Victor F. Frysinger, 55

4900 Bay Oaks Court

College Station, TX 77845

June 25, 1946 Boston, MA

Commissioned through ROTC at Texas A&M University, August 30, 1968.

Reported to Ft Benning, GA to begin active duty, Sept 17, 1968.

Desired a military career and the country was at war.

Fort Benning, GA

Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft Benning and then the Jungle Operations Course at Ft Sherman in Panama enroute to RVN.

Travis AFB, June, 1969.

American Airlines charter (they were very nice to us!). Travis AFB to Hawaii to Okinawa to Tan Son Nhut.

Ton Son Nhut AB, June 1969

Americal Replacement Center

Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf

HHC, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf

S-2 Section, 11^th LIB

Rifle Platoon Leader

Rifle Company XO

Bn TOC LNO

Bde Asst S-2 (Air)

Fire Base San Juan Hill & the 4^th Bn 3^rd Inf AO surrounding it.

Duc Pho (LZ BRONCO, HQ, 11^th Inf Bde)

China Beach in Da Nang (3 day in-country R&R)

Saigon (1 week intel school)

Chu Lai

My Lai

Quang Ngai City

Ba To

Gia Vuc

COL (later MG) Hugh F. T. Hoffman, Cdr, 11^th LIB

COL Kenneth B. Barlow, Cdr, 11^th LIB

MAJ (later COL) Stuart L. Perkins, S-2, 11^th LIB

MSG Leonard Suhr, S-2 NCOIC, 11^th LIB

SGT Harold Smith, 1^st Plt, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf

CPT (later COL) Sterling P. Bassett, Asst S-3, 11^th LIB

2LT Robert Johnson, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf (KIA)

Chaplain (MAJ) Gordon Hanson, 11^th LIB

CPT (later LTC) Robert J. H. Small, Cdr, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf

CPT (later LTC) Jude E. Shea, Cdr, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf

SP4 Robert A. Favreau 1^st Plt, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf (awarded DSC)

SGT Leroy Rice 1^st Plt, Co C, 4^th Bn, 3^rd Inf (best point man in RVN!)

1LT (later COL) Cardell Hunter 3^rd Bn, 1^st Inf and later S-2 (Air), 11^th Inf Bde (Cardell was my replacement on Bde staff!)

