War documentary hosted by david hoffmann, published by smithsonian channel in 2017 english narration cover informationfrom m16 rifles to huey helicopters, the vietnam war launched weapons that went on to become legendary. This is the untold story of one such weapon built not by the pentagon, but by teenage soldiers trying to keep themselves alive. Jerry served in vietnam in 6970, part of his tour was with the 444 trans company. With the end of the vietnam war, the need for such vehicles disappeared and most were either scrapped or returned to cargo carrying. This is a great project if you have an old 21st century toys m151a2 sitting around, collecting dust, or if you can get your hands on one real cheap. Gun trucks of the vietnam war cherrieswriter vietnam. We do not sell or authorise the use of images hosted on our servers, if you wish to purchase or use imagery contact the uploader directly. The army had developed the hardened convoy concept to provide security for the convoys. Vietnam gun trucks will include part 1 and 2 as a package. There he ran convoys from the port city of qui nhon to the central highlands town of pleiku. At first, i was in a reefer platoon pulling refrigerated vans to phan rang from my base in cam rahn bay. While these proved less than ideal, the concept was considered valid, and more and more gun trucks appeared, sporting heavier weapons and armor.
Baird owes life to gun trucks, shares story on tv series submitted by eric bernsee, editor. A full color version of part 2 was laid out by the publisher but was not printed due to the slow initial demand for part 1. The 523rd transportation company medium truck, which had run line haul up the most ambushed road in vietnam, route 19 in the central highlands, brought six gun trucks. I let any new guy drive for practice, i ordered him to drive around the jeep and take off, i could see the convoy bunching up behind us.
To be honest they are commission builds but i have been wanting to do something from nam for a while now. Anyway, he then posted a short set of photos of his dad and the 3 gun trucks he was on. He wanted future generations to have an example of a vietnam gun truck. When us combat units began arriving in vietnam in mid1965 they were in. Fast forward to vietnam with this book vietnam gun trucks when logistical trains became targets of opportunity by the viet cong being ambushed with guerrilla hitandrun tactics. Trucks that retained the same name would vary somewhat over the years. Answer there was a variety of trucks used by the american.
You also wont have to shorten the chassis as you did with the previous conversions. It was in the banner graphic of greencastle, indiana titled. Gun trucks played a vital role in the vietnam war, escorting supply convoys through regions most likely to come under attack. Flag images indicative of country of origin and not necessarily primary. Schooner bluenose the cut out drawing, rigging detail and. A gun trucker on convoys minnesota remembers vietnam. Show your gun trucker pride with the vietnam gun truck vet performance tshirt. Because of those lessons learned on battlefields almost 40 years ago, the military was able to quickly adapt vietnamera doctrine and intgrate new techniques to combat the iraqi insurgency. This is some of the gun truck s the 359th transportation company had in vietnam 1966 to 72.
A gun truck is an armored vehicle with one or more crewserved weapons used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces to escort military convoys in regions subject to ambush by guerrilla forces, defend airfields, provide perimeter defense, or serve as mobile pillboxes for home guardtype defensive units. Good view of the psychotic reaction as it was on display in june 2004 at the gathering of vietnam gun trucks in ft. Because of those lessons learned on battlefields almost 40 years ago, the military was able to quickly adapt vietnam era doctrine and integrate new techniques to combat the iraqi insurgency. Gun trucks of vietnam premieres sunday, november 11, ppm etpt. An important part of the us army logistics in iraq was represented by the m915 heavy trucks, acting like tractors, tippers or concrete mixers. Vietnam gun truck question finescale modeler essential. This is a quick behind the scenes look at my vietnam armored mutt m151. Day 2 of the vietnam gun trucker gathering viii duration. They went to the m54 a little later because it can carry more firepower and could carry much more weight. The guntruck concept was born in vietnam in an effort to provide protection to convoys. Written by a vietnam veteran, this book traces the development of these gun trucks from the juryrigged originals to the powerful armoured vehicles that appeared later in the war. Gun trucks of vietnam is a special that reveals the stories of the u.
We are a non commercial community interested only in the discussion of all things military. They took some of their trucks to make into gun trucks. Gun trucks on guard a time and a place in vietnam i had a web site in 1997 i thought it was time to share all the pictures that were sent to me. As critical as they were, few people know about these amazing vehicles and the people that operated them. The design was based on the ship le brilliant built in 1690 at le harve france. I had spent a year as a army truck driver in germany before being sent to vietnam. At the close of the operation, the battalion began an extensive trailer repair program. When i was incountry, the gun trucks had cannibalized apcs on the back of 5 tons. A gun truck of the type used in iraq, based on an m939 fiveton truck.
Vietnam gun trucks by james lyles was printed in november 2003 and attached to part 1. The eve was loaded up in june 1971 and arrived at fort eustis in july. Home movie footage filmed by a crew member on the gun truck kontiki, with footage of pleiku, artillery hill, lz oasis, nha trang, and more. Spanish first rate santisima trinidad 6 gun ship 1769. Join paul shull as he heads to tennessee to help a vietnam vet rebuild a gun truck nicknamed the proud american. Angel, ace of spades, black widow, uncle meat, king kong and eve of destruction. Central highlands 19711972 vietnam war dvd home movies.
He was on sir charles in 1970 with mcclure and retzlaff during the ambush 19 january 1970, he was on big bad john with retzlaff and brown, and on dr. Extreme artillery from the paris gