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Blocks of History from
Various Places
Webmaster Note:
I was with the Shotgun Platoon
referenced below but don't remember the Platoon number. (CRS)
I had returned from my first
Shotgun assignment and was going back with this Platoon. The activities
of Shotgun and the making of the Movie Hawaii were well coordinated.
Julie Andrews visited with use and had a going away party for the Platoon.
I was provided a dvd by former Crewchief/Door Gunner Doug Wilson
that was filmed during during the training of this Platoon, it shows Julie
Andrews visiting with the Platoon. The dvd is by Vintage Video and the
title is "Shotgun Rider" DVD449...............Bill (webmaster)
If you to suffer from "crs" buy
Mike's book Wherewewere in Vietnam.
www.wherewewere.com
Dear Shotgun Vets,
I'm the author of a VN War encyclopedia
entitled "Where We Were In Vietnam,"
released by Hellgate Press
about two years ago. In my book you'll find a small, and I think rather
interesting, anecdote about an incident that occured while the 25th's Shotgun
10 was in its training phase.
While constructing the manuscript, I stumbled
upon the story, but I cannot attest to its accuracy because my version was
simply an amalgamation of the spoken and written accounts of others.
Shotgun, Operation (n/a)Per Dick
Arnold, though the 3d Bde/25th Inf Div (1st/35th, 2d/35th, 1st/14th) was 1st
Bde to deploy to VN in late Dec65, a large number of 25th Div men preceded
them in specialized role. In early ‘63, under Op Shotgun, 25th Div volunteers
(Div was in Hawaii), served as door gunners for VN Avn units. Plts of 32-40
men were TDY’d to VN for 90-120 days at a stretch, and total of 11 Shotgun
Plts preceded the Div to VN (losing 19 KIA). Each received initial trng at
25th’s gunnery range in Makuia Valley, Hawaii. Trng of Shotgun 10
also happened to coincide with filming of feature film Hawaii, Sep65, and
because sounds of choppers and firing were being picked-up on sound track of
film, its producers asked that trng be suspended. 25th CG Fred Weyand said
"No," but did give principal stars Julie Andrews and Max Von Sydow, rides on
gun run over target area.
Take care,
Michael Kelley
author,
Where We Were In Vietnam
www.wherewewere.com
From the book "Shotgunner" &
the
25th Avn Bn
The Honolulu Advertiser (September 10, 1964
issue) carried a story that read in part… “Combat troops of the 25th Infantry
Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii,” are being sent to Vietnam to serve as
machine gunners aboard U.S. helicopters, Army spokesman disclosed here
yesterday. “This is the first acknowledgment by a U.S. agency that some
American troops are being committed to the Vietnam War in capacities other than
advisors.”
Today, the
story and the name are nearly forgotten. They were called “shotgun riders”
from the Wild West days when guards with shotguns accompanied stagecoaches on
cross-country runs.
Col. Sam Kalagian,
(Black Sam) the Commander who deployed with the 25th Aviation Battalion to
Vietnam recalls, “ They took infantry men who had proven they could shoot well
and sent them to Hawaii for 90 days temporary duty at the `Door Gunner School'
and then deployed them to Vietnam”.
They rode
“shotgun” for helicopters in Vietnam from January 1963 to January 1966 when the
Division itself deployed to Vietnam. “Shot gunners” - or officially, Aerial
Door Gunners - were tough, skilled soldiers who, in the tradition of their
counterparts on the stagecoaches of the old West, protected their UH-1
“Sky-coaches” while flying over South Vietnam.
It was Fall of
1962 when the U. S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, asked the Department
of the Army for help in protecting the troop-carrying helicopters being used to
fight the Viet Cong. By January 1963, the 25th Infantry Division had responded
to the call and had sent the first group of 100 volunteer Aerial Door gunners to
Southeast Asia.
Three years and
2,200 men later, the “Tropic Lightning” Division's highly regarded “Shotgun”
program came to a close. Its members had compiled an enviable record of combat
in a modern application of the stagecoach shot gunners of Wild West days. They
developed the tactics that became a signature of helicopter missions in Vietnam.
In a speech before
the Senate, and recorded in the Congressional Record, Senator Daniel K. Inoye of
Hawaii said, “Within the 25th Infantry Division there is the elite corps of
officers and men carrying on the finest traditions of the American fighting man.
They are called shotgunner by their friends, and a far worse name by the Viet
Cong who they volunteer to fight. They know who the enemy of world freedom is;
they believe in what they are doing, and as a 25th Infantry Division motto
states, they are “Ready to Strike, Anywhere! Anytime!”
From:2d Battalion, 14th
Infantry Golden Dragons
On 7 December 1963, eighteen men from the battalion left for three months of
volunteer duty in Southeast Asia. This platoon, which was led by 1st Lieutenant
Gene G. Jordan, executive officer of Company B, was part of an operation
designated "Shotgun
Reprinted from August 1987 V.H.C.M.A. Newsletter, which was reprinted from
Army Information Digest, September 1965. And additional historical
RIDING SHOTGUN IN VIETNAM
Reprinted from August 1987 V.H.C.M.A. Newsletter, which was reprinted from
Army Information Digest, September 1965. And additional historical
information added at the end.
