Extensive oral interviews with veterans of Charlie Company and their family members form the bedrock source for this work. The recordings of the interviews are now open to use by researchers and are housed in the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi. Written interviews are also open for research purposes and, along with copies of other relevant primary source material, are housed in the McCain Library and Archives at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Interviews
Charlie Company Headquarters: Crockett, Company First Sergeant Lynn; Larson, Captain Rollo; Lind, Captain Herb; Lind, Becky (spouse); Windmiller, Chaplain Bernard.
1st Platoon: Acevedo, Benjamin; Bomann, Jacque (Don Peterson’s wife); Cortright, Carl; Dennison, James; Eisenbaugh, Bob; Hartman, Ernie; Hartman, Jeannie (spouse); Hunt, Lynn (platoon leader); Huntsman, Karen (spouse); Huntsman, Steve; Inada, Ron; Jarczewski, Dave; Lilley, Larry; Maibach, Gary; Nall, James; Nelson, Charlie; Peterson, Jimmy (Don Peterson’s son); Peterson, Rich (Don Peterson’s brother); Reed, Bill; Renert, Marty; Sclimenti, John; Shires, Clarence; Spain, Kirby; Stancil, Wayne; Stephens, Jim; Stephenson, Jim; Thomas, Ray; Wilson, Doug; Wilson, Ralph; Young, John.
2nd Platoon: Benedick, Jack (platoon leader); Burleson, Henry; Casares, Idoluis; Cockerell, Stan; Cramer, Mike; Ehlet, Bob; Emmerson, Jeanne (Ron Schworer’s sister); French, Kaye (spouse); French, Robert; Geier, Bernice (Bill Geier’s mother); Geier, Bob (Bill Geier’s brother); Harvey, Gene; Hawley, Diane (Phil Ferro’s sister); Kerr, Daniel; Lopez, Mario; McTear, Willie; O’Gara, Mike, Rademacher, James; Radowenchuk, Walter; Reynolds, Bill; Reynolds, Ronnie; Salazar, Aurora (spouse); Salazar, Jimmie; Schwan, Frank; Schworer, Dan (Ron Schworer’s brother); Searcy, Ted; Varskafsky, Bill.
3rd Platoon: Bradfield, John; Caliari, Tony; Conroy, Tom; Conroy, Vivian (spouse); Fischer, Tim; Hill, Barbara (Fred Kenney’s wife); Hopper, Steve; Howell, John; Johnston, Jace; Kenney, Susan (Fred Kenney’s sister); Lukes, Larry; Marr, Edna (spouse); Marr, Joe; McBride, Terry; Ramos, Jesse (Forrest Ramos’ brother); Riley, Bill; Rubio, Richard; Sauceda, Jose; Smith, James; Stone, Joanne (Tim Johnson’s sister); Taylor, Elijah; Trcka, Don; Vidovic, Ron; Vidovic, Rosemary (spouse).
4th Platoon: Fadden, Paris; Gann, Ronnie; Northcott, Richard; Richards, Alan; Rosenberg, Fred (friend of Sheldon Schulman).
Alpha Company: Lethcoe, Mike.
Delta Troop (Air Cavalry), 3rd Squadron, 5th Armored Cavalry: Kayser, Evans; Lovell, Wayne.
Several Charlie Company veterans have been kind enough to share their personal papers (including letters, diaries, pictures, notebooks, and writings) with the author, a collection that forms a major source for this work. The papers (some of which are restricted by agreement with the donor) are now housed in the McCain Library and Archives at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Benedick; James; Dennison, James; Fischer, Tim; Geier, Bob (a collection of his brother Bill Geier’s papers); Harvey, Gene; Hopper, Steve; Nelson, Charlie; Rademacher, James; Reynolds, Bill; Shires, Clarence; Wilson, Doug; Windmiller, Bernard; Young, John.
In the digital age, several important websites have become repositories for documents of all types. Of the most importance to this work was the website founded and administered by Bill Reynolds, one of the Charlie Company originals, located at http://www.9thinfantrydivision.com. The site is dedicated to the 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, and contains a myriad of documents ranging from pictures, to personal accounts of battles, to reports from hometown newspapers. The website is a goldmine for researchers. Also of value were the websites of the 9th Infantry Division at http://9thinfdivsociety.org, an organization for riverine veterans at http://www.rivervet.com, and the Mobile Riverine Force association at http://www.mrfa.org.
3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, After Action Reports, February–December 1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, After Action Reports, February–December 1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, Operations Orders, February–December 1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, Asst Chief of Staff G-2, Operations Planning Files, 1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 1. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, Asst Chief of Staff S-3, Daily Journal, 1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 2–6. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, Asst Chief of Staff S-3, Operations Report, Lessons Learned, 1966–1967. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 1. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade, Asst Chief of Staff S-3, Operations Report, Lessons Learned, 1968–1969. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 1. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade, Organizational History, 1966–1969, RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 1. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
9th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade, Asst Chief of Staff S-3, After Action Reports, 1967–1968. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 1. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
“Base in the Swamps,” 1967, Douglas Pike Collection, Unit 02, Military Operations. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
“Benewah Bulletin,” Joy Wilkerson Collection. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, Morning Reports, 1967. Author’s Collection.
