Robert, here"s a copy of the email that Jerry Wallace sent Sgt Craigs

sister. Jerry did a lot of digging as all he could remember was the aprox

date. That and a transportation MOS to go by. He explained how he did it,

but most of it was over my head. Thats the best part of a group like this.

No matter what needs to be done, you can bet that some one has the talant to

do it...........Lee-----Original Message----- From: Jerry Wallace

<Jerry13@worldnet.att.net> To: CRein724@aol.com <CRein724@aol.com>;

krein1234@aol.com <krein1234@aol.com> Date: Monday, March 15, 1999 6:32 PM

Subject: Re: Dickey Craig

Karen:

I didn't know much abut Dickey's family.  I think he had mentioned that he

was married, but I don't recall any conversations about siblings.  He was

only with the unit for a short time before his death.

I was assigned to an Army river patrol unit, know as the 458th

Transportation Company.  The unit was divided into about 6 detachments,

scattered at various locations in Vietnam.  I was assigned to the detachment

located at Qui Nhon, which was located in the northern portion of South

Vietnam.

During the late summer or early fall of 1970, Dickey arrived in Qui Nhon. He

had completed the initial inprocessing at the 458th Transportation Company's

headquarters in Dian (which was about 20 miles from Saigon), before being

sent to Qui Nhon.  During October 1970, Dickey and Specialist-Four Davis

were on my boat. Another Army unit, I believe that were related to Military

Intelligence had asked us to take two or three soldiers to a spot in the

northeastern part of Qui Nhon Bay.  They planned to place some type of

listening devices in the area, in an effort to detect enemy troop movements.

The peninsula that bordered the bay on the east had been abandoned by the

civilians in the area and was designated a "free fire zone" as anyone found

in the area was presumed to be Viet Cong.

As approached the shore with the landing party Davis loaded his M-16 and

placed it on the cover of the forward gun turret.  We were not expecting

enemy opposition of the landing and had not uncovered the 50 caliber

machine-guns.  As we got closer to the shore Dickey reached down to pick up

the M-16 by the barrel and a single shot rang out.  Davis had forgotten to

place the weapon on safety after loading it.  It seems the trigger mechanism

snagged on something from the gun cover, causing it to discharge.  Dickey

fell where he was standing on the front deck.  He died instantly.  We tried

to get him medical assistance, but there was nothing anyone could do.

Dickey was taken away in an Army ambulance.  I guess there was probably an

assumption that the officer in charge of the detachment would contact the

family.

I hope this helps to resolve questions that your family has wanted answered

for all of these years.

Jerry

CRein724@aol.com wrote:

Thank you for the information on my brother.  Can you tell me anything about

his death?  We were left with no explanation about his death except it was

friendly fire.  Do you even know what happened?  Can you tell me anything

else about Dickey and his time in Nam that you know of?  I appreciate you

telling me what you have.  I will check the website site you gave me.  Did

you know that Dickey had a twin brother, Rickey.  He came home in July and

Dickey was sent in Sept.  Keep in touch.  I have an e-mail address -

====================================

DONKVET:

  The PBR that took a rocket on the other side of Vung Ro Bay on June

28, 1970 was mine, PBR 32. We had #29 & #32 at Vung Ro. It was being

operated that morning by SP4 Jimmy Lee, an MP. I had stayed ashore and

the boat went over to the other side of the bay where we had gone

fishing sometimes with concussion grenades. Anyway, they were attacked

and the bow was blown all to hell. Were you on board? Who are you? I'm

in contact with Bob McCabe of New York and also Jimmy Lee of Pomeroy,

Ohio. I'm looking for John Vorwick (had top of his ear taken off in the

blast), also Greg Durret of Bakersfield, CA, Frank Bauman of Ohio,

Ronald Allen of LA, Donald Markin of Mollen, IL. Do you know any of

these guys.

  The only crew that I can remember aboard the boat that day was Lee,

Vorwick, Markin. Memory has faded with old age!

  Would like to from you, especially if you were at Vung Ro! Also, it

was the 458th Trans Co, not 854!

  Don't remember Lt. Kusick. We didn't have any officers with the PBR

detachment at Vung Ro.

  Hope to hear from you soon.

Mike Hebert, Sp4

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

After a brief stay at Long Binh,where a finance clerk gipped me out of some

money due me,we were sent to to Dion to await assignment to one of the

various 458th outpost.It was during this wait that I seen my first PBR that

had seen battle brought in a flat bed tractor trailer,some of the guys

crowded around and we saw a big gapping hole in the side of it,possibly

from a rocket.I remember shivering in the 90 degree heat and was wondering

what i was doing there,

I had been through Ft Eustis training,tried to learn how to tie knots and

keep a LCM from broaching on the beach at Cape Henry,somebody came in and

wanted voluteers to learn how to operate PBR at Mare Island in

Californa,being the adventerous type I raised my hand so in a few short

weeks after Mare Island and some place out in a place called

Hawthorne,Nevada,Here I was.

I guess it was the Ist Seargent at Dion or the one in charge,may have been

Lee Helle who gave me a choice of where I wanted to go.Cat Li or Cat-Lo,he

asked.(After seeing the PBR on the flatbed I decided I wanted to keep my

butt Lo)So when I heard Cat Lo,That is where I want to go.

On the back of a duence and half and couple hours down the road I arrived

at Cat Lo,Wish I could remember all the faces and names,I do remember alot

of Navy guys there that did the major work on the boats,I believe we had 3

PBR and two whalers,I stood radio watch and guard duty for a few weeks,then

we had to move up to Vung Tau with 720th MP company.We were then

transported down to the delong pier each shift to do our patrol.

