Stars and Stripes: A US military newspaper that never gave you the true story of a battle and how many Marine or Army doggies got killed. It was sugar and spice and everything nice. It never gave the local VC or NVA credit for being nasty little killing machines.
Stock 327 VC: Refers to a typical VC wearing black pajamas, straw pointed hat and usually carrying an SKS or M-1 carbine, complete with a black blanket roll with rice packed in it and wearing 100,000-mile tire shoes. (The term “stock 327” refers to automobile engines that fit into 90% of hot rod cars that people build.)
Strobe Light: A small device, easy to see from the air, that flashed a bright light to identify a position at night. Used only in extreme emergencies. Major Goodheart was killed responding to a strobe light, trying to land a slick with a load of ammo for a Recon team being overrun. Most helicopter gunners never saw one flashing.
Survey: To turn in used equipment for new gear. You surveyed your beat-up fatigue utility uniform for your new jungle fatigue utilities.
Swabby: Term for all sailors of any rank or squid.
TA: Target area or area of operation.
TAOR: Tactical area of responsibility. Another name for a unit’s area of operation.
Thit Cho: Dog meat. Any American citizen who goes into a Vietnamese restaurant and orders this local zip delicacy deserves to have his balls cut off.
Thump Gun: GI slang for M-79 grenade launcher.
Tiger Piss: Army/Marine term for Vietnamese beer such as Tiger Beer/33 Beer. I drank eight bottles in Da Nang and missed a day of work, too drunk to get out of my rack. I called it “Bomb-de-Bomb 33.”
Tiger Stripes: Camouflage pattern of black and green usually worn only by elite Recon units.
Top: Slang for First Sergeant. A man who is hard to bullshit.
Tracer: A bullet with a phosphorous coating designed to burn and provide a visual indication of where your bullets are going. The Marines had, I believe, one tracer for every five bullets. I traded K-bar knives to the Army ordnance guys and had all-tracer belts, which made grass houses catch on fire more quickly.
Tracker: A grunt, often an American Indian, who could track enemy soldiers, especially wounded ones.
Triple Canopy: Jungle or forest that has three distinct layers of overhead tree foliage. We lost Gunbird #10 to this.
Tunnel Rat: A very brave, small Marine or Army grunt who is sent into enemy tunnels armed only with a .45-automatic and a flashlight. Very little was ever written about these brave men. A lot of them died in action with their boots on, unhonored, unloved and unsung!
VC: Victor Charlie. A Viet Cong South Vietnamese Communist guerrilla. We wasted thousands of them, but they killed and maimed a lot of us too. A little gook killing machine with a lot of balls. We had to respect them for their fighting ability.
Viet Minh: They fought the Japanese and then the French. They were masters of building tunnel complexes. Their kids became VCs.
Waste: To kill a gook by any means possible. A term used by the grunts. In the Air Wing, we “dusted” the gooks.
Web Gear: Canvas suspenders and belt used to carry your magazine holders, two canteens, a bayonet and a medical kit. Also called 782 gear by Marines.
White Mice: South Vietnamese Army MPs who wore nice US-made uniforms and pistols. Totally wasted individuals.
WP: Willy Pete. White phosphorous grenade and mortar rounds used to mark enemy positions so gunbirds knew where the VCs were.
WIA: Wounded In Action. Hopefully you got shot on a slow day and got quick medical attention, rather than a busy day when you took a number and waited and waited at the emergency room.
World: Slang term for the land of the big PX, the USA, or home.
XO: Executive Officer. The next in order of command of a unit after the CO.
Yards: Short for Montagnards, who ate my dog Prince for lunch.
Zap: A grunt term for killing a gook.
Zipper Head: Zip for short. Derogatory term for the enemy.
