Camp Thien Ngon

Camp Thien Ngon – A323

The following information is from former 1LT David Fetters, XO of A323, Camp Thien Ngon, from March through August, 1969.

Camp Thien Ngon, a Special Forces border camp, was located in Phuoc Ninh District, Tay Ninh Province on the Cambodian border. It was a “5 pointed star” type camp with a pentagon shape as the inner perimeter. The helipad was just outside the main entrance although in a pinch a Huey could and did land inside the inner perimeter. The inner pentagon was surrounded by a moat filled with stakes and wire. Inside were the US SF Team, our VN counterparts, mess, vehicles, mortar pits (two 81mm and two 4.2 inch), generators, and three105 howitzers with their US firing team. Our airstrip was built on a dirt road designated as QL 22 which ran from Tay Ninh through Trai Bi past our camp, A323 Thien Ngon to Xa Mat on the Cambodian border about 8 klicks to the north. It was a rough 2-track and totally unused because of the constant threat of ambush and mines. Our camp was built as a “fighting camp” since we were in a free-fire zone with no villages around. Our SF Team house was an above ground bunker using conex containers as individual rooms. The CO was at one end of a hallway with the XO (me) at the other with 5 others lined up on each side, side-by-side, down the middle. We had a small medical room just inside the entrance for our Bac Si to use as a clinic. We had the radio room and our common room under the same roof as well.

There were five CIDG companies in camp – three Vietnamese and two Cambodian with lots of family living with them in the bunkers. We had one recon platoon that was Vietnamese and not much good. Our US security in the bush was always the Cambodes.

At one time a US Engineer Company set up camp next to ours with their own security for a month while they resurfaced our runway with laterite and oiled with pentaprime.

Outside the camp, approximately 150 meters of jungle was cleared of trees but the 6-8foot elephant grass was always present. We had trip flares, wire, foo gas, claymores, and anti- tank and anti-personnel mines throughout the grass surrounding the camp. In addition, the immediate jungle perimeter was also treated and defoliated with Agent Orange. We had listening posts out all the time just inside the jungle perimeter.

Our AO was a free-fire zone so any detected movement other than one of our operations was a potential target of opportunity. Operations were constant ongoing affairs with someone in the AO at all times. As one operation returned, another was ready to leave. All were about two-company sized (180 men), two USSF advisors (ha!), our two counterparts, and a modest HQ security force of 6-8 Cambodians who also carried our radios. A recon team may or may not have been along. Most were three-day jaunts in a big loop out and back. During my six months in camp I was on two of thee heliborne operations that were also about three days but we were dropped off in the far corners of the AO and swept back. The objective was always the same – look for recent NVA activity, find the enemy and engage if possible, look for any relevant intelligence, return any Chieu Hoi’s (one for us).

Thien Ngon was accessible by road but the road was unimproved and cratered and would have to be swept for mines if ever used. The engineers used it almost every day for about 2 weeks to haul in the laterite dug from the Suoi Ky River in our southern AO about 5 Klicks away while they were resurfacing the runway.

The terrain in our Area of Operations was perfectly flat with heavy jungle – so called “triple canopy” - with a few unexplained clearings that were irregularly shaped fields of knee deep grass-like growth. One river flowed from SW to NE. It varied from about 30 – 50 feet wide and about chest deep and chocked full of hungry leeches. A copy of the AO map I carried is on an internet web site: www.thespecialforce.com/Camps/thien_ngon.htm It will also come up if you type Thien Ngon into Google.

We saw few VC and only south near the river when they’d pick up water. The NVA were camped directly across the border in Cambodia and I would see them from our recon helo flights. I even threw a smoke grenade down on them once to see if they would fire back allowing us to engage them because they fired first, but they knew our rules of engagement as well as we did and just waved at us.

While I was there we had a few small probes and one sizable ground attack against the engineers. I was returning from an operation from the south of camp parallel to the road and had set up for the night about two or three klicks away from camp when the engineers took a direct attack from a force between us and the engineers. We could see the green rounds going toward camp while the red ones were coming toward us. The CO told us to lay low because the engineers had the upper hand. No penetration occurred.

