Ben Luc

Ben Luc was a small town on Hwy 4 about 35 clicks south of Saigon and was just north of the Ben Luc Bridge. It was on the Song Vam Co Dong River. Ben Luc was within the Long An Provincial, The Capital of Long An Provincial was Tan An. The approximate population of Ben Luc was 600. The Ben Luc Bridge crossing the Song Vam Co Dong River on QL 4 thru Ben Luc was the only supply route from the Mekong Delta in the south to Saigon. The Mekong Delta supplied most of the food for Saigon and north.

Ben Luc became home for Co. D 709th Maintenance Bn., which supported the 3rd Bde. of the 9th Inf. Div. Co. D. moved from Bear Cat--about ??? miles. The first base camp at Ben Luc for Co D 709th was on the west side of QL 4 about 4 or 5 clicks north of the bridge. It was a very small base. There were no hooches; the guys lived in bunkers, comprised primarily of metal conex containers totally covered with sandbags for protection for incoming artillery and mortar fire. There were only about 50 to 60 men total at that base and their living conditions were spartan. Due to extremely wet conditions the base camp was often infested with Chihuahua-size rodents.

Appox Aug, 1969 Co. D moved to a Engineer compound near Ben Luc about 2 clicks north of the bridge on QL 4. Ben Luc had a small clubhouse called The Boom Boom Room. There was a small bar, a TV, small game room and a place to watch a movie. The new base was small and the only unit that was there was Co. D 709th. About this time the 9th Inf. Div was going home and left behind the 3rd Bde. the 99th Combat Support Bn. was born to provide services to the 3rd Bde. Co D became Co. B Maint & Supply 99th CSB. The Maintenance Repair stayed at Ben Luc and Supply replaced replaced 9th S&T at Tan An Air Field.

The town of Ben Luc had two other bases. One was at the Ben Luc Bridge and had Army And Navy there to guard the bridge. The other was a small base in the center of town on QL4 where the 6/31 Inf. 9th Inf div. was.

Can anyone help with info to add to or help change this story contact me. Can anyone tell me what other units were stationed at Ben Luc ?

The following is dedicated to the men of the 709th Maintenance Battalion who served at Ben Luc, Vietnam, based on my best recollection during my time spent there in 1967.

I believe that either Company D or Company C was the initial unit deployed from Bear Cat to Ben Luc.... and since they arrived at Ben Luc prior to the Division Forward Command Post (CP) I do not have an exact date. I would narrow the search for a date between January and March of 1967. I arrived there in March with a small contingent from HHC ~ the Division Forward command post... with BG George O'Connor( the Assitant Division Commander-Operations), his aides (a First Lt. and Sgt E5/Orderly). In our group was Major Leanord Pacha, G3 Operations Officer (the day duty officer), myself (then SFC Munro) who had the night duty watch, a G2 Officer and MSG C. W. Wilson, the G2 Intelligence night duty officer. We also had an NCO (SSG) Chemical type who was attached to the 709th..... he was responsible for mosquito control, and also for "Tunnel Rat" duties when needed by the Infantry Battalions in our Area of Operations.

General O'Connor had his "quarters" in a "deuce and a half van", which had been customized at Ft. Riley, providing a RV type living accommodations. His van was parked immediately behind (east) of the "Little White House" at Ben Luc. You might note that General O'Connor was later promoted to Major General and appointed as the 9th Division Commander. Upon rotating to the States after his Vietnam tour, he was appointed promoted to Lt. General and assigned as 6th Army Commander. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.

The "White House" was situated at the north west side of the compound at Ben Luc, with the 709th support company occupying the east and south portions of the compound, along with a support Photo by Terry Ashcroft detachment from the 9th Signal Battalion, who provided communications support for both the 709th and our CP. There was also a detachment of 9 military policemen from the 9th MP Company, whose main mission was to provide security for the CP. They also provide a jeep for the general's and CP personnel transportation in and around Ben Luc, with an additional armed jeep (30 Cal. Machine gun and two MPs) as escort. These guys were used each time General O'Connor and his staff personnel flew in and out of Ben Luc.... landing and taking off from the very small helipad about 1/2 mile east of the compound. I would estimate the overall size of the compound then to be about 20 to 25 acres in size.