1LT James C. Wineinger, Asst S-1, 11^th LIB

1. One night the outfit was in the flatlands in an NDP. The evening supply chopper brought two cases of lemons with our evening chow. Water was a very scarce resource so lemonade was not an option. But a lemon "fight" was with the lemons flying back and forth all around the NDP. The CO and his command group were in the middle of the NDP and there were several (predictable) "short rounds" that landed in their midst. He was a great sport about it though. Good way to relieve some stress.
2. Another night in the flatlands in an NDP. Common practice was to try to get the supply chopper to land in a desired spot (preferably downwind!). But the pilot retains the right to make the decision. Our landing guide tried to bring the chopper in downwind in a nice flat area. Instead the pilot exercised his perogative and landed elsewhere and managed to impale his UH-1 on a tree stump when landing. A young WO, he was most unhappy and most of the entire company laughing at him did not help things much! A CH-47 came and popped the UH-1 off of the stump and away it went to the repair shop.
3. Another night in a valley south of San Juan Hill, we were in a circular NDP and were taking incoming small arms fire. After a hour or so of this, we got a "Spooky" overhead (AC130 or AC47) and they used their miniguns to place fire all around our perimeter. It was a beautiful if somewhat scary sight to see all the tracers coming down. Happily, the Air Force folks knew exactly what they were doing and all of their fire went where it was intended.
4. It was common practice to carry a small amount of C4 to destroy bunkers (and other uses which will go unspoken). Anyway, our outfit discovered a sizeable bunker complex that was abandoned. We did not have enough explosives on hand to reduce them all so we called for a resupply. We asked for 40 pounds of C4 and got a lot more delivered to us by chopper! The chopper promptly left and, as we carried everything we had in our packs, we did not want to add any extra weight. So we did a first class job of destroying the bunkers and several adjoining rice paddie dikes and several "enemy" trees.
5. In August 1969, a fresh NVA Regiment tried to take San Juan Hill. In the course of the battle, Co C captured a 12.7mm (.51 cal) heavy machinegun from the NVA. Unfortunately, the gun crew shot down a UH-1 first. Anyway, once we captured the gun, we took some pleasure in using it to fire some H&I fire with it. We were told that it would be taken and given to the 3^rd Infantry Old Guard Museum at Ft Myer. But years later when I got assigned to Washington, I visited the museum and they had no knowledge of it.
6. The 11^th LIB AO bordered the South China Sea. When I went to Bde Staff, I flew nearly every day in either an OH-6 (Loach) or an O-1E (Birddog). Occasionally we would be near the ocean and see sharks basking just a few inches below the surface. These enemy sharks were occasionally engaged with gunfire but did not seem to take much notice!
7. Navy destroyers occasionally came offshore to provide naval gunfire support. When that happened, the guys on the ship looked forward to coming ashore for coordination (and a brief visit to one of our clubs where they might get a beer or something stronger). At the same time, we looked for any chance to fly out to the ship and see if they had any ice cream that was an unheard of luxury on land.
8. The rifle companies would rotate on to the San Juan Hill firebase about every 4^th week for one week of guard duty and recuperation from beating the bush and climbing the hills. There were several tear gas dispensers rigged for use in defending the firebase if needed. They were rigged with a trigger that was activated from a bunker by pulling a wire that ran out to the dispenser. One evening, one of the guys in my platoon achieved a certain amount of fame by managing to trip over the trigger wire and thus discharging the tear gas dispenser. Happily for some, the resulting tear gas cloud headed directly for the officers mess tent. As I was in the tent at the time eating chow with the Co and Bn Cdrs, it was not quite such a hilarious event for me!
9. While out in the bush, we would get mail packages whenever we thought we might have the time to enjoy the contents (usually food!). Packages frequently contained cookies, hot sauce (a favorite way to make the ancient C-rations more palatable), kool-aid packets (to make the purified water taste less terrible) & stuff like that. Once when we got packages, a guy in our platoon got a nice big package from an affectionate aunt of his. Obviously his aunt had no idea of how he was living because when he unwrapped his package, it was a plug-in radio (no battery power option). Electric outlets were hard to come by and the resupply chopper was long gone. The radio was probably expensive as it weighed about 10 pounds and was fairly large. In a fit of frustration and/or rage, the guy took the nice new radio over to a rock and promptly smashed it to pieces, making sure that nothing survived that would be a suitable component for a booby trap. He saw the humor in the situation later but right then, no one saw fit to say much about it to him!
10. In one of our irregular mail deliveries out in the bush, my father sent me a letter in which he included a draft notice that had arrived at his house. In what was apparently a bureaucratic mixup, somebody at my local draft board decided it was time for me to be drafted into the Army. Actually, about that time, the idea of going back to Texas sounded pretty good. But the CO didn’t go for that idea so instead, I got a bit of pleasure in writing the draft board refusing their callup but inviting them to come and pick me up. No response was ever received!
11. In May 1970, my time to leave RVN was fast approaching. As the war was starting to wind down, there was emphasis on making sure that every seat on returning aircraft was filled. Thus there were a number of folks who got "drops" which moved up their DEROS in order to fill these seats. About a week before I was due to leave, I got a message at Duc Pho saying that I had been given a 5 day "drop" and should immediately leave for Chu Lai and outprocessing in a UH-1 that would leave in two hours! The usual farewell party was cancelled. I was ushered into the Bde Cdr’s office for one of the quickest award ceremonies ever held, threw some things in an overnight bag and gave the rest away. Went to Chu Lai and outprocessed from Division with now problem. Watched "Gone With The Wind" at the club on my last night in the Americal! At the Chu Lai airport, my departure flight was delayed by rockets hitting the airfield (which I felt was very unfair!). Eventually, I flew down to Cam Ranh Bay and checked in only to be told by a lieutenant in the Replacement Center that my 5 day drop was not correct. His next idea was that I should return to my unit for another 4 days. I explained to him that it would take me two days to get back to my unit and another two days to get back to Cam Ranh Bay so it seemed sort of pointless. Happily, he agreed and let me stay there if I promised to stay out of trouble. Happily for me, they found a seat for me the next day and I headed for home.

