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May 31. 1967Th» Albuquerque Tribun*. By JIM G. LUCAS Serin* Howirti Stilt WrikrGIO UNH. South Viet Nam — Air Force Capt. Charles Coleman o f,Shawneetown ,111., flying his tiny Air Force] spotter planei • along the Ben /Hal river and ' the Demilitar*. ized Zone(DMZ) -which divides the two Vietnams, spoiled a SAM site.There are at least five such Soviet - made surface - loan* missile sites along the DMZ.He radioed back to Gio Linh where Army LI. John Henry Hiser, Jr., of Chevy Chase, Md., unlimbered his big guns. A red - headed lad villi an engaging grin, soon Id become a captain, H i s c r commands the 175 min guns which regularly fire into North Vietnam. Their 20-mileLucasYou re onrange makes them a potent weapon.Hiser’s guns fired a registration round to get the range. From the air, .Coleman called back corrections. Another round came closer.A third lore the camouflage off a truck housing the SAM’s l. electronic ;gear. Communist gunners scurried away* in panic.For Effect . After that, it was Tire for effect.Hiser’s 175s were firing in earnest now. Coleman’s chortles came back from above.41 Beautiful!* Beautiful!” he called. You’re right on target.11Several rounds, he said, lauded five feet from the gun site. That close, they're bound to have damaged it if they didn’t lt;Iu6troy.iL It’ll be out of action for a while. ;Plenty to Shoot:Their mission completed, John Hiser’s gunners turned to other largcls. There’s always plenty to shoot at along the DMZ;Gio Linh sits at one end of the barrier just below the DMZ. Con Thien, 10 miles away, anchors the other end. Much of the area in between is controlled by the North Vietnamese. .• In the Woods .**. The Rods have hauled in hundreds of anti-aircraft guns and emplaced' them in the woods and along the ridges between Gio Linh 'and Con Thien. So far, we’ve not been able to knock them out.Shortly after . dawn two lumbering C-130s flew out of Dong Ha and headed for Con Thien. Helicopters no longer land there. All supplies must be parachuted in because of the enemy guns.Ack-AckThe big cargo ships flew awkwardly past Gio Linh to-ward Con Thien. Enemy ack-ack opened up. The sky was filled with puffs of black smoke. The sound was deafening.The two big birds held their course. Over Con Thien. parachutes opened beneath lliem,dropping fresh supplies lo I he embattled fortress below. Then they flew away, ack-ack still pursuing them.Caves and Trenches Gio Linh’s big guns opened up on Hie woods from which the firing hod come. But by now, most of Ihe enemy guns had been hauled back inlo their caves and trenches.A U.S. plane — a Marine A-4 — recently was destroyed by a SAM along the DMZ. Marine r.nnre Cp. Richard Pns-cuito of Fi. Lauderdale, Fla., was in the tower that night.Orfe of Ours 'We heard the plane overhead and knew it was one of ours, he said. Then we saw something we'd not seen before.The SAM looked like a pencil flashlight. It came out of North Vietnam. There was a lighi in its tip, and it changed course several times. All of n sudden,' there was an e.'iplosjon. Wc figured they had gotten the plane. We didn’t hear it any more after that.
Newspaper Details
Albuquerque Tribune
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Wed, May 31, 1967
Page 40
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald F.
NA, 17 Apr 2018
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