We were flying out of the Naval Air Station at Sangley Point, Philippines in 1965, chasing a typhoon across the Pacific Ocean. We left Sangley Point in the afternoon and flew through the night taking fixes on the typhoon into the next morning. As memory serves, we were in the air nearly 20 hours and found ourselves off of the coast of Vietnam without enough fuel to return to Sangley Point, some 900 or more miles away, so LCDR Armstrong, the plane commander radioed for clearance into DaNang to refuel. Our squadron, VW1 also provided overnight low level radar coverage to the Seventh Fleet in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam by flying out of Sangley Point to the fleet and remaining on station overhead for the night and then returning to Sangley Point the next day. The squadron didn’t normally land in-country until a year or more later when they moved there.
We received permission to fly into DaNang and I was excited at seeing the country as we flew overland. We settled into DaNang and taxied to the edge of the tarmac. The first thing I noticed was the Air Force had concrete blocks on three sides of their planes there. I assumed that was for protection from shrapnel in the early days of the base.
The refueling and inspection of the plane was going to take a while so those not directly involved in that were given permission to go over to the mess hall for some lunch and a little relaxation. We left the flight line headed for the mess hall but on the way we had to pass through a few check points. The check points had Vietnamese guards with automatic weapons standing guard. I remember looking at them and wondering how do we know if they are friend or foe? Somewhere along the way someone in the group mentioned we could eat at the Enlisted Men’s club and have a beer with our meal. Anytime there was a beer involved I was up for that and I don’t remember any dissenting members.
We arrived at the club and sat down with a cold beer. The club was busy and I assume the 24-hour a day schedule allowed for guys to be there around the clock. We must have stood out like a sore thumb because people were looking at us. Two men at a nearby table asked us who we were (because we had flight suits on they thought we were officers) and what we were doing there. We explained our plight and sat there chatting about nothing in particular. I asked them where the Marines were as I had read about the Marine’s brave defense of the base there. The answer was that the Marines started too many fights so they were invited to leave the base and stay beyond the perimeter to guard the base from attack. I could understand that, the Airmen we had seen at Travis, Anderson and DaNang seemed more gentlemanly than the Marines and the Marines had little regard for anyone not as tough as they were, including sailors. The guys we met were actually from a base in Florida but were TDY (temporary duty) to DaNang. They lived pretty well compared to the Marines.
All good things must come to an end and our respite was soon over, so we headed back to the flight line. The fueling was done and preflight inspection was underway when we returned to the plane. We had just arrived when the unfriendly folks who were held at bay by the Marines began a mortar attack, preceding an attempt to infiltrate the base and perhaps destroy a few planes. That immediately concluded the preflight inspection and it was “All Aboard” for the flight to Sangley Point. LCDR Armstrong taxied the EC121K out to the end of the runway, stood on the brakes while he revved the engines until the whole plane strained and shook. He released the brakes and the big bird took off like it had a catapult launching it into the air. I never felt it lift off so quickly and climb so fast. I can’t speak for anyone else but I know I didn’t want to be shot down outside the perimeter of the base and I doubt Armstrong did either.
I never did see anything in the Stars And Stripes Newspaper about the attack, (the Stars and Stripes never had any real negative news at that time) but I’m sure the Marines had the situation well in hand and fended off the enemy probe of their defenses; even though they wouldn’t be allowed back on base and had to drink their beer outside the wire.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
The refueling and inspection of the plane was going to take a while so those not directly involved in that were given permission to go over to the mess hall for some lunch and a little relaxation. We left the flight line headed for the mess hall but on the way we had to pass through a few check points. The check points had Vietnamese guards with automatic weapons standing guard. I remember looking at them and wondering how do we know if they are friend or foe? Somewhere along the way someone in the group mentioned we could eat at the Enlisted Men’s club and have a beer with our meal. Anytime there was a beer involved I was up for that and I don’t remember any dissenting members.
We arrived at the club and sat down with a cold beer. The club was busy and I assume the 24-hour a day schedule allowed for guys to be there around the clock. We must have stood out like a sore thumb because people were looking at us. Two men at a nearby table asked us who we were (because we had flight suits on they thought we were officers) and what we were doing there. We explained our plight and sat there chatting about nothing in particular. I asked them where the Marines were as I had read about the Marine’s brave defense of the base there. The answer was that the Marines started too many fights so they were invited to leave the base and stay beyond the perimeter to guard the base from attack. I could understand that, the Airmen we had seen at Travis, Anderson and DaNang seemed more gentlemanly than the Marines and the Marines had little regard for anyone not as tough as they were, including sailors. The guys we met were actually from a base in Florida but were TDY (temporary duty) to DaNang. They lived pretty well compared to the Marines.
All good things must come to an end and our respite was soon over, so we headed back to the flight line. The fueling was done and preflight inspection was underway when we returned to the plane. We had just arrived when the unfriendly folks who were held at bay by the Marines began a mortar attack, preceding an attempt to infiltrate the base and perhaps destroy a few planes. That immediately concluded the preflight inspection and it was “All Aboard” for the flight to Sangley Point. LCDR Armstrong taxied the EC121K out to the end of the runway, stood on the brakes while he revved the engines until the whole plane strained and shook. He released the brakes and the big bird took off like it had a catapult launching it into the air. I never felt it lift off so quickly and climb so fast. I can’t speak for anyone else but I know I didn’t want to be shot down outside the perimeter of the base and I doubt Armstrong did either.
I never did see anything in the Stars And Stripes Newspaper about the attack, (the Stars and Stripes never had any real negative news at that time) but I’m sure the Marines had the situation well in hand and fended off the enemy probe of their defenses; even though they wouldn’t be allowed back on base and had to drink their beer outside the wire.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
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