It was during the month of October 1967, in the Republic of South Vietnam, when orders were received to relocate the 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion to a new camp site southeast of DaNang. It was good news and it was bad news. The good news was that the new camp site (often referred to as a Marine cantonment) would be located on the South China Sea and provide access to the sea and coast line for amphibious operations of our amphibian vehicles.

The bad news was that the new site we were moving into was under control of the Viet Cong..and in a heavily congested historical Vietnamese area. On the map it was called "The Marble Mountains." It was approximately ten miles southeast of the City of DaNang. Hostilities were to be expected until the camp site could be made safe for Marine operations.

Four prominent, craggy mountains, several hundred feet high overlooked the prospective Marine cantonment. The village at the base of the largest mountain, Nui Kim Son, was famous throughout Vietnam for the many kinds of marble artifacts that were made there from the unending supply of marble from the four mountains. Small shops lined both sides of the main dirt road and were testimony to a marble artifact trade which had existed for centuries. Five other villages surrounded the mountains. It did not take long for the Marines to come up with the nicknames to assist in their identification of where they were while on combat patrols. The village to the north of the planned site was called the "Fishing Ville." It was located on the beach and extended westward to the base of the largest mountain, by then called, "Chin Strap." Several kinds of fishing boats lined the highwater mark, but none were over fifteen feet in length. There were many hand woven basket boats each about four feet in diameter used for fishing and for the village children to play in.

To the southwest, a village constructed after we moved in was called the "New Life Hamlet." It was populated by refugees looking for a safe place to live. It did not prove to be so. One night in late November of 1967, Vietnamese Sappers (North Vietnamese Army) and Viet Cong moved down into the middle of the hamlet and threw satchel charges into the newly constructed plywood homes...the hamlet was destroyed, but with the help of Marines, was soon rebuilt.

Further out was "Village Number Two" (Tan An). The village between the camp and the mountain named "Marble Mountain" was the Village of Xom Son Thuy, the "No Name Ville." The other two mountains were called "Alpha Six" and "Crows Nest." In all, there were approximately 6000 Vietnamese living within three quarters of a mile of our camp.

Our first task in preparing the camp ready was to send twenty-eight Marines to the area to define the perimeter by laying out seven strands of concertina (barb wire) around the outer boundary. A few amphibian vehicles were moved in and placed in bulldozed positions to protect them from VC fire from the villages or the mountains. These were our sleeping quarters and more Marines were moved in to start twenty-four hour combat patrols throughout our new Area of Responsibility.

With the area relatively safe, the Sea Bee Battalion, located in a safe place about two miles away, moved in daily to start construction for the living quarters of the personnel of the Battalion as well as necesary maintenance and administrative buildings that were required. In a short two weeks the sandy, unoccupied beach area became a livable/workable cantonment for the 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion.

Here are some of my personnel opinions about the combat zone that would be my home for the next year:

During the daylight hours, although it was very hot and humid, few places on Earth were more picturesque and beautiful than the beach area around the Marble Mountains. An ancient Buddhist temple, facing the South China Sea could be seen high on the face of Chin Strap. During the French Occupation, the temple was converted to Catholicism and symbols of Christianity, such as a small Christ child statue were visible. With the French gone, the Buddhists monks returned and that created a constant identification problem. We never knew which ones were for real and harassing the monks was forbidden. They lived behind the Temple in a labyrinth of tunnels and large rooms which were filled with statues and other religious symbols, and, as we were to find out, all four of the mountains were filled with similiar tunnels and caves.

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