Enemy indirect fire attacks were intermittent. We could go weeks with nothing and another week we’d receive 250+ rounds. Most were mortars, 60 and 82mm. We occasionally received rockets. There were two sizes that I recall. The big ones were 122mm and the others were the 107mm Katyusha. Before I got there a 122 hit the team house and exploded inside killing the medic. We had a chain link fence around the team house to set off RPG’s prematurely. There were a couple holes in the fence from them.


We often found older booby traps in the jungle and would destroy them when found. We would sweep the ends of the runway occasionally to be sure there were no mines set for the resupply planes. We missed a big anti-tank mine once just off the end of the runway but it was found by the VN when they took a ¾ ton truck without permission to replace the listening post personnel. That ruined our best truck!

Camp+Thien+Ngon CIDG David+Fetters NVA Special+Forces Thien+Ngon Vietnam+War

Camp Tra Cu - July 29, 1969

I had the honor of speaking at the Memorial Service held at the Cullman County courthouse on Saturday, May 24, 2008. This is what I said:

My name is Clifford Gissell, I spent twenty-one years in the Army, twelve of those in Special Forces. One of those years was spent on the Cambodian border in Vietnam in Camp Duc Hue, a Special Forces border camp, designed to stop or slow the infiltration of communist forces. In that area it was the North Vietnamese Army.

A Special Forces team is broken down into six specialties: Two officers, two operation/intelligence sergeants, two weapons men, two medics, two communications sergeants, and two engineer/demolitions men. In the camp we required to keep at least one officer, one medic, and one commo guy. Everyone else could be out on combat operations.

The soldiers we had were from the Civilian Irregular Defense Group. These were hired, trained and used on combat operations by Special Forces. They’re best described as light infantry. Typically a camp would have five companies and two recon platoons. A combat operation would have one of two companies accompanied by two or three Americans.

In the next camp to our southeast, Tra Cu, SGT John Whisenant, a medic, was close to going home and wanted to go on one last operation. But he was the only medic in camp. My junior medic, SGT David Runner, agreed to go to Tra Cu and take his place in camp.

On July 29th, 1969, CPT James Amendola, the team leader, West Point grad, father of a three month old son who he had never seen, SGT John Whisenant, the medic, and SFC John Murphy, the senior Commo Sergeant, left Camp Tra Cu with one CIDG company, about 100 men. A typical field operation. Another CIDG company with three American had left earlier.

Six clicks, about three and a half miles west of camp, the first element encounters a large North Vietnamese Army force. After the initial contact they try to flank the enemy, the three Americans are wounded. Unable to get a medevac chopper, they’re pulled back from the contact.
The second element moves toward the contact. As they move into position, heavy machinegun fire opens up to their front. CPT Amendola and SGT Whisenant are killed immediately, SFC Murphy receives gunshot wounds to his legs, he drags himself into a bomb crater. By this time air support is on the way. Murphy coordinates the air strikes against the enemy.

Many of us listened to this engagement on the radio. I don't believe that we knew that Amendola and Whisenant were dead at this point. Mainly, we heard Murphy speaking with the air assets and Camp Tra Cu.

The camp sends out a call for help to the 25th Infantry Division. Delta Company2/27th Inf, the Wolfhounds, responds, they air assault into an area near the battleground to rescue the SF personnel Delta Company tries but cannot reach the Americans they lose six KIA in the attempt:

CPT James C. Kotrc, the company commander (Dist Svc Cross)
SFC Stephen D. Gleckler
SGT Larry L. Riddle
CPL Randall M. Denton
CPL John E. Hisey
SP4 Kris E. Shaw

Heavy enemy fire keeps Delta company pinned down, unable to advance. Helicopter gunships and Air Force fighter/bombers continue to pound the NVA.

Charlie Company is called in to reinforce Delta Company. Their company commander and several others were wounded but they finally reached the three SF. John Murphy had bled to death. Delta company retrieved the bodies of the dead Special Forces soldiers.

This was another small, mostly unknown, battle of the Vietnam War. Camp Tra Cu lost half of their team in one morning, the Wolfhounds had 6 KIA and more than 20 wounded. Just another day in the Vietnam War.