Ben Luc was situated on Highway 4, which led from Saigon, through Ben Luc and south to Tan An (where the 1st Brigade CP was located) and on to My Tho (Dong Tam) where the 2nd Brigade MRF was headquartered in 1966-1967. The 9th's compound at Ben Luc was about 1/2 mile east of the Ben Luc bridge. The bridge closed to traffic each night at 1800 hours and reopened in the AM at daylight..... it was always to risky to travel at night across the Photo By Dean Ayres bridge due to booby traps and snipers taking shots at our troops.

The initial facilities at Ben Luc were very primitive.... the troops living in medium GP tents. The dining facility was set up in several connected tents and was located on the south central side of the compound. Our rations mainly consited of a mix of B and C rations. You might find it interesting that while sitting in the mess tent Photo By Eddie Sadlo one day and chatting with several NCOs, a Sergeant Major sitting next to me was struck in the back by a 30 caliber round..... it tore a hole in his jungle fatigue shirt and only bruised him.... a spent round, probably from some long range VC sniping.

When we first arrived at the Little White House it was not in use. It was previously a Mortuary/Funeral Home. Before the officers arrived MSG Wilson and I slept on the two porcelain mortuary slabs..... our air mattresses fit perfectly on them and the tile floor was easy to clean and mud free. When the G3 and G2 officers arrived we were "displaced" to our new "hootch".... a chicken house behind the White House, which was still better than a canvas tent. I used a scrounged Australian 3 gallon portable canvas hanging shower to keep clean..... hanging it on a nail just outside the coop. First order of business when moving our equipment into the White House was to set up our commo gear.... we established land line and radio communications with Division Main at Bear Cat. Our radios were set up using a 70 foot high commo tower, with our antennas, erected in the middle of the compound. At night the tower was used as an observation platform with a 709th soldier at the platform on top the tower.... armed with an M-14 and Starlight scope. This was not the best of duty, as the tower always had a red aircraft beacon lit up at night... which the VC used to identify our exact location and take occasional pot shots at us. A detail of 709th troops provided 6 foot high sand bag barriers at the front entry to the white house for protection against snipers.

Surrounding the compound at Ben Luc were about half a dozen sand-bagged bunkers, which were manned by soldiers from the 3/39th Infantry..... a platoon of them who rotated the duty with other platoons of the 39th about every week or so. Each evening before dusk this security platoon would set up Claymore mines Photo By Eddie Sadlo around the west, north and east perimeter of the compound...... rice paddies surround us on the north and east sides and the main security gate at the west side. On several occasions, when the platoons secured the Claymores in the morning, they would find the mines had been rotated 180 degrees during the night by the VC.... so if fired they would be aimed at our own troops. A dirt road ran along the entire south side of the compound.... running east to the Helicopter landing pad and along a portion of the Ben Luc Village and west into the town and bridge. We were situated about a half mile north of the river.

During some of the operations around Ben Luc there were other units who set up to the immediate north and north west of us..... mainly artillery batteries. The Division CP, elements of the 709th and 9th Signal Battalion provide support for these units during operations conducted by the 3/39th with their headquarters at Rach Kien, a few clicks southeast, and across the river from Ben Luc. They also supported operations further south in the Delta toward Tan An and Dong Tam, and to the west in the Plain of Reeds, with elements of the 3/60th Infantry and 3/47th Infantry Battalions.

In 1967 Ben Luc was not a pretty place to live. When it rained it was a muddy quagmire. The insects, snakes, and other vermin, including red fire ants, were abundant. The men of the 709th worked long and hard hours in a very hot and humid environment, with few comforts. The 709th worked out of quonset type tents, as well as in the open elements. We did have a very small PX which offered only the very basic comfort items, on a limited basis. Ice was always at a premium, and usually obtained from the local populace.

Another worthy note were two very important visits to Ben Luc in the spring/summer of 1967, including General William Westmoreland and Colonel Sam Wilson, a notable CIA type, who was considered an expert in the area of intelligence for the entire Mekong Delta area. Both were briefed in the Little White House by General O'Connor and our CP staff. A side note: General Westmoreland was a former WWII "Old Reliable".

It's always nice to hear from former comrades and Nam vets who did their duty when called on. If you can add to, or provide any corrections to the above, please feel free to contact me. David E. Munro, MSG USA Retired, brassbear@rocketmail.com

David Thank You for helping the 709th Maint. Bn.

& The 99th CSB

I was just looking at the 709th Web Site. I thought I would provide a little more info that may be of some use.

