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RECOLLECTIONS: Vietnam Stevedores 1968

By Mark Fooks

When was the last time you read a story about US Army Stevedores in Vietnam? Never you say. Well then read on, I was one by chance. In November 1968 I was flown into Vietnam to the 90th Replacement Camp when an E-6 SSgt stuck his arm into our group and yelled: "You 20 men get your asses on that deuce and a half the United States Army needs Stevedores today!" I had thought I was going to MACV HQ's to work with data processing equipment which was what I had been doing at Pier 91 in Seattle, Washington prior to getting my orders to Vietnam. Few of us had Stevedore Military Occupational Specialities "MOS's" but that was what we were about to become.

Barge full of Agent Orange and Agent White.

For those of you who don't know what an Army Stevedore is, it is a person who humps at least 12 hours a day or until the job is done, seven days a week, rain or shine, unloading everything from Agent Orange to M-48 Tanks and whatever else that was needed to fight the War in Vietnam. "No sweat" was a double entendre term for Stevedores. We worked unloading and back loading the big Victory ships, Container ships, barges, LST's, LCM8's and other military craft coming and going on the rivers of Vietnam.

We were the 71st Transportation Battalion with 5 companies, (154th, 368th, 551st, 561st, and the 567th) my Company was the 368th called the "Deck Devils" and our motto was "full speed ahead." We were activated in May 1966 and deployed to Long Binh in October 1966. We also operated the Army Air Cargo facility at Tan Son Nhut Air Base on the outskirts of Saigon. We set a record US Army tonnage in a 24 hour period of 6006 short tons (over 12 million pounds of cargo) on the 8th and 9th of Dec 1969! We convoyed every day down Highway 1A from Long Binh to the outskirts of Saigon to a place called Newport on the Saigon River. It was a hot sweaty physical labor intensive job every day and we worked in deck crews of 5 to 6 men.

The Deep Draft ships (Victory ships) that I worked on included three tweens or levels in each of their five hatches with the first hatch having only one tween. We would unload a level then have to remove the hatch covers and I-beams to get into the next level to unload whatever the war effort had requested. Our hatch crews consisted of a winch operator operating the ships equipment to unload the cargo on to the pier for longshoremen to load on trucks or stack for future loading. There was one man, who, depending on the tide levels of the river and how high the ship was riding to the pier, would direct unloading by hand signals for the winch operator (best job)! There would be two cable men in the hole who hooked up cargo to be unloaded on the pier, and there would be a 4000lb fork lift man (when needed) who would bring cargo to the loading area down in the ships hold for unloading.

On the dock there would be one or two men to unhook the cargo and one man who sat and documented what was being unloaded (second best job). Depending on the cargo, a larger RT fork lift operator moved the cargo around the pier or loaded it directly onto trucks. We also had a very large crane (called Papa San) located on a special barge that would come along side of the ship to unload extra heavy cargo. It was a 24/7 operation that rarely stopped for any reason, except for mortars and/or 122mm rockets. There were some benefits such as: real flush toilets on the ship, lots of steel to hug when mortars and rockets rained down on us, better food some nights eating with the ships' mates, endless pallets of hot beer, and once in a while a shipment of Chivas Regal for the generals who always wanted us to share a bottle or two with them, and so we did! We had some battle deaths and many injuries but mostly we suffered bad backs, bad knees, damaged shins, crushed fingers and toes, various head injuries, and later a number of us ended up with Agent Orange poisoning.

When Agent Orange/White and about five other colors came in we had special hooks that would pick up 5 barrels at a time. We would climb onto the barrels stacked in the hole and hook up five of them at a time and then sling them onto the pier where the long shore men would stack them up on the pier for future truck and/or barge delivery. There was never a time that broken and dripping barrels weren't a problem. At the time we did not know how powerful the stuff was so took no extra precautions. We were also right on the Saigon River and were sprayed regularly by C-130's who flew up and down the River banks killing everything that was green!

Victory Ship at Newport unloading wood to awaiting trucks.

Interestingly enough when I arrived at the 71st Trans Bn in November of 1967 enlisted men were not issued weapons or ammo and convoyed 25 miles down Highway 1A each day to Newport with not much firepower. It seems "fragging" had been a problem in the Saigon area and only officers were allowed to carry their weapons. That changed pretty quick as the 1968 TET offensive began one morning just as we were about to leave to go to the port. I walked out of the mess hall and a shock wave from a blown ammo dump nearby knocked me to the ground. We were issued our dirty M-14's and two clips of dirty ammo. Driving down highway 1-A with only two clips of ammo still leaves a sickening feeling in my gut! We just happened to be working under the huge Newport Bridge that crossed the Saigon River which the NVA had planned on taking as one of the bridges they would need to cross to get into Saigon. Well remember I said we never stopped working... that night we did! Interestingly also, the 720th MP's and our stevedore guards had been delivered several new 50 caliber machine guns, several new APC's, and a couple of M-48 tanks a few weeks earlier that helped us mow down the bonsai charges the NVA made trying to cross our bridge that night. By early morning the NVA ended up attempting to blow up the bridge as we kicked their butts and kept them from crossing. As the bridge blew it turned out they only got half of it and our infantry used it to chase after them later in the day.

While I'm at it, we stopped work several other nights including what we called another mini TET in March when another huge attack included a whole lot of 122mm rockets rained down on us. I must say that to this day I do not care for 122mm rockets they were #10! I imagine to this day one dropping into the hole of a ship I'm working in and chasing me around to rip off my arms.

My fondest memories were when you were selected as the hatch crew to travel down the Saigon River with the Victory Ship to complete tying down back loaded damaged vehicles on there way back for repairs to wherever. The Ship would leave Newport and travel down the Saigon River to the ocean at Vung Tau which was an in-country R&R site where we would jump ship and hang out for a spell in Vung Tau. We would then have to find a way back to Long Binh which sometimes would take us a day or so. Most times it was with Army stake truck drivers who were glad to have extra guards on their trip back towards Saigon.

Much of the Vietnam history of the 71st Transportation Bn is located on a web site maintained by Alan Furtado with lots of pictures and some pretty good war stories especially during the 68 TET Offensive. So now I hope you know a bit more about how the Armed Forces of the United States can survive in a foreign land during wartime and who provides them their supplies and equipment for survival. Our Campaign Participation in Vietnam included the Counter Offensives Phase II through VII, the TET Counteroffensive, the Vietnam Summer through Fall 1969 and the Winter through Spring 1970, and the Sanctuary Counteroffensive. We earned the Meritorious Unit Commendation Streamer Embroidered Victim July 68 — March 69.