TBS 2-67 Cruisebook_Updated_7Jan23

John Burwell Wilkes
tiny split­mil corrections in quadrant and deflection. It was a great
source of satisfaction to me. I was sure the NVA would never be able
to mount an engineering feat that could remake Co Roc into their
firebase again.
On that same operation, which I believe was Dawson River
West, I discovered that our position was north of a little village called
Lang Vei. The word came back from the infantry sweeping the area
that there were a few American Green Berets in Lang Vei with the
ARVNs. I was bored and wanted to see what they were doing there, so
I decided to visit. When I got there, I was blown away! The Green
Beret first lieutenant in charge was an old friend of mine from my
college days. As freshmen at Vanderbilt we had almost become best
friends before his inability to study caused him to have to finish his
college degree in another little college up in Kentucky. His name was
William Glendenning but everyone called him “Cachi.” He was a
handsome Latino because of his Venezuelan mother. His father was a
rich Lake Maracaibo oil tycoon originally from Indiana. Back in circa
1961 or `62, as 18­ or 19­year­olds, Cachi told me he was going to be
president of Venezuela some day, and he was going to make me
Secretary of State. I can still hear him saying in his Latino baritone,
“Johnny, the Argentine woman is the best.”
We had a good time updating each other but I had to get back to my
battery and, sadly, that would be the last time I would ever see Cachi.
After the war he worked for the CIA in Caracas, and he was murdered
by poison under circumstances that are still highly classified.
My last operation in country was the one I could never forget –
Operation Dewey Canyon. The Ho Chi Minh trail, by which the North
sent its supplies and reinforcement, cut back into Viet Nam from Laos
near the A Shau Valley. Intelligence reports indicated there was a large
NVA presence in the A Shau and a Krông Valleys. The A Shau was
just ten km east of and parallel to the Laotian border and some 35 km
long, The area was promising to be target rich, and our generals, as
well as the troops, were tired of letting the NVA units slip away from
our previous operations. Dewey Canyon was actually an Army
operation commanded by LtGen Richard G. Stilwell. The 101st Army
airborne division was supposed to assault and occupy the southern end
of the valley while the 9th Marines were assigned the northern end.
Due to some brilliant tactics, we Marines made muster, but the Army
was held back by the beginning of the monsoon season. We Marines
slipped in by pretending to be starting another unproductive operation
using old firebases about halfway from Ca Lu to the A Shau. When the
helicopters dropped us on the old firebases, we did not unpack. We left
everything in the nets ready for a quick movement to a long mountain
called Co Ca Va at the north end of the A Shau. If I remember
correctly, 1st Prov was first dropped at old firebase Shiloh to await the
fast dash to Co Ca Va.
In the beginning, the feint was named Operation Dawson River
South. During this time I had the privilege of being on the recon to
construct the firebase on Co Ca Va, later named LZ Cunningham. I
was able to supervise the frenzied clearing and construction of the
battery area in order to receive the battery before the enemy could
react. A huge amount of explosives, all connected by detonating cord,
were used to bring down the triple­canopy trees along the top of the
ridge line in one colossal explosion and conflagration. The gun pits
and the FDC were dug using a small D7 bulldozer. I had designed and
developed a system and technique for quickly constructing a hardened
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