The Author's photo collection of Marines in Quế Sơn.
(Click on picture to enlarge)

This is the photo that became the cover of my book _Marines of Quế Sơn_. Captain Drobney (R) is the commander of Bravo Company in the Quế Sơn Valley -- 1967.

Bravo on break. (L-R) Cpl Cox Battalion Radioman (he was the idea behind a fictional Cpl Knox), Captain Drobney the CO, Lieutenant Hartley Hansen (possibly). He was the XO at the time I believe.

On Hwy 535, heading east toward Hội An. Hill 51 is off camera to the right.

3rd Platoon is crossing 1st platoon's path. Cpl Musante is in the middle. His column is moving left to right, our column is heading straight for Musante. I recall that we held up while 3rd moved on.

Climbing a ridge line (looking east) between Hill 953 (L) off camera, and 1/5's combat base Hill 51 in the distance (R). It's the light colored patch of earth. I recall the ridge's name as Nui Dong Wa.

A small boy with a missing leg in and around the business area of the Ville outside Hill 51 during lunch. I created a fictional boy named Quang based on him in the story. Note the cardboard walls on the building. These often came from used C ration boxes disguarded by the Marines.

Note the small boy on crutches (L) standing outside the hooch. It was Lunch time. Also note the loading pallet used as a makeshift wall as well as the M-16 leaning against the post. It wasn't loaded.

I'm ordering something in the restaurant. The Marine standing to the right might be Cpl Warner. I do not know who is sitting with his back to the camera--Randy Leedom?

A typical crop garden with rows. Furrows like these saved my life and those of Cpl Cox and Captain Reese on Operation Swift as we dove between them dodging both machine gun bullets and mortars. In this picture our patrol is approaching a home in the distance.

A Vietnamese woman inside her home located beyond the garden furrows (previous photo).

A morning shave before formation. I was the company radioman. Cpl Cox, behind me was the battalion radioman, and the inspiration for the fictional Cpl Knox in the story. We both worked for Captain Reese at this time.

Cpl Cox finished shaving, now it's my turn.

Cpl Ron Organ and I checking (surveying) gear after Operation Swift. Hill 270 (the one in my story) is the 2nd peek in the back ground, to the right of the tent.

(L-R) Doug Bowman, me, John Musante near the survey area and Bravo tents.

Sgt. ?? (L) and Cpl. Warner (R) were participating in the gear survey after Operation Swift.

Me and my squad taking a break while on patrol. Next to me was the Wolf-man. Later in the year, at Phu Loc where I was wounded, the Marine sitting next to the Wolf-man, L/Cpl Dale, was killed. I recall Dale as a decent fellow who was among the best in the Corps. Knowing these two and others like them enriched my life.

When Marines in Quế Sơn were wounded they ended up in military hospitals like St. Albans Naval Hospital in New York, where I stayed. This is a typical ward at St. Albans. The solarium is at the far end. It was in one such solarium that I first heard the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Another first was seeing Star Trek. The episode was The Trouble with Tribbles.

This was a group of guys I came to know who hung together at St. Albans. The picture was taken shortly before I arrived from Vietnam. Winnig with the cane and Razdrith, 2nd from right standing, were buddies of mine during my 8-month stay at the hospital. The fellow standing in the middle, Cpl Sanders, was our den mother. He could be a hard ass but deep down he was a nice guy with a sense of humor. The guys liked him.

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