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A SHAU VALLEY

The following story relates the exploits of the Flying Circus scouts that covered the first troop landings in the A Shau Valley in April of 1968. While Operation "Delaware" officially began on 19 April, this first action took place on or about the 28th. This story is out of the ordinary because of the type of enemy equipment captured. The two scout helicopters were flown by Frank Vanatta with observer / gunner Ray Molinar and Bob Potvin with observer / gunner Jim Mooney.

As the "slicks" were landing the first troops into the valley, a 50 caliber gun emplacement was giving the helicopters some trouble. Once the troops were on the ground the machine gun was not in a position to shoot at them, so it started taking shots at the scouts. Frank was soon in contact with a Forward Air Control O-2 which was orbiting overhead. Bob marked the position while Frank kept the gunner’s head down, and the FAC took it from there. With a beautiful bit of low level bombing, an F-4 came up the valley and placed two 750 pound bombs right onto the gunner.

With the distraction of the 50 cal out of the way, the two scouts returned to their primary job of moving ahead of the advancing troops on the ground. The pair followed the roadway across a shallow river and noticed that some of the truck marks actually turned and went down the river bed to the northeast of the old runway. After following this winding stream for a way the scouts found where the trail left the stream and went into a maintenance area. From there the pair headed back to the troops in a straight line, and soon found out where all the enemy troops were hiding.

The enemy had set up an ambush and were waiting for the US soldiers to walk into it. The enemy was displeased with the two scouts coming up on their position from behind and took out their frustration on them. Both helicopters took hits and they landed where the troops were to inspect the damage. Though Bob’s machine was no longer flyable, Frank was able to return to the air and direct the soldiers to the position of the ambush. The FAC scrambled more fighters from Da Nang while the C&C helicopter ordered Aerial Rocket Artillery helicopters and gunships into the area.

There was no fuel available in the valley that first day. To extend Frank’s time in the valley, Bob organized fuel to be drained from his helicopter’s tanks and poured in to Frank’s machine as it ran low. By the time Frank was forced to leave the valley for fuel, the first ARA helicopters were attacking the enemy positions. Frank took Bob with him back to the staging area, and the two returned with replacement helicopters to pick up their observers and return to the fight.

The outcome of this engagement was the capture of some Russian built trucks that the US troops subsequently used in the valley. A couple of days after this episode, in action just north of the airfield, the Flying Circus scouts were instrumental in capturing a Russian 37 mm anti aircraft gun mounted on a trailer. There was a CH-54 Skycrane flying heavy equipment into the valley around this time, and through "somebody who knew somebody", one of the trucks and the gun were back-loaded to the staging area. When the US moved out of the valley about a month later, the truck and the gun were driven up to the Quang Tri base and displayed in the headquarters compound.

Hank Calonkey recalls helping to work on the truck that was taken to Quang Tri. They were apparently a combination of designs copied from trucks the U.S. sent to Russia during the WWII lend-lease program. It seems that Studebaker's great ton and a half chassis and Chrysler's flathead six engine with the Dodge 12 volt ignition system made a good combination for a rugged truck. It seemed to work for them.

Though the truck eventually found itself in the lowly position of hauling garbage from both LZ Betty and LZ Sharon, the gun was still in the compound when the 1st Cav moved south in about October of 1968. The history of the gun seems to end at this point.

story by Frank Vanatta, with additional information from Hank Calonkey

Russian truck A Shau Valley, 1968 by F. Vanatta	Truck and gun Quang Tri, 1968 by B. Potvin	37 mm AAA Quang Tri, 1968 by F. Vanatta	worse for wear Quang Tri, 1968 by H. Calonkey	oil change instruction plate Quang Tri, 1968 by P. Frank

Information received from Patrick Frank confirms that the truck was a Russian model GAZ 63, and that it was indeed a 2 ton 4 X 4 vehicle produced from the Studebaker design as reported above. Patrick also reports that the AA gun was a Russian 37mm, model 61-K M1939.

Patrick was with the A 1/9th, based at LZ Sharon from March, 1968, until the unit left in the Fall of that year. At one time he was detailed with moving the truck for some reason. It seems that the oil change instruction plate "fell" from the truck's engine compartment, and he still has it today. For those who may have doubted the origin of this particular truck, a copy of that data plate appears above.

We thank Patrick for his information.