Camp Tien Sha, Danang, Vietnam

Camp Tien Sha, Danang, Vietnam, 1970-1971

Site by Mark Lemmon, USN 69-73. In 1970, it was the beginng of the end. The Navy was in the process of handing it all over to the Vietnamese Military. While in NSF security, I stood tower, gate, fire pit and roving watches from Deep Water Piers, Tien Sha Ramp, the ammo dump, SCRF/Annex, the dam site up on Monkey Mt. to south around NSA's covered storage. This site is dedicated to all those living or dead who did time in Danang, Vietnam. Back then, I had a camera for about a week, so I don't have many photos. But, if you stayed at Tien Sha or there abouts there is enough here to give you a flashback. The Camp is long gone. The commies now have their boats moored where ours used to be. Danang fell in '75 with minimal resitance. Be that as it may, we all knew it would turn out that way! For all those who care, here it is...

SN Lemmon feeling no pain...

From tower next to the chow hall

"All Along the Watch Tower"

French Barracks, home sweet home

Monkey Mountain from a tower.

Looking south

Tower by the tanks

Southern view from tower in annex.

SN Bonardo and SN Messenger

In the beginning...

When I first stepped off the American Airlines Jet in my dress blues, the heat hit me like a brick. It had been a long 21 hour flight, jam packed with Navy, Air force, Army and Marines. As the transport moved us through Danang and to the country, the pungent odors and the heat were hitting hard. At the camp, us FNG's were kept at a transit hooch while the paper pushers tried to figure out our respective units. Meanwhile, the petty officer in charge kept us busy filling sand bags, riding shotgun on semi's, and other make work. My orders were for duty on a PBR, but the Navy was phasing them out...so, I was stuck in limbo till I got orders to join a section in NSF Security, I had mixed emotions...

The first watch...

The first watch I stood, was down at NSA's covered storage. It was me and an other guy about midnight, can't remember his name. He was "breaking me in" on the fine nuances of tower watch. He was telling me that he had just gotten out of the hospital for a concussion from being blown out of that very same tower we were in, by a rocket blast two weeks before. Just at that moment, the red alert sirens stated going off every where. I heard my partner say "I'm too short for this shit", he was looking kind of freaked... I hear explosions in the distance and I'm getting a little unnerved. Then one hits, the flash silhouetted the trees near us, and the concussion seemed to swallow me up...

Before the freedom bird...

Danang was an armed camp with barbed wire wrapped around everything. On a nice day, it was beautiful as long as nothing funky was going down. When I could get away, I hitch hiked down to China beach to body surf. When the monsoons came, I couldn't stay warm or dry; even with two ponchos. I won't forget the bugs and the snakes; flies and mosquitoes everyday it didn't rain. While I was there, I got to: fight a brush fire next to giant pile of ammo, take part in a village sweep with the Marines that netted 132 prisoners, experienced frequent red alerts, receive enemy fire several times, sweat like hell in the heat, go through 2 typhoons, spend many a dark night scanning the perimeter alone, and I got to hang out with America's finest...a long, long time ago.