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During 1969/70 USSF was asked to scale
down its Civilian Irregular Defense Group
program as part of the withdrawal of US
forces from South Vietnam.
CIDG US Special Forces camps and their
assets were turned over
to the Vietnamese Army Ranger
Command.
The CIDG became light infantry Border
Rangers and were no longer engaged in
unconventional warfare.
***************
On the 31st of January 1969, Gia Vuc A-camp
was officially transfer to
the RVN Special Forces (LLDB)
supposedly ending the presence of USSF
in Gia Vuc.
On the 30th of September 1970, the
camp was transferred to the 70th RVN
Rangers.
The 70th Ranger Battalion at Gia
Vuc was part of the 11th RVN Ranger
Group
which was attached to the RVN 2nd Infantry
Division.
The 11th Group also had the 68th
Ranger battalion at Son Ha
and the 69th at Tra Bong.
In May 1974 The 70th Ranger
battalion was engaged in heavy
fighting with
NVA forces east of Gia Vuc.
By September, the situation in the
Quang Ngai Province was getting critical.
The commander of the 2nd Division requested
permission to withdraw
the 70th and the 68th, as they were isolated
and badly exposed to NVA attacks.
This was denied!
On the 19th of September an artillery
barrage fell on Gia Vuc and was followed by ground NVA assaults. Five
of the nearby outposts fell and 3 were
retaken by the Rangers. Unfortunately the
weather closed in and without Air strike and
artillery support, the 70th with heavy casualty
was unable to hold.
Gia Vuc fell on the 21st of September
and only 21 survivors made it back to the
RVN lines.
*******************
So far nothing is officially known about Gia Vuc
life after the departure of A-103.
But
according to e-mails received, USSF were
still present at the various camp after they
were turned over to the RVN forces.
More about the turnover of the
Civilian Irregular Defense Group program
to the Vietnamese at http://www.history.army.mil/books/Vietnam/90-23/90-237.htm
Looking
for more information on the period post
January 1969
Please
get in touch via our contact page
USSF and
Rangers must have been assigned as
advisers to the 70th RVN ranger Batallion,
we need to get in touch with them to find
out more! Can you help?
e-mail received from DicK Holmes
(Seabee)
"I was at Gia Vuc and Ba To in
November, 1970 and I am positive there was
at least one SF fellow at Ba To.
Seems like there were Americans at Gia Vuc
too, but I can't say if they were SF".
e-mail received from Dean C. Hammond
Jr. Maj, Av/Inf (Ret)
"I was a Birddog pilot from Chu Lai
from Oct 70 - Mar 71. I flew missions in
support of Gia Vuc and used their artillery
in my AO.
I flew into Gia Vuc just before Christmas
1970, when a Caribou with a big Santa Claus
painted on the side of it had landed there
and the USO girls were handing out candy to
the kids. I used the guns in early 1971 when I came in
contact with some VC well north of you, but
you were able to perform some magic and get
the shots out there at the end of your fan.
It was great shooting.
I flew someone's girlfriend down there in
1971. She was a nurse from the 91st Evac in
Chu Lai. I don't remember the name.
I was hit in the leg by a .51 Cal. in March
'71 near Kam Duc, but was able to make it
back to Chu Lai and finally home after a
stay in Japan.
Do you know who any of the players might
have been at the time. There were definitely
SF advisers in Gia Vuc then."
e-mail received from Cpt J R van de Grift,
Adjudant B-11
In October or November of 1969,
when I was Adjutant at Detachment B-11, Chu Lai, I was
directed to go to Gia Vuc to take pay-roll or to pay a
death gratuity, can't remember which.
As
the detachment's Adjutant, I flew around to the camps
nearly every day rotating movies camp to camp and
delivering the mail so this assignment was more or
less routine. One difference, however, was that there
wasn't an American presence at Gia-Vuc any more in
1969. The camp was entirely L.L.D.B. That meant no
american food while I was there. Okay, I wasn't fond
of rice and weeds for every meal. Other than that, I
was up for the experience.
A
short while before my assignment to go to Gia-Vuc, I
noticed in a sitrep that an operation sent out by the
camp had been ambushed and, strangely enough, all the
L.L.D.B. that were with the patrol were killed in the
ambush... and only them, no little people.
I filed this in the back of my mind
and flew south to Gia Vuc. I knew that the L.L.D.B.
were known to often pressure the yards into giving
them back a percentage of their pay at this all Viet
camp.( All of our little people were paid with C.I.A.
funds, which I usually handed out.)
When
my business was done, using a map of the area, I
looked up where the ambush co-ordinates were only to
find it happened in the south of the camp's safe area.
Hmmm,
the safe area. Couldn't help
myself, I had to walk down there and look at the
supposed location, after all, it was well within the
valley dominated by the camp. As a result, without a
weapon, I set off casually on foot. I hadn't gone far
when an S.F. officer I had known at Bragg came running
up to join me. He had just landed on the helipad and
smelled a little fun in the air. I was happy to have
his and his .38's company.
When
we reached the ambush co-ordinates, it was patently
obvious it was well within controlled territory and a
very unlikely site for any N.V.A. activity. No sooner
had we poked around than a 3/4 truck overfilled to
bursting with armed yards from the camp raced up and
"rescued" us before we might see too much. I
almost laughed out loud.
Nothing
else was mentioned and my friend and I chalked up the
L.L.D.B. deaths to the yards having enough of the
L.L.D.B.'s greed and doing something about it. So
much for my tale of Gia-Vuc.
Story tanks to Cpt J R van de Grift,
Adjudant B-11 Chu Lai, 1969 - A-104 CO, Ha Thanh 1970
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