"THE MOVERS"

53^rd Commanders

First Sergeants and Key Personnel

COMPANY ORDERS LISTING 53^RD PERSONNEL

Below is a 53^rd company roster compiled from TDY orders

(only three months’ available for 1969-70) that allowed travel

within Thailand, if mission warranted.  Orders were prepared every month. 

Please note that CPT Clayton was on the Nov 1969 orders, but never

showed up until spring 1970.

(By Eric L. Zancanella, Platoon Leader 1969 – 70)

53^RD transportation company

(medium truck)(port clearance)

"THE MOVERS"

519TH TRANSPORTATION BATTALION

"THE TIGER BATTALION"

Camp Vayama, THAILAND

VIETNAM THEATER OF WAR

31 JULY 1969 - 21 MAY 1970

By Eric L. Zancanella

Platoon Leader Aug 1969 - May 70

Acting Commander Apr 1970

(The following is an adaptation of stories originally written for the 53^rd history section 519^th Transportation Association, Thailand's internet website @2004)

1. THAILAND'S PART IN THE VIETNAM WAR

Thailand was a rear area, a combat service support zone of the Vietnam War Theater of Operations.  The military units in Thailand were mainly Army and Air Force units located on Thai military bases with permission of the Thai government.  The six Air Force Bases flew combat missions in support of the war, including B-52s out of U-Tapao AFB.  Our military had Signal and Radar sites that were part of the war.  Army engineers built many of the bases, and the tarmac roads to all of them.  Special Forces operated out of here, probably into Laos and Cambodia.  Air America, a civilian cargo outfit (CIA) also had doings in Thailand.  Then there was the 519^th Transportation Battalion, which had truck companies hauling the beans, bullets, bombs, materiel and supplies to all these bases.  We hauled a lot of ammunition for the Air Force.

2.  CAMP VAYAMA

When I arrived in August 1969, the living facilities at Sattahip's Camp Vayama were well established and maintained.  Our engineer-constructed hooches were painted, had electricity, and indoor plumbing.  In addition to buildings and quarters for various units, there was a theater, a barbershop, small PX, a pool, and clubs for the officers and enlisted men.  We GIs hired local Thai ladies to clean our hooch's and quarters, do our laundry, and polish our boots.  We really appreciated those benefits.  Our sister units farther up-country had camps that were also well developed between 1966 and 1969.

                      Aug 1969.  "Hooch" 805      

                  Aug 1969.  Vayama Officers Club

My quarters (hooch 805) were across the street from the Officers Club.  Each morning, after breakfast at the club, I'd walk the short distance to company headquarters to check in, then hoof another six blocks to the 53^rd Motor Pool to start the day's work.  When many Vayama units moved to the completed Camp Samae San not long after I arrived in August, all food and drinks for the Vayama Club were served just in the bar area, now that there were only 20 something company-grade officers left in camp.  Most of the food was decent except for the always nasty, freezer-burned pork.  When our food money ran low at month's end, 15 cents would buy a plate of kao pad (fried rice), or 30 cents a bowl of chili beans.  The best officers mess was at U-Tapao AFB 10 miles away.

I shared hooch 805 with fellow 53^rd LT, Tim Killion, 505^th LT Squires, and 505^th LT Francis Lundgren (from East Grand Forks, North Dakota).  What a "blast" when all three of these guys played their Sansui 5000 music systems loud at the same time; one trucker's music, and two rock and rollers.  We surely appreciated the nightly hooch fogging to protect us from mosquitoes.  That was a lot less uncomfortable than the daily dose of those awful quinine tablets.  I stopped taking the pills because they upset my stomach, even after meals.

3.  PORT CLEARANCE OPERATIONS

All of our war related missions were fairly routine activities.  Basically, during our unit's two-shift, 24-hour operation, we'd drive our trucks to various sites to receive cargo off the ships, and shuttle it around for storage or convoy staging.  We also moved stored cargo from one place to another.  All of this took place within 10 miles of Camp Vayama.  This was less exotic than the line haul operations of our sister units until we got to do some long hauling in 1970.

             Dec 1969.  The Delong Pier, Vayama    

One of the 3 Sattahip piers we worked was the Delong Pier, which could handle two ships.  A lot of ammo was off-loaded here away from the other piers for safety, and taken to ammo storage pad areas.  Trucks with trailers had to back a long distance onto the pier to receive the cargo.  Our Thai drivers were very good at backing.  We worried about the driving skills of our sister units when they got to do some of our pier-work.  Our standard joke was that they should be issued snorkels and fins, just in case they backed off the pier.

A second location was Sattahip's Deep Water Port, which could handle several ships, and was a fairly large port with warehousing facilities.  Like much of the Gulf of Siam, the water was a beautiful turquoise color.  The third location was the "T" shaped Military Assistance Pier (MAP) that could handle one ship.  The cargo here was mostly ammo.  The drivers had to back down the stem of the T and turn at the intersection to line up next to a cargo hold.