I took command of D/709th in November 1968 from Captain Harry Torrence. D Company was adjacent to the highway in Ben Luc at the time. The strength of the company was 102 at the time - all in Ben Luc. We supported the 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division which was headquartered in Tan An. Its subordinate infantry battalions were 2nd of the 47th, the 3rd of the 60th, the 5th of the 60th and others I can't remember. D Company repaired trucks, artillery, small arms, starlight scopes, and the like. As the web site says, we all lived in bunkers. The compound was very small and at times we had more equipment to repair than could be brought into the compound. In those cases, we had to leave some items of rolling stock across the highway. Fortunately we did not have any sabotage problems.

We sponsored an orphanage that was just north of the compound. It was a heartwarming venture and we had some excellent carpenters and engineers that did some super work for the orphans.

The only other unit in Ben Luc that I remember was an engineer company that was located in the heart of town - and it had much more real estate that we had. To my delight, someone decided to relocate the engineer company and we were able to move to their site. There we inherited nice quarters - not bunkers, thanks engineers. The move to the former engineer company compound put us between an 8 inch/175 howitzer battery and wherever they fired their artillery - so it got a bit noisy at times. We had our own club after throwing out the 9th Infantry Division Club System that took our money and gave us nothing in return. We made pennies on the sale of each drink, but it was enough that the soldiers had free laundry, free hair cuts and an occasional floor show. I notice on the web site that the club was called the "Boom Boom Room." I must confess that I never knew that!

I commanded the company until it converted to B Co, 99th Combat Support Battalion. The Combat Support Battalion was activated because the 9th Division went home - all but the 3rd Brigade, which was then assigned to the 25th Infantry Division. I believe that happened in July 1969. As I was closing up the unit fund, I noticed the guy that opened the unit fund for D Company (then at Fort Riley) was 1LT Thomas A. McKasy - small world, I roomed with Tom in college in Minnesota!

The company grew from the 102 in D Company, 709th to 300 in B Co, 99th Spt Bn. We kept the maintenance elements in Ben Luc, but took over aviation maintenance, graves registration, supply, etc., in Tan An. I stayed in command of the newly formed B Company until I returned to States in November 1969. I turned the company over to CPT Author "Steve" Wellman. After the change of command, as I was walking the MAJ Berg back to his helicopter, my troops grabbed me and threw me in the company lake. It was fun - probably better than Gatorade on a cold day.

The first battalion commander of the 99th CSB was LTC Ernie Vulley who retired as a BG. He was not in command long because he developed an eye infection and was evacuated. As I recall Major George Berg took command from LTC Vulley.

We had some tremendous soldiers that worked their backsides off to provide outstanding logistics support to the soldiers of the 3rd Brigade. My hat remains off to them.

HI DEAN.. MY NAME IS DON ABBE. I, SSGT ABBE AT THE TIME, JOINED "D" CO, 709 TH IN JULY 66 LOCATED AT FT RILEY, KS. WHEN I SIGNED INTO THE CO, THERE WERE 5 MEMBERS. THEN A FEW MORE OFFICERS AND NCOS ARRIVED. IN LATE AUG WE RECEIVED 5 2 I/2 TONS WITH APPROXIMATLEY 100 FRESH TROOPS. E1, E2 ,E3, E4. A CAPT MOORE REPLACED CAPT CAMP AS COMMANDING OFFICER.. 102/110 TOTAL PERSONNEL MADE UP D CO, 709TH. IST SGT WAS AN E7 JONES, LATER PROMOTED TO E8 ISTSGT. WE SAT UP OUR OPERATIONS AND IN NOV 66, WE PACKED UP OUR EQUIP, LOADED ALL ON TRAINS AND EVERYTHING THAT MADE UP D CO, 709TH WENT TO CAL AND WAS LOADED ON SHIPS DESTINED FOR VIETNAM. TROOPS WENT ON LEAVE FOR 2 WEEKS AND IN EARLY/MID DEC, REPORTED BACK TO CO AND DEPARTED FT RILEY ON DEC 27 BY TRAIN FOR CAL... WHAT A TRIP!!!! WE ARRIVED IN NAM ON JAN 21, 67.

WE WENT TO BEAR CAT AND SET UP OPERATIONS THERE. WE DID SUPPORT 3RD BDG, 9TH ID.. IN BEAR CAT WE LIVED IN LARGE GP TENTS BEDDING 20/ 24 TROOPS.

