Most viewed - Leon "Lee" Dixon
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Dixon44.jpgLZ English - Bong Son182 viewsMe and some of the guys in commo managed to "acquire" a few unauthorized, non-standard arms. Along the way I had a "grease-gun", a "B.A.R.", a captured AK-47, and others. I also carried an M-16 "over and under" (grenade launcher underneath the barrel) until they took it away! Here I am at English with one of my "slightly modified" early M-16s (note that the prongs on the barrel end are NOT joined) and an M-1 A-1 rifle I loved. I also carried a .45 sidearm given to me by one of the officers. And would you believe that I am NOT a "gun guy"?
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Dixon54.jpg182 viewsHere is what kind of damage a communist 122mm rocket could do in the hands of a VC. This building in Saigon was hit during the Tet Offensive and so was I... but that's another story.
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Dixon15.jpgFellow Redlegs180 viewsAnother Polaroid photo. These two guys are friends from another battery....but their names are forgotten.
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Dixon34.jpg155mm Self-Propelled180 viewsTaken when assisting another unit's commo group. They were on the far end of Montezuma from where 2/9th was. This was a self-propelled) 155mm howitzer as it sat at Montezuma/Duc Pho. Taken with a Polaroid and an officer got bugged at me for taking it. I reminded him that I had top secret clearance and he got de-bugged. The marking above the white star is a cartoon of a duck sitting on a squashed egg. Don't recall anymore what it said, but was quite humorous.
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Dixon43.jpgLZ English - Bong Son180 viewsBong-Son was a scary place and we had a lot of weird things happen there, so I kept armed to the teeth 24/7! We were spoiled by the perimeter bunkers we built at Duc Pho. At English, all we had was a flimsy culvert section and some worn-out sandbags with broken-down barbed wire for protection. ONE AK-47 round probably would have gone through this like cheese! I was always told that I was exempt from guard duty due to my critical MOS... but that meant nothing when I got to Viet Nam- especially at Bong Son! Here is an example of my perimeter guard post. Note the M-60 machine gun and ammo, M-79 grenade launcher, flare, box of C-rations, bug spray, etc.. And EVERYTHING looked like it was moving out there at night!
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Dixon-Hospital.jpgC-141 Starlifter180 viewsGot violently ill one night and went into a coma at Qui Nhon. This beautiful bird evacuated me to the Phillipines. On the flight, I saw a guy on a stretcher suspended on the next tier up. When his sheet fell off, I saw that he had lost both legs and left arm. I was partially paralyzed at the time and didn't know if I was going to live, but I remember thinking how lucky I was compared to him. I often wonder what happened to this brave soldier.
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Dixon46.jpgLZ English - Bong Son176 views(cont) Kapow-kapow-kapowww-kapowwww- rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Gunfire breaks out from off in the distance and bullets are whizzing everywhere!
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Dixon2.jpgRemember we had berets?175 viewsHere are the berets. Note the 2/9th embroidery and the shield on the red one. The other also as "2/9 Arty" embroidered on it, but hard to see. We were told that we were authorized to wear the red only at special functions or on post. And the camouflage was for the field... but our sergeants never made much comment about them and we could not wear them in formations.
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Dixon18.jpgThe 2/9th Hexagon graphic175 viewsThis is one of our HQ Btry guys with one of our trucks. Note the special 2/9th hexagon graphic on the door. It is basically a yellow hexagon with a red overlay. It you look at it the right way, it appears to be a box tipped at an angle.
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Dixon52.jpgTraffic Jam175 viewsThe local street toughs that the GI's referred to as "cowboys" used to give me a motorcycle to ride around on. HERE is what is looked like out on the streets in the embassy district near the U.S. Special Services compound in the late afternoons. Traffic jam, South Vietnamese style!
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Dixon57.jpgGI Blues go away175 viewsThis show was hosted by a Hollywood actor and three starlets. Don't remember any names. They sang, danced, told jokes and enthralled the GIs who desperately needed some cheering up and American entertainment.
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Dixon13a.jpgPitching In174 viewsGetting with the program...even us Commo guys!
Note the "macho" version of artillery ear plugs. No wonder we go deaf as seniors.
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