ARMY EOD IN VIETNAM

A call for help often heard throughout Vietnam was "Call for EOD". EOD - Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The call for help could be anything from a booby trapped truck, to a satchel charge inside a Ammunition Supply Depot (ASP), to a downed aircraft or a dud hand grenade.

EOD is the current name for the famous "Bomb disposal" teams of Word War II. The setting was different but the mission was the same, and the U.S. Army EOD technicians had the precarious and always unpredictable task of disarming or destroying explosive hazards which posed a threat to U.S. forces and their allies in South Vietnam.

The primary mission of EOD was and is, the elimination of explosive hazards - those generated by the enemy or by our own military forces. Statistics could easily be used to portray the magnitude of EOD support during the Vietnam War. But these figures alone would not indicate fully the variety of EOD support or circumstances surrounding each separate incident. Army EOD units responded to more than 53,000 requests for assistance during eight years units were in country.

During the Vietnam war there were ten Army EOD Squads, 4 EOD Sections (attached to Ammo Battalions) and 1 EOD Control Center stationed in country. Each unit was composed of at least one officer and 10 to 14 enlisted. Normally the units were located on major base camps. But due to the wide spread missions, weather, transportation problems and the urgent need for EOD, 2 and 3 man contact teams were formed. These teams would be deployed to the forward support bases or accompany the ground troops on different missions.

The first EOD team arrived in Vietnam on September 15, 1965, the last unit left on March 14, 1973. EOD's history in Vietnam was as impressive as their forefathers. In 1966 EOD teams responded to 6296 incidents, in 1969 the number increase by almost 400% to 20,083. And anyone of these incidents could have taken days or months to complete, and could have required as many as 20 EOD technicians.

Throughout Vietnam unexploded ordnance littered (and still does to this day) the county side. Most due to dud fired (faulty fuzing) projectiles, rockets, grenades, etc., Also left in place were the mines and boobytraps so ingeniously placed by the VC and our own troops. Added to al of this were the Ammo dumps, ASPs and tank farms, that were waiting targets for VC sappers. Two or three well placed 10lbs satchel charges and 50 to 100,000 tons of ammo could be blown all over Southeast Asia.

EOD wasn't just a job, it was a way of life, and as with life, death was always near by. By the end of 1973, 21 Army EOD troops had given up their lives while providing EOD support. The count could have easily been higher had it not been for the high quality of training and even higher quality of soldier accepted into the EOD program. EOD didn't need nor want soldiers with chemical problems, or someone who was overly excited by explosions, nor did they want any hero's. The screening program for this all volunteer

organization and the academic requirements of the training, ensured that only the best made it to the field. The training and its tough standards with an average 45% failure rate, helped weed out many. What other military school has or had that kind of academic rate?

It was almost a year after the arrival of the first team before the first death on November 26, 1966. Specialist 4 Jerry Corkern was disarming a VC hand grenade when it detonated. Ironically, almost 6 years later on October 25, 1971 the last Army EOD troop KIA, Specialist 5 Harry McWhiny would also killed by a hand grenade

Hand grenades accounted for 4 EOD KIA during the war. The hardest death of all was that of SSG Robert Whitted, from the 42nd EOD. On February 7, 1990, SSG Whitted responded to Lai Khe, the 173rd Helicopter Company had found a bunker that was booby trapped, but not by the VC. The bunker had been booby trapped using a M-26 fragmentation grenade by some "Doper" trying to protect his stash. While attempting to disarm the grenade SSG Whitted was killed.

The following accounts have been extracted from records of units that operated in Vietnam. These dramatic examples, coupled with the multitude of routine requests, typify the U.S. Army EOD man's task in South Vietnam.

The ingenious ability of the Viet Cong to acquire dud U.S. bombs and projectiles and emplace them as mines or booby traps was learned early. Many recorded incidents clearly show the ingenuity of the Viet Cong to fabricate home made, crude, but effective explosive devices.

The VC had few factories (if you could call them that) their supply lines were slow and some what unpredictable, but their ability to adapt and overcome made up for these short comings. During the clearing of a VC arms factory, an EOD team found a 500 lbs bomb sticking out of the ground. In the tail fuze well was a very sensitive fuze. The team started to check for booby traps and trip wires, finding none they started to examine the nose fuze well. After removing some dirt they discovered that it wasn't a complete bomb, in fact it had been hack sawed in half the explosive filler had been removed. The VC had recovered over 250lbs of HE and beat one of the Air Forces most sensitive fuzes.

