and blasting caps. All night the men counted miniature explosions as squirrel-sized Asian rats died in the competition between platoons. By dawn there were 130 dead rodents laid out in neat lines in front of the CP. These were the last fireworks here for Bell and Company A. The next morning they moved out and were replaced by Captain Knight and his Charlie Company, who were transferred in from Chu Lai.
Charlie Company settled into the new position and started policing the area in preparation for a visit from the brigade commander, Colonel William Hathaway, who had been unhappy with Company A on his last inspection. Knight hurriedly set his men to work disposing of dead rats, marijuana cigarette butts, empty whiskey bottles and other such junk left behind by their predecessors. When Hathaway, accompanied by Doyle and Knight, walked the perimeter that afternoon, he was delighted with the improvement over what he had seen a week earlier. Hathaway, however, did not inspect the tactical outer wire because, he later explained,’ somewhere along the line you have to put the trust in the company commander.’
Additional trip flares were triggered by the prop blast of CH-47 helicopters as they landed at and took off from the FSB. The Americans did not replace the flares. In hindsight, Hathaway thought overconfidence might have been another factor contributing to the debacle. ‘Charlie Company, commanded by Captain Knight, was certainly the best company in that battalion, and probably one of the best companies in this division,’ Hathaway said later. ‘One of the problems was that they were so good they were a little contemptuous of the enemy. They were the hunters, not the hunted.’But the outer defenses were not in order. As Lieutenant Jerry Sams, leader of C Company’s 2nd Platoon, later explained: ‘The sergeant major was on everybody’s ass about policing the area before the inspection, and they had my platoon out there picking paper off the wire. Those helicopters would come in and kick up all kinds of crap. I had to send the guys out two or three times, and it was one of those typical Army things where everybody’s bitching and raising hell. They were accidentally setting off trip flares in the wire — all our early warning devices that would have come in mighty handy later on that night.’
Another cause for the false sense of security was that there had been no signs of an impending attack. Major Alva V. Hardin, the 196th Infantry Brigade’s intelligence officer, later testified, ‘We had no intelligence to indicate there would be an attack on Mary Ann.’
The lack of listening posts outside the wire was another critical mistake. When Hathaway learned Doyle had not deployed LPs beyond the outer perimeter, he concurred. ‘Listening posts were not a policy,’ explained Hathaway. ‘I considered listening posts outside the wire a hazard. I considered the danger of people getting wounded, either by defensive fires or somebody getting excited and firing on the perimeter, to be greater than the necessity for the listening post.’
Mary Ann had been constructed on the bulldozed summit of a ridge running northwest to southeast. In profile, the elevation looked like the back of a camel, with the base stretching 500 meters across both humps. It was 75 meters wide between the humps, and 125 meters broad at each end. A continuous trench that was knee- to waist-deep and had 22 bunkers formed the perimeter. Inside the perimeter were 30 buildings of various styles, giving the appearance of a shantytown. The whole thing was surrounded by two belts of concertina wire.
Two dirt roads interrupted the trench and wireline of the perimeter. Doyle had tried unsuccessfully to have chain-link fencing flown in to close the openings, but higher headquarters, noting that the base was soon to be turned over to the ARVN, decided against providing construction materials for the soldiers of South Vietnam. The road openings remained.
With the 196th Infantry Brigade already scheduled for redeployment to Da Nang, Doyle had ceased all construction projects within and around Mary Ann and had started packing for the move. By March most of the base’s mortars and artillery had been airlifted to nearby LZ Mildred to fire on enemy positions in that sector. By March 27, all of Mary Ann’s starlight scopes and ground radars had been shipped to the rear for maintenance.
On the night of the attack, the infantry under Doyle at Mary Ann consisted of 231 Americans and 21 South Vietnamese, plus the battalion training team, battalion intelligence officer, the sergeant major, an interpreter, and 22 transient soldiers from Companies A, B and D. The transient troops spending the night at the base were in no mood to remain on alert. Specialist 4 Harold Wise was one of those who had just arrived. ‘Thirty percent of the guys on the hill were heads,’ he said later. ‘Marijuana, heroin, whatever you wanted. The guys in the sensor hooch next to the tactical operations center were potheads, and a lot of people congregated there to buy stuff, but unless they knew you, you didn’t come in. They had locks on the door of their hooch. Nobody did it in the open. It wasn’t brazen. If an officer saw somebody doing it, he’d bust the guy. Some of the officers and sergeants knew what was going on, but as long as you did your job, they didn’t say anything.’