                            Oct 1969.  Combat B-52s, U-Tapao AFB

                 Aug 1969.  53^rd OPNs Shack

The 53^rd also moved ammo to storage pads and supplies for Sattahip's U-Tapao AFB.  The above photo shows 20+ black tailfins at the base from camouflaged U.S. combat B-52s.  My recent pastor served tours at U-Tapao in 1968 and 1971 as a B-52 Navigator/Bombardier.

                   Aug 1969.  53^rd Motor Pool

                            Dec 1969.  Break Shack

The 53^rd Motor Pool, full of 5-Ton Tractors and 12-Ton Stake-and-Platform (S&P) Trailers, was the hub of unit activities.  The 505^th Truck Company Motor Pool backed up to ours, but was separated.  Daily assignments and missions for two platoons, as well as supervision of our Local National employees, were administered from the Operations Shack near the entrance.  Our Maintenance Platoon and facilities were in another yard across the street

A few feet from the OPNs Shack was the Club 53 building, our break area.  It had a few tables and chairs, and included a horizontal soda machine that kept pop "luke-cool."  Instead of cooling the soda with electricity, the machine was filled with water and seeded with big chunks of ice, and replenished periodically by locals.  Three Coca Cola products were served: Coke, Fanta Orange, and Fanta Grape (my favorite, it tasted better "luke-cool" than the others).  I thought this locally bottled product would meet States' standards until once I found rat guano at the bottom of my half drunk bottle.

                    Feb 1970.  The 53^rd OPNS Office

Truckmaster SFC Walker, and I shared the large back office of the OPNs shack.  Mao Lik-Lik (Mrs. Somchit), our OPNS Secretary, Thai Supervisors and interpreters, and our dispatchers shared the front part of the building.  We acquired a Thai typewriter for OPNS to eliminate laborious hand written translations on unit's bi-lingual civilian personnel correspondence.  We had 130 Local Nationals on the payroll for our two-shifts-a-day operations.

                    Nov 1969.  Sp4 Sterr, Sp4 Pink

                       Mar 1970.  Sp4 Whipps

Sp4 James Sterr (pronounced "star") and Sp4 Pink were two of our young, efficient, hotshot dispatchers.  We found out why they got things done so fast when BN chewed us out.  In their zeal to function, our young "hotshots" often bypassed BN S-3 and just called the Sp4s on the other end.  This really screwed up BN trailer accountability.  We corrected the problem, and the guys continued to excel, but "functioned" within the system.

Sp4 Daniel T. Whipps, another fine dispatcher, replaced the departed Pink.  One weekend, Whipps and I toured a nearby US Army Signal Site, Hill 272.  The hill overlooked the Sattahip area, a complex of Thai and American military facilities, and in the background we could see the Deep Water Port.

The 53rd had 40 working trucks, and 5 jeeps for supervision and running errands; there were no POVs.  Even though we were truckers, transportation for errands was at a premium.  Two of the jeeps were always used to supervise our port and pier operations.  The daily work could be often busy for the leaders, and often slow for the enlisted while they waited to be loaded, unloaded or moved.  The opportunity to do line haul in 1970 was a welcome change, and I got to go on the first two.

It was a 5-day workweek with weekends off for resting, partying, sightseeing, or trips to local towns or resorts, or to Bangkok.  After hours the GIs could walk off base or take a taxi to blow off steam in the local communities.  Evenings after supper I'd check the night shift in my civilian clothes, then spend the rest of my time on base reading, seeing the two different movies during the week, or hanging out with the guys in the hooches, or in the officers' club.

4.  THE 53^RD MAINTENANCE EFFORT

The PLL and Maintenance Management system that hit the Army in CONUS in 1968, struggled to work effectively in Thailand through 1970.  I'd had school and Heavy Boat unit training on the system before coming to the 53^rd.  Although maintenance was not ignored, the battalion was so mission driven that maintenance sections had trouble keeping up.

Ordinance maintenance units were overwhelmed, so the 53^rd sometimes did its own 3^rd and 4^th echelon repairs to get our trucks back on line quickly for our 24-hour operations.

The Maintenance Officer (Warrant Officer) position went unfilled until my last 2-3 months.  Senior Maintenance NCO, SFC Burkette, did that job most of my tour, even though it was mine as an extra duty assignment.

    Maintenance folks, right to left: driver Cheron Maneechote (Papa-San), SSG Miller,

                        and SFC James Burkette, relaxing in the 53^rd's NCO lounge.

We also over-ordered and stocked repair parts and stored them out of sight in the rafters to keep the unit rolling, because the PLL system was too slow.  A want-list written while window-shopping in supply yards was how many supplies were acquired.  The January 1970 CMMIs ended all those survival techniques, and forced Thailand units to get with the PLL program.

