This Letter and Incredible Photos are Provided By Skip Davis

(Webmaster note;) I've used Skip Davis's own words to describe the photos

December 1, 1998

Ed,

Jerry Headly asked me to contact you regarding any info I might have
that might be useful to your web page. The background for his request is
that I was a scout pilot with B Troop 3/17th Air Cav, headquartered at
DiAn, and we supported the 25th Inf and 3/4 Cav out of CuChi during Tet.

I recently read Dwight Birdwell's book, contacted him and emailed a few
photos relating to C Troop and the battle at Hoc Mon. My unit's scouts
and gunships located and engaged NVA troops on the north side of the
east-west Hoc Mon canal on the first day of Tet. The engagement was
abruptly terminated with an airstrike early in the afternoon and
coincidentally, our S2 was later informed that our NVA troops were
designated reinforcements for Tan Son Nhut.

Also during the first week of the offensive (can't remember which day),
we were instructed to find a 'missing' M48 in and around Hoc Mon. The
first team out at sunrise located it and were then joined by myself in
an OH6 LOH, and 2 gunships. After several low passes over the apparently
deserted tank, I slowed and allowed my observer to fire a few rounds at
the M48 to 'elicit a reponse' from any lurking NVA. To my surprise,
there was no groundfire, however several of my observer's rounds entered
the commander's cupola which was immediately followed by an explosion
and fire inside the turret (it burned for hours). As it turned out, the
M48 was Dwight Birdwell's C35 which fortunately, he was not on that day
(or previous afternoon actually). Several days later, I had my camera
and took three photos of the burned M48, which by then had been napalmed
by the Air Force for good measure.

Our Air Cav Troop worked AO's in the large NW quadrant of war zone C,
which included Tay Ninh and north to the borders, east nearly to An Loc,
to the southwest of Saigon, to the border. I have about 250 slides (the
only film available in the PX) taken over a wide area. Most of them are
snapshots, but if there is any area of interest to you, I will gladly
scan and email them.

Skip Davis

Visit B Troop 3/17 Air Cav Home Page - http://www.erols.com/moonstar/aircav.html

Click on thumbnail to see full size image

C Troop 3/4, probably just before their big
fight at Hoc Mon. This scan is 150 dpi, but you can make out individuals
at the intersection of the 5 roads, having a quick conference. The map
section in the next thumbnail references this photo.

This was C35 (Dwight Birdwell's M-48) a few days after it burned. Note the 50 cal. is still
mounted.

This made me grind my teeth when I saw it since I was Armor Branch also.
This is the SE side of Hoc Mon looking south. Mute testimony to the
fierce fighting that went on here.

This is the site of our fight with the NVA along the Hoc Mon canal on
the first day of Tet. It's about 1/4 mile east of town. Most of the 200+
NVA were within a 100 yards or so of this building which seemed to be
ground zero. It was a wild melee for a few hours; our 10 gunships doing
a daisywheel back to CuChi for fuel and ammo and the scouts keeping them
contained in that small area. Around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, our
local FAC came along with an airstrike out of Bien Hoa and it was
quickly over as you can see from this photo. The rest of the day was
spent chasing down the few that were left. This was my first day out as
a real scout and that airstrike made quite an impression on me. In the
weeks that followed, I cultivated the FAC's friendship and he became a
vital member of our missions for the rest of the year.

This is an airstrike on Hoc Mon on the 3rd or 4th day of Tet. We had
been sent to the areas west of CuChi and Saigon to intercept NVA fleeing
in that direction, so I'm not sure what was happening around Hoc Mon
when this photo was taken. I do recall that they were F100's and not the
usual F4's doing the strike.

(added 12/25/98)

Ed, Attached are three more photos that I just had made from slides. Two are
additional photos of C35 at Hoc Mon. The other is an airstrike going in
on what I believe is to the west of the town, probably after the battle
on the 6th..perhaps this was the 7th or 8th. The 2 small red arrows
identify 2 APC's that I can identify with the aid of a binocular
microscope on the slides...maybe some of your members may remember this
area. Skip

This map relates to the next 4 photos, the arrow indicating where they
were taken.

This was a tough area; the Soui Da and Soui Tre trails ended just north
(to the left) and this section between Tay Ninh and Dau Tieng was
disaffectionally named 'Ambush Alley". I think this is the 3/4 in these
photos...perhaps you can tell...sometimes they used M48's with the
sweeps and we often would provide cover.

Thanks Skip

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