The drug problem on the base, although not as pronounced as in other areas, was still sufficient to benefit the enemy. Battery C, 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery (155mm), was aligned in battery formation atop the base’s highest elevation. The infiltrators quickly destroyed both of the unit’s howitzers. Staff Sergeant Easton Rowell, the chief of the firing battery, was wounded six times. He later groused, ‘We took a screwin’ because the grunts on that hill were a bunch of potheads!’
The attackers were from the Main Force VC 409th Sapper Battalion. This unit was known for operating against the ARVN in Quang Nam province, and at that time was thought by out-of-date U.S. intelligence to be 15 to 20 kilometers east of Mary Ann, preparing for a major push against the South Vietnamese. At 0200 hours on March 28, an American searchlight crew conducted a cursory 20-minute illumination sweep of the slope outside the exit to the firing range. The hillside had been cleared of vegetation, but still was punctuated by boulders and tree stumps, all of which provided good hiding places for the small enemy. Seeing nothing unusual, the GIs shut down their light and headed for their bunker. The explosions started 10 minutes later.
The 409th sappers were experts in their trade. With AK-47s strapped to their backs, grenades in their belts and satchel charges fastened to their chests, they wore nothing but khaki shorts and soot. They crawled silently, slowly and steadily through the jungle, using their fingertips as probes.
When they detected trip flares, they used lengths of bamboo, carried in their teeth, to tie down the strikers. When they felt wires leading to Claymore mines, they used wire cutters to cut the lines. They were careful to cut only two-thirds of the way through the strands of concertina, then used their fingers to break the rest of the way through the wire silently and without shaking the large coils.
Approaching from the southwest, the infiltrators cut four big gaps through the concertina, two holes on each side of the road where it left the perimeter. They repeated the procedure 50 meters farther on, through the second barrier, although the wire there was in such a state of disrepair that many sappers simply walked across the rusty, breaking steel strands. Another 30 yards and they came to the final concertina barrier. Rather than risk having the snip of cutters heard by some alert sentry, the infiltrators simply spread a gap through the wire, tying it open with bamboo strips.
The sappers were well-rehearsed. Splitting up into three- and six-man squads in the zone between the inner wire barrier and the bunkers facing southwest, the assault teams waited until 0230 hours. Then their supporting mortars opened with accurate fire on the TOC and CP on the base’s southeast side, and on the remaining U.S. mortar and artillery positions in the northwest area.
A card game in the radio room was just breaking up when the first rounds hit. The explosion hurled Wise onto his back, knocked off his glasses, broke his left arm and sprayed the front of his body head-to-foot with fragments. Using his right arm to drag himself into his hooch, he shook awake his roommate, Pfc Peter Detlef, and then hid behind his reel-to-reel tape deck as he seated himself on the floor and tried to cover the door with his M-16. When Detlef, still half asleep, tried to go through the door, another explosion blasted the door off its frame and on top of him.
As the VC had anticipated, most defenders were immobilized by confusion. One radioman never bothered to crank up his radio to report the situation, but simply rolled off his cot onto his hut’s dirt floor and hid beneath his mattress until the shooting stopped.
Inside the TOC, Spc. 4 Stephen Gutosky grabbed his radio mike and reported: ‘Be advised, we are taking incoming at this time! Stand by and I’ll see if I can get a direction on it!’
When he realized with a start that he was still inside the TOC, he shouted into his microphone: ‘I can’t get outside to see where it’s coming from! Just fire all the counter mortars and counter rockets you got ASAP!’
By that point the south end of the TOC was burning from the inside after a satchel charge set off a case of white phosphorus grenades. Yet Doyle still refused to abandon his position. After ordering Gutosky to radio for helicopter gunships and illumination, the wounded colonel said, ‘I’m going out to see what’s going on!’
Doyle did not realize how badly he was hurt. He was almost deaf and blind from tear gas, powder burns and explosion concussions. The shrapnel wounds in his arms and legs would take months to heal. Nonetheless, he made it to the top of the exit steps, raised his M-16 and started to aim at a couple of infiltrators outside the bunker — but a third, unseen enemy soldier threw a grenade at him. It landed at his feet and exploded as he turned to head back inside, blowing him down the stairs.