APPENDIX:
Marine Songs and Gunship Missions
SONGS FROM MARBLE MOUNTAIN
(Sung to “Deep In The Heart of Texas”)
The flares at night are big and bright
Up at Marble Mountain
You can see them light the sky at night
Up at Marble Mountain
(Sung to “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”)
And in Vietnam, we fought the dirty Cong
We fought them in the spring time, and in the month of May
And if you ask why the hell we fought them
We fought them for the Red, White, and Blue
(Sung to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”)
Somewhere over the ocean, in Vietnam
Our boys are fighting for freedom
We fight for life and freedom because we are easy
(Sung to “Jingle Bells”)
O jingle bells, mortar shells, VC in the grass
You can take your fucking Christmas Jack,
And shove it up your ass
While riding in my Amtracs across the rice paddies
All of a sudden Victor Charlie started shooting at me
(Sing above verse again)
RUNNING SONGS FROM PARRIS ISLAND (circa 1964)
Momma and Poppa were lying in bed
Momma rolled over to Poppa and said,
Hey let’s go all the way every day
Down the road, muddy road, dirty road
Got to go all the way, can’t stop, won’t stop
Got to go all the way, every day, down the road
The higher the mountain the greener the grass
The younger the woman the better the ass
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I had a girl who lived out west
But I thought the Marine Corps life was best
Now she’s someone else’s bride
And I’ll be running the rest of my life
Sound off—one, two, three four
I love the Marine Corps
I don’t know but I been told
Eskimo pussy is mighty cold
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
If I die in a combat zone
Box me up and ship me home
Pin my medals upon my chest
Tell my mother I did my best
Sound off—one, two, three four
I love the Marine Corps
There ain’t no use looking back
Jody is driving your Cadillac
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I know two sisters who live on a hill
One won’t do it but the other one will
Sound off—one, two, three four
I love the Marine Corps
One! I can’t hear you
Two! A little louder
Three! Now all together
Four! Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I used to wear old blue jeans
Now I’m wearing Marine Corps green
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I used to drink a six-pack
Now I’m running around the track
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I used to drive a Cadillac
Now I’m humping with a pack
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
I left a wife in New Orleans
With 16 kids and a can of beans
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
If I die in a foreign land
Prop me up and put a cigarette in my hand
Sound off—one, two, three, four
I love the Marine Corps
When I get to heaven St. Peter is going to say
How did
you earn your living boy
How did you earn your pay,
And I’ll look St. Peter straight in the eye
And this will be my reply,
I earned my living putting souls to waste
Sound off—one, two, three four
I love the Marine Corps
OUR AIR CREW SONG
(Composed and sung by Lance Corporal N. Woolum)
Silver wings upon my chest
On these wingss, three gold stars rest
We got our wings the known hard way
Not five jumps in the USA
Back home our sweethearts wait
Never to know how we tempt fate
Theirs is worst to be alone
Wondering if we’ll come back home
We fly our birds both day and night
We know we fight for what is right
So here we are and here we’ll stay
To evacuate the Green Berets
Chorus:
Silver wings upon our chest
On these wings 3 gold stars rest
Many times we stood the test
Huey crews America’s best
0331—THE MARINE GUNNER CODE
This is my M-60
There are many like it but this is mine
My M-60 is my best friend
It is my life
I must master it as I must master my life
My M-60 without me is useless
Without my M-60 I am useless
I must fire my M-60 true
I must shoot straighter than my enemy
Who is trying to kill me
I must dust him before he shoots me
I will
Before God I swear this creed
My M-60 and myself are the defenders
Of my country
We are the master of our enemy
We are the savior of my life
So be it, until victory is America’s
And there is no enemy
But Peace!
OUR MISSIONS AT KLONDIKE
CONVOY ESCORT: This is where two gunbirds would follow truck convoys from 1,200 feet up to protect them from enemy fire and ambushes. Usually these trips would be very boring unless the pilot decided to make a few side trips to stir up trouble in the local villages.
LANDING ZONE PREPARATION: These missions consisted of shooting the hell out of an area where the Marines were about to land to make sure the LZ was secure for the UH-34 and 46 Troop Transport helicopters to land. The VC/NVA were smart as hell and never fired on a gunbird. The zips would dig in and wait for the Marines to land then all hell would break out. We watched for muzzle flashes, threw a red smoke grenade to mark their position, and called in F-4 Phantom jets to napalm and bomb the whole area. Thus finally the Marines could stand up and move out to accomplish their mission.
