Welcome to Gia Vuc A-Camp
commo
bunker display
A photographic and video journey through 
the 2007 display.

This Display is dedicated to all the A-team Commo men in Vietnam and specifically to four NCO who all served at Gia Vuc in 1965, 1966 or 1967 :
Sgt Gary Bowes, 5th SFGA, A-103, Oct 66-Jan 67
SSG Bill Howe, 5th SFGA, A-103, March-Mai 67
Cpl Les Herring, USMC 1st Force Recon, May-July 65
LCpl Ray Rossi, USMC 1st Force Recon, May-July 65

This is by no means a replica of Gia Vuc Commo bunker, but has been inspired and created with the help of two A-103 senior Radio NCO’s from Gia Vuc who served at the camp between 1966 and 1967, namely SGT Gary Bowes & SSG William G. Howe III. To link our USMC outer display with the commo bunker, you will notice that we have placed a Marine standing next to our SF Radio operator. Although unusual, this is correct for the 1965 Gia Vuc time frame.  
1st platoon of Sub Unit One,
1st Force Reconnaissance Co from the US Marine Corps was attached to Gia Vuc A-team for a few months around May 1965.  
(
Cpl Les Herring and LCpl Ray Rossi have helped me with this part of the display, to find more about USMC Force Recon see link below)

Display

You are now standing in the access area to the commo bunker. This is a relatively safe area of the camp (ignoring the fact that in the event of an attack you would be on the priority mortar hit list from the VC!), but this bunker is well build under ground with concrete walls and a corrugated steel roof with loads of rocks/earth on top. This was a very damp and very hot place to be, with very little comfort. At some stage a partition wall was created in this cramped room to allow the Radio operator privacy to sleep in the bunker. You will note the blanket curtain separating the two areas. If you look around you will see various typical items like the metal strong box which was used to keep the camp radio code books.  On top a thermite grenade has been placed to destroy sensitive material in case the camp was over run.  Next to the Commo man stands a shot gun. At Gia Vuc in 1966/67 it was standard knowledge that anybody trying to enter the Commo bunker during an attack without using the field telephone first would be blasted away!  On the desk is a “Diana one time Pad” which was an early but very effective way of encoding messages. Whilst in the bunker you will hear genuine recording made in Vietnam and a Morse code transmitions of a Gia Vuc Monthly Operational Summary (MOPSUM) kindly transmitted by Sgt Gary Bowes.


"the story goes"
Our US Special Forces Radio NCO is trying to raise one of the camp patrols which have made contact with the local Viet Cong forces.  Standing next to him is a
US Marine Corps Cpl studding local maps. Two of his men are on this patrol, as for over a month a small detachment from USMC force Recon have been serving at Gia Vuc to study USSF operations and gather information in this area for the III Marine Amphibious Force. 

COMMO BUNKER 1.jpg
 Overall view, ambient lighting

COMMO BUNKER 4.jpg
Detail of the Force Recon NCO

COMMO BUNKER 2.jpg
USSF radio operator at work

COMMO BUNKER 5.jpg
Detail view of the Radios set up

COMMO BUNKER 3.jpg
Detail photo of the Commo working area

This fictitious commo bunker is actually based on real facts and modelled loosely on
Gia Vuc Commo bunker thanks to the help and encouragement from  two of A-103 Commo NCOs, Gary Bowes and Bill Howe.
The presence of a US Marine is also based
on true facts, as Force Recon spend several months at Gia Vuc in the summer of 1965.
see link below

COMMO BUNKER DETAILS 2.jpg
Detail photo of the TOC area

COMMO BUNKER 6 FLASH .jpg
Overall view, photo taken with flash

COMMO BUNKER 5A FLASH.jpg
Photo taken with flash, check out the roof construction

COMMO BUNKER FLASH DETAILS.jpg
Detail photos of the radio consol box

COMMO BUNKER BOARD.jpg
 
Board with information on Gia Vuc and Force Recon

You are also listening to an extract of a recreated 40mn long Commo bunker sound track, which will be available to download later on. (long download)

Now if you have study the photos above you will have notice many original details as per Bill and Gary e-mails: Shot gun, code books small safe box with,  phosphorous grenade next to it, clock, Diana pad, pin ups, tape recorder, field telephone, various signs etc, also check out the roof on the photos! (For more info on the Diana pad, check Gary's own website)

Click the link below for our display Video page 

A study of the real Gia Vuc Commo bunker thanks to Bill and Gary.

Force Recon at Gia Vuc
 


 

Go to the Green Beret website Steve Sherman the  archivist for 
the Special Forces and Special Operations Associations  
 Need your help!

Any information and photographs on this site should not be used without prior agreement from the owners.
Copyright ©1997-2012 Gia Vuc Tribute website. All rights reserved
.