The entire TOC was now burning. Lieutenant Edward McKay, the TOC night duty officer, started to panic in the oven-like bunker. ‘We gotta get outta here!’ screamed McKay.
‘Not yet!’ hollered Doyle.
‘We’re all going to die!’ sobbed McKay.
Summoning his last element of strength, Doyle slapped the hysterical junior officer hard across the face and snarled, ‘Shut up, lieutenant!’
It was now 0251, and radio telephone operator (RTO) David Tarnay managed to raise LZ Mildred.
Spilberg heard Tarnay shouting into his microphone, and he bounded back inside the blazing TOC. Grabbing a handset, he shouted to Lieutenant Thomas Schmitz at LZ Mildred: ‘I want artillery 50 meters out, 360 degrees around our position. On my command be prepared to fire on the firebase!’
Spilberg realized that calling down fire on his own position was likely the only way to save the surviving Americans there.
Doyle next grabbed the mike and informed Schmitz they were being forced to evacuate the TOC and would temporarily lose radio contact. With Tarnay and Gutosky carrying all the radio equipment they could, and with the now-incoherent McKay slung over Tarnay’s shoulder, the handful of resolute GIs made their way to the firebase aid station, where Tarnay put McKay on a cot and then tried to get a radio working.
Doyle and Spilberg left the aid station and crossed the compound to the Charlie Company CP. When they arrived they found that it too was an inferno, its sandbagged entrance collapsed. Throughout Mary Ann, unprepared Americans were shot and blown apart by the VC sappers, who seemed to know precisely where to concentrate their assault.
Later, some survivors would accuse the South Vietnamese of cooperating with the attackers. Specialist 4 Steven Webb was the only U.S. soldier who was with the base’s ARVN contingent throughout the fight. Despite later rumors that ARVN troops had fired on Americans that night, Webb said he never saw it happen.
Nevertheless, suspicion and bitterness lingered. One of Knight’s NCOs, Staff Sgt. John Calhoun, later remarked, ‘It was an inside job.’
Specialist 4 Edward L. Newton concurred. ‘That morning before the attack, an ARVN officer came up to our bunker and asked how we got out of the perimeter,’ he recalled. ‘We asked him why he wanted to know. He said because he and his men wanted to go down there fishing. We thought it was kind of peculiar. We said we did not know for sure.’
The officer, who wore the insignia of a South Vietnamese first lieutenant, persisted in his questioning of the Americans until some of them told him the easiest way in and out was the south end and on the road running past the rifle range to the water point.
Specialist 5 Carl Cullers later claimed: ‘[I saw] an ARVN going behind the rifle range. It was more or less a joke at first. One of the cooks said, `Hey Cullers, there’s an NVA down there,’ and I said, `Quit joking,’ and he said, `Wait, and I’ll point him out to you.’ I knew he was an ARVN by his size. He had gone out beyond the rifle range, and down the slope for about 20 minutes. I took it for granted he had gone down to defecate.’
Sergeant Andrew Olints of Company D was next to the helipad at dusk on the 27th when ‘an ARVN chopper came out, and fifteen of those little suckers got on,’ as he later reported. ‘They were thrilled to death, jumping on, pushing each other. I didn’t think the thing would take off, it was so overloaded. We had no idea what was coming, but in retrospect, it sure looked like they did.’
Specialist 4 Gary Noller, an RTO at LZ Mildred, later wrote: ‘I remember an incident where a GI came to the TOC and said that an ARVN was signaling with a flashlight to someone outside the wire.’ He said he went to check it out. ‘[I] did encounter an ARVN with a GI flashlight near the east perimeter wire,’ Noller remembered. ‘I told him not to use it, in English, which he probably didn’t understand, and then reported this to an officer. The incident was not treated seriously by the officers, but added credence as far as the GIs were concerned that some of the ARVN were not on our side.’
In one of the most dramatic events of the night, Lieutenant Barry McGee, who had been sleeping atop bunker No. 10 when the attack started, stumbled half asleep into his platoon CP with several of his men just as the enemy targeted the position. McGee was the leader of C Company’s 3rd Platoon, which manned bunkers Nos. 9 through 13. As he and his men grabbed their weapons and prepared to return outside, two mortar rounds hit the bunker, half demolishing it and dislodging a heavy ceiling beam that fell on the lieutenant, seriously injuring his head. A medic dressed the wound, and after about 15 minutes the men in the platoon CP noted that the explosions outside seemed to be ending.