5.  SIX TIMES AWOL

In autumn of 1969, a young 53^rd PVT didn't want to be in the Army, or overseas.  He went AWOL and got caught, but before he could be dealt with at Company level, he went AWOL again, a grand total of 6 times.  Finally the unit arranged confinement for him in a Korat stockade while we processed him under UCMJ.  I was assigned to deliver him, under arms, to Korat.

     Dec 1969.  CO 1LT Killion, and 1LT Zancanella at Court Martial

During the 4-hour trip we conversed some, and he opened up a little.  When we stopped along the road to relieve ourselves, I'm thinking this big strong kid could overpower me, and the driver, and take off again if he wanted to.  Back in the jeep the lad made an interesting request that showed maybe he'd had a heart change about the Army.  In the spirit of his last chance as a truck driver he asked if, after breakfast the next morning in Korat, he could do the driving to the front gate of the stockade.  I took his request as sincere and let him.  He really appreciated that.

                     Nov 1969.  Mr. Prayoon 

                    Nov 1969.  Thai elephants

Mr. Prayoon, the Maintenance driver, and I returned to the Sattahip area over the mountain pass from Korat after delivering the AWOL PVT.    We took a break to watch Thai elephants working beside the highway.  Korat trips took about 4 hours for the 200 miles.

On one such trip I got bored as the passenger.  The jeep's rear axle was making strange sounds, but we would try to fix it back at Vayama.  I started to hum in tune, then get louder with it.  Poor Papa San Chereon, the driver on that one, started to look around and worry, every time the sound of the axle got louder.  He never caught on until I finally burst out laughing, and I finally explained what I had done.  Then I asked him to pull over and let me drive.  Legal for me or not, I was so tired of being chauffeured; I just wanted drive for a while.  I felt much better after driving for 2 hours out in the boondocks.

Several weeks after the confinement of our AWOL PVT, CO 1LT Killion, and I, attended his court martial at the 538^th Engineer BN HQ, Camp Samae San. The court eventually released him on a technicality, and he finished out his tour with the unit.  The PVT was rough around the edges, discipline-wise, but he tried to finish his time productively.

6.  VAYAMA CHRISTMAS

The 53^rd held a 1969 Christmas beach party near the Thai-American Restaurant.  I remember there always seemed to be a small herd of puppies near the place.  Hummm: ranch animals, or pets?  Here the Gulf of Siam was really shallow and extremely warm.  Bob Hope's Christmas show appeared at Sattahip that year; it was one of the great highlights of the tour for me.

Being in the warm tropics 10,000 miles from home is not a normal Christmas.  The four officers quartered in hooch 805 got a surprise for the holiday.  LT Squires (a blonde look-and-sound-a-like for Sonny Bono, received a large package from his folks with a letter inside.  Squires pulled out a small, fake Christmas tree, saturated with pine scent, and set it up on the coffee table of our communal living room.  His parents had included many small stocking-stuffer type packages and asked Squires to share the tree and gifts with us, which he did.  Now that was more like Christmas!  I think we had the only tree on base.  Thanks again, Squires!

7.  THE OPERATIONAL SITUATION 1970

President Nixon had shut down the bombing of North Viet Nam late December, or the first of the year, as part of the peace process.  This markedly reduced the Battalion's overall mission assignments for the rest of 1970.  Within the first 2 months of 1970, the BN Local Nationals (LNs) were making less money, morale was low, and they were growing restless.  With fewer AFB combat missions, there was less need for Army transportation assets.  As several TC units in Northern Thailand shut down, their GI's were reassigned to finish their tours with other BN units, including the 53^rd.

Battalion HQ and its companies were aware for some time that some military and some LNs were involved in manipulating paperwork and stealing US Government supplies and materiel from military ports and facilities.  It was not a secret that these activities occurred; we just couldn't catch them.  Sometime before spring, port security started to beef up with more fencing, and control points.

Before the reassigned GI's came to us, we never had enough troops to have a presence on every military vehicle during a shift.  With the influx, and stronger port security measures, 53^rd officers and senior NCOs suspected we'd see trouble now that our LNs were being supervised more.

8.  THE 53RD's UNDERCOVER SERGEANT

(I had this story written for a week when I reread Jim Rose's story from the 519^th Transportation Association, Thailand website (2003), where he remembers the same incident about a port cargo theft.  I was pleased to see a different angle on an event I was also privy to know.  My 53^rd leadership slant on the story should fill him in on details he was not allowed to know for security reasons.  I'm also beginning to remember hearing Jim's story in 1970 about being at risk after the incident.)

