Wayne C. Chalker wrote this in the 585th Transportation Company history for July 1967 to January 1968. "The Road to Pleiku was not one of the best in Vietnam, and this showed on the toll it took with trucks and drivers. We were constantly patching up our tractors just to keep them running. Fuel tanks and right fenders which the air filter sat on, were always coming loose. It was not uncommon to see chains bolted from fuel tank to tractor frame, and from one fender, across the hood to the other side, just to keep things together. It was a rare day when you came back from the run to Pleiku and you didn’t have to change at least one or two flats.
"There was, of course, your occasional sniper to contend with, land mines, and once an ambush by NVA soldiers between An Khe and Plieku which took out the lead 2 ½-ton trucks of a convoy destroying several and killing a number of drivers. It was at this time that number of drivers began putting ¼-inch steel over each door of the tractor for protection against snipers. This idea was not too popular with most of us because of the additional weight factor and subsequent lose of speed.
"Each company provided its own convoy protection, usually with a machine gun jeep front and rear of the convoy and a 2 ½-ton fitted with armor plating and two personnel armed with M-60 machine guns. It was also at this time that I asked for and received permission to issue each driver two fragmentation grenades. This was mainly because during one of the ambushes, the NVA soldiers were able to jump upon the running boards of some of the trucks and fire inside the cab. Even though we each had our weapons with us at all times, they proved useless at times like this.
"Road and bridge protection was essential to us for getting through the cargo we carried. Some of this protection, especially between our staging area and An Khe, was provided by members of the Korean Tiger Division which was stationed just over the mountain from our compound in Phu Tai. The Koreans were very friendly toward us and their wasn’t enough they could do to prove their friendship. I remember on one afternoon in the company area we started receiving incoming 155mm rounds which, needless to say, had everyone running for the nearest bunker. It was very quickly determined that our friends over the mountain had miscalculated a slight bit. A couple of fast calls and this was taken care of. The next rain we showed close some of us came, when water poured through a hole in my tent and I picked out a 5" piece of shrapnel.
"Most of us developed a good rapport with the villagers in Phu Tai. So good, to the point we’d sneak out of the compound at night and into the village for a beer or whatever. I know myself and many others left some good friends back in Phu Tai."
A small ambush took place on 11 November. CPT Phillip T. Hall, Jr, 585th Medium Truck Company, led a convoy of 15 vehicles back to Qui Nhon. Evidently, the enemy preferred to conduct its ambushes closer to the evening so there soldiers could escape under the cover of approaching darkness. As the convoy approached the 1st Cavalry Check Point 89, about 10 to 15 enemy soldiers fired on the last vehicles of the convoy with small arms. The drivers did as they had been instructed and drove through the kill zone to regroup at Check Point 89. Only one truck was damaged, but the armor plating on the driver’s door protected the driver. The enemy had fired on the first vehicles armored with the steel plating. No one was injured. The vehicle made it to the check point under its own power.
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On 20 May 1967, the 585th Transportation Company left Cam Ranh Bay for a permanent change of station to Qui Nhon. The 180 personnel and 70 vehicles spent the night at Tuy Hoa and finished their trip to Qui Nhon the next day. There it was attached to the 27th Transportation Battalion, commanded by Major Philip Smiley. The company settled into a camp near the village of Phu Tai. The men slept in tents and pulled their own perimeter guard.
In the summer of 1967, more brigades moved into II CTZ. The 173rd Airborne Brigade served as US Army Vietnam’s mobile reserve, which Westmoreland shifted to hot spots throughout the country. He moved it to Camp Holloway near Pleiku and the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division north up the coast to Duc Pho. This increased the need for even more truck companies. The 124th Transportation Battalion arrived on 24 July 1967 and set up operations at Camp Holloway. It assumed control of the 64th and 88th Truck Companies. The battalion made empty runs heading eastbound the same time the 27th and 54th convoys headed westbound.
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2nd Platoon, Headquarters and Maintenance of the 585th Transportation Company were alerted to move to Da Nang on 6 January 1968. On 14 January 1968, half of the company loaded on LST 551.
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The 585th was the last truck company to leave Qui Nhon area. It left in June 1972. While in Vietnam, the battalion was involved in 16 campaigns, earning 16 Campaign Steamers, four Meritorious Unit Commendations and Streamers, and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star Streamer.
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0115Z 390th, 545th and 585th Transportation Detachments depart Fort Campbell, Kentucky. [101st Airborne Division SITREP 28 (1700Z, 6 Sep 90)] 12/06/04:
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Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel
Thursday, April 3, 2003
Army Staff Sgt. Jamie Brown, a 1995 graduate of Gardiner Area High School, has been stationed in Uzbekistan for the past 10 weeks with the 585th Transportation Detachment, 142 Corps Support Battalion, Warrior Brigade, out of Fort Polk, La.
Brown, married with two young sons, enlisted his senior year in high school, said his mother, Wanda Wyman.
"He writes to say he loves us all but he has a job to do and (must) do it well so we will have as little casualties as possible," Wyman wrote.
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FORT POLK -- Fort Polk's Warrior Brigade will hold a deployment ceremony for over 200 Soldiers of the 603rd Transportation Company, 488th Quartermaster Company and the 585th Movement Control Team at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004 at the Warrior Brigade Gym.
These Soldiers, all a part of the 142nd Corps Support Battalion, Warrior Brigade, will depart in the next few weeks
The 585th Transportation Detachment is the second smallest unit at Fort Polk and the only unit lead by
a non-commissioned officer.
| 585th Pictures |