McGee had just lurched to his feet, turned to the door and said, ‘All right, let’s go!’ when a grenade sailed through the door, exploded and blew the medic, Spc. 5 Carl Patton, back into McGee. Realizing he had lost his weapon, McGee grabbed Patton’s M-16 and again headed for the door. Another satchel charge detonated on the roof, caving it in and killing 22-year-old Sergeant Warren Ritsema when a beam fell on him. The blast knocked down McGee, who again lost his weapon. He staggered to his feet and stumbled outside, incoherent with pain and frustration. When the short, stocky, powerfully built and unarmed lieutenant collided with a sapper outside the bunker, McGee wrestled him to the ground and strangled him with his bare hands. It was quite a feat for somebody already half-dead from a fractured skull. The lieutenant’s corpse was later found atop the VC he had choked lifeless. Another sapper had shot McGee in the back.
At 0320, Spilberg and Doyle were at the southern end of Mary Ann, believing the attack was almost over. But then, partly obscured by the billowing smoke, another team of sappers started back up the hill, throwing grenades in all directions.
Apparently searching for their own dead and wounded, the VC broke contact and withdrew when the first helicopter gunship finally arrived overhead.
It was commanded by Captain Norman Hayes, Troop D, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry. Hayes radioed LZ Mildred that he had arrived at his objective and to lift and shift the artillery fire Spilberg had earlier ordered. Mildred ceased firing except for illumination rounds. When Hayes’ searchlight illuminated VC in the wire, they opened up on the gunship with small arms. As Hayes later put it, ‘We engaged, and I know that anything we fired on ceased firing on us.’
Hayes made repeated passes over the base, dropping grenades and strafing targets of opportunity, despite two of his guns becoming inoperative almost immediately after his arrival on station. He made repeated radio calls for additional gunships and medevacs, but by the time he ran low on fuel and had to return to Chu Lai, no additional aircraft had arrived. Because of the chaotic state of communications, the brigade and division were under the misconception that Mary Ann had been subjected to nothing more than mortaring. Hayes actually had time to return to Chu Lai, refuel, reload and repair his guns, and then fly all the way back to Mary Ann, before medical helicopters began arriving. Colonel Hathaway and Lt. Col. Richard Martin, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, arrived with the medevacs. Spilberg was almost amused at their reaction to the devastation, later remarking: ‘They were in a state of shock. They had just walked into Auschwitz.’
Despite having a gutful of fragments, Spilberg at first refused to leave the base. He wanted all his wounded men taken out before him, and when Doyle told him to board a chopper he simply climbed in one door and out the other side. Not until Hathaway gave him a direct order did Spilberg finally leave. He was later awarded the Silver Star. Spilberg also recommended Doyle for a Silver Star, but Hathaway refused to endorse the nomination. He later said he was tortured by the decision, explaining, ‘I just felt that although he had conducted himself with a certain amount of valor, the situation had occurred because of shortcomings on his part.’
At 1600 the next day, the enemy hit the ruins of Mary Ann with 12.7mm machine gun fire, sweeping the enclosure from a ridgeline to the north.
One GI was wounded in the attack. Fifteen dead sappers were collected from within the base, although blood trails indicated several dead and wounded had been dragged back into the jungle. After the debacle, however, the South Vietnamese decided they did not want to garrison Mary Ann. The FSB was closed and abandoned on April 24, 1971.
General Creighton Abrams, commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, held 23rd Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. James Baldwin responsible for the disaster, and relieved him of his command. The 23rd ID’s name had been eternally tarnished three years earlier because of the My Lai massacre. Many in the U.S. Army suspected that Baldwin would not have been fired had he been in any other division.
What happened at Mary Ann was a failure at the most basic level of soldiering. The Company had been warned by its South Vietnamese Kit Carson scout that it had been infiltrated by enemy spies posing as ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) soldiers.
All electronic sensors had been pulled from the perimeter the day before the attack. Not a single ARVN soldier came to the aid of the Americans, and the enemy left their Vietnamese brothers alone throughout the assault. The Americans also took fire from the ARVN part of the compound. Mary Ann was a classic case of intelligence failure. The clues, quite simply, were never added up.
Fire Support Base Mary Ann was scheduled to be turned over to the ARVN in a matter of days. Nobody had bothered to tell the soldiers who died defending it.
