Russ Warriner

The date was 5/20/68 and this is when C 2/20th area got really messed up and most A/C were so messed up that they all were grounded for repairs. When things first started to happen Jim Krull and Tommie Rolf and one crew chief were on the flight line. Jim Krull had just done a preflight to the A/C he was to fly and Rolf was getting his gear into the one he was to fly in Krull yelled to him to get over and help him get at least one A/C off the ground. They cranked and took off with the crew chief that was there. When things slowed down they landed and had just gone to the bunker when the Ammo dump went up. A 155mm round was blown from the dump across the compound and came through the bunker roof hitting Tommie Allen Rolf in the head (may he rest in pease) and fell over onto Jim Krulls leg. No one else was hurt although there were several pilots there at the time. Some where I have a photo of this round after in lay in the bunker a while. Tommie Allen Rolf was a new Warrant Officer straight out of flight school and charm school. Had been in C Battery for only a day or two.

Ed Donovan(C/2-20 ARA)

I was one of I think only two aircraft to take off during the ammo dump blow. Not sure who the second a/c belonged to but it appeared to be from the 227th's area. Interesting attempted take off by that huey, I could see it come up & head towards the perimeter fence when a blow occurred & the a/c went straight into the ground. Did not explode but no more movement was seen. My rotor was not turning yet. The decision to launch a BlueMax a/c came from Div Arty. down to C-Btry, I was the unit IP and so was the volunteer to try the launch. Obviously I made it, what a sight from the air!

What a rush getting to the a/c, & started, & off the ground It rates way up there on the non-shooting pucker trips. Stayed up in the air all night refueling North at B-Btry I believe that was at Sharon (possible crs on the name of the LZ.) I was relaying data back to our commo as to if any incoming was also a fact. Never saw any flashes out of the ammo dump area. Were the biggest explosions I have ever seen. As I understand it only one American fatality occurred. It was a Warrant in our unit that was the victim; I had not yet even finished his in country checkout. A 155 round w/nose plug still in came down through the B-Btry pilots bunker (we thought it was 122 proofed) and as I understand the round just broke through and fell on his head killing him instantly. Sad way to go; in a "safe bunker" Have to tell you I definitely had a different view of the "Big Blow"

Joe Potvin (A/227)

We were directly across the flight line from the dump so we took a real beating, I remember right after the two? rockets came in that when we got out of the bunkers we looked over to the dump and noticed smoke and some small arms cooking off. About five minutes later a fire truck went racing down the road to the dump and got within a few hundred feet when something bigger cooked off. That truck went faster in reverse back up the road than it came forward down the road. I spent the evening in the COs bunker with Jay Dirnberger Clyde French the ops officer. The CO and XO were stuck in the Battalion Bunker as they were attending the daily Bn briefing at the time the party started. They left those bunkers and hot footed it across the flight line about 11:00 pm when they started to cave in, Bn was surrounded by the ammo dump and MoGas POL so it really got creamed. Maj. Peterson, our CO picked up a piece of shrapnel running across the flight line, pretty lethal environment outside. The command bunker had curved entrances and grenade traps built in, I was sitting halfway up the entrance when the big one went up...got blown down into the bottom of the bunker by the concussion, lit up like daylight in the bottom of the bunker. Next day when we crawled out there was a split open 8" shell laying on top of the bunker, crap everywhere. Biggest problem were the M-79 rounds laying all over the place...couldn't tell whether they were armed or not. B Co pilot kick an armed one through his tent the next day, got a ticket home. Met him 10-12 years ago...he was flying for the Indiana NG but needed a cane due to the foot injury. I found a smouldering M106 recoilless rifle round laying in my bunk Quite a night. My brother(Bob Potvin) said they watch us cook off a night from up in Quang Tri thought we were all dead.