As the 53^rd suspected, our LN bad guys approached a new buck sergeant assigned to us.  He was Hispanic, and his surname began with M, is all I can remember (because of this incident, he was with us less than 3 months).  The bad guys told him to cooperate, or else.  The SGT said yes, but he didn't like it one bit, and reported it to CPT Clayton.  The CO and BN arranged for SGT M to worker undercover (the "sting") to break up this Thai/GI theft ring.  Our officers and Top SGT, SFC Walker, were probably the only 53^rd personnel to know about it for the security of the operation.

Weeks later, the perps scheduled a whole trailer load of stuff to disappear on paper, then to be dropped off by SGT M and LN driver at a local Thai lumber yard between Vayama and Samae San by noon.  BN and 53^rd leadership knew it was going down that day.  Rose's catching of the problem was a good thing, too.

Army MPs, CID, and Thai authorities were all involved.  Just like in the movies the truck and trailer were under surveillance right to the yard.  I reckon BN leadership listened to the whole thing on radio traffic and shared the story with Clayton soon after.

There was a raid, with all the bad guys arrested, spread-eagled, and frisked, according to the 8x10 glossies I saw.  Prearranged or not, SGT M picked a fight to resist arrest as an excuse for him to be whisked away quickly before the locals figured out he ratted on them.  It was a brave thing SGT M did.  As Rose found out, if the Thais discovered his part in the raid, SGT M was a dead man.

Through the 519^th Transportation Association website in 2005, I contacted our former 1969-70 Battalion Commander, Bob Vidrick, who graciously provided some more details about the action.

"To add some light to the story, as I remember it, the bad guys were led by a Chinese group out of Bangkok.  They intentionally built the pallet, wood storage area [the Thai lumber yard] with the high-stacked wood walls so that a semi could get in and not be seen.

The big problem that existed from the beginning was that we did not have a status of forces agreement with Thailand, and therefore all the ["sting"] operation had to be under Thai control.  The Thai police had to coordinate their operation with the Thai navy since they (navy) had control of that part of Thailand.  Needless to say, everybody and their brother knew what was going to happen except the bad guys (This I am really surprised at since everyone was usually on the take in this type of operation.).

This incident brought to light that the same "gang" were the ones that were stealing our tractors and that was why we had to chain the steering wheels at night.  We found some of our tractors working the teak forests up north, and even though they had not removed the bumper ID's we were told that the tractors were "purchased" from the U.S. government as salvage."

9.  A WILD NIGHT-RIDE TO KORAT

It took about 7 hours for all the authorities to get SGT M's statements concerning the crime, which made 53^rd leadership worry about his safety the whole time.  In the meantime, CPT Clayton and LTC Vidrick were on the phone discussing how best to get SGT M to Korat for reassignment out of the country for his safety.

I was already armed that day because I carried the payroll for our 130 civilians, and I offered a solution to Clayton.  I told the CO to tell the Colonel that it was payday, and I could have as many guards as I wanted, and under that guise, I would escort him to Korat.

They agreed.  All armed with .45s, SSG Curtis Harris, SSG James Rose, SGT M and I, departed about dusk (8pm?) for Korat with SSG Rose driving.  The first hour or so our sphincters tightened, as we feared an attack on our jeep every time headlights of a new vehicle appeared.  The next 3 hours of the trip was cold and boring at 70 mph through the mountains.

                                     He was a "shotgun crewmember" on the ride to Korat

SGT M and I shared quarters that night in Korat, sleeping with a .45 under our pillows.  We handed SGT M over to other military the next day to get him reassigned and out to Okinawa.  Looking back, the 519^th/53^rd defied both U.S. and Thai laws to save our man.

10.  THREE DANCES WITH THE CMMI TEAMS, AND A FIRE MISSION

The CMMI teams came three times in early 1970 before we passed with a minimum of 70 the first of February.  I don't believe CPT Clayton had signed into the unit yet.  On the second attempt, we were given a list of vehicles they would inspect and a little time to get them ready.  Operations and maintenance worked hard to get them ready, but we found that some would just not pass, and we could not hold back enough vehicles from doing back-to-back shifts to work on them.  On one or two 5-Tons we even switched bumpers with what we thought were healthier vehicles, but they still didn't pass inspection.

The unit begged BN to give us more down time to do maintenance before the 3^rd inspection, and they granted us a 24-hour stay from missions.    Early afternoon on our down day we get an unexpected "fire mission" from BN.  There was a wind driven grass fire racing towards a marshalling yard in a nearby ammo area, where many loaded 12-Ton S&P ammo trailers were staged, and BN tasked us to quickly get the trailers to a safer location.