John+Whisenant James+Amendola John+Murphy Tra+Cu David+Runner Duc+Hue James+Kotrc Stephan+Gleckler Larry+Riddle Randall+Denton John+Hisey Kris+Shaw

Camp Duc Hue - The North Vietnamese Army

There were two major North Vietnamese Army units just across the Cambodian border from Camp Duc Hue, home of A325, A/5th Special Forces Group. The two units, the 271st & 272nd Regiments of the 9th NVA Division were based in Ba Thu, Cambodia. An NVA regiment had about 1500 men in it. The 9th NVA Division was often referred to as the 9th VC Division although its major troop units were NVA. The 88th NVA Regiment also belonged to the 9th division. I doubt that both regiments were ever at Ba Thu at the same time but Ba Thu was their base area. Did Camp Duc Hue keep the NVA bottled up in Cambodia? No. They moved to the north or south of the camp almost at will. Did they attack Duc Hue? Yes, but not a direct infantry assault on the camp. While I was there the most serious attack was an attack with automatic weapons fire, RPGs, and mortars. There were more than 100 mortar rounds fired within a short time, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes. Our casualties were light. The air support we were able to call in did some damage to the NVA. We found evidence of that the next morning. We joked that they were on their way back to Ba Thu and were tired of carrying all those mortar rounds so they unloaded them on us. I don't know it that was true or not but it sounded good. Much more common were mortar attacks with 82 and 120mm mortars. These were normally fired from the area of the Angel's Wing. Again, the humor was that they had a mortar school set up there, the closest point to us, and we were the final exam for their students. The rockets starting falling when I was there, mainly Katyusha 107mm plus some heavier stuff. Scarey stuff. Duc Hue a distinct terrain advantage, something that our sister camps to the north did not enjoy. It was mostly wide open around the camp. Anyone attacking the camp would be easy prey for return fire, both direct and indirect from camp, and any air assets we could bring to our defense. It would have been suicide for one of the regiments to attack. Ba Thu was not our only worry though. There were other enemy units across the border. I once watched an unknown aircraft fly along the border at several thousand feet. As he continued north from Ba Thu, twenty-three different anti-aircraft guns opened up on him, one after the other as he flew north. The largest appeared to be 37mm. An operation that I was involved with went into the armpit of the Angel's Wing and found what was estimated to be a battalion of NVA. The enemy owned the other side of the border, no doubt. We had around 500 lightly armed Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG)soldiers, two 105mm tubes from an ARVN artillery unit, two 81mm and two 4.2inch mortars. We were isolated, all supplies had to be hooked in by helicopter. The stress level was high but life went on inside the camp. We had decent chow, cold beer and soda, an occasional movie, mail from home and even left camp once in awhile for reasons other than combat operations. R & R was on everyone's schedule and business in Tay Ninh, Binh Hoa or Saigon wasn't all business. Things were not all bad.

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5th Special Forces Group, A325, Agroville, B32, Duc Hue, Hoa Binh, North Vietnamese Army, The Angel Wing, The Parrots Beak, The Red Dragon, Vam Co Dong River

Camp Duc Hue, 5th Special Forces Group

Camp Hoa Binh in The Red Dragon is fictional. While in Special Forces I spent seven months at Camp Duc Hue in Hau Nghia Province, III Corps, South Vietnam. The team designation was A325, it belonged to B32. This camp was located on the Cambodian border under the border feature named The Angel Wing. It was located in Duc Hue District but the district seat, the village of Duc Hue, was located across the Vam Co Dong River. On the west side of the river where the camp was located there were no populated areas. Basically this was a free-fire zone. Anyone moving through the area was considered to be an enemy. When I was there, from September, 1968 to April, 1969, enemy meant the North Vietnamese Army. The border was about five clicks or about three miles away. The area where the camp was located was some sort of farming area when the French controlled what was then Indochina. The area was named "Agroville" on the maps. There were some man-made features there. I remember at least one lake that was square in shape and some roads. I also remember a derelict piece of road equipment abandoned by the road. I assume there was once a bridge across the Vam Co Dong River that allowed vehicular traffic to reach this area. Our attention was always toward Cambodia, I never saw the river. Our operational area consisted of abandoned rice fields. When you left camp on an operation you went into the water and stayed in the water unless you came upon an abandoned 'tree square', a place that once was a homestead. These tree squares are where we normally stopped to eat or remain over night (RON). They were also the most likely place to be booby-trapped. As you approached parts of the border you would find vegetated areas and dry ground. I live in northern Alabama. As I cross the Tennessee River going north, there are two areas that always remind me of Vietnam. One is a wet area surrounded by trees that reminds me of my second tour in Vietnam, served in Mekong Delta. A bit north of the Tennessee River is a cotton field with a tree square in the middle of it. It too is abandoned, once being a homestead. Everytime I see that, whether there's cotton planted or not, it reminds me of the tree squares we saw on operations at Duc Hue. There's still a hint of uneasiness in me, not as strong as back in those days, but still a hint, that danger lurks there.

