Marines NEVER drink

The attached three photos were taken by a Canadian citizen who came south in 1967 and joined the USMC (Uncle Sam's Misguided Children) so that he could go to Vietnam and fight. Boy! Did he get his wish. He became a machine gunner with 1 / 5 and found himself in the middle of the Tet "celebration" of 1968 smack in the middle of Hue City. By the way, it is my understanding that between 10,000 and 15,000 Canadian citizens joined the American military for service in Vietnam. That's a good neighbor for sure.

The first photo is of my flame-thrower tank shooting the one and only load of napalm that was dispensed inside the city limits during the fighting to free the city of the invading NVA and VC.  There were a SHITPOT full of NVA snipers and RPG teams inside the building that is under fire. Sadly the resulting building fire spread to the entire city block. The next day the word came down that we could no longer destroy the city in order to save it. The only weapons that we could employ were 90 mm gun tanks, 106 mm recoilless rifles, M-60 machine guns, M-60 mortars, M-79 grenade launchers, M-16's, LAW's and hand grenades. No napalm, no air strikes, no arty, no 81 mm mortars, no 4.2" mortars, no naval gun fire. Boy oh boy! The rules of engagement are the enemy's best friend.

The next photo is a Marine Ontos whizzing along the main boulevard on the Southside of the City of Hue.  An "Ontos" is a light weight tracked vehicle that the grunts loved especially during the fighting in Hue for Tet of 1968. Why did they love it so? These small "tank killers" would scoot around a corner of a building, tank aim down the street at any and all NVA soldiers shooting at the Marines and it would fire off all SIX of the 106 mm recoilless rifles all at once. Talk about fire power!!!

In the photo, the less-than-mental-giant riding on top of this vehicle (that we affectionately called a "Pig") is probably a Lieutenant. No self-respecting "snuffie" would do such a stupid thing

. The last photo is in my humble opinion a "classic." A tuckered out Marine grunt catching a few Z's between firefights.

Semper Fidelis,

John Wear
Sgt 3rd Tanks
RVN 1968 – 1969