1. Living in the jungle during the monsoon season. Everything was always wet and often we were chilled, especially at night. Visibility and hearing dropped which meant danger increased.
2. Booby traps: Our unit (4/3 Inf) was a "mountain unit" so we rarely encountered much in the way of mines or booby traps. When we were occasionally sent down to the flatlands portions of the AO, we were not as experienced in detecting them as the units that worked there regularly.
3. Investigation: I was on the 11^th Inf Bde staff at LZ BRONCO (Duc Pho) when LTG Peers and his folks came to investigate the My Lai incident. By that time, there was no one in the brigade who had been there when the incident occurred. But some documents were allegedly missing and the entire place was searched to include personal living spaces and possessions. I had the unusual experience of having a full Colonel going through my socks and underwear looking for documents. He didn’t find any!
4. Christmas: Christmas in Viet Nam was not much fun. Although there were efforts made to do what could be done. The brigade chaplain wrote each of our families and got pictures from home and small presents to surprise us with. An incredibly thoughtful and kind gesture, it also served to remind us what we were missing. Part of my work as S-2 Air involved planning LRRP missions, supporting them with radio relays, and other similar activities. So I knew these folks to be incredible soldiers who took enormous risks to provide us valuable information. The LRRP platoon came over to the club just about midnight on Dec 24^th and at midnight serenaded the Brigade Staff with an incredibly moving and well done version of "Silent Night". I have never heard that carol since without thinking of those brave soldiers, some of whom did not make it back.
5. Flight Home: While all 300+ of us were most happy when the plane took off from Tan Son Nhut, the flight home was about as uncomfortable as any I have ever taken. First of all, seat was full and virtually everyone of us had been at least 24 hours without a shower during the summer in Viet Nam which meant we had been sweating a lot! We flew to Okinawa and landed in the pouring rain and walked a good way to the terminal in the rain. It was still raining on the hike back to the plane. We next landed at Yakota AB, Japan at 0100 local. They were going to clean the plane so we all got off for 3 hours. Not much going on at that time although a number of the concession shops opened up so we could buy stuff to take home. Then we got back on the 707 and flew straight all the way to Travis AFB, California. The stewardesses acted like they were on a plane full of lepers. There were no movies and it seemed like there were about 3 magazines in the entire plane. Cramped, damp, dirty and with almost nothing to do, the flight seemed to take forever. You can only sleep so long, especially in uncomfortable surroundings. It was such an incredible contrast to the flight over to RVN in which the flight crew seemed to do everything they could think of to make us as comfortable as possible. When we landed at Travis, all 300+ let out a loud cheer which was as much for the chance to get off that damn plane as it was to be home! The customs folks at Travis were very nice and got us through their lines quickly. Then most of us showered as best we could and changed out of some pretty rank jungle fatigues into khakis in the terminal restrooms. Khakis turned out to be a bad idea but it was what we had and what we had been told to wear. Some young Marine private in the terminal asked me for my jungle fatigues and jungle boots and I made us both happy by turning them over to him. Almost all of us were flying on to somewhere else (Texas in my case). So they bussed us over to the San Francisco Airport in the middle of the night. We arrived there, bought our tickets to wherever we were going, and then had five or more hours to kill until sunrise when the planes would start taking off. Lots of strange folks in that airport at night! Many of them took strong and vocal exception to those of us in uniform and we had several unpleasant previews of what some of our countrymen thought of soldiers returning from Viet Nam. But trouble was not what we were interested in so we stayed off by ourselves until it was time to leave. The euphoria of returning back to American was dampened by this experience to say the least.