5th+Special+Forces+Group A325 Agroville B32 Duc+Hue Hoa+Binh North+Vietnamese+Army The+Angels+Wing The+Parrots+Beak The+Red+Dragon Vam+Co+Dong+River NVA 5th+SFG

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 8

Well, if it's going to be published, I've got to find a publisher. Up until this time I was looking for a print book publisher, exclusively. Under my pen name, C J Maxx, I had an erotic romance short story published by Whiskey Creek Press - Torrid. It was under 15K words and available only in electronic format. I knew they published other genres besides the erotic stuff. I sent them a query and they requested the full manuscript. This was all done electronically. I knew it would be months before I would hear anything. They had a backlog. After more than a few months I sent them an email asking about the status. They said they liked it but wondered about the marketability of the book. I told them about the Special Forces community and how I would sell the book to them. That was enough. They send me a contract for both the electronic and print formats. That was in November 2007. The release date was to be April 1, 2008. The only hiccup was that they changed to a staggered release during the month and the book was released on April 15th. Finally, I had a copy of The Red Dragon in my hand.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 7

I revised The Red Dragon and sent it back to the publisher. A few weeks later I get a letter stating the novel is "too technical". If I want to reach non-military readers I will have to make it less technical. I knew this was an issue but wasn't ready to make any changes. I still wanted to be technically accurate. My wife was the first to complain about this when she first read the draft. She told me that the Vietnamese ranks were confusing, that she could never remember who was what. She also didn't like all the radio communications, all this call-sign stuff distracted her from the story. My step-son had the same issues. Neither has any military background. My junior medic from Nam never mentioned this "technical" issue. Of course not, he knew exactly what I was talking about, he lived it too. Damn. I do want this book to interest non-military readers too. What to do? I can challenge the publisher, well known authors do that, and have it published their way. Well, I'm certainly not a well known author. Okay, I'll do it. Back through the book again. I changed all the Vietnamese ranks to their American equivalent. Thank God for Microsoft's Word "Find and Replace". I deleted a lot of radio communications and simplied most of the rest. Back it goes again. What's next, take out all the cussing? I draw the line on that one. Now I hear nothing for several weeks. I send a letter, what's going on? Finally, I get an answer. "I can't get a bank to finance this book." This is devastating news. I have a completely different book, changed a the request of a publisher who promised he would publish the book. Now, he's reneged. I review his letters. He told me on the phone he would publish the book, that's not repeated in any of his letters. Several times during our dealings I thought I should have a contract but didn't follow up on that thought. Even if I did have a contract I don't know what my recourse would be, contracts have clauses that allow either party to end it. Well, back to square one: Find a publisher.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 6

