NSA BASE RELOCATIONS
Larry Cole gives this account:
EMAIL: lencho[ at ]home.com

I was XO of Rivdiv 572 Sept 68 - Sept 69. During that period we were onboard the YRBM 20 for about half the time.
When I arrived in Vinh Long, the NSA was still running a hotel complex outside of town on the road to Can Tho, and the boats were operating out of the VN RAG base in Vinh Long.
I don't have a really great memory for dates, but sometime in late 68 NSA towed in an aged barracks barge (really aged!) and anchored it basically at the pier of the Rag Base. We got on and off via a gangplank to the pier. We moved out of the hotel and onto the barge. No A/C, dark and rusty, it looked like something out of old WW2 movies.
The Seal team came on board about that time.
We operated like that for some time, until the YRBM 20 arrived. It was anchored in midstream off of Vinh Long, and we moved again. The Seawolves continued to operate out of Vinh Long airbase.
continued on YRBM 20 in Vinh Long Page

THE END

TYPICAL OPERATIONS

BRAD [TROOPER] SIMPSON
EMAIL: Oldcoot48[ at ]aol.com gives this account:

APL ARRIVAL
I didn't know the above XO and I don't remember the name of ours at the time but the APL 26/46? was brought in about March or April of 68 because we burnt everything up during Tet.
It was a mess when they towed it up and anchored it to the dock. They built a quonset hut as acom shack on top of the APL.

UNDER FIRE DURING TET
I guess they moved everyone down there because things got real dicey during Tet. 75% of the personnel were stranded at the Villa/hotel while the rest of us were at the riverbase.
They had to load everyone in trucks and make a run for it under fire. Some of the trucks couldn't make the turn into the riverbase and ended up at the Army Air baseduring the fighting.
We finally evacuated to the USS Garrett County the next day as the VC were knocking on our front door we were jumping on the boats and boogieing out the back door.

WORK AT DOWNTOWN BASE
I was known as Trooper during those days I was a CYN3 serving with Riv Div 52 and later River Squadron 57 from 10/67 to 9/68.
I lived at the Villa and was there when we burnt the RAG riverbase in February of 68. Thanks for a great website I will be checking back to see if I can spot any old friends in my comm group. Charlie Fritsche, Tiny Hadsall, Dave Clay?, Butch Diment, Marty Keegan names are escaping me too many years.

ARMY AIR OPERATION AT VINH LONG