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Dixon22.jpgO Tannenbaum?I'm on the left, Ken Fogel, middle, and at right was Zastrow, I recall. I believe he was shot on perimeter guard duty at Duc Pho, sent home and recovered later. A very likable fellow with a great sense of humor. I think he was from Wis/Minn area. I preferred to eat C's in the field- even often at Duc Pho/Montezuma. But in this case, somebody sent us canned goods from back home and we were FEASTING! I got hit with something from a truck that had exploded (probably from a booby trap) along the way. From that time on, I wore my flack jacket and steel pot... because those wonderful things are what absorbed whatever hit me and save my life! Here, as we eat from the cans, Fogel is attempting to teach us a song in German!
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Dixon23.jpgPerformers & Entertainers(Duc Pho, maybe) I distinctly remember the girl (on the right sitting) was quite withdrawn except when she was performing. I talked with her for a bit and she had seen a lot of bad stuff. I suspect she was a little depressed over something she had recently seen, but I didn't press the issue. But you can see here, while the fellow is performing, she seemed almost ready to cry. But when it came her turn, she smiled and went on like a trooper!
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Dixon24.jpgCpl MoneyWe had a lot of guys in our HQ Battery at Duc Pho that had odd last names. The Colonel's aide (at one point) was named "Gee". The corporal (above) who oversaw the field mess under a sergeant was named "Money"... and one of the guys who often worked in the mess (next pic) was named "Lovelady". Here is Corporal Money (I think he was from Texas)...
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Dixon25.jpgPFC Charles Lovelady(Duc Pho) Here is Charles Lovelady of Detroit in his mess cap. This is the FRONT side of the mess tent where smoking was allowed! Cpl. Money wisely didn't allow smoking on the rear side since we had so many gas/kerosene cans stored back there to fuel the stoves! That little hexagonal tent on a kit base behind Lovelady (to the left) served as our barber shop and the fellow who ran it was named Craig Lash. You had to make appointments to get your hair cut and there was always someone in there. Lash was from San Francisco.
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Dixon26.jpgI'm A CollectorHere are all of the papers I saved from my R&R to Bangkok. I save everything- girl's phone numbers... in fact their "numbers" (you had to be there to know what this means). I even saved my plane ticket and the Baht envelopes of money I got at Tommie's Tourist Agency!
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Dixon27.jpgAn offer I could refuse?Here I am with my girlfriend (in T-strap heels, no less) at a Buddhist temple. Cute, huh? My driver (you could hire a 24/7 driver then- rather than get a taxi each time) for $15-$20 a week! And any time you left your hotel- day or night- he (or one of his close friends) was there waiting to drive you anywhere you wanted to go! After I was out one night with my girlfriend, my driver said–rather surprised–in his broken English, "Ohhh! Sirrr... she berrdy plettty... but she not barhhh gurl !? I sink she rike you too much, huh? Maybe you make-a wife...no?"
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Dixon28.jpgClub CardMy membership card at the NCO Open Mess Club at Camp Enari... that kinda reddish brown hue on the card is from... welll... you know what it's from! Wasn't EVERYTHING in Pleiku that color?
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Dixon29.jpg"Mumble X"(Top Center) We called him "Mumble-X." He got that name because he was always talking about Malcom-X and that was about all we could understand him say. He spoke very, very fast and very, very low. It was tough to decipher what he was saying unless you got him to calm down. A cocky, brave guy, though. His name was Mosely (best recall). He was originally part of HQ Btry, but then got farmed out to other units or areas. Last time I saw him he was running convoy. He was operating a quad 50... and seemed to love the action. The words painted on the gun say "V.C. Birth Control." No idea who the other fellows were because they were from another group.
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Dixon30.jpgHowitzer in placeGood pictorial on the 360-degree firing capability.
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Dixon31.jpgCharles LoveladyCharles Lovelady at Montezuma standing next to the APC we affectionately called "Double-Deuce" on a tank retriever. It has just been hauled back from being either broken down or blown up. At one point, Double-Deuce was driven over a 500-LB. bomb that VCs buried. Driver, another friend, Derwyn Kaiser out of Baltimore, was (as I recall) saved by being blown out of the driver's hatch and had to undergo a long and painful hospital stay and operations. Oddly enough, we met not at Montezuma, but at a hospital down in Saigon as I recall when we were both patients.
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Dixon32.jpgBack For MoreHere is driver Derwyn Kaiser on a visit to our tent area (he was with another unit) at Duc Pho Montezuma after his recovery from the Double-Deuce explosion.
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Dixon33.jpgTarget! Wrong TargetAs I recall, this was a Caribou just outside of Duc Pho. I saved the clipping all these years. As I recall, the press kinda twisted the story, but it was a very tragic event.
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