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50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????
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50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 8:49 AM

What were they? We had just been warned a couple of days before that we might encounter a new danger - the VC had started digging shallow holes in the ground, placing an explosive at the bottom, and then putting a second charge(usually a dud artillery shell from our support bases) with a fuse on top of the first one, resulting in the bottom explosion propelling the top explosive into the air with the intention that it would come down on an intended target.... which was us. Our Company was digging in for the night along one hillside and heard an explosion on an opposite hill and looked over to see smoke and dirt rising from a patch of trees and a couple more went off. We immediately heard a sound that we had been warned about - a "whup, whup, whup" sound of the projectiles flipping through the air, so several guys yelled out "Lob bombs!!!". There was only a short delay before they came down very close to our position but most guys had time to get into their foxholes. There was a hedge row about 6 feet tall (maybe a slight exaggeration) between me and my foxhole and I ran toward it, leaped into the air , and set the world's unofficial high jump record while wearing combat boots. Didn't quite make it over cleanly ( I think I just caught the top of the hedge with my feet - at least that's what I tell everyone) and hit the ground rolling in the dirt near my foxhole just after the 1st lob bomb exploded. All the guys around me thought I had been blown into the air by the bomb and couldn't believe that I had tried to jump the hedge row. I still can't comprehend how the enemy could calculate the angle of the trench, the amount of the lower charge or the length of the fuse for the projectile to even come close to hitting their target. And they were oh so close but we were lucky with no injuries.

Message was edited by: clover65®


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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 9:13 AM

Thanks for posting, I enjoy hearing stories from the ones that were there. Thank you for your service.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 9:38 AM

Clover .... as you well know the VC (actually all of the Vietnamese) were very clever but you have to think any success with a lob bomb would take a lot of luck. I am not sure you ever came under a 122mm rocket attack, but at best they had a general idea where they would land and usually targeted anything inside the perimeter of a large base. We got hit one day at dawn by a bunch of them .... the only way they were effective. I think I have a photo of a hootch that took a direct hit that I will post if I can find it.

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I didn't experience rockets but a friend


Jul 28, 2020, 11:00 AM

who left the field and was assigned to Da Nang before going back to the States told me about one that took out an entire line of fighter jets that were parked too close together. This went unreported of course , so if you look for records they might be hard to find.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 11:17 AM

How many Vietnamese chicks did you hook up with?

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The ones we ran across out in the boonies


Jul 28, 2020, 11:40 AM

were ones you would employ "escape and evade" on - they chewed beadle nut which left red stains on their teeth and eventually resulted in black, rotting teeth. We did find photos of some apparently "city girls" in a bunker once that some poor guy was missing while out in the mountains. So the answer is NONE since I never saw the cities - but we did have one guy who would rush to the firebase gate any time the locals showed up on their motor bikes. Think he had to have penicillin a couple of times.

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Re: The ones we ran across out in the boonies


Jul 28, 2020, 11:55 AM

Did you guys eat much Vietnamese food or did you primarily eat military food?

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Re: The ones we ran across out in the boonies


Jul 28, 2020, 12:29 PM

Rarely, but as the platoon commander of an outpost in Tam Ky, I was the highest ranking officer in our compound so on a couple of occasions I was invited by the town leader (called him "Doc") to eat dinner with him. It was all I could do to force down a couple of bites ..... none of which I liked. The main meat dish was a chicken neck sliced in thin "discs"(like you would slice a banana) leading up to the head (still on the platter). We would occasionally stop by Doc's house early in the evening for a drink, but their alcohol was pretty bad too.

I mostly ate C-Rations or when out of the field the compound mess hall. Even when I had my 26 Marine platoon at Tam Ky we had our own cook. His food was edible!

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Re: The ones we ran across out in the boonies


Jul 28, 2020, 1:51 PM

I bet you had some interesting people in that 26 man platoon.

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Almost completely C-rations , but did


Jul 28, 2020, 4:06 PM [ in reply to Re: The ones we ran across out in the boonies ]

try a couple of homemade "rice popsicles" that a kid brought to us in a styrofoam cooler - thought it was worth the risk to try one - would've got safe time in a hospital if they didn't kill us. When not in the field, our firebase, Hill 4-11, had an excellent cook who bragged that he had the best omelettes in the Southern Hemisphere. Also stopped at a remote MAC-V compound once and had a good cheeseburger.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 12:21 PM [ in reply to Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ????? ]

Same answer here Carlsbad ..... none! As a platoon commander I had to set an example, so there were no shenanigans with me. However, when I was in Tam Ky I would occasionally catch some of my guys sneaking out the gate or trying to sneak back in during the night. I also had a few that wound up having to take penicillin so I know that they had hooked up with some local girls. I caught two Vietnamese girls in one of my truck cabs hiding in the floorboard one night after one of my men came to my hootch and told me they were there. I escorted them to the front gate, but I'll bet they were back in before long!

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam "Lob Bombs" ?????


Jul 28, 2020, 12:30 PM

I am sure the stories you guys have on the whole ordeal is endless. I am always fascinated by Vietnam vets, but I was always told not to ask Vietnam vets too many questions. Also, the deeper questions I am interested in are probably questions that real vets would rather not talk about to someone who has never served at anytime. Anyway, thanks for the response.

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Hootch in Chu Lai after being hit by a 122 MM Rocket!


Jul 28, 2020, 12:33 PM



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Re: Hootch in Chu Lai after being hit by a 122 MM Rocket!


Jul 28, 2020, 12:50 PM

That resembles @FBCoachSC's new deck.

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