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Decatur youth tells of air borne rangers(The following account, by Dallas Wittgenfeld, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Wittgenfeld of 504 Mercer avenue, a 1967 graduate of South Adams high school who had previously attended the Decatur school system, tells ofthe rigorous training of the airborne rangers, and a little about the unit he has recently joined in Vietnam. He is married to the former Darlyr. Wilcutt of 1609 E. Market St., Celina, 0., and they have a daughter, Tina Ann).V“I was stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division at FortBragg— ACo., 82ndSignal Battalion, Command Operations, I was awaiting a secret clearance to special forces of which I’m fully qualified to start training group ASAP.“When my clearance finally came through, I got my orders for Vietnam, and since they were priority orders, my wife, Darlyn and daughter Tina Ann packed up our home in Spring Lake, N.C., and came home on a 33-day leave before departure for the ‘Nam,“I was told that I was going to become more than a special forces trooper — an airborne ranger in Long Range Patrol Activities. This was fine with me. There are very few rangers in the army, and even fewer combatrangers in Vietnam.‘So I was to become a ranger with the only company in Vietnam, Co I), the only ranger outfit in the whole Second Field Force, War /one D, South Vietnam,“When I arrived here, I wentthrough rigorous training to become an active member of this company. I learned demolitions with Claymore mines, 1-4 demo explosives, booby than learned tofire and disassembled small arms, such as the M-60 machine guns, M-79 grenade launcher,M-16 auto weapon, 50 calibre machine gun, M-27 anti-tank high explosive rocket launcher, 66 mm, and 45 calibre automatic pistol.“Then I went through numerous hours of patroling and ambush classes, both classroom and actual combat situations in the jungle, a very practical course here. Along with this, everyday we had rough physical trainingto keep us in top shape.“Then after passing tests of all types, both practical and paper, we learned to rappel ( descend dangerous cliffs by rope) andclimb on cliffs and towers. Thistraining makes a soldier completely mobile in the jungle.“There isn’t anywhere we can’t go as a ranger in Vietnam. Oh, ya!“I learned to rappel from a Huey 111 Helicopter, too. At 200feet above the ground — a real thrill. We were only 80 feet high on tiie cliffs and towers in training*“After several weeks of thismost vigorous basic workout, I was assigned to a five-man ambush team in the Fighting Fourth platoon - the best of the four ranger platoons in our small 170-man company. I belong to teamNo. 41. f££“The mission of our company is to ambush, kill and cripple on main supply routes to the south near the Mekong delta area. North Vietnamese infiltrate theI•-Iv» •* *4 (ft :• .•*»• *CAMP*••ATTERBURYEASTII4*.■ *i ir,t **D (RANGER).151 STINF.ftjrIINDIANASFINEST- bV#►■H**it*✓,Vwok** $*■ a’•tKmlmWkvM he* ■-3:5it;«*m mivmmI* V9 Jk*fit*..nr.#****•#«*,s- .•*ult;outh through neighbor ing Laos. A five-man team carries enough Claymores and firepower to ambush and destroy 20 enemy soldiers. One team in my fighting fourth platoon has killed 34 enemy in one ambush, with no one wounded in the action. That gives you an idea of the esprit de corps of this outfit. We mean business. There is a sign outside our platoon door that says, ‘Live by chance, love by choice, and kill by profession.'“The best thing about this company is that all of the personnel here are from Indiana! That's right!“This unit used to be an Indiana National Guard unit from Greenfield. It was activated May 15, 1968 and started training to become the Guard's most stout and proud unit as airborne rangers in Vietnam. This is the most experienced Guard unit ever. They are all qualified airborne, ranger, pathfinder, Recondo,and jungle experts — by far the most professional soldiers in ‘Sam’s army. And all men from Indiana. They arrived in Vietnam December 27, 1968, and have set up operations for the whole Second Field Force in War Zone D 20 miles north of Saigon.“Well, I have just about summed it all up here. I'm proud to be one of the very elite Rangers in Vietnam, but even more proud to serve with Indiana’s finest men doing this very important job in War Zone D.Wittengenfeld’s address is: PFC Dallas Wittgenfeld 308-5-9840, Co. D (ABN Ranger) 151st INF LRP, APO San Francisco, CZA 96266.v, *Van Wert police Berne *ou,h inget teletypemarching hundredNOTICK TO DIDDERSer I v n thatVan Wert, 0., city police now have teletype communications, through an Ohio LEADS tele-William Steiner, 563 E, Franklin St., Berne, who plays trombone, is among 146 students making up the 1969 version of Indiana University’s famed Marching Hundred Band.
Newspaper Details
Decatur Daily Democrat
Decatur, Indiana, US
Thu, Sep 18, 1969
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 02 Jan 2019
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