2/503d Vietnam - Corregidor

SOME 2/503D MEMORIES
Got a couple short stories about the Herd.
Like the night before deployment (May 3-4), I was new
in the unit and had been there about 2 days. We grabbed
a couple cases of beer and started walking up the hill to
the Village we called home. Guess the Jarheads knew
we were leaving as they tried to claim our town.
We all ended up in the stockade that night; the CO came
and bailed us out. At the formation the next morning the
Old Man said, “I know when you’re dismissed you’re
going back up that hill. Dont get caught this time!”
August 1965, Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara
and General Westmoreland in Vietnam.
When McNamara came to visit I ended up in S1 with
an old Pappason who was trying to find me to deliver a
Jump knife he had repaired for me. I came out of the
Jungle just when McNamara's chopper hit the ground!
Butch Clark
HHC/2/503d, ‘65
by Jerry Hassler
HHC/Recon/2/503d, ‘66/’67
STORY BEHIND THIS ZIPPO
Was near Swan Loc. We were pulling out of a FSB
going back to Zinn. There were only a few of us left.
They were pulling out the last 105 and a pallet of ammo
with a Chinook, he was hovering just above us when
they hit us. In all the dust and noise we didn't even
know we'd been hit....guys just started falling and then it
felt like someone hit me with a fucking 2x4 and down I
went.
We lost the 319th battery commander and most of my
guys from Hqs Co were wounded. Was mortars and
small arms. Several of the 319th guys at Myrtle Beach
were there. Paul Dinardo was standing right on top of
the pallet of ammo reaching for the Chinook hook and
didn't get a scratch, go figure.
Ed Privette, Maj.
CO, HHC/2/503d, ‘66/’67
2/503d VIETNAM Newsletter / May 2010 - Issue 15
Page 22 of 62