During late April in 1968, I was in my jeep on my way to a meeting with the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Marines concerning an operation coming up and involving 3rd Amtracs. The dirt two lane road between the Marble Mountains and 3rd Marines was frequently mined by the VC. The Enginners attached to Amtracs and those attached to the 3rd Marines, swept this road a couple of times a day.

On my way south, I caught up with the sweep teams and at the same time ran into one of the Amtrac Patrols. Having to wait for the Enginneers, I sat on the side of the road talking to the patrol. One of the Marines handed me a small leaflet he found and signed by "The National Front for Liberation of Quang-nam -- Da-nang."

It was the only one I saw in our AOR..and I recently came across it in my files. Even at that time, in discussing where it might have come from, I was suspicious of the Leper Colony compound..in our AOR and just south of our camp. An American Missionary named Reverend Smith was incharge of the Colony...but I was lead to believe that the only way he and the Colony could survive was to placate both sides..and we had lots of intel. that the VC and NVA could come and go from the Colony at will.

In our sweeps of the Colony, we did find caches of VC/NVA weapons and ammunition....however, we also found out that most of the rice was provided by the VC to the Lepers.

Rev. Smith got considerable backing from Missions throughout the World. It was another military dichotomy to face in that strange war.

Stub