Like the men who guarded the stagecoaches of the Old West, these men in
the Far East fight off Vietnam Cong invaders while "Riding Shotgun In
Vietnam".
To kill a tiger, learn the way of a tiger. That's the theme of the
program for training "Shotgunners"- or officially Aerial Door Gunners- those
tough, skilled soldiers who, in the tradition of their counterparts on the
stagecoaches of the old West, are protecting their UH-1 "Sky-coaches" while
flying over South Vietnam.
The Shotgun training program began early in 1963 when the U.S. Military
Assisstance Command, Vietnam, requested combat-trained men to take over from
the helicopter crews and mechanics the job of manning automatic weapons that
protect the "Hueys" on operational missions.
The 25th Infantry ("Tropic Lighting") Division in Hawaii responded
swiftly. Thus far, more than 2,000 officers and men from the division have
completed this training and have seen action across the sight of their
machinegun. Thirteen of them have given their lives. More than 100 have been
wounded.
From its inception the Shotgun program has been entirely volunteer.
Shotgun 1 was organized into five platoons, each with 20 men commanded by a
lieutenant. These platoons were attached to the Aviation Companies
requesting assistance.
Spiced with the imagination and initiative of the assigned officers and
non-commissioned officers, the training has become centralized and
sophisticated. Reports filed by teams returning from combat enable the 25th
Aviation Battalion, which is charged with the Shotgun training program, to
update its instruction continuously.
Because demands on the men serving as shotgunners are severe, each
candidate must pass a class III flight physical examination in which vision,
color blindness, hearing and other physical conditions are closely checked.
If the individual displays any inability to operate under the many pressures
that will face him, he is thanked for his interest but cut from the program.
There are always plenty of volunteers to fill vacancies.
Training is primarily with the M60 machinegun, but the soldier also
must be an expert with the .50 caliber machinegun, M79 grenade launcher, .45
caliber pistol, M3 machinegun, the .30 caliber M2 carbine and the new M16
rifle. Always present is the basic infantry weapon- the M14 complete with
bayonet.
The four hour course in the function, care and maintenance of the M60
is an important part of the schedule. To test reaction of men in a tense
situation, platoon leaders frequently pull rounds from ammunition belts to
cause weapons stoppages. At other times a weapon may be incorrectly
reassembled to force the next man to spot the error.
Recentlyit was decidedthat because of an increased numberof night
missions being reported from Vietnam, added emphasis would be placed on
night weapons firing training. Additional emphasis wouldbe placed on
familiarization with the various gun mounts and also in free firing with the
"Bungie cord", a resilient strap slung in the door of the craft to support
the weapon.
As training progresses the men learn techniques of aerial observation
and firing at various altitudes and how to respond with instantaneous but
planned reactions. Accuracy is constantly emphasized especially in the
'descent to a landing zone' phase. While supplying suppressive fire, the
shotgunners must keep an eye on accompanying support helicopters as they
continue to assist troops from the craft- all in split seconds.
Constant re-evaluation, up-dating and evolution of the program is
stressed. Reports from men returning from Vietnam provide experience in
formation flying and gunnery. Artfully camouflaged, human-sized dummies
recently replaced the old 50 gallon drum targets to provide greater accuracy
in gunnery practice.
In addition to training in weaponry and tactics, the already jungle
trained 25th Division men receive a thorough re-orientation in jungle
survival. They also are taught to swim fully clothed and to maneuver in
treacherous waters against the chance of being forced into such a situation.
Refresher training also is given in the Code of Conduct at the 25th
Division's field training station.
Intensive training also is given by the
Division surgeon's office to prepare men
to meet and overcome the health
hazards of disease-infested jungle regions.
Today, the Shotgun X platoons in Vietnam are all trained by their
parent Lightning Division to strike from the sky. Each is composed of three
eight-man squads and a platoon sergeant, under command of a company grade
officer.
As did their counterparts of old who fought off robbers and Indians in
the wild and wooly west, they have learned the ways of a tiger in order to
kill a tiger; and they prove every day that they can meet the guerrilla
forces of what has become a wild and wooly East.
They prove every day that
men of the 25th Division are
"Ready to Fight, Anywhere! Any Time!" Cpt
Shepard, 25th Inf Div, Sept 1965.
Beginning in the spring of 1963, provisional Army infantry units -
known variously as machine gun, aerial gunner, automatic rifle and door
gunner platoons - were formed in Hawaii from among 25th Infantry Division
personnel.
They served 90 days temporary duty. Some 79 such platoons saw
service in-country before U.S. combat troops "officially" arrived.
In a
letter from Robert C Watts, he said that there was about 50 aerial gunners
from the 4th Cav. from Hawaii assigned to the 8th Trans Co about the time
they changed over to the 117th AML Avn Co, around June 1963. So even though
we have info about the shotgunners from the 25th Inf Div, many others also
volunteered and served with our units for these mission. Thank them all,
they did a very good and important job, and many died doing so.
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