This website is dedicated in memory of my friend David E. Aldstadt By William Booth wmdbooth@yahoo.com

I get my orders on September 14th 1966 to take my Armed Forces Physical on October 14th 1966.

Me at home before my haircut, July 1967.

Barbara gave me a haircut the nite before I left for the army July 24, 1967

I go from Napoleon to Cleveland to Ft. Knox July 25 26 & 27 (Bo Fackler from Deshler Hal Huber& Terry Davis from Liberty Center are drafted the same day).

All of the “diary” entrys on this website were written by my mother Phyllis LaRue between July 1967 and April 1969.

My barracks at Ft. Knox where I took basic training This is where I first met Dave Aldstadt

Mom and Barbara and Duke came to visit me at Ft. Knox on September 17th 1967.

Mom and I at the Ft. Knox museum.

Going back to my barracks after my family visit.

My Basic Training graduating class book. September 1967.

Basic training graduation picture. Dave and I are “held over” at Ft. Knox waiting on our orders for Advanced Individual Training. (A.I.T.)

1st Training Brigade area Ft. Knox as it looks in 2006 (most of the same Barracks as in 1967)

Orders to report to F. Huachuca AZ. on Oct 22 1967 for David Aldstadt and William Booth.

Mom's diary Sept. Oct. 1967 Dave and I are sent to Ft. Huachuca Arizona for advanced training.

We got to come home on leave for Christmas 1967.

My sister Barbara in my uniform.

Getting ready to take the train back to Ft. Huachuca. December 30th 1967.

Leaving for Ft. Huachuca Dec. 1967. We got stuck in a blizzard in Kansas on New Years Eve.

mom's diary Oct. 67 to Feb. 68 I am in training at Ft. Huachuca to be an “Airborne Sensor Specialist” aka Technical Observer or “T.O.”

We are in training to become “Technical Observers” (T.O.'s) at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona.

Airborne Sensor Specialist class Ft. Huachuca Arizona December 1967.

Airborne Sensor Specialist graduating class March 1968.

Airborne Sensor Specialist course certificate.

Ft. Huachuca Arizona and Sierra Vista Arizona as they look in 2006

Home on leave in April 1967 before going to VietNam.

Home on leave in mom's back yard April 22nd 1968.

home April 22 1968 Dave got married while we were home on leave.

mom's diary Feb. 68 to May 68 Dave and I are on our way to VietNam but we don't know where we will be stationed yet.

April 24, 25, 26 flew from San Francisco to Hawaii to Okinawa to Saigon with Dave.

Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) airport 2006.

On April 26th we flew from Saigon to Danang.

DaNang city from the North MMAF on the far Left Danang Main Airport on the far Right.

April 26 1968 went from DaNang to Marble Mountain Air Facility.

The bridges from Danang to Marble Mountain Air Facility.

On April 24th 1968 Capt. Maurice Hall and PFC John Sparks are shot down by enemy gunfire on a Vissual Recon. mission over the “Yellow Brick Road” area of Thau Thien Province. Capt. Hall is recovered within two hours, Pfc. Sparks is Missing In Action. This is two days before Dave and I arrive at the 245th Aviation Company

Dave and I arrive together at our home for the next year on April 26 1968 Marble Mountain Air Facility just a few miles from Danang.

Marble Mountain Air Facility main gate and 245th Aviation Co. Headquarters.

245th filghtline bunkers and perimeter.

245th Company Headquarters Major Carlisle is our C.O. when we get there. Maj. Lee takes over as our C.O. in August.

245 th Surveillance Airplane Company patch.

Diary May 1968 to July 1968.

Dave and I had the first two bunks on the right on the second floor.

Dave on his bunk with mosqueto netting.

A group of T,O.s painting our barracks.

The T.O. paint crew.

Sgt. McKay , Polk Griffin and I . Griffin and I are assigned to fly the Visual Recon and photo missions to replace Sgt. Johnson who is ready to rotate home soon and P.F.C. Sparks who has been missing since his plane was shot down on April 24th.

The side of our barracks.

The latrine and showers would back up some times.

Medivac Hospital in background behind guard tower.

Our Latrine , befort the mortar attack.

Our Latrine , after the mortar attack. The dammage from mortars is small compared to the dammage from “rocket” attacks.

part of 245th company area our barracks on the left the latrine on the right.

Dave and I spent most of our free time together in the company area or in and around Danang.

Mike Vandegraft another T.O. in the 245th.

Robert Christensen and me in our barracks.

Sgt Griffin

Bill Brewster from Indianapolis.

Kieth Fox another T.O.

My tape recorder at Dave and my desk.

I kept my helmet and flack jacket on my bed post all of the time in case of a rocket or mortar attack at nite.

Dave on my bunk with my flack jacket and helmet and pictures in my locker.

the pictures in my locker Chanture Pine winning at Waterford Park (looks like May 1968)

The cleaning girls were local Vietnamese that were brought in by the army during the day.

Mr. Zig Zag another T.O.

grafiti on our wall. “BAN THE BULLET”

Once in a while we would put on our civies and go into Danang. Only during the day, never at nite.

Explosion and fire after a rocket attack on the 245th.

our bunker beside our barracks This is where we had to try to get to between the first and second incoming rounds in the event of a rocket or mortar attack at nite.

Sgt. Griffin

245th filght line from our barracks there was activity there all hours of the day as long as the weather was ok for flying.

One of the rocket casings from an attack on the 245th.

The 122 rocket missed everything and left this hole in the flightline pavement.

245th history May 1968 110 mortars hit MMAF in one nite Hit again four more nites in May.

Another rocket attack in the company area caused one fatality. Big difference between a 122 rocket attack and a mortar attack.

Same hooch hit by the 122mm rocket.

Me in my flight suit, I am assigned to fly the daytime photo and visual recon missions.

Our 245th mess hall.

Our enlisted men's club.

this is the bunker Dave and I had when an attack was expected I spent the nite of my 21st birthday in it. It was away from our barracks and out between the flightline and the runway.

Hole made on the 245th flightline by a 122 mm rocket.

The 122's could do a lot of dammage if they hit anything, this one missed everything.

Another bunker down the flightline.

There were lots of rains and lots of rainbows in Vietnam.

Dave and I on the beach with Marble Mountain in the background. The beach was only about a half mile from the 245th Company area.

Me in our cubicle, We still have quite a while to go, you can tell by my “short timers calendar” above my tape recorder.

Roadside stand on the road from Marble Mountain to Danang.

Ed Hearn another T.O. in the 245th.

Sgt. Hearn with his loyal troops Aldstadt and Vandegraft.

Another cleaning girl at the 245th.

Part of the 245th flightline.

Dave and I outside our main bunker you can hear a rocket or mortar coming and try to make it to the bunker before the SECOND one hits.

close up of O.V.1 Mohawk in filght over R.V.N. I fly daytime photo and Visual Recon. missions and Dave flys nitetime infared and S.L.A.R. (side looking airborne radar) missions.

part of the DaNang Main runway. This is the big airfield in Danang where the large transport planes and jets took off and landed.

This snake was kept at the Medivac Hospital across the road.

245th history June 1968 Maj. Benton and Sp.4 Baird are shot down and recovered. PFC Sparks is still missing.

Pvt Baird another T.O. who was shot down and recovered.

245th flight line with mohawks and bunkers they put the bunkers between the airstrip and the planes right where they aimed the rockets and mortars One of them was Dave's and mine. This is where we went when a nitetime attack was “expected” to defend the airplanes.

Marble Mountain from a Mohawk looking out over the South China Sea.

Marble Mountain from the road.