There are several ways to find publishers. You can find publications that list them and there are several different websites that do the same. Some of the websites will tell you if anyone has had problems with a particular publisher. I had been through this process with my first book. I knew not to shotgun it, don't query every publisher out there. Look for a publisher that just might be interested in your book. I saw one in Los Angeles. He was a small publisher but he did publish military novels. I checked out his website and I could submit both the query letter and the manuscript together. But they had to sent snail mail. That's a couple bucks, no big deal. I sent it to him on a Wednesday, priority mail. On Saturday, I get a call from this guy, I wasn't sure who he was, but his message was clear. "You cannot publish this book the way it is written. It's blasphemy." What? I'm flabbergasted, I don't know where this guy is coming from. Publishers don't normally get back with you quickly, sometimes you never hear from them. He had introduced himself in the beginning but I didn't catch any of it. I asked how he knew about my book. He repeated his introduction. Oh, okay, but I could hardly believe that he had time to receive it, much less read any of it. This time I wrote down his name. He was the publisher from the company in Los Angeles. He's a Bulgarian and an author and playwright of some note in Europe with a few releases in the U.S. He's very serious in making it clear to me that no Romanian would ever join the Soviet Army. Under no circumstances. We discuss Romania's part in World War II and I realize this guy is real, he knows what he's talking about. Then this: "If you publish this book the way it is written the Curse of Dracula will come down on you and your family." I was stunned. He wants me to rewrite this book? All I can say is, "I'll think about it." Then he says, "If you change it, I will publish the book." After I hang up, I repeat the conversation to my wife. Her response was, "We have good life, we don't need the Curse of Dracula brought down on us. Change it." My junior medic from Vietnam had read the draft of the novel. I sent him an email telling him about it. He came back with, "Why aren't you rewriting it right now?" After thinking about it for a few days I made my decision. I wasn't so sure about the Curse of Dracula but I understood the Romanian disdain for the Soviet Union. I didn't want every Romanian in the world hating me. Besides, he said he would publish the book. Back to the computer. I still liked the tie-in to the historical Dracula. So, I made the Special Forces Team Sergeant the descendent and the Russian Captain an admirer of Dracula's tactics for terrorizing his enemies. I could make this work.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 5

The Red Dragon was finished, time to begin the search for a publisher. There are intrinsic rewards to writing and completing a book. It has its frustrations, for sure, but when you're in the grove and the words are flowing effortlessly, it feels wonderful. Now, on the other hand, finding a publisher is the most frustrating part of writing. I knew that a certain New York City agent would be interested in this book. When I had submitted my first novel to him several years ago I mentioned I would be writing this one next. I sent a query letter to him by email and was almost immediately told to email the manuscript. So begins the rollercoaster ride of the publishing effort. I started up the hill, would I hit the jackpot at the top or come screaming down the other side. Several days later I had my answer. He liked it, but didn't love it. With the difficulties getting unknown authors published, etc. he was sorry, he would have to decline. Down the hill we went. Well, let's find a publisher who publishes military stuff. There's not many out there. But, I found the perfect one. A small publisher in the south. The publisher was an ex-Green Beret who had also been a chopper pilot. Perfect. I sent a query letter and was asked to send the maunuscript by email. Here we go, back up the hill. What came back was a partially edited manuscript. He had went through the first hundred pages. This was very positive. Why would he bother unless he was interested? A few emails back and forth and I send the corrected manuscript back. Then nothing. I send a few emails asking about the status. I'm not getting any response from him. I find another person in his publishing company and contact her. She gets through to him and he sends me an email. He's sorry, but finances are tight. He can't publish the book. But, I can tell prospective publishers that he would have published it if he had the money. Great. One liked it but didn't love it, another would publish it, but didn't have the money. Let me digress here and tell you about my first novel, a political story titled The Second Amererican Republic. It took two years to write, it took another year to find a publisher. The scheduled publication date was a year later. I suspected things were not going well as the publication date neared and little had been done to get the book ready for publication. I knew he was slow because I had been watching his website and scheduled publication dates of other books had been pushed out. I knew mine would suffer the same fate. Well, about two days before my scheduled date he went out of business. Four years and now--nothing. Nothing in my life has been as frustrating as tried to get a book published. Time to check out other publishers.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 4