I believe there were only military personal readying the 53^rd for this inspection, so it was our GIs who hurried into many of our forty 5-Tons to respond.  Things happened fast and the pad was cleared in time.  I hopped out of my jeep to direct traffic and quickly decided that was the second most dangerous thing I ever did in Thailand.  I dove back in the jeep and got "out-the-way".  Safety and standard procedures were ignored.  Tractors made rapid, minimal hook-ups, and jerked them out of there as fast as they could.  I mean we raised a lot of dust.  I don't think it took more than 10 minutes for them to clear the pad and beat the oncoming fire, which fire units got under control. Our guys were "fired up" and got it done.  I was proud of them.

After the adrenalin wore down, we still had to go back and re-prepare those same vehicles for inspection.  SFC Burkette and his maintenance crew, and the two truck-platoon's worth of GIs, worked their butts off through the night and well into morning on CMMI #3.  Battalion HQ and our CO informed the CMMI of our unscheduled fire mission, and I think the CMMI team may have cut us some slack and passed us, just barely.

11.  THE 34 TRUCK CONVOY MISSION

53^rd Assistant Truckmaster, SSG Curtis Harris, and I got permission to accompany 1LT Dave Conn (505^th) and his 34 truck convoy carrying ammo to Ubon AFB.  This was one of the largest BN convoys in a long time.  The photo captures us returning to Korat on the 1200 mile round trip between Sattahip and Ubon.  We went as observers to prepare the 53^rd for our future line hauls.  There was a lot of country to see, so it was more like a working vacation.

                Feb 1970.  Return from Korat

The Korat Plateau was open range.  Water buffalo grazed near the road as the convoy proceeds northward.   One water buffalo, with 6-foot horns and a one-track mind, kept trying to cross the highway throughout the length of our moving convoy.  Many of the truckers turned him away with blasts of their 5-Ton air horns, but he'd try again a few vehicles later.  I expected his death and a wrecked vehicle if he impaled a tractor's radiator, but we managed not to hit him and owe his owners "boo-koo" baht.

It was during this convoy that two drunken Thais in a POV did not see the 34 trucks, in broad daylight, exiting an ammo pad on to the highway.  Conn, Harris, and I watched helplessly as the POV drove 60-70 mph to within several hundred feet of one of our trucks before it decided to brake.  Our guys in the truck hardly felt the POV crash into their rear duals, thinking the impact occurred on a following truck.  One of the Thais got hit in the head by his own Singha Beer bottle.  The trucks were heavily loaded, and the POV was totaled.

The celebration of Chinese New Year (06 Feb 1970) occurred the same day we tried to quarter our troops at Ubon AFB at the end of a day's run.  The base, fearing Viet Cong celebrating in the area, called a Yellow Alert, and wouldn't let our unit of GI's and LN's come on the base.  We stayed in Ubon hotels, and the GI's and LN's went downtown and partied hardy in spite of the alert.  I understand the LNs kept the GIs out of trouble.

12.  THE 50-TRUCK CONVOY MISSION

Several weeks after the Ubon convoy, the 53^rd gets tasked for its first convoy, a 50-truck convoy with elements of both the 505^th/53^rd driving to Nakon Phanom (NKP) AFB.  Not far up the road, NKP the city was right on the Mekong River, Thailand's northern border with Laos.  Across the river, 65-70 miles, was North Viet Nam.

                 Mar 1970. Boonme Kamrach's home

Shortly before the convoy's departure Operations driver, Boonme "Cowboy" Kamrach, and I stopped at his home to pack for the trip.  He strapped on his personal "shootin' iron," and had his family take pictures of us by the house.

I tried to photograph the convoy, but it was difficult to see all the 50 trucks.  The original picture shows 20+ vehicles, but still tough to see.  We were heading north, approaching the 100-mile halfway point between Sattahip and Korat.  At times the convoy was an estimated three miles long.  One day of the mission we experienced 105⁰F.  Somewhere on this haul we had to cross a long, low bridge that was being repaired from recent enemy damage.  Each S&P trailer carried 30 tons of lime to Army engineers

who were building the last 10-12 miles of tarmac highway to NKP.  Crushed rock was at a premium in that region, and the lime was mixed with wet soil to help make a firm base for the tar macadam surface (I learned this at Engineer OCS!)

           Mar 1970.   Korat Plateau, NE Thailand

I photographed the convoy as it pushed north to Sakon Nakon from Udorn and Khon Kaen.  This dry looking, high country, the Korat Plateau, is reminiscent of our own Great Basin high deserts of the Western United States.

                    Mar 1970.  809^th Engineers  

                        Mar 1970.  On the Mekong

  During the mission we stayed a night with the 809^th Engineers at Camp Raum Chit Chai near Sakon Nakon and got a glance at their BN CO"s chopper.  While the 50 trucks waited the next day to unload at the road site (and with too many supervisors), 53^rd's SSG Witherow, Papa San (Chereon Maneechote), and I drove the 10-12 miles farther north to see the entrance to NKP AFB, and then on into Nakhon Phanom.  The town was right on the Mekong River.  The view looked into Laos with Thai patrol boats in the foreground.  When I teach Hmong and Mien children, I bring my Thailand pictures to show them what the Mekong River looked like.  Many of their relatives crossed the river into Thailand to flee the killing fields of their homeland later in the 1970's and beyond.