1. 3 Day R&R to South China Beach – sleeping in a real bed after several months in the bush and taking a bath without leeches seemed to make life pretty nice.
2. Standdown in Chu Lai: After 75 days in the bush, we were flown to Chu Lai for about 2 ½ days of standdown which included clean clothes, showers, access to telephones to reach home, visits to the PX and post office, good food, entertainment (liquid and otherwise!), and an opportunity to sleep in a bed without worrying about guard duty or anything else. It always began with a memorial service for those we had lost and an awards ceremony. Then it was pretty much free time for all. A pretty good outfit bonding experience.
3. Bob Hope’s visit: Bob Hope came to Chu Lai for Christmas 1969. Each staff and unit were allocated a number of "seats" to see his show. The brigade staff willingly gave up their allocation and split them up among the battalions. So I did not see the show but heard it was great. But as I was waiting to leave Cam Ranh Bay to go home, the replacement center had a day room of sorts where they had a tv. It was showing a tape of Bob Hope’s Chu Lai show. It was great to listen to him and watch him with the big Americal patches in the background. I felt good about giving up a chance to see the show but I was really happy to get a chance to see Bob’s visit to our part of the war.
4. R&R: I went to Honolulu to meet my wife. The folks at Ft DeRussy were very efficient and helpful and got us processed very quickly and on our way. During the processing, we were given a card saying we were on R&R and were told that it was good for discounts on a lot of things all over the island. That was very true. Hawaiians are a very patriotic group and pro-military (I had the great luck to be stationed there later on). They treated us like VIPs. My wife and I went to Don Ho’s floorshow in the International Marketplace in downtown Waikiki. During his floorshow (which was great), he paused and said some kind things about the military. Then he asked all present who were on R&R to stand and he led the rest of the crowd in giving us a lengthy round of applause. Something else I will always remember (and be grateful for). The flight back to RVN started with a lot of tearful goodbyes at the airport. When the plane took off from Oahu, you could have heard a pin drop as no one had much to say. We flew to Okinawa and about two hours out, they began serving a meal. I guess I ate quick and was one of the first to have my tray picked up. Then we hit an air pocket and the pilot later said we dropped about 300 feet – instantly! That resulted in a lot of food, trays, drinks & etc going up in the air and coming back down! Quite a mess. To add to the situation, a number of folks promptly got sick. Having been flying almost every day for a couple of months in a small aircraft during the monsoon, I managed to have very little problem myself. Turns out our plane was on the edge of a typhoon and we went well out of our way to fly as far away from it as was possible. Again, it was pouring rain when we landed at Okinawa to refuel and clean the plane!

1. In the bush: Pretty primitive! Everything you had was in your pack or on your webgear. Food was C-rats for breakfast & lunch and then hot meals in plastic bags IF the resupply chopper could get to you. Clean or new socks were an all-too-rare luxury. Ringworm infections were common and we had some problems with malaria. We were given two types of anti-malaria pills to take. One of which was a very effective laxative! Mosquitoes could be incredibly bad particularly if the outfit could not get any insect repellent which happened to us a couple of time. We were able to bathe and change clothes in the bush about once a month. The bathing occurred when we went to the one spot where there was a pool formed by a stream in an area that could be secured for the time required. Unfortunately the pool had leeches so bathing was a rather prompt affair! Because we carried all the water we had access to, shaving was an occasional activity and just saving enough to brush your teeth was sometimes hard to do.
2. San Juan Hill (4/3 Inf Firebase): A definite step up from the bush. We lived in bunkers along the firebase perimeter but usually slept on top of them when the weather was OK. Hot meals were available twice a day and that made things better. Occasional movies and some extras like cokes & candy were easier to get there. The downside was that the Infantry Company pulling firebase defense were also used as the firebase "gophers" taking care of trash, KP, latrines & other similar duties for the entire place. That did not build any morale among the line troops. By the end of the week on the firebase, everyone in the company was looking forward to getting back to the bush.
3. Duc Pho (HQ, 11^th LIB): Life on brigade staff was unbelievably luxurious to me when I came out of the field. I was able to stay dry and clean without much trouble. Hot meals three times a day most of the time. Clubs, PX (albeit a very small selection that quickly sold out), and even a Class VI shop. We got regular mail and even a hot shower was possible after the steam bath was built. My job involved flying almost every day and that made life interesting (and occasionally exciting!).

I am extremely proud of what I did and the incredible men I was privileged to serve with. With all the accuracy of hindsight, I believe the war was poorly prosecuted by our nation although we had plenty of evidence of these shortcomings back then. Most of the folks over there had no desire to be there but they went and served and did what their nation asked of them and did it as well as they were allowed to. We seemed to fight not to lose rather than fighting to win!

1. Combat Infantryman’s Badge (my most prized award in 24 years of service)
2. Bronze Star w/ V and 1 OLC.
3. Air Medal w/ 2 OLC
4. Army Commendation Medal w/ 1 OLC
5. Purple Heart w/ 1 OLC
6. Aircraft Crewman’s Badge

I arrived in country as a 2LT and left as a 1LT.

I stayed in the Army for 24 years and retired at Fort Sam Houston, TX. My last duty station was G-3 (Current Operations), Central Army Group (NATO), Heidelberg, Germany.

College Station, TX

Got a PhD and went to work on the university staff doing computer training and security and teaching on a part-time basis.

Computer training and administration, teaching, and academic advising.

My wife is Cathy and I have two sons: Chris and Kevin.

Reading, physical fitness, shooting, and yardwork.

Still stay in contact with some but time and distance have diminished the amount and frequency of contact.

Yes, I am active in the local chapter of The Retired Officers Assn (TROA), a member of the American Legion, and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.