Both Hathaway and Doyle received career-ending formal reprimands. Being blamed for the Mary Ann tragedy was a crushing blow to Doyle. He and his wife divorced soon after his release from the hospital. He remarried in April 1972 — just two weeks before receiving his letter of reprimand from Army chief of staff General William Westmoreland. Doyle cut his honeymoon short in order to make a personal but futile appeal to Westmoreland. Doyle developed a severe drinking problem, and he died of a heart attack in March 1984. He was 52. Hathaway and Spilberg were among those following his caisson to the gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery. While delivering the funeral oration, Spilberg spoke for many when he referred to Doyle as ‘the last casualty of Firebase Mary Ann.’
This article was written by Kelly Bell and originally published in the April 2006 issue of Vietnam Magazine. Pictures provided from the internet and placed into the storyline by Admin. John Podlaski
Battle of FSB Mary Ann |
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Part of the Vietnam War | |||||||
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Belligerents |
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United States | Viet Cong | ||||||
Commanders and leaders |
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William P. Doyle | Unknown | ||||||
Units involved |
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23rd Infantry Division “Americal” 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment2nd ARVN DivisionBattery B, 22nd Field Artillery | Military Region 5409th VC Main Force Sapper Battalion | ||||||
Strength |
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231 U.S.21 ARVN | ~50 | ||||||
Casualties and losses |
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33 KIA, 83 wounded |
15 found dead |
In memory of those who lost their lives that night:
Capt. Richard V. Knight, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
1st Lt. John L. Hogan, Battery B, 1-14th FA, attached to 1-46th Infantry
1st Lt. C. Barry McGee, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
S.Sgt. Terry H. Price, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sgt. Michael L. Crossley, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sgt. Warren P. Ritsema, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sgt. Ronald James Becksted, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Victor R. Bennett, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Richard J. Boehm, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Richard R.. Carson, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 James E. Edgemon, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Myron B. Johnson, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Robert J. Schumacher, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Donald M. Stotts, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Druey L. Hatfield, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Michael S. Holloway, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Laymon Palmer, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Dallas D. Robinson, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Paul A. Sheer, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pvt. Steven D. Plath, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Pvt. Clark V. Shawnee, Company C, 1-46th Infantry
Sp5 Kyle S. Hamilton, HHC, 1-46th Infantry
Pfc. Wilbert S. Dupree, HHC, 1-46th Infantry
Sgt. Michael J. Bayne, Company A, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Larry W. McKee, Company A, 1-46th Infantry
Sp4 Larry D. Austin, Battery C, 3-16th FA
Sp4 Clifford W. Corr, Battery C, 3-16th FA
Sp4 Roger D. Whirlow, Battery C, 3-16th FA
Pfc. Donald C. Bennett, Battery C, 3-16th FA
Pfc. William W. Kirkpatrick, Battery C, 3-16th FA
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I was with the Headquarters of the 196th, and knew all the principle officers described, I was with Col Hathaway a few weeks earlier on a visit to Maryann. I remember touring the Firebase with Col Hathaway. The wire etc. was in bad shape, Col Hathaway said to me “I will talk to Bill about this”. A week later I DEROs back to the states. A few weeks after I got home I read that Maryann had been over run. I will not go into any more backstory or detail and let the story stand as is.
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Excellent article. I was at LZ professional with A co. When we moved to LZ Maryann. professional was devastated 6 months before I got there. Maryann was over ran 6 months after I was discharged.
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I arrived at Firebase Mary Ann at dawn with Sargent Christy and Specialist Kramer of the 133 EOD out of Chu Lai. I remember the carnage of the base and have a few pictures of bunkers still burning. We spent the day collecting unexploded ordnance, looking for timed satchel charges hidden – found none. Kramer and I did find three rpg’s stocked piled inside the wire indicating to me they were inside the wire before the first mortar fell and then were firing point blank into the base. Also found and unusual amount of US (green backs) currency – enough that we put it in a sand bag. When they dropped a few 57 recoiless rounds into the base in the afternoon I was detonating a few chicoms grenades and was yelling “It was me “ making the explosions . The raking of the base with machine gun fire proved me wrong.