13.  ATTACK OF THE WILD DOGS

Sometime during late 1969 to early 1970, wild dogs started showing up at Camp Vayama.  They mostly kept their distance and scrounged for food.  It was Thailand's dry season and food might have been scarce.  Eventually they ventured with less fear closer to the base's hooches, and would occasionally growl or bark at us humans.  One late evening, one of Vayama's old maintenance warrant officers was almost attacked by the creatures on his way back from the "O" Club, and they chased him into his hooch.  This angered him, and he complained through channels loud and long.  The U.S. MPs got permission to bring shotguns on the base to rid Vayama of the dogs.  Other than angry Thai civilians shooting up a Thai wedding I attended, and the shoot-out for my unit's stolen truck heard over the radio, this was the only firefight I witnessed in Thailand.  They killed a handful of dogs before the others wised up and skedaddled.  The bodies were left for several days as a scent warning to other dogs then eventually removed.  No more attacks occurred.

14.  SNAKE ATTACKS

One of Vayama's lieutenants got invited to an interesting BBQ.  His Local Nationals working an ammo pad discovered and killed a big boa constrictor.  They invited the red-haired lieutenant Jacobs, from Zanesville, Ohio, to the feast.  He really didn't want to go, but to turn them down might set back his working relationship.  The night of the party the lieutenant got well lubed before he attended.

While walking down one of the base roads of Vayama, one late afternoon, I looked behind and noticed there was a six or eight foot cobra following me and moving fast.  I trotted to outrun him.  A nearby Thai guard sized up the situation, and bounced a stone off the large snake.   The cobra changed directions, slithered under the front of a jeep, stood on his hind legs, and hid himself near the radiator.  As I watched, the jeep's owner, the littlest Special Forces Captain in the Army, and the guard, tried to fish the snake out of there with sticks.  That's when I left.  The Captain must have been 4'10", and had to sit on a pillow to drive.

15.  DANGEROUS JOB

My predecessors, CPT Shelton and LT Donner, shared stories of their own tour and of stories passed to them by their contemporaries, or "old timers".  In the early days of the Sattahip Ports, GIs lived in tents.  Amphibious LARC 15s were used to help unload some of the early cargo.  Many of the roads had not yet been paved.  Drivers used padded or inflatable doughnuts to sit on to avoid hemorrhoids from driving on the long, bumpy roads.  The dirt roads were hard on the 5-Tons, and many a fender had to be welded on with angle iron to stay on.

Donner took me by his hooch once and showed me a flack jacket he and his buddies wore as LN payroll officers, an every two weeks' duty.  He shared that several officers since 1966 had been held up for their payrolls and sometimes there was shooting.  One LT had been held up when he was not carrying payroll, but was not convincing his nervous assailants.  Another vehicle approached the scene, which startled the bad guys, who started shooting and wounded the LT in the stomach.  From the time I assumed that duty from Donner, I always had two guys with M-14s in the jeep, and rode with a loaded .45 pistol in my hand.  There was no security in a jeep.

At the end of Thailand's dry season, the country celebrates the coming wet season (New Year's Day, April 13) with water festival activities.  This traditional festival, called Songkran, runs April 13-15, and one of its custom was to lavishly throw buckets of water on people.

This celebration occurred on our Local Nationals' payday.  After picking up the 85,000 baht payroll at Samae San, I decided for security reasons to take the long road around populated areas back to Vayama.  I wanted to avoid any water throwing as a cover for someone to rob the payroll.  On a long stretch of road approaching a tree line, a dozen armed and camouflaged Thais streamed single file out of the woods and squatted in the ditch beside the road where we must pass.  Too late to stop, and to slow to

react, we drove right on by.  I turned and watched the Thais hoist their rifles, cross the road and continue on their way.  Whew!  Must have been Thai soldiers on maneuvers.

16.  DANGEROUS DRIVING

Driving for newcomers to Thailand was initially an adventure in terror.  Thai driving habits were strange to us.  Traffic drives on the left side of the road.  They drove hard, fast, and tailgated.  It seemed like when they'd pass in heavy traffic, nobody would give, except just at the last moment before the head-on occurred.  The brakes were only used for full stops; the rest of the time they just used their horns.  One of our Thai drivers was "hurtling" along a country road about 60-70 miles an hour when he suddenly pulled off the road and stopped.  We asked what was wrong, and he replied, "The horn doesn't work."

I saw three lanes in Bangkok become six during rush hour.  We followed another vehicle so close once, that with a screwdriver from the backseat, I could have removed the other vehicle's license plate.  GI passengers in our military vehicles with left-sided steering wheels, had to assist the Thai driver to pass other vehicles.  After a time in country we got so we didn't even flinch at the way they drove.