Russell(B/227):

I managed to get shot down earlier that day, east of Quang Tri, CA'n some Arvns. Took one round up the tailpipe. I set it down with only a broken hinge when I pulled the emergency handle on the door. My side was near the tree line!!
Later that day when good old 228th brought it back, we were surprised at how little damage there was. (I wasn't) One round had gone through turbine blades. Maintence said they'd have it up the next day! Left it parked on top of the flight line OUTSIDE of a revetment - broadside to the ammo dump!
Of my two tours in vietnam - that night (day) stands out the most. After getting blown from a trench line, sucking CS gas for a couple of hours, crawling over a dead ARVN (thought it was a sapper!!! as NO indigenous people were allowed on Evans at night!) Watching all of B/227th's tents burn down (except mine and I think the old man's), I finally wound up in the 228th TOC. Then as I was sitting there in nothing but fatigue pants and Ho Chi Minh sandals..some Major came in asking for RLOs as we might have to defend the base camp and I thought I had finally found safety.

Dave Greene:

We (B/227th) were right next to the division ammo dump (about 75 yds.). When the CS got blown upwind by the first big boom, it was coming back through our area. I HATED that stuff, so I ended up going out into that fire storm to get everybody's gas mask. Visibility was real good since the first blast took away all of our tents. Got mine, then started rounding up everyone else's. I was at the end of the GP medium tent closest to the fire when the second blast went off. It blew me through the air to the other end of the tent. (Does anyone know how big a GP Medium tent is? I felt that I was in the air for about two years, but it probably wasn't quite that long. I remember thinking that it was a real pisser that I- a helicopter pilot - was going to die on the ground. It was long enough) I landed on the sandbag wall around the other end of the tent. That broke my reentry speed. When I came to, (about 10 seconds later), I was lying on my back, looking up at the fireball rising in the air. Someone told me later that the fireball topped out at 15,000 ft. and was quite beautiful. From underneath, it certainly was spectacular. Multicolors, with stuff flying out in all directions. I admired it for a time, then the old brain turns over once. It says to me "Everything that goes up must come down. Get under something." So I pulled a square of tent canvass lying nearby (about two square feet) over me. Brain turns over one more time about 30 seconds later and says "No, that isn't going to be enough!" So, with diminished brain power (I've only had two consecutive thoughts so far) I stand up and walk back to the bunker with all that stuff whizzing by me. I still had the gas masks in my hand! I toss them down into the bunker and sort of fall face first into the bunker myself. Everybody is pissed at me! What? What? Oh, I forgot to mention, I am stone deaf now too, in addition to being stone stupid! They are mad because they think I am dead, since I didn't respond when they were shouting at me. Well, I was busy, admiring the fireball at that time. All the gas masks are now being used. Where's mine, damn it. Shared a gas mask with George Smith. That is a really stupid thing to try and ends up being totally useless to both people.
Steve Harper has taken a piece of shrapnel in the leg, and when someone comes by to tell us to evacuate, we take him with us (at his insistence), and drop him off at an aid station farther away. Finally felt safe somewhere down in the 228th's area, about 1/2 mile from the fire.

I heard estimates that the big blasts (7 of them) were entire revetments being cooked off after being surrounded by fire. They said that each blast was about 200,000 lbs of explosive going off at once, with the second blast being the largest. It was certainly my personal favorite. 10,800,000 pounds of ammunition were destroyed that night.
We had NO helicopters the next morning. The entire Cav was just about brought to its knees by one (or two or three) rockets that night.
When they rebuilt the ammo dump they put it away from most of the inhabited areas of Camp Evans. Good thinking, Why didn't I think of that.