IN MID MARCH 67, BROKE OUR EQUIP DOWN AND LOADED ALL ON OUR CO VEHICLES AND HEADED SOUTH. IT TOOK US 2 DAYS TO MOVE EVERYTHING TO BEN LUC POP 600+/-. AT THE TIME WE ARRIVED, THERE WERE NO AMERICAN TROOPS IN BEN LUC. ONLY ARVN WITH AMERICAN ADVISORS. THEY WERE APPROXIMATELY 1/2 MILES NORTH OF BEN LUC ON HWY4.THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS WAS AN EXPERIENCE. THE VC LET US KNOW THEY WERE THERE AND WE WERE THERE. WAS NOT FUN.. AFTER SOME DISCUSSION, WE CALLED OUR SMALL AREA, "CAMP BEN LUC".. THERE WAS NO "WHITE HOUSE", "BOOM BOOM ROOM" ,JUST US.. THE AREA WAS MADE UP MOSTLY OF RICE PADDIES. THERE WERE SOME SOLID GROUND BECAUSE THE AREA HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN USED AS AMERICAN INF MORTAR BASE. THERE WERE STILL SMALL SAND BAG AREAS USED AS MORTAR BASES. MAYBE 12 /14.. THE ENGINEERS TRUCKED IN 50 /75 LOADS OF LATTER RITE (SP), RED CLAY.. GRADED PACKED AND LEVELED. THAT WAS THE BEGINNING OF OUR LITTLE CAMP.. WITH NO ASSISTANCE , WE SPENT MANY LONG HOURS AND DAYS PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER.. WE LIVED IN CONEX CONTAINERS , 2 PER CONTAINER, SURROUNDED BY 2 TO 3 LAYERS OF SAND BAGS, BACK, SIDES, FRONT AND AFTER WE LAID 4/5 LAYERS OF GREEN GREASE WAX PAPER WE SAND BAGGED THE TOP. THEN WE PUT UP SAND BAGS AS A "BLAST WALL" IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE. WHEN WE RUN OUT OF CONEXES, WE BUILT SLEEPERS USING SOME LUMBER AND SAND BAGS. WITH THE HELP OF ENGINEERS WE BUILT 5/6 GUARD TOWERS. WE ALSO PUT OUT CLAYMORE MINES ALL AROUND THE PERIMETER AND ROLL AFTER ROLL OF RAZOR WIRE.

FROM MAR 67 TO JAN 68. ( WHEN I DEPARTED COUNTRY) SAIGON PROVIDED ALL FOOD FOR THE SOUTH. 1/2 NIGHTS A WEEK THE S/T CO WOULD CONVOY PAST OUR CAMP TO SAIGON AND RETURN ABOUT 3/4 HOURS LATER.. THERE WERE 5/7 VEHICLES IN THE CONVOY., 2 1/2., 5 TONS AND 3 APC M113 IN THE CONVOY. ONE MII3 IN FRONT, ONE IN THE MIDDLE AND ONE IN THE REAR. THE S/T ALTERED THEIR NIGHT RUNS THEY DID GET HIT MANY TIMES. A COUPLE OF TIMES IN FRONT OF OUR CAMP. I PERSONALLY PULLED ONE M113 DRIVER OUT OF A RICE PATTY, HEADLESS. NOT FUN.

I CAN NOT REMEMBER A B OC 99TH. THERE WAS AN ART UNIT THAT MOVED IN BEHIND US, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF BEN LUC.. THEY HAD TWIN 40MM ON TRACKS. AFTER I DEPARTED COUNTRY, THEY MAY HAVE CHANGED THE COMPANY FROM D CO TO C CO.. AS FAR AS I CAN REMEMBER, THERE WAS NEVER A GEN., SMJ,. IN OUR AREA.

I COULD GO ON AND ON DEAN, BUT I JUST THOUGHT I COULD PROVIDE YOU WITH SOME INFO ON "D" CO., 709TH MAINT BN. HOPE THIS HELPS.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE. ALSO PLEASE DISREGARD THE SPELLING. THIS KEY BOARD HAS TROUBLE SPELLING HAHA.. THANKS FOR ALL.

I did two tours in Vietnam. I arrived in country on January 8, 1968 and was stationed at Tan An Air Field for six months. I was then assigned to Co D 709th Maintenance Bn. in Ben Luc as there medic for 15 months. I left Vietnam and the Army on August 13, 1969.

My photos are from both places I was stationed, since this is the only web page my story will be on . While at Ben Luc I was with a fine group of young men. Being the medic for the 709th and running "Doc's Hospital" is one of the highlights of my life. I may have forgotten some names, but that base camp is branded in my mind.