In the hurry to catch the last chopper out we lost track of the sand bag of money and as I was about to get on the chopper one of the new green replacement troops came up and said he found something. I raced to the destroyed bunker and it turned out to be a base plate from an artillery shell. Not dangerous but left me stranded on the fire base for the night. Sometime after midnight some one heard something and the whole base opened fire. I think after the few minutes of firing I probably had the only bullets (6) left of the base for defense. Damage was a dead small animal and the water pump shot up. I was extremely happy when sunrise came with more seasoned troops. If any one wants to view the pictures I took just email me.
Bill Bagwell
Specialist EOD of the 133
Wlbagwell@msn.com
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Bill, if the photos are not gross, I’d like to add them to this article. Let me know.
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I’m curious about what ever happened to the cowardly lieutenant McKay. Was he demoted? Was he forced to retire? Please help, I’d like to know.
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I served my tour attached to HHT/1st11thacrBlackhorse Xuan-Loc/Long Giao down south. A friend of mine Dickey Snoop Carrigan A Company 1/46th/196thInfantry Americal Div LZ Poofessional 69/70.His last 4 months assigned to Stars&Strips as a reporter covered all the after action Battle’s still with 196th Inf does not like to talk about the war. He said he helped Build LZ Mary Ann. Also my Tour year 6/67-6/68. Godbless and be with all of our Vietnam Veterans. Email 11thacr68@gmail.com.
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Welcome aboard, bro!
On Sat, Mar 27, 2021 at 2:32 PM CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website wrote:
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I wrote this article, and am happy and touched to read of its positive reception. I am attempting to re-sell the story to another publication, but the editor wants me to provide maps detailing the progression of the fighting on the night of March 27-28 1971, and I am having a difficult time doing this. If anybody out there can inform me as to where to find this graphic material I would be eternally grateful to be informed.
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Great job, Kelly. Unfortunately, I can’t help with feedback about maps. Hopefully, somebody will respond.
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awesome article! I was a replacement for charlie co 1/46. I remember seeing cpl newton on a bunk in the rear, he looked to be in a daze almost. they all went thru alot. I think they called him fig. nickname. I will always remember that look he had. God bless
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I went to school with Pvt Steven Dale Plath younger brother. When he was killed it all of a sudden made the war real to us. We saw it on the news every night but hadn’t really known anyone that had died. I enlisted in the Army in 1981 all of my cadre were Vietnam vets I learned a lot from them. The one thing they taught me that stays with me to this very day is. Stay alert. Stay alive. God bless our Vietnam Vets
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Amazing, I had soldiers who , in remote FOBs look at me like I was crazing when I made corrections to different orders about security issues from the new untested leaders. I served six combat missions and lost eight people. Im very glad to read stories from the past wars. I met a few Vietnam veterans and the didn’t talk about their tours. My father never talked about Vietnam. He was there in Danang and Con Tiene 1969. I guess it was too painful for them.It shows you can never let down your guard. It’s all in the past for me now. I shake and welcome every Vietnam vet I have a chance to see. God bless them all.
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I am an ebook author, see “Slick Driver: Memories of Black widow 14” Available on Amazon.
This article, Overrunning of Mary Ann, is extremely well written!
I believe every word because it closely matches my own personal experience. My base, LZ Sally, and Hue Phu Bai were never overrun, many times, we pilots had to hold our slicks still while our friends hopped off or struggled onboard and well-trained NVA tried their best to kill us.
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It is a well written and factual article – to the best of my recollection.
Survivor, FSB Mary Ann
G/55 Quad 50
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I came to Maryann 3 days later I think from the 25th Inf. We ran some patrols for a couple of weeks. Hated being in the dump outside the camp as FLP because the rats were always moving about at night. Lost some good soldiers that night. Think of the Nam everyday.
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Rick, one of my buddy’s from the 25th – Steve Blackburn – got sent to Americal when they were going home. He arrived at MaryAnn the morning of the attack as is thankfully still with us!
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What blogging website had the least invasive ads for free-account users?
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Interesting, but sad.
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I was with Delta Company and I was NOT on the “hill” that night. We came in later on the 28th. As noted, the attack was at about 0230, so that was also the 28th. Anyway, one point I would add, the ARVNs were on the side of the firebase that sloped off steeply down to the river. It was virtually a cliff. The sappers came through the wire on the other three sides of the hill. I don’t know if the ARVNs were in collusion with the VC or not, but their position on the hill would have kept them from the fiercest fighting.
And, Dale “Chickenman”, good to see you in print here.
