From the Introduction in the book …

The following account is written from notes I made while in the hospital in San Antonio recovering from wounds I received while in Vietnam and from communications I had with 5th Special Forces Group when I was stationed at Fort Campbell in 1968 and 1969. More recently I read several books on Vietnam (in 1992), listed in the Bibliography, which aided me in the geography of the area and which put the fighting I was involved with in Phuc Long Province in context of what was happening in the country as a whole.

In 1993 I joined the Special Forces Association, Cleveland Chapter XLV, and I am currently the Secretary of the Cleveland chapter. Some of the former SF troopers in that organization read drafts of this account and helped me to clarify this work (especially the parts relating to operations in Vietnam) prior to the final copy. Their help was greatly appreciated.

In 1994 the Cleveland Chapter of the Special Forces Association (Jim Cole, President) was the host Chapter for the national convention, which was held at the Rockside Holiday Inn. During that convention I met Steve Sherman, also an ex Special Forces trooper, who is compiling a history of Special Forces people and activities. I acquired from him a set of the “Green Beret” a magazine published by the 5th Special Forces in Vietnam from 1966 to 1970. In addition, I re-viewed other material he had that allowed me to expand on the work I had been doing to write this book.

Lastly I have used the National Archives section of the Smithsonian Institute in College Park, Maryland. The military records of that period are now declassified and available for re-search. I have found many reports and references to the military action I was involved with by using this valuable resource. This has probably been the since most important resource to me and I do want to thank the researchers there who were able to dig out the records I needed with the limited information I was able to give them.

Every attempt has been made to accurately state what happened to the team, the camp and me. My original notes were done while recovering from severe wounds in the hospital and at the time there were things I could not remember (there were several weeks were I was in a delirious state and it took many months to get back to close to normal), especially some names of people. Materials I read in 1992 and 1994 brought back some of this loss. Sherman’s work with Special Forces personnel missing in action (MIA) or killed in action (KIA) when compared to the dates and times of some of the battles I knew of gave me a way to place some other names back in. I will state that although everything that I tell about in this book is accurate to the best of my knowledge it is possible that some of the patrol activity is not in the proper time sequence, I don’t think so but it is possible.

This is me in the Jungle in Vietnam in October, 1967

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Bu Dop 1967