From The Rice Paddies To The Jungle
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
The fire direction was key to a good weapons platoon. North South stakes were placed to sight the weapons. The tubes swiveled on a heavy metal base. The distance was determined by pulling off a number of bags of gunpowder that circled the base of each shell and by adjusting the angle of the mortar tube. The type of explosion for either ground contact explosion or deep impact was determined by turning the fuse on the front of the mortar shell. The gunner would site the barrel and its height, the other gunner would pull the bags of powder off the shell, adjust the fuse and insert the shell in the top of the tube. When given the command he would drop the shell, it would ignite the propellant in the tube and be sent to its target, for a distance of up to 4300 meters from the mortar pit. In daylight it was a challenge. At night it was extremely difficult to be deadly accurate. This was the heaviest close in support for the line platoons. We would have a number of preset target locations for each day and night. It was coordinated with the line platoons so we did not fire into their ambushes or patrol locations. It was also designed to be a deterrent to the Viet Cong who travelled their routes at night. Many of the night targets were on the canals that traversed our areas. On the night of January 11th, we were firing the preset target locations. We had a secondary explosion which meant we had ignited something from the enemy. The next day George Sheridan’s platoon did a cloverleaf in the area of the explosion. His men found a major enemy arms cache consisting of mines, RPG rounds and shells of various types. On the 20th he again found a large cache that consisted of 56 AK 47s and 22 SKS rifles. These were on the riverbank and were in small boats that had been sunk in shallow waters and covered with plastic to keep the weapons and materials dry. I was able to take photos of these weapons seizures.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
1968 was a year in turmoil in the United States. The war in Vietnam was escalating at an alarming pace. The Tet Offensive by North Vietnam had taken American forces in Vietnam by surprise. The enemy was on the offense. In August, 1968, Ed Dull, an Army, infantry, second lieutenant received orders to join the 199th Infantry Brigade in Long Binh, South Vietnam. As an infantry platoon leader with a combat battalion, Ed participated first hand in fighting America’s unpopular war. Upon returning home after his tour, Ed rarely spoke of his year in the midst of combat. After his parents passed away, Ed found a packet of letters he had written to his family as well as to friends in his home town. The friends had given copies of the letters to Ed’s parents during that year. This book is a compilation of those letters as well as a chronological recollection of memories of that year Ed spent in the rice paddies and the jungles of South Vietnam.
About the Author
Ed Dull graduated from Murray State University at Murray Kentucky in 1967. Along with his degree Ed was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. His branch was Infantry. After his tour in Vietnam, he returned to Mt. Vernon, Illinois and eventually attended Law School at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis). He practiced law in Mt. Vernon, in both a private practice and a public forum (States Attorney). In 1998 Ed and his family moved to California, then McKinney, Texas. He spent many years as a real estate broker. Ed lives in McKinney, Texas with his wife Peggy. He is retired and ready to share his story.