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Hey is this one shot?this is Jimmy Tillman
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I served in the 1st of the 46th on LZ Mary Ann from the time the battalion moved from LZ Professional until I left the hill probably about a month or so before the attack. I had been back home about 2 weeks when the attack occurred. They pulled me back off the “hill” a week or two early back to Chu Lai before I was scheduled to leave Viet Nam.
I was a radio operator in the TOC assigned to headquarters company. I remember Lt. Col. Doyle very well and talked to him every day although I never knew him well. I remember Captain Spillberg and I think I remember LTs McKay and Schmitz. I had occasion to speak to Col Hathaway a couple of times.
I remember the base was being probed around the time just before I left the hill and if memory serves me perhaps a mortar or two was lobbed in a time or two. There had been a few alerts during that time after movement had been detected in the wire. It’s been so long and memories tend to get confused so I’m never quite sure of what happened when and where, but there definitely was some activity around the base prior to the attack that in retrospect was probably connected to the impending attack. I do remember I was off the “hill” running a radio relay in the bush for about a month when the fragging took place and only heard about it much later when the CID came out to investigate – not sure what they were investigating.
I do remember that Private Dupree (who was killed the night of the attack) worked on the Quad 50 crew and that the gun was located on the southwest part of the perimeter between where bunkers 4 and 5 are on the map in the article. At least it was there when I left the “hill.”
I never felt too secure on the hill. I thought it was a very bad location for a firebase with taller hills surrounding it to the east and north and a very gentle slope approaching the hill from the west and ssouthwest. After LZ Pro which had a very formidable location and seemed to be a very difficult target for attack, when I first arrived at Mary Ann I thought this was a disaster waiting to happen.
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I worked the graveyard shift in the TOC….drozed in Jan 70….on LZ professional…do you remember the big fat chef we had who could run the 100 yard in 11 seconds? I rnames and most all else….I never like Doyle….wish I could remember names…..wait…how about master Seargent what was his name….start s with a B…..dam…
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i got in country in March ’70 and to Professional probably around April ’70. I guess you were gone by then. I too worked the graveyard shift at the TOC. I remember working with a guy (buck sergeant I think) who said he had washed out of Green Berets training. I don’t remember his name. He left soon after I arrived. My memory was that Doyle didn’t take command of the 1st/46th until after the move to Mary Ann but I could be wrong. I can’t remember the name of the Lt.Col. before Doyle but I do remember we called him “Crash” because his bird had been shot down or went down due to mechanicals. I remember having to wake the cooks up at 3 or 4 am and one of them was always taking a swing at me for my efforts. I don’t remember the speedy fat cook. I too can’t remember too many names – hardly any.
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Yes, Doyle was captain in charge of communications….as best I recall….salute, Edward…memories indeed…
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I don’t remember a Captain Doyle. The head of communications I remember was Captain Weeks. Lt.Col. Doyle was a different Doyle from the Captain.
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Sgt Biskup comes to mind..an older e-8
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LTC Richard Carvell aka Crash
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I was in D co. We were in the field the night the “hill” was overrun. I WAS NOT there for the initial attack. There was a secondary attack the following night, but I don’t think that anyone was hurt. I was a radio operator for Capt. Kirkey at the time, and was mentioned in Keith Nolan’s book, just not by name. We were picked up early the next morning & brought to MaryAnn to provide support & reinforcements. It was a long time ago (45 years) but I remember counting 153 people who were medevaced that following day. That doesn’t agree with the “official” count, but I DID write that down in the little pocket notebook that all RTOs carried.. Colonel Doyle was removed & replaced by Colonel Clyde Tate, and shortly thereafter, we all moved from MaryAnn to LZ Linda, which was located just outside of DaNang. We replaced the First Marine Division there, which was coming home. I spent the rest of my tour THERE as a batallion (1/46) radio operator, under Col. Tate until coming home in Aug. of ’71.
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Thanks for the commentary, Dale. My friend, Steve Blackburn and I were both reassigned from the 25th Division in March, ’71. I went to the 101st and Steve went to Americal and FSB MaryAnn. He was on the firebase the night they were attacked and survived the battle. I didn’t find this out until years after returning from Vietnam. To this day, he doesn’t care to talk about it.