The lesson of one of their driving customs, "big and mighty" has the right-of-way, was "driven" home when driver Laor Samutsin got off a two lane road smartly when an oncoming Mercedes bus pulled out to pass another Mercedes bus.  All these customs, I'm sure, were a big part of why GIs were not allowed to drive in Thailand, under the two country's Status of Forces Agreements.  If we broke their driving laws, we could be put in their jails, and not be available to go home at the end of our regular tour.

17.  BAR CODED CARGO

I was in the Army long enough to see the resolution to a problem that happened with every ship arriving in Sattahip.  The true ship's manifest (list of cargo) was laboriously prepared at the port of embarkation and would arrive at our destination several weeks after a ship had unloaded and sailed from Sattahip.  The rough draft manifest arriving with the ship was often inaccurate, and topics of discussion at port meetings.

            As a reserve MAJ, I served active and reserves as OPNs OFF for the Military Ocean Terminal, Bay Area, Oakland Army Base, 1985-88.  I got to work 4 ships of 1000 vehicles each that left port for Korea with a true manifest.  All vehicles had bar code tapes attached.  GIs scanned them, and downloaded the info into computers that prepared an accurate manifest that sailed on time with the ship.  Man, the Thai and Viet Nam ports sure could have used that technology during the war.

18.  SOME THOUGHTS ON THE 53^RD

For us first enlistment guys, being in the military and overseas during wartime was an adventure, and an early test of manhood.  Many of us were fresh out of high school or college.  It's been said that the best Army experience a GI will ever have is at Company level.  The camaraderie is probably the strongest.  I can attest to that after serving at various levels.    Just like the other units in country, the 53^rd folks became like a family, standing in as the only U.S. citizens around, because in Thailand we were the aliens.  Though not in combat, we worked real Army missions supporting the war effort, and built a family kind of brotherhood and concern for each other. In May 1970 I felt an uncomfortable twinge of regret leaving the unit, and heading for Don Maung AFB in Bangkok.

53^rd's CPT Lawrence Shelton "rescued" me twice my first two weeks in country.  After 24 hours travel from CONUS to Bangkok, I was shanghaied in reception by personnel types, and delivered to Samae San's Port Battalion.  I signed in and spent my first weekend at Samae San's BOQ while the camp's construction was nearing completion.  Shelton showed up and whisked me away, then arranged for me to get to Korat for my true assignment with the 519^th BN.  LTC Mantooth assigned several new officers that day, and I was placed with the 313^th in Bangkok.  That Company Commander only wanted someone with trucking experience; and because my background was in Heavy Boats (LCUs) he chose to get me reassigned immediately.

It was a long two weeks in the 313^th, but CPT Shelton showed up again.  He said, "You are coming with me, and you'll be working for me at Camp Vayama."  I was to take over for Dickey Donner in a few weeks and learn his duties in the meantime.  Shelton had projects to tend to, and he said to do my job while he was gone.  That was it.  He gave me responsibility, some guidance, and let me work.  I have a lot of respect for him as a leader because of the way he treated me.  Shelton spent much time scrounging up supplies and materials to build an orphanage, and to help build our unit's NCO lounge.

      Nov 1969.   CPT Shelton's command to LT Killion              

          Dec 1969.  CO Killion; Laor Samutsin

SFC James T. Walker, 53^rd Truckmaster/Acting First Sergeant, on the right, and SSG Young, Supply.

1LT Tim Killion and I hung in there as the unit's leaders when officer and senior NCO positions went unfilled for months.  Tim became CO, and also got to work with SFC Walker, my Truckmaster, when Walker became the "acting jack" First Sergeant.  Tim and I did the work of four officers a long time, until the CO and MAINT OFF positions were filled.

Truckmaster/First Sergeant, SFC James E. Walker, was the best senior NCO I ever worked with in my career.  He knew his business, and knew how to handle officers.  With his slight Texas twang and sense of humor, he could tell colonels they were crazy and get them to laugh about it.  He had a lot of patience with this "heavy boat" officer, while he trained me in "medium trucks".  If Walker made the Army a career, I bet he made E-9.  Not long after I wrote this, SSG Rose researched the present whereabouts of former 53^rd members, and discovered that Walker did make E-9, Sergeant Major.

53^rd Platoon Leader Zancanella (front left) and Commanding Officer Killion are guests of SSG Adams, Night NCOIC, SSG Young, Supply, and Truckmaster/1SG Walker at the unit's NCO Bar.

I gave the 53^rd my best.  I made it a point to let my professional NCOs do their jobs, gave them freedom to act, encouraged their ideas with my approval often, and gave them credit and respect.  When Killion and I were the only unit's officers, I understood and appreciated the honor when our NCOs invited us to the 53^rds NCO Lounge (SSG Rose's pictures of the 53^rd bar), or to the Base NCO Club on occasion.

