On the way to war

I'd like to share a few words on how I, and 3,000 fellow soldiers, went to Vietnam.

I was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas, in 1965. The 1st Infantry Division's base was there and the division go orders to go to Vietnam, I was transferred into the division and in the fall of 1965, we were flown from Ft. Riley to Oakland. There we immediately went aboard ship, the USNS Barrett, and weren't allowed to depart. The ship departed at 2400 hours (midnight), and we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the past I had driven over it, and now was sailing under it. It was quite a thrill and a memory etched in my mind. The ship rocked us to sleep the first night, all 3,000 of us, but in a couple days, the sea got rough. The bow of the ship was 55 feet from the water and it was going under the waves. Needless to say, most got sick, including me.

For us officers and senior sergeants, we ate at tables with white table cloths, and had a menu to choose from. It was like being on a cruise ship. But for the enlisted men, they slept down below, a lot in hammocks, stacked several high.

From them being sick, the stench was overcoming, if one wasn't sick, he would soon be. After 14 days, we stopped in Guam to take on water. We were only allowed one shower a week because of limited water. We stayed there 24 hours and then departed. After a few days, the ship went dead in the water going through the Philippine Islands. No one knew why, but finally they got the motors going and on we went.

On the 21st day, we arrived at Vung Tau, which later turned out to be a resort town (another story maybe later as I was there for about 10 days supporting an infantry engagement). We saw many Vietnamese fishing boats, and other crafts. Most of us were not accustomed to seeing Asian people, they were, short and skinny, and lightly dressed.

But we also saw several Army helicopter gun ships flying around and then it sunk in on us, and we thought, "what are we getting into." We boarded C-130 aircrafts and were flown to Ton Son Nut Airbase outside of Saigon, then we went to a temporary site, next to the highway, where the Viet Cong would drive by and night and shoot into our compound.

My second night there, one company commander and his sergeant were killed by our own men, by not giving the proper pass word. We were in tents (in fact I spent 10 months in a tent), our only showers were when it rained. Of course there were many stories and tales, but a year later when we rotated back home,I had seen probably around 200 of our soldiers killed in action, The 1st probably lost around 1,000 killed. That is the way it is in infantry divisions.

Roger Gregory was a captain in the 1st Infantry Division during Vietnam. He is now a businessman in Priest River.