A good example of EOD's confrontation with such enemy contrivances occurred north of Qui Nhon. Upon arrival the team was taken to the site of a booby trap. As the team approached they were informed by the guide that it looked like a grenade fuze and that he thought he had seen the striker move, before he and the rest of the squad evacuated the area. He pointed out the item and while the EOD team was looking, the striker did move. Approximately an eighth of an inch, to a point where it was about to fully strike the primer. As one member of the EOD team inserted the screwdriver blade of his crimpers between the striker and the primer, the firing pin snapped on the blade.

A 175mm HE projectile, with a fragmentation grenade had been placed on its side with a clump of grass under the nose bent over to hang over the path. A rock about the size of a

child's fist had been laid on the grass. The spoon of the grenade fuze was being held in place by the tension of the grass.

The item was blown in place and the team returned to the unit area.

Upon arrival on another assignment, the EOD team found two Navy 5" progjectilces buried base down, the fuzes removed. In place of the fuzes were BLU 3/B antipersonnel bomblets, the normal striker plates replaced with a mousetrap device.

At another incident, the EOD team found that the VC had used 105mm HE and WP projectiles. Secured in groups of three, as improvised mines. One of the shipping plugs was removed and the fuze well packed with C-4 plastic explosive. Nine of these devices were connected with detonating cord.

Situations which only arise under combat conditions often placed some unusual demands upon the EOD men. In such circumstances, they had to consider the situation which faced them and weigh it against their training and experience.

Many such situations taxed this training and experience such as when a Surgical Hospital would make a frantic call for help. When the team arrived they were met by a doctor in surgical garb, flak jacket and helmet. Strange dress for a doctor? Sure, but then his patient had an armed 40mm HE grenade lodged in his belly. The wound was bad enough, but now an ordnance item so sensitive that a drop of 1" could set if off made matters worse.

As the surgeon made his cuts, the EOD troop held gentle pressure on the grenade. When ready the surgeon would inform the EOD troop and he would then gently lift it out and carry it to a waiting hole with sand bags. Just as the final cut was made, the grenade suddenly popped out of the flesh and fell, and just as fast the EOD troop caught it before it could hit the floor.

Of all the EOD units in Vietnam, the detachment in Saigon ran many unusual incidents. Not only did the unit have to proceed to the incident site as rapidly as possible, but they also had to run through a maze of bicycles, taxicabs, motor scooters, and pedestrians which clogged the streets of the capital city.

This EOD unit was called immediately on every explosion that took place in the city. The explosion itself may have eliminated one potential hazard, but now the EOD could face the dangers of possible secondary devices, a favorite modus operandi of the Viet Cong.

Sometimes a thorough search would find the secondary as was when the MPs reported an explosion at the Coliseum enlisted mans quarters in Cholon. Upon arrival, the EOD team split up, and each man searched one side of the street. At a spot in front of a utility pole, approximately 55 feet from the main gates, in a small wicker basket the EOD

specialist found a DH-10 claymore mine with a cap inserted into the fuze well. The cap was attached to an electric clockwork delay device set to detonate in another 5 minutes.

The device was quickly rendered safe, a search for additional devices found two Chicom stick grenades with their pull strings attached to bicycles.

Every job started out on was considered dangerous, and possibly the last one for the responding team. But on some occasions the results could make for a good "War" story. Such was the case when a team responded to the Long Binh departure area. A group of soldiers were about to climb aboard Flying Tiger and head back to the World. While the MP's were check baggage they heard a strange sound and determined it came from a ladies cosmetic bag. He bag was placed in a sand bagged revetment. Then the MP's tried to find who the bag belonged too. No one claimed the bag, then a customs officer stated that it sounded like a timer running down. There was now the potential for the worst VC attack of the war, bomb an out going Freedom Bird. "Call EOD".

Upon arrival the EOD team was meet by the MP's and directed to the sand bagged case. The EOD technician could hear the buzzing and he to thought it was a bomb. As much of the device as possible needed to be saved for intelligence purposes, so the technician elected to use a dearmer on the bag. The dearmer is like a large shotgun, but propelled by an electrically fired blank .50 cal cartridge. It can fire water, very fine steel shot or even a large slug, depending on what you are trying to disarm. In this case the tech used water, firing the dearmer a large slug of water ripped into the case tearing it apart while throwing its contents over a 10 square foot area.

The EOD technician returned to the sandbagged area and can face to face with the threat he so much wanted to avoid. A 10lb satchel charge ? No, a 10: vibrating dildo that had accidentally got turned on. The EOD team returned to the holding area with the device and what remained of the bag to see who would claim it. No one came forward, but the EOD team stood by the departure area and looked each person in the face as they departed to see if they cold get a reaction.