I was going to make this novel authentic. I had been there, I had been in battle, I had called in close air support and medevacs,I had called in artillery and adjusted fire. The radio communications were going to just as I remember them. This book was going to be real in the technical details. The first little hiccup came with team suffixes. Every team member had a number as a radio call-sign suffix. If you were the junior, like the junior medic, you had an alpha added to the number. No one, and I sent emails to many old SF guys, including every Commo Sergeant I knew, and no could recall more than a few of the suffixes. Well, so much for that. I made up most of them. Everyone in SF knew and used the Vietnamese rank system. I did the research on the North Vietnamese Army and their rank system was almost the same. There were a couple differences in the NCO ranks. I used the Vietnamese ranks throughout the book. When the Russians were dealing with the Vietnamese, I called them by the VN rank. The only Russian word I used was Spetsnaz, the name of the Soviet Special Forces. That was critical for the story. I researched everything. I had the weaponry right, learned NVA tactics and their Order of Battle, learned their Table of Organization, used maps of Cambodia for the NVA base camps and the road system. I thought I did a good job on the military aspects. Now, war is not all seriousness, occasionallly there is time to play. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is not unlike any other large city. When the Russians went whoring, I needed to know what the boys were paying. There was an SF contingent in Phnom Penh in the early 70s. I figured my brothers would know about that stuff. I was one of the brothers, I know what we did when given the opporturnity. Well, once again, foggy old memories failed. The price is pretty vague in the book. Finally, the book was finished. Although it only took me about an hour to write these first four blogs about this book, it took a year to write it. But, it was done, time to find a publisher.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 3

It was settled now. A descendent of Vlad Dracula would be the antagonist. Time to research the historic Dracula. The best reference book seemed to be Dracula, Prince of Many Faces by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally. I got the book. As I stated in The Red Dragon, "The Englishman, Stoker, had done a great disservice to a brilliant military commander. Dracula's battlefield genius was far overshadowed by the caricature of him as a vampire." I wrote those words and that's how I feel about the two Draculas. In Romania they have two different tours, one for the historic Vlad and another for Stoker's Count Dracula. Now, I had to get my antagonist's father into the Red Army. Research time. His father was a company commander in the 1st Mountain Brigade, 170th Infantry Division, 3rd Romanian Army. He was captured in the battle of Sevastopol early in 1941. After ten months in a Soviet POW camp he was allowed to join the Red Army as a private. He ended the war as a captain, a staff officer in the 6th Guards Mechanized Infantry Battalion. Seeing that I was writing a war story I only needed the military background stuff. Okay, now I had it. My antagonist was a descendent of Vlad Dracula and he was in the Soviet Army. Perfect. Time to write.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 2

Once I decided to write the novel I had second thoughts about making it a 'regular' war novel. I wanted to expand the possible base of readers beyond those in Special Forces who had served in Vietnam or had an interest in those who had served there. This is where Barry Sadler comes in. Most people who know of him only know him through the song, The Ballad of the Green Beret. Sadler also wrote about thirty-five books, twenty-three of which were a fictional series about "Casca, the Eternal Warrior". Casca, a Roman Legionnaire, stuck his spear in Jesus while Jesus was on the Cross. He was condemned to live forever for his transgression. Sadler put him in every war he could think of. Casca was in the Fench Indochina war, the Russian Front in WWII, a Japanese Samurai warrior, etc. At the end of the story, he would be lying in the mud, severely wounded, barely alive, but, he could never die. He'd be back in the next book. His research was excellent, his stories were great. I knew Sadler, he was in the medical class behind me in Special Forces Training Group back in 1963. That's also when he penned the song. Thinking about Casca made me realize that I could use someone like that and write several war novels. After some thought I came up with the answer: The historical Vlad Dracula, that's who I would use.

A Vietnam War Novel - Part 1

I wanted to write a Vietnam War novel. I spent two years in Vietnam. Both years I served with the Vietnamese. The first year with the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) soldiers controlled by Special Forces and the second year as a District Advisor with MACV. The soldiers during the second year were mainly Regional Forces and Popular Forces, soldiers trained and deployed to protect their hamlets, villages and the district where they lived. Although I had been in combat on numerous occasions mostly they were small unit contacts, nothing to write a book about. My memoirs were not going to hold anyone's interest for long. But, things happened during both tours that could be used in a novel. I realized that I could weave these particular incidents into an interesting story that would still convey what things were like on the Cambodian border where the enemy was afforded sanctuary and we were officially prohibited from striking back at them across the border. This was my original rationale for writing this book. A straight war novel, written about the war I served in, the Vietnam War.

CIDG, Clifford Gissell, MACV, Popular Forces, Regional Forces, Special Forces, Vietnam War

The+Red+Dragon CIDG Clifford+Gissell MACV Popular+Forces Regional+Forces Special+Forces Vietnam+War