DAWN PATROL: Just like the Errol Flynn WW II movies, at dawn we launched two gunbirds to fly fast and low to see what we could run into. We caught many a VC on a bicycle with his rifle slung over his shoulder coming back to his village after a hard night of troublemaking. These early morning missions were exciting and great fun, a great way to start off the day. We usually listened to the Armed Forces Radio, which played great rock and roll, while we dusted our bad neighbors.
VIP ESCORT: The most boring mission of them all. You had to have clean utilities, polished boots, and the proper haircut, and go up to Da Nang III MAF Headquarters to pick up a General or Colonel. We carried the VIPs in a slick UH-IE helicopter. The slicks still had their doors on them and had one M-60 mounted on each side. A gunbird usually flew shotgun on these missions. A General would fly out to a Marine outpost that had been hit the night before, the Marines lined up all the dead zips and then piled up their weapons. Pictures were taken, Medals were handed out, hands were shaken and back went the Generals to their air-conditioned headquarters at Da Nang.
RECON INSERTIONS AND EXTRACTIONS: This was one of the most dangerous missions of all. We kept two fully armed gunbirds always loaded and ready for immediate take-off. If you were in the crew you ate, slept, and stayed by the ready room on a 24-hour basis. At dawn a Marine recon team would be inserted on top of a hill in the middle of the boondocks. Two gunbirds would escort a UH-34 chopper into the landing zone and stay on station for 15–20 minutes to make sure the recon team didn’t run into any trouble.
One team in particular, Sudden Death, always seemed to land on a hill that the zips were already using. We would barely be back from the early morning insertion when the sirens would sound and we would have to return to the same LZ and rescue them, turning the Recon mission into an emergency extraction. Only the most experienced crew chiefs and gunners were assigned to these missions. We had to fly 100 mph to the landing zone, then fly very low to spot the Recon team, and be extremely careful not too shoot our own men. It was always up close and personal. We had some outstanding shoot-’em-ups saving Recon teams. We never lost a man, but Lucky #7 returned with multiple bullet holes and the metal workers had to work all night to patch them up.
MEDEVAC ESCORT: The second most dangerous mission. If Marines were wounded, the LZ was hot. Bleeding Marines need immediate UH-34 Medevac choppers to take them to the hospital. Sometimes we hovered and blasted all around a landing zone while a Corpsman held a plasma bottle over the wounded Marine. The VC/NVA were sometimes as close as 100 yards. There was total confusion, endless noise, and gunships on the ground. We circled and fired rockets and machine guns all over the perimeter, while the zips fired back, hoping to down a gunbird. You said a prayer and never stopped shooting, hoping you got them before they got you. The UH-34 pilots were fearless and often took fire coming and going from a hot LZ, even though they were marked with huge white crosses. It was always a good day when all the aircraft returned shot-up but with no crewmen wounded or killed. We all tempted fate to get wounded Marines out as quickly as possible—damn the hostile fire!
SKUNK HUNTING MISSIONS: We would have days when the VC/ NVA seemed to take the day off and head for the beach. Business got slow so we would launch two gunbirds and ride around, flying very low to draw ground fire. When this failed, we called our buddies at Land Shark for a mission. When that failed, we called Bird Dog and they always had something going on. Army Bird Dog pilots never got the credit and the glory they deserved.
MAIL RUN: We had a motto in the Marines “The mail must go through!” I have delivered mail to fire bases on the border at the DMZ, and also to Khe Sanh when you came in shooting, stopped at their barbed wire, dropped the mail and started shooting as soon as you cleared their barbed wire on the way out. How the Marines could live under these conditions, with NVA soldiers less than 200 yards from their wire, totally amazed us. Stick your head up at the wrong time and you were dead. Bless the grunts!
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copyright © 2007 by John J. Gebhart
978-1-4804-0648-3
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