Mel Canon(B/227)

I remember the night of May 19th, '68 very well. As mentioned by either Larry Russell or Steve Harper earlier...I was in the shower when the first rocket impacted at Camp Evans. I dee dee'd to the tent and by the time I got there all hell had broken loose. I bypassed my bunk and went directly into the bunker with just the towel and shower shoes on. Spent the whole damn night that way...well, almost, lost the towel a time or two. I remember David Green being deafened by the explosion that took out our tent, I remember Steve Harper going outside for some reason and taking a piece of shrapnel in the leg...but the most vivid memory that night...besides the stinging crotch from the CS that infiltrated the bunker...was Terry Glendy taking out an ARVN SGT.
We were inundated with explosion after explosion for most of the night.Sometime during the early part of the night we heard the guns on the perimeter open up and later heard gooks talking in gook outside the bunker.
A couple of us went into the trench of the bunker with weapons to check things out. I remember an ominous figure stepping into the entrance of the tent (that was no longer there...but the sandbags around the entrance were).
Terry yelled something as I recalled that this figure went into a crouch. Then Terry cut loose with, what I believe was, a Thompson .45. The figure fell backwards and lay in front of the tent entrance the rest of the night.
Sometime during the night our bunker began to weaken from the massive explosions and we evacuated, moving to other bunkers in the area. I still had only the towel and shower shoes and by this time my living area in the tent had totally disappeared. We all hauled ass out of the bunker and I don't know where any of the others went. I ran south to some sort of command bunker and there was someone else with me. I remember sitting on the floor of this well fortified hotel of a bunker with it's ammo box walls and PSP/Sandbag roof feeling like it was just a matter of time before I died.
I remember sitting on the floor of the bunker and feeling the vibration in my butt as each explosion rocked the compound. Pallets of 8" powder bags were exploding all at once and when the things would go off I could feel the ground shake against my ass before the concussion invaded the bunker. The roof seemed to lift up with each explosion and dirt would fall all over the place. I was never so damn scared in all my life as I was that night.
At first light I ambled out of the bunker and made it back to the B/227th area looking for something to wear besides the towel that was mostly caked mud by that time. The whole place was one eerie junk pile of fragments of shell casings and mangled helicopters. The ground was so covered with spent and unspent ordinance that walking around was dangerous. Several people from the camp were injured from exploding devices as the tried to walk around...setting stuff off as they walked near it.
I made my way back to the place where my tent had been and there by the entrance was an ARVN SGT...cut nearly in two by the impact of the .45 rounds he taken when Terry popped him. I remember that he laid there amongst all the shrapnel and mangled tents for what seemed like hours before anyone removed the body.
Terry just came up online, by the way and will be joining our net soon. He'll have just a vivid a memory of that night as any of us that went through it. I'd never been that close to ground zero of such a large explosion before and it was a long time before I got over the impact of that night. Someone indicated that it might have been me that tried to take off that night and was blown into the ground...it wasn't but if I'd not been in the shower when it all started...if I'd had some clothes on...I'd have certainly made a dash for a ship and tried like hell to get off the ground.
That was a living hell for too many hours. I'd have opted for a chance to get airborne, given the opportunity. Don't remember how many of us were in the bunker that night before we evacuated it but I do remember that we had only enough gas masks for about half of us and we were passing them around to share. They must have been the masks that David Green managed to bring back into the bunker. The same explosion that deafened him caught me in the bunker entrance trying to get to some clothing from my bunk. I was blown through the trench and across the entire bunker by that explosion. When I had enough courage to stick my head out again...there was no tent...nor much of anything that had been in it either.
B/227 lost all their tents that night...and all their aircraft. We managed to get one up and running next day and Jerry Colonna and I flew down to DaNang and conned the Marines out of some GP Medium tents. Then commenced the rebuilding of Camp Evans. I was about 45 days from DEROS at that time.

Pat Murphy(C/228th)

Well, it just so happened that my ship was the furthest from the dump, and I had minor damage to one rotor blade and some holes in the sheet metal in a few places. The next morning we repaired her and I got airborne. However, the rest of the company did not fare so well. We had 4 birds totally destroyed, as I remember, and the rest of the ships (except for mine) were damaged enough that they took some time to repair. I believe that I was the only airworthy Hook in C Co. for the next three days or so.
I have a distinct recollection of that 1st BIG blast. I remember that we were sitting on our helmets just outside a bunker in the dark. Suddenly, it lit up so bright that I could see the whiskers on the face of the man across from me, and almost simultaneously, we were picked up by the concussion and thrown to the ground. I remember looking up at the rising column of fire and seeing large black objects tumbling over and over high above me. Being familiar with the theory of "What goes up must come down.", I lost little time visiting that nearby bunker I mentioned.
You must remember the debris lying all around the nest day. You could not take a step without stepping on a piece of shrapnel. When asked how it was "over there", I always tell people, "Noisy!".