On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 10:52 AM, Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel wrote:
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Appreciating the persistence you put into your blog and in depth information you provide. It’s awesome to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Excellent read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
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17 years old…DROSed out april 70….heard years later that LZ professional moved to a “higher” point…and were overrun…..I remember Lt. Col Doyle (i think I remember)
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I have pictures on the history page on of my web site http://www.morrisonmotorco.com of my squad digging trenches on l z judy which 1/46 went to first and then to l z mary ann we also spent about a week in the que-son valley and we went into laos when the u.s.. went in I was in co. c sept 69-sept 70 the last time out we left mary ann july 31 1970 the morning after sgt Ball was fragged he was a great guy and we got hit bad aug 5 and aug 8 and we ended up on l z judy most likely around sept 1 then I went home any questions give me a call 704-782-7716 thank you jimmy morrison
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A great read for a current member of the 1/46th Infantry here in Fort Benning, GA. Currently work in battalion staff. We are conducting our annual Torchlight Ceremony this March 2015 and would love it if some of the readers who provided comments of their experiences at FSB MA can contact me for some information. vincent.r.felin.mil@mail.mil Thank you all for those who served, most especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Out here.
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i was in co. c 1/46 196 i help build mary ann our bunker when on the hill was 2 0r 3 had to remember i was in co.c sept 69-sept70 last time i left mary ann as a company was the day after the fragging i believe aug 1 70 we got hit bad aug 5 again aug 8 both were bad we finally got to lz judy from there i went back to mary ann with some wounded and then to chu lair to the world this is a good article about mary ann
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Thanks pdoggbiker. Information in your referenced article indicates that bunker 18 was occupied by infantry. Oh well…
Something else that puzzles me…. I was stationed on LZ Professional from Oct 69 thru “about” Mar of 70, and also with the 1/46th. “About” Mar 70 we were moved out of LZ Pro, without much warning. When I say “we”, I mean our Quad, all ammo, as well as the artillery (102mm), the infantry company(s). It was a fast and quick pull-out. I recall flying east for what seemed like an hour or so, to a hot LZ and made our new home. I was told the LZ was called Hustler. Within a few weeks of that I contracted Malaria, was sent to the 91st Evac, and then sent to other LZ’s after recovery.
Now, as I read different data from various resources, I’m beginning to believe that what I thought was Hustler, was probably FSB MA. The geographical location and description of Mary Ann could easily describe my recollections of Hustler. Those recollections however, are obscured from a Malaria infested brain.
Do you know the destination of the 196th 1/46th units that were taken from LZ Professional around Mar 70?
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I was in B co, 1/46th working out of LZ Professional when we were sent to LZ Mary Ann in June of ’70. I went home at the end of August, 1970.
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Welcome Home Chris!
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I was there april 69 to march 70….early release by a month or two…I heard “we had moved and were overrun at the new location..
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Excellent article. A small portion of it seems to be a duplication of the article found in history.net.
I was a survivor of the siege on FSB Mary Ann, March 28, 1971. In fact, it was my last night, and the end of an 18th month tour in country. I left FSB MA by noon 3/28/71, and a few days early of my regularly scheduled deros because of a family death at home and the Red Cross sent me home.
I was a member of the Quad 50 crew, G Battery, 55th Field Artillery. Although rarely mentioned any many accounts of the event , we fought hard during the siege ourselves. The first of the mortar fire were well centered on our living quarters and the ammo bunker. Exploding 50 caliber rounds and mortar fire kept us briefly pinned down. By the time we were recovering from that, sappers began throwing satchel charges in the bunker. Burned, and with minor wounds from debris, we finally made it out to the trenches and the quad. I did not have a weapon at first, and defended myself hand to hand against one already wounded sapper. Finally finding a weapon, it was difficult to make a shot in fear of shooting one of your own. Best shots were achieved during the illumination of a flare.
We finally got the quad firing, with the help of a couple of the infantry guys and returned fire to departing sappers.
I noticed your article included a map of the firebase. My tenure at FSB MA was about two weeks, and I can’t remember exactly where the quad was situated but, I think it was bunker 18 on your map. Do you know where I can acquire information that might better identify the bunker inhabitants depicted in your map?
I’ve read Nolan’s book and the article found in history.net. Can you recommend other literature about this event?
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Ron, try this link…there is a wealth of resources available that may help you. Thanks for taking the time to leave your update…much appreciated. Welcome Home Brother! God Bless!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_FSB_Mary_Ann
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