Clark, Paul W. “Riverine Operations in the Delta.” CHECO Report 67, US Air Force, 1968. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
Headquarters, United States Army in Vietnam Command Historian, After Action Reports. RG 472, United States Army in Vietnam, Box 23. National Archives and Record Center, College Park.
Ninth Infantry Division. The Old Reliable. (Divisional newspaper). Author’s Collection.
Octofoil. A quarterly magazine published by the 9th Infantry Division. January–December, 1967. Author’s Collection.
Order of Battle Study 66–44, VC Tactical Use of Inland Waterways in South Vietnam, 1965–1966. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
Professional Knowledge Gained from Amphibious Experience in South Vietnam, 1968. Arthur Price Collection. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
Riverine Warfare – Field Manual, 1971. Glenn Helm Collection. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
Rung Sat Special Zone Intelligence Study, 1966. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
US Naval Forces in Vietnam, Monthly Historical Summaries, February– December 1967. The Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
9th Infantry Division: “Old Reliables,” (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing, 2000).
Appy, Christian, Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).
Atkinson, Rick, The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989).
Christopher, Ralph, Duty, Honor, Sacrifice: Brown Water Sailors and Army River Raiders (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2007).
Clarke, Jeffrey J., Advice and Support: The Final Years (Washington: Center of Military History, 1988).
Croizat, Victor, The Brown Water Navy: The River and Coastal War in Indo-China and Vietnam, 1948–1972 (Poole, UK: Blandford Press, 1984).
Cutler, Thomas, Brown Water, Black Berets: Coastal and Riverine Warfare in Vietnam (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1988).
Dunnavent, R. Blake, Brown Water Warfare: The U.S. Navy in Riverine Warfare and the Emergence of a Tactical Doctrine, 1775–1970 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003).
Elliott, David, The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930–1975 (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2003).
Fitzgerald, Frances, Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1972).
Forbes, John and Robert Williams, The Illustrated History of the Vietnam War: Riverine Force (New York: Bantam, 1987).
Fulton, Major General William, Vietnam Studies: Riverine Operations, 1966–1969 (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1985).
Gargan, Edward, The River’s Tale: A Year on the Mekong (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002).
Gregory, Barry, Vietnam Coastal and Riverine Forces (Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stevens, 1988).
Hackworth, Colonel David, Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).
Hunt, Major General Ira, The 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam: Unparalleled and Unequaled (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2010).
Jenkins, E. H., A History of the French Navy: From its Beginnings to the Present Day (London: Macdonald and Jane’s, 1973).
Karnow, Stanley, Vietnam: A History (New York: Viking, 1983).
Kinard, Douglas, The Certain Trumpet: Maxwell Taylor and the American Experience in Vietnam (London: Brassey’s, 1991).
Koburger, Charles, The French Navy in Indochina: Riverine and Coastal Forces, 1945–1954 (New York: Praeger, 1991).
Kolko, Gabriel, Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985).
Krepinevich, Andrew, Jr, The Army in Vietnam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
McAbee, Ronald, River Rats: Brown Water Navy, U.S. Naval Mobile Riverine Operations, Vietnam (Honoribus Press, 2001).
MacGarrigle, George, Combat Operations. Taking the Offensive: October 1966 to October 1967 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1998).
Maraniss, David, They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003).
Marolda, Edward and Oscar Fitzgerald, The United States Navy and the Vietnam Conflict, Vol. 2, From Military Assistance to Combat, 1959–1965 (Washington: Naval Historical Center, 1986).
Military History Institute of Vietnam, Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People’s Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975, Translated by Merle L. Pribbenow (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002).
Mobile Riverine Force. America’s Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing, 2005).
Moore, Harold and Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once … and Young: Ia Drang, the Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1992).
Moyar, Mark, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Nguyen Thi Dieu, The Mekong River and the Struggle for Indochina: Water, War, and Peace (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999).
Prados, John, Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945–1975 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009).
Race, Jeffrey, War Comes to Long An (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972).
Schreadley, R.L., From the Rivers to the Sea: The U.S. Navy in Vietnam (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1992).
Sharp, Admiral U.S.G., Strategy for Defeat: Vietnam in Retrospect (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1978).
Sheehan, Neil, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1988).
Sorley, Lewis, The Vietnam War: An Assessment by South Vietnam’s Generals (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2010).
Stanton, Shelby, The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1965–1973 (Novato, CA: Presidio, 1985).
Uhlig, Frank, ed., Vietnam: The Naval Story (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1986).
Westmoreland, William, A Soldier Reports (New York: Doubleday, 1976).
Wiest, Andrew, The Vietnam War, 1956–1975 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002).
Wiest, Andrew, Vietnam: A View from the Front Lines (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2013).
Wiest, Andrew, Vietnam’s Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN (New York: NYU Press, 2008).
Baker, John and Lee C. Dickson, “Army Forces in Riverine Operations,” Military Review 47 (August 1967), 64–74.
Dagle, Dan, “The Mobile Riverine Force, Vietnam,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 95 (January 1969), 126–128.
House, Jonathan, “Into Indian Country,” Vietnam (April, 1990), 39–44.
Naval History Division, “Riverine Warfare: The U.S. Navy’s Operations on Inland Waters,” Navy Department, 1969.
Smith, Albert C., Jr, “Rung Sat Special Zone, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta,” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 94 (April 1968), 116–121.
Grau, Reagan, “Waging Brown Water Warfare: The Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta, 1966–1969,” Master of Arts Thesis, Texas Tech University.