Assistant Truckmaster, SSG Curtis Harris, was another professional who patiently worked to keep me on the same page.  Harris was one of the unit's Viet Nam vets.  He and I ran OPNs when Walker left to run the Company.  It was Harris and SSG Rose who readily volunteered to ride "shotgun" with SGT M and I on our wild ride to Korat.  That was special.

CPT Ralph Clayton's arrival gave us clout and prestige at Battalion.  In a Truck Battalion, line haul is the "glory" work, not port clearance.  Before Clayton, the 53rd seemed to be treated like a stepchild.  Ralph saw that Tim and I, and the NCOs knew our jobs, and he let us work and treated us right, just like Shelton.

19.  MY TURN AT THE HELM

CPT Clayton's presence seemed to help the unit, both in relation to BN, and to unit morale.  Before Clayton, Killion had run the Company and Supply, and I ran Operations, and we both were pretty busy sharing the unit's 50 officer extra duties.  But Clayton brought a little extra.  He was a Jock!  He challenged the men; pool, arm wrestling, chess, etc.  And he was an excellent bowler.

Clayton and a BN staff CPT (Sheehan?) got TDY to compete for two of the six spots on the All-Thailand bowling team.  Ralph won a spot on the team, which would compete latter in Hawaii, at the USARPAC (U.S. Army Pacific) Championships.

Killion and I were short timers, with about a month to go.  The CO and BN decided I ought to have a turn as Acting Commander, for my professional enhancement, while Ralph went to the Thailand competition.  Tim, being senior to me was temporarily assigned rifle-training duties, I believe, at Sattahip so I could be CO.

             Dec 69.  1LT Zancanella, Camp Vayama                                        

         Aug 1969.   53^rd HQ, Camp Vayama

My 10 days as "Acting Jack" began 17 APR 1970.  My "Acting Jack" first Sergeant was my Truckmaster, SFC Walker.  In addition to operational duties, Walker and I prepped for some kind of inspection, and prepared a new report for BN HQ that neither one of us had seen before.  The day I had to present this report to the BN XO, I was also the 53^rd civilian payroll officer, and armed.  While sitting across from the XO with a paper sack of 85,000 Thai Baht on my lap, and trying to sound intelligent about this unfamiliar report, he gets called away to S-3.  Moments later he returns and says to me, "Lieutenant, one of your trucks has just been stolen."  We proceeded to S-3 and heard the radio traffic as this vehicle was spotted and authorities cornered the perps.  Gunshots were exchanged, but they were caught.  That was an exciting day in a busy 10 days.

Clayton's trip to Hawaii, or to a higher championship after USARPAC, must have been the reason my replacement, 1LT Carl Carroll, got to be Acting Jack CO early in his tour.  His e-mail response to the 519^th web site attests to this.

20.  MY BATTALION FAREWELL

In May 1970 I attended my last Battalion Party.  As was the custom for departing officers of the Tiger Battalion, LTC Vidrick presented the going away gift, a tiger with commemorative nameplate, which I still proudly display.  All those camouflaged "Tiger Jackets" looked great.  I still have mine, but it is tight.  My youngest son has borrowed it to wear it several times.  In the picture, MAJ Forcier (S-3) is chewing on the cigar, and on his left, the BN SMAJ.  On his left is CPT Sheehan, I believe.

May 1970 Battalion party                                                           

                     Eric 2002

21.  WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE THEN?

(All of these stories were originally written for fellow 53^rd veterans, and provided to the 519^th Transportation Association, Thailand website, but I decided to leave Chapter 21 as it is for my family.)

I've provided a photo of the "old guy", wearing a monkey-puke maroon (TC humor), Transportation Corps colored sweatshirt.

 I spent my last 9 months and 21 days of active Army service in Thailand with the 53^rd.  I arrived overseas 25 years old, married, and expecting a second son the middle of my tour.  When I left Vayama, I was heading back to the "real world" and leaving the Army for good; or so I thought.  A teacher's salary was not enough for my growing family (we eventually had three sons, two daughters).  In 1971 I became an active reservist, rose to Lt. Colonel, and finally left the Transportation Corps in 1996, after 29 years, 4 months.

I was ready to do something else after 8 years of teaching, so I took my Army transportation experience and got an entry-level job in transportation management for a JCPenney Catalog Distribution Center opening down the street from my school near Reno, NV.  My 5+ years climbing the ladder there, gave me the experience to handle higher transportation positions in the Army Reserves.  The reserves did not provide that same quality.

My wife and I divorced after 18 years, and the kids and I moved to my hometown of Oroville, CA, where I took up teaching again.  The kids are grown and gone, and I remarried in 1995.