Mid Air Collision at Camp Evans RVN October 3, 1968

Probably one of the greatest fears in Vietnam was to die on the way home. Time and again there were example after example of how you weren't really safe until you heard the wheels thump into the wheel wells of the DC-8 Freedom Bird taking us home. What follows is our recollections of that day in 1968, the accident report and the list of all known KIAs from the National Archives for the First Cavalry Division.

It all started with:

Official Accident Summary:

THE US AIR FORCE C7-A DEPARTED CAMP EVANS AIRFIELD FROM RUNWAY 36. HIS LAST RADIO TRANSMISSION AFTER RECEIVING TOWER CLEARANCE WAS "ROLLING". THIS AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED TO BREAK RIGHT PRIOR TO REACHING THE END OF THE RUNWAY. HE CONTINUED A CLIMBING TURN TO A HEADING OF APPROXIMATELY 130 DEGREES. THE CH-47 HELICOPTER HAD DEPARTED LZ NANCY ONLY A FEW MINUTES BEFORE.

IT WAS PROCEEDING SOUTH ALONG HIGHWAY QL-1, ON A HEADING OF 170 DEGREES, IN A SHALLOW DESCENT. THIS IS A SCHEDULED DAILY PASSENGER AND MAIL SHUTTLE AND WOULD HAVE ENTERED TRAFFIC ON A RIGHT BASE LEG FOR LANDING AT THE CAMP EVANS ASP PAD IS THE REGULAR STOP FOR THIS SHUTTLE AND IS LOCATED EAST OF THE CENTERLINE OF RUNWAY 36, APPROXIMATELY 1000 FEET SOUTH OF THE APPROACH END OF THAT RUNWAY.

HE HAD NOT YET CALLED THE TOWER FOR CLEARANCE, THOUGH HIS UHF RADIO WAS ON TOWER FREQUENCY. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE CH-47 WAS CRUISING AT APPROXIMATELY 95 TO 100 KNOTS. THE C7A WITH CLIMB POWER, SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT ABOUT 105 KNOTS. THE TWO AIRCRAFT CONVERGED AT AN ALTITUDE OF APPROXIMATELY 1100 FEET AT A RELATIVE ANGLE OF APPROXIMATELY 40 DEGREES. THE COCKPIT SECTION OF THE C7-A CONTACTED THE REAR ROTOR OF THE HELICOPTER. THE C7-A HAD STARTED A RIGHT BANK, PROBABLY A LAST MINUTE ATTEMPT TO AVOID THE COLLISION. WHEN THE TWO AIRCRAFT COLLIDED, AT LEAST ONE OF THE HELICOPTER REAR ROTOR BLADES SLICED THROUGH THE COCKPIT SECTION OF THE AIRPLANE ON AN ANGLE FROM THE TOP OF THE COPILOTS WINDSHIELD DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PILOTS WINDSHIELD, KILLING BOTH PILOTS INSTANTLY, AND DESTROYING ALL ENGINE CONTROLS.

AT THE SAME TIME, ONE OF THE ROTOR BLADES, OR DEBRIS FROM THE COCKPIT STRUCK THE LEFT PROPELLER OF THE C7-A. ONE OF THE BLADES WAS SEVERED FROM THE PROPELLER, AND PASSED THROUGH BOTH SIDES OF THE FUSELAGE OF THE AIRPLANE. THE LEFT PROPELLER THEN SEPARATED FROM THE ENGINE AND FELL TO THE GROUND. THE C7-A MADE A STEEP DESCENDING RIGHT TURN AND STRUCK THE GROUND ON A HEADING OF 340 DEGREES. THE AIRCRAFT DISINTEGRATED, ALL PERSONNEL ABOARD PERISHED, THERE WAS NO FIRE. THE CH-47, AT THE MOMENT OF THE COLLISION LOST ALL OF ITS REAR MAIN ROTOR BLADES. ONCE THESE BLADES WERE BROKEN AND DISTORTED BY THE COLLISION, THEY CHOPPED INTO THE TOP OF THE HELICOPTERS FUSELAGE BEFORE FINALLY SEPARATING FROM THE HUB.