This is where I met "Leftovers"the PBR on which I would spending much of my

time.J-7813 was the pride of the 458th,put together and kept together with

what was leftover from the PBR junkyard at Dion,talking about a slow boat

to China the other boats actually run circles around her,but for all her

slowness,she was tough and dependable but no match for a concussion grenade.

Vung Tau harbour had a few barges and two power ships that we were out

there to guard,except for a sapper tryin to mine the power ship and

infrequent rocket attack on the resort city of Vung tau it was pretty

quiet,During one the rocket attack,we would kinda laugh and remark if that

one was meant for VC commander in town who left a private out there in the

boonies and was pissed because he did'nt get to go with him on R&R,because

it was well known that Charley liked the beautiful beach at Vung tau too.

Life on Patrol even at night was most of the time uneventful,We would motor

up the to "clive B "where we get a cup of hot cocoa that our good friend,a

filipino would brew up for us or catch an AB&T tug and and get some rum and

mix it with coffee,then we would tie up to an anchor bouy and get some much

needed Z's.

It was during one of these nights on patrol,that we tied up and bedded down

for the night,my favorite place to sleep was under the bow,just under the

50 cal.gun mount.We would take turns every few minutes or so and toss a

grenade in the water,this served severals purposes,let the Provost Marshal

in town that we were on the job and he could turn over and go back to sleep

knowing we were on the job.Secondly it would let charley know that we were

tied up and not to take a chance swimming under our boat trying to

interrupt our sleep with a bang of his own,last but not least killed some

of those ugly fish that may be schooling nearby.

It was mine time to get up and throw a concusion grenade at the fish.Still

groggy from sleep,I got up and went up to the deck and took a grenade out

of the wooden case,I can't remember what I was thinking about then,It may

have been about my billfold that was stolen that day from "Li"who said I

was #1 and I woke up from a nap She and my billfold was gone,I may have

been thinking how they would say your #1,What they really meant was you

were #10 and your money was #1.

Regardless whatever I was thinking,It came very to me that on the deck of

Leftover that night,something was wrong because the pin had been pulled and

the grenade was not in the water,it was rolling on the deck.

My hand reached down and for a split second I was going to pick it and

throw it it in the water,Momma didn't raise no fool.I hollered out

"Grenade".Man the dead come to life either jumped in the water or hid

behind the armour plating.It went off just over the fuel tank,We put the

fire out but were taking on water and radioed in to get the other boat to

pumped the water out so we we would'nt sink and get us back to the

dock.Everyone was unhurt,I was embarrassed,Everyone asked what happen,how

did I miss the water,To this day I still don't know.

I had to go the 720th Headquarters in Long Binh,on the wa y up there I was

wondering how comfortable the stockade would be,The CO ranted and cussed

and fussed for an hour,Then he let me go back to my unit at Vung Tau.I got

an Article 15,fine of $31.00 and demoted a grade for a month.So for a month

I was E-2 and not let near a PBR,Six weeks later I was promoted to S\P 4

and given my own boat,someone told me that you had to get noticed to get

promoted.

Well,I wasn't alone in stupid thingd done there,One of the crews hit an

anchor bouy head on.They split the hull and they had to beach the boat

because there wasn't no way for them to get back to the dock in time.

Boys will be Boys,We were only 19 or 20 at the time,Vietnam took my youth

away,I been trying to find it every since,but 

the memories both good and bad,I want to sit down hopefully one day and

talk to my old Army buddies,This is one good site that has been put

together,I thankful because Lee has put so much time and effort in it .God

Bless

///////////////////////////////////////////

  I was the one who dropped the grenade on J-7813 and I believe Robert

Morrison hit the anchor buoy near the power ships at Vung Tau Harbor. Both

boats made it to shore

and were later repaired. I just remember a SFC Nelson, who was our

"fearless leader"

at the time. I can't remember if he was MP or Transportation. Just thought

I'd drop you a line on these items. I still have a copy of my article 15

for the damage of the PBR.

//////////////////////////////////////////////

Hi Bill. I got to the 458th in Feb or March 68. I was with the first PBR class at Mare Island. It was as you said a Lark 5 outfit. I helped set the PBRs up and put in service at Cam Rahn. Also shipped them to the various outports. The PBR's that came to vung tau, cat lai and newport were loaded on barges and towed to Cat Lo, myself and 2 other guys, one of which was Bailey, the other I can't remember his name. [although I do have some pics of the barges and us on them.

The boats were unloaded at Cat Lo of which I have a couple pics also. A Sgt Vasquez was there at the time. As I recall, It took about 18 hours to get from Cam Rahn to Cat Lo. We were towed by a Philipino tug. I think I have a pic of that also somewhere. I spent some time at Cat Lo-Vung Tau. I remember hauling one of the PBR's to the company area in Vungf Tau from Cat Lo. I used the 5ton and we borrowed a flatbed trailer from some engineer company I think. Can't remember why we hauled it in there. I think Sgt Anderson must have been in the motor pool at the time but I'm not positive about that.

At one time there were 3 duece and a halfs at Vung Tau. The numbers were T-1,T-3,and T-51.   T-49 was at Qui Nhon, the smokey old SOB. While I was at Vung Tau I  droveT-1, it had yellow headlights and I had painted Iowa on the hood. I think it was the only 21/2 ton in Nam with SHINY  od-green paint.

I know what you mean about things escaping the memory, but some of it comes back once in awhile.

Well enough for tonight.  Drop a line again and I'll see what else I can remember. I think you were kind of a tall slender guy, maybe curley or wavy hair and like some of the rest of us.....crazy.  I'm sure I would know you if I saw a pic.

                                                   Stay in touch,

                                                     Bill Northrop

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