River of Sorrows

By Dennis Phillips

The true story of the Vietnam War in 1967, as seen through one man's experiences with River Assault Squadron 11. The training, a flight, battles, and much more. Operations in the Mekong Delta.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886542615

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River of Sorrows

Dennis Phillips

Copyright © 2022 Dennis Phillips

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 979-8-88654-258-5 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-261-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

To all the men who went away to war and didn’t come home.

Preface

This story is true in as many details as the author can remember. The names of the personnel have been changed.

Chapter 1

It all started in 1966. The brass in Washington wanted volunteers for a special unit to be sent to Vietnam. Red Powell was the first man to volunteer from his ship. He was twenty years old and full of fight. He believed at the time that America was right in being in Vietnam, and he wanted to be part of that. He had no idea what kind of unit he was volunteering for; he only knew he had to be part of it.

When he received his orders, they said to report to Mare Island on November 1, 1966. He was given two weeks’ leave before he was to report.

When the day came for him to leave for his new duty station, he said goodbye to his parents and climbed on the bus which would take him there. It was an eight to ten-hour trip by bus, and it gave him time to think about whether he had made the right decision in volunteering for this unit. By the time he arrived in Vallejo, he decided he had made the right choice. When the bus pulled into the terminal, Red got off and went into the terminal. He walked over to the information counter and asked the man behind the counter the best way to get to the naval base.

Red went out the front door of the terminal and flagged down a cab. He jumped in and told the driver to take him to the main gate of the base. When he arrived at the main gate, he showed the guard his orders and his ID. The guard told him he was going to have to go to the administration building. He also told Red that if he waited a few minutes, the shuttle bus would be back at the gate. Red went over to a bench and sat down to wait for the bus.

About ten minutes passed before the bus arrived. Red got on the bus, and the driver asked him where he was going. Red told him he was looking for the administration building. The driver told him they would be passing the administration building and that he would stop and let him off.

The bus took off down the road and, after several stops later, stopped. The driver told Red this was his stop and to go across the road to the row of buildings on the right; he would reach his destination. He got off the bus and followed the bus drivers’ instructions to the letter. He found the administration building and went in.

Red went up to the counter and waited for one of the clerks to come over and help him. Red handed his orders to a short, wiry man in his early twenties and was told to wait for a few minutes. Red thought the man with his orders, looked familiar. He sat there trying to think of where he had seen this man before. Then it hit him; high school. He had known him in high school.

When the man came back to the counter and called him up, Red asked him if he had gone to Van Nuys High School. He said that he had. Red asked if his name was Jeff Burrows.

He said, That’s my name, but how did you know that?

Red told him he had gone to the same school and graduated in the summer 1964. They talked for a few minutes about their past and found they had known a lot of the same people. Red told Jeff they would have to get together later and talk about school and some of their friends another time.

Red asked Jeff where his barracks were located. Jeff took out a map of the base and showed him where to go. Red thanked Jeff and said goodbye. After a five-minute walk, Red reached his barracks. He went in and picked the first available bunk. He put his seabag away and then laid down for a while. He was tired and fell asleep right away.

Later, after his nap, some of the other men came in, and they were talking about what kind of unit they signed up for. Red tagged along with some of the other men so he could locate other buildings he had need of.

The next morning, the barracks was called to reveille at 5:30 a.m. Red got up, put his uniform on, and went to chow with the rest of the men.

After chow, all personnel were to report to building B. He followed the men to building B and waited outside for further orders. After a few minutes, more men came to building B until the entire area in front of the building had several hundred men waiting.

At precisely 7 a.m., a LTCDR came out the door and someone yelled, Attention on deck. Everyone snapped to attention. The commander told everyone to be at ease and introduced himself as LTCDR Jack Jensen. He told everyone to form four lines. Two men came out of the building, one carrying a folder. LTCDR Jensen took the folder from the man and opened it; he told the men he was going to assign them to their boats and to line up accordingly.

He started with T-111-1 and then the names of the men attached to that boat. Red didn’t have to wait long; he was on T-111-4. Red introduced himself to the other men on the boat. After all the crews were picked, the men got together to find out more about each other. The rest of that day was taken