THEY DISLODGED TWO SECTIONS OF THE SYNCHRONIZER DRIVE SHAFT WHICH ALSO FELL TO THE GROUND. AT THIS TIME, NEITHER ROTOR SYSTEM COULD PROVIDE ANY THRUST, AND THE HELICOPTER BECAME A FREE FALLING BODY. WHILE IT WAS TUMBLING TO EARTH, THE REAR ROTOR MAST AND PYLON SEPARATED FROM THE FUSELAGE AND LANDED 150 METERS SHORT OF THE FUSELAGE. THE FUSELAGE TUMBLED TO EARTH AND IMPACTED ON A HEADING OF APPROXIMATELY 120 DEGREES. IT LANDED ON ITS TOP LEFT SIDE IN A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE, WITH NEAR ZERO FORWARD SPEED. IT EXPLODED ON IMPACT. TWO PERSONS FELL OUT OF THE HELICOPTER AS IT TUMBLED THROUGH THE AIR. THEY WERE FATALLY INJURED ON CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. THOSE REMAINING IN THE HELICOPTER DIED IN THE CRASH.

Information on U.S. Army helicopter tail number 66-19041
Date: 681003
Incident number: 681003141ACD
Accident case number: 681003141
Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: A/ 228 Combat Support Aviation Battalion 1st Cavalry Division
Phu Bai Province
Number killed in accident: 11 Injured: 0 Passengers: 6

Crew Members:

AC W2  JOHNSON THOMAS EUGENE  KIA 
     
P  W1  CONROY RONALD LEE      KIA

FE E4  COSTLEY LARRY L        KIA

CE E4  PIERCE JERRY LEE JR    KIA

G  E4  REESE DENNIS DEAN      KIA

Passengers from the aircraft accident list are:

CPT ALDERSON THOMAS EARL

SFC CLEMENTS DAWSON

SSG YOUNG WILLIAM RANDOLPH

PFC LUCIER JOHN WILLIAM

SSG WALLACE CHARLES JAMES

SP4 SEE MICHAEL DUANE

CPT Thomas E. Alderson was not a member of the First Cav and not listed in the National Archives list of all known losses - 1st Cavalry Division The National Archives list of all known losses in the 1st Cavalry Division on October 3, 1968 lists the following names. Each name has a code beside it which designates whether they were on the CH-47 or the C-7A. The military occupational specialty (MOS) is the numerical designation shown to the right of the name, i.e 11B20 is a lower ranking infantryman.

SFC Dawson Clement 31G40 Tactical Commo Chief CH-47
WO1 Ronald L. Conroy 062B CoPilot CH-47 CH-47
SP4 Larry L. Costley 67U20 CH-47 Crewmember CH-47
SP4 Donald J. Cramer Jr. 05B20 Comm. Specialist C-7A
SP4 David J. Dellangelo 11B20 Infantryman C-7A
SP5 David A. Disrud 4C20 Welder C-7A
SP5 Allen E. Gomes 94B20 Cook C-7A
SP5 Dale G. Granger 31E20 Field Radio Repairer C-7A
PFC Joe J. Hibbler 11B20 Infantryman C-7A
CW2 Thomas E. Johnson 062B Pilot CH 47 CH-47
PFC John W. Lucier 71F20 Postal Clerk CH-47
SP5 David B. Perreault 94B20 Cook C-7A
SP5 Jerry L. Pierce 67U20 CH 47 Crewmember CH-47
SP4 Dennis D. Reese 67A1P OH-6 Crew Chief CH-47
SP4 Michael D. See  91B20 Medic CH-47
PFC Robert D. Tomlinson 11B20 Infantryman C-7A
SSG Charles J. Wallace 67Y40 AH-1G Maint NCO CH-47
PFC Dennis A. Wirt 11B20 Infantryman  C-7A
SSG William R. Young 45B40 Small Arms
                           Artillery Repairer CH-47

