4th/31st,

Before the message was taken down I visited their website and posted a message with our call sign and time I was in country.  I got a reply back from one of their RTOs.  We've been talking online since.  He was on LZ West and patroled that area.  We shot so many times in the area and he thanked us for our work.  Nice to actually meet (if only online) a name behind the voice on the ground

 

Hope you all had a great Veteran's Day.  I certainly did.  I awoke to my wife standing at the foot of the bed saying "It's Jon, he's on the phone and he is in Kuwait".  I haven't been that clear in my head so fast in 37 years.  He should be on a jet to the Conus by now.  I even got a call from Ft. Hood yesterday telling me that the welcome home was scheduled for 18:30 hrs tomorrow.  I am one happy and proud papa.

 

Best to all

BlueGhost Two-Zero

Proud Papa

Bob Drury

Leprechauns, a message from Terry.

From :  T. L. Rippy Sent :  Saturday, November 11, 2006 6:59 PM To :  blueghostred@msn.com Subject :  FW: Leprechauns

| | | Inbox

From: "LEONARD ROBBINS" To: Subject: Leprechauns Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 15:54:40 -0600 An American golfer playing in Ireland hooked his drive into the woods. Looking for his ball, he found a little Leprechaun flat on his back, a big bump on his head and the golfer's ball beside him. Horrified, the golfer got his water bottle from the cart and poured it over the little guy, reviving him "Arrgh! What happened?" the Leprechaun asked. "I'm afraid I hit you with my golf ball," the golfer says. "Oh, I see. Well, ye got me fair and square. Ye get three wishes, so whaddya want?" "Thank God, you're all right!" the golfer answers in relief. "I don't want anything, I'm just glad you're OK, and I apologize." And the golfer walks off. "What a nice guy," the Leprechaun says to himself. I have to do something for him. I'll give him the three things I would want... a great golf game, all the money he ever needs, and a fantastic sex life." A year goes by (as it does in stories like this) and the American golfer is back. On the same hole, he again hits a bad drive into the woods and the Leprechaun is there waiting for him. "Twas me that made ye hit the ball here," the little guy says. "I just want to ask ye, how's yer golf game?" "My game is fantastic!" the golfer answers. I'm an internationally famous golfer now." He adds, "By the way, it's good to see you're all right." I did that fer yer golf game, you know. And tell me, how's yer money situation?" "When I need cash, I just reach in my pocket and pull out $100.00 bills I didn't even know were there!" "I did that fer ye also. And tell me, how's yer sex life?" The golfer blushes, turns his head away in embarrassment, and says shyly, "It's OK." "C'mon, c'mon now," urged the Leprechaun, "I'm wanting to know if I did a good job. How many times a week?" Blushing even more, the golfer looks around then whispers, "Once, sometimes twice a week." "What??" responds the Leprechaun in shock. "That's all? Only once or twice a week?" "Well," says the golfer, "I figure that's not bad for a Catholic Priest in a small parish." Happy Veterans Day!!!  TLR

Veterans Day

This message has been deleted by the author.

The Que Son Valley

In his reply message (#7) regarding awards of the DFC, John Shepardson, Blue Ghost 6x, writes about the Que Son Valley where the Blue Ghosts were often in contact with the NVA and VC in 1968.

The Que Son Valley was located to the northwest of Hawk Hill in our area of operations. In this valley, Mike Chambers and crew were shot down May 16, 1968 and Sgt. Louis Bradley, a door gunner, died in the crash. Chambers and crew had to crawl frantically away from their crashed C -Model gunship while under fire before they were spotted and picked up. I don’t remember the exact grid square but it was in the southern part of the valley in a large rice field along the grid line of 0030 to 0430. It’s on this map of the Que Son Valley. http://www.rjsmith.com/Hiep_Duc_Que_Son.html

Jack Shanahan and crew in a C-Model gunship were shot down in this valley on March 16, 1968. Dan Buckley, Blue Ghost Blue, describes in detail the insertion of the Blues and the rescue of the injured crew. http://blueghosts.xtreemhost.com/page15.html

On the same map at grid coordinates 955308 was where James Phipps, Ranier Ramos, Fred Secrist and Warren Newton were shot down on January 9, 1968. All four apparently died in the crash. Their C-Model gunship, #66-00745, was crashed and burning on top of the small hill at this grid and this is where the lift platoon with the Blues attempted an approach but turned off because of the tremendous volume of automatic weapons fire coming up from all around the hill and the high ground to the west. We came back there about two weeks later after the NVA had left and put a recovery team on the ground. They were nervous and did not stay very long but recovered some human remains and a 38-caliber pistol belonging to Phipps. I wonder if anyone has ever been back there to look for them? I have never heard nor read of any further attempts to recover the remains of this crew. Three of them are still listed as MIA. With the exact coordinates of the crash site available and eyewitnesses to the crash, it would seem a rather straightforward endeavor to go and excavate this site.

Can anyone provide the name and address of the agency that is doing excavation and recovery in Vietnam? They should go to this site. It’s long past time for these men to be brought home.

The file attached to this message is a Placemark on Google Earth for the crash site in the Que Son Valley. You can install Google Earth at http://earth.google.com./ After you have Google Earth installed, double click the Placemark and you will see the crash site as it looks today.

The latitude and longitude coordinates of the crash site are 15.38’29.10”N, 108.09’28.72”E. The lift platoon attempted an approach to the site on approximately a 270-degree heading at 500’ altitude and at about one quarter mile from the hill aborted and turned to the right. The C-Model was sitting and burning on top of the north part of the hill. It later slid down the north slope toward the ravine. According to Google Earth, these satellite images are no more than three years old. The valley looks the same to me as it did in 1968.

Attachment: CrashSite_66-00745.kmz

4/31 Inf 196 LIB, Americal

This message has been deleted by the manager or assistant manager.

Hello Blue Ghost

Served in 1969 with the 75th Rangers out of Chu Lai.  You guys did some awesome insertions and extractions for our Ranger teams.  Thank.  Always knew we could count on the choppers being there when the call sign was Blue Ghost.  Landed on Hill 1364 with Blue Ghost in 1969.  Was WIA thru the floor of the chopper on a  Ranger insertion in Aug. or Sept. 1969.  Was that with Blue Ghost?  Do any of you guys recall that mission? 

 

Capt. Wyatt did a lot of fying for us back then. 

 

M.CHU

Co, G (RANGER) 75th Inf.

News Media

Subject:	News Media - unbiased?
Date:	9/29/2006 1:55:39 P.M. Central Standard Time
From:	Teeburkee

 

Interesting article - suggested reading.
Published in Legion Magazine's most recent issue.
Indicates my opinion pretty well (but I don't expect everyone to agree)

http://www.legion.org/?section=publications&subsection=pubs_mag_index&content=pub_mag_jaded