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July 18, 2006 from Jim Thomas
My tour of Boat Support Unit - 1/MST-1
from Jan 1964-1967
In January 1964 I left LCU Div 13 as the Lead
engineer on LCU 1475 and checked in to NOSGPAC (Naval
Operations Support Group Pacific) at the UDT Compound. I
then had a physical, was issued greens, new boots and other
gear. I was then told to report to SERE (Survival Escape and
Evasion) School, the next morning at North Island NAS, CA by
0700. Not knowing what I was facing, I stopped
and had a large breakfast in Coronado before going on the
base. I reported in and found that I was starting the second
day of training so I left that afternoon for Warner Springs,
CA with a class of about 50 men. We were divided up into
groups, given maps, plastic water bags and few words of
advice.
The next morning we
started our hikes to the next site for spending the night.
All the time we were looking for stuff to eat, but none was
to be found. They air dropped a five pound tin of corn beef
hash to the camp site that evening. The tin of corn beef was
divided up among the fifty men. Immediately we set out traps
in hopes of catching a rabbit or two, but no such luck.
The third morning we
continued hiking to the next lay over location. It was cold
that night and a piece of parachute didn’t do much for
keeping me warm and again a spoon full of chow for the day
wasn’t quite enough..
The fourth morning was a
Friday and we made our run to Freedom Village trying to out
wit the instructors, which we found hard to do as the prison
farm inmates up on the hill were pointing us out to the Bad
Guys. I made it to Freedom Village and found out that they
had lied about the sandwiches. We were lucky to get some
water to drink. Those of us who had made it was loaded in a
truck and hauled to the prisoner of war compound, stuffed
into a very low cage and told to strip to our drawers. They
then searched our clothing and we were taken to another
compound to await interrogations.
Then each of us was
called out and stuffed in a box and they closed a lid on
you, I bowed up so the lid wouldn’t close and they moved me
to another box that was a little bigger. I had enough room
when the lid came down that I could move my legs and arms to
keep the blood flowing. They would regularly kick the box so
you could not sleep. As to how long I was in there, who
knows? They had taken our watches
away when they searched us. Eventually they opened the box
and said to walk or crawl. I was able to walk to the
interrogation room where they questioned us and tried to
break us down. After the interrogation we moved to another
compound where we got a canteen cup of boiled fish and rice.
I thought it was mighty fine eating as I had spent 14 months
in Japan and surrounding area. We were returned to North
Island that Saturday noon and released back to our
Commands.
On Monday morning, we
were told that the rest of our group had checked in and that
they would be updating their shot cards and briefing us on
our duties. Since we had a bunch of slack time we started
getting our stuff ready, placing cars in storage, drawing
pay and setting up checking accounts.
We left for Saigon in
February 1964, traveling in
civilian clothes. We stayed in Saigon for a few days and
flew to DaNang on a Gooney Bird. There we were assigned
billets and then we went out to the base, There we worked
out of the Upper Camp on the three Swift boats, setting up
the shops, fuel farm and warehouses. Two of us stood duty
every third night, with one 45 cal pistol and a M2 carbine
with a 30 round magazine and a radio.
The PTF-3 and 4 boats
came in along with an LCM , floating dry dock and a crane
barge. Later the PTF-1 and 2 boats came in and were moored
to buoys. We started working with the boat crews so we would
know the boats also. We maintained the generators, fuel
farm, assisted in refueling the boats and helped change out
the port engine on the 3 boat.
The PTF crews came back
before the MST 1 Group, in July of 64. The rest of us left
in the next group returning back to the US in August 1964.
We found out that we were now BSU-1. After a leave period
was given, LCSR-7 was brought back to life.
It had been laid up by the SEALs
and then turned over to BSU - 1, We removed the turbines
for overhaul and then reinstalled them. We then ran
operations with it so that the stateside Fleet could
practice against the NVA boats.
In March of 65 we
departed from the states once again, heading back to MST -
1, Da Nang for another tour, at this point still
living in the City
of DaNang. We were assigned to maintain the Swift boats and
generators, fuel farm and LCMs as well as changing out
Napier Deltic engines on the PTF’s and Packard V 12 engines
on the Gasser’s.
About half way thru this
tour we made the move from the City to Camp Fay. That was
much closer to the lower base for travel time to and from
work. We had four men to a room which included a hutch maid
to clean and do laundry and the snipes maids wore out our
clothes trying to get them cleaned. This Chow hall was a
good feeder. On Saturday nights we had a “cook your own
steak night”. The movies were training films such as Rat
Patrol and etc. NSA was next door and they would have alerts
during the night, but nothing ever came of them while I was
there.
In
September, 1965 we returned
back to BSU 1, and we were assigned to the PCF Training crew
for the first groups of PCF crews to be trained. First we
had to remove two 12V71 engines for overhauling due to
warped blocks. Three of us went to
Lawless Detroit Diesel across from NTC to rebuild the
engines under warranty. They supplied the parts and we
performed the labor.
In
February, 1966, I was
assigned to a group to go to Subic Bay, PI for training the
RPI (Republic of Philippine Islands) Navy on repair and
operation of PCF’s, This lasted two months, then I returned
back to BSU-1.
Then in April 1966 I
returned back to DaNang for another tour with MST -1.We had
to rebuild a LCM steering gear, stub shaft the rudder posts,
install engines and etc. We then used the LCM to make runs
to the Island with supplies. We borrowed an LCM 8 from NSA
when a very large load had to go. We even had to show the
people at NSA how to charge up the air system for starting
of the engines. They had been starting one engine with
batteries then engaging the transmission to start the other
ones, which was rough on the transmissions. We continued
with much of the same kind of work, engine change outs and
etc. We did get a week stay in Subic Bay with MST 3.
I returned back to BSU -
1 around October 1966.
After a leave period
I was assigned to an LCSR 6. We were trying to make
the LCSR Six combat ready
by changing out the transmission time after time, trying
different clutch packs to find one that could stand up to
all of the full back from full ahead shifting that might
take place. We reworked the starting system so that we could
start the engines with very low batteries by manual override
of the fuel system, which worked out good. The next project
was to install intake silencers and exhaust silencers. This
wasn’t an easy job since the intake silencers took some
power away from the boat, but the exhaust was quilted down
enough you couldn’t hear the boat from fifty feet away from
you. The LCSR project for in country operations was
cancelled.
I left the Unit in Aug
1967 to go to shore duty in Washington, DC at the School of
Deep Sea Diving and Salvage.
Jim Thomas EN1 (at the
time)
For more Jim Thomas
history click here.
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