Welcome to the Gia Vuc after January 1969

Check the other Gia Vuc Websites!

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.

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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.

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So far nothing in 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 Information is required

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 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."

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Looking for more information on the period post January 1969

Please get in touch via our contact page

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

Steve Sherman the archivist for
the Special Forces and Special Operations Associations
Need your help!