From the United States Air Force in Southeast Asia-Tactical
Airlift, page 475:

Prior to 1968, three serious operational problems defied effective solution, all requiring better coordination between the U.S. Army and the Air Force in the field. First, flying officers of both services testified to the danger of midair collision near forward airstrips. This was the result of uncontrolled flying, incompatible radio equipment, and the absence of commonly accepted procedures for Army helicopter and Air Force transport operations at shared airheards. A midair collision between a Caribou and a Chinook near Camp Evans on October 3, 1968, cost twenty five lives and tragically illustrated the problem. Second, physical conditions at forward airstrips were sometimes unnecessarily dangerous. Hazards included bunkers or other obstacles near runways and taxi areas, uncontrolled vehicle and pedestrian traffic and landing surfaces needing improvement. Third, a better system for warning transport crews of firing by friendly artillery was needed.

The destruction of an Air Force Caribou by a 155MM shell while landing at Ha Thahn in August 1967 highlighted this problem.

Joe Potvin A/227 a UH-1H Huey unit

I was sitting in POL hot refueling and watched the C7-A take off to the North from the active runway. We were facing north so I lost sight of the fixed wing after it made a hard right break which I'm sure kept it either inside of or over Hwy 1. The Air Force jocks thought the Evans area was pretty dangerous so they max performance takeoffs out of there to limit exposure.
The next thing I knew was my crew chief was at my door telling me he had just watched the C7 run into a Chinook, at about the same time the tower frequency lit up with calls for assistance from any helicopters in the area.
We buttoned up and headed for the crash sight, you could see smoke coming from the CH-47 crash site but the C7 was harder to find. I landed next to the C7 wreckage ( a polite term meaning big ass hole in the rice paddy ) and did a quick walk around with my crew chief. There wasn't a thing left. It was all buried in the rice paddy ( no standing water but still wet ). The biggest thing I saw was one of the mangled engines..
Chief and I looked at each other, went back to aircraft and left the area. Not a pleasant sight. By that time many more troops were arriving and it was clear we were only in the way. I don't think any of us wanted to stay around and sift through the wreckage looking for parts.

Gene Lassiter, 228th, 68-69

I was already at Bn HQ when this happened. I remember Lt. Col. Paquette , who commanded from June to December 1968, in a rage because the AF type who commanded the Caribou unit tried to blame the Hook for the crash. It turned out that the Caribou driver was horsing around and pulled a steep climb and turn immediately after take-off. If I remember right, the blade of the Hook took out the cockpit of the Caribou and it was thought that the plane was otherwise flyable, but of course had no hands "at the wheel". I think there was a Longhorn on the Caribou going on R&R and his brother was at Evans watching the whole thing. I could be wrong about that. Still don't remember the date. The 228th flight surgeon was one of the first on the scene and I'll never forget his face when he came back. We were all pretty sick.

Dave Greene B/227th

The mid-air between the hook and the caribou happened the day before I was to DEROS (from Evans to AnKhe). I was watching the Caribou take off ('cause I was to ride it the next afternoon), when it turned through the downwind leg of traffic. It clipped the back rotor of the hook. It lost about 15-20 feet of wing, but the rotors probably went through the cockpit too. It pitched up to stall, then nosed over straight down. The hook started to spin, throwing bodies out the back of the aircraft. God, what a horrible sight. I think 42 people were killed. It was hard to get on that plane the next day!

Web Masters Note: The information above I feel is important to the History of our unit and a Tribute to the Men that Died in this event. Let us not Forget them.
I am still trying to dig up more information on this unit but the record keeping was sparse and hard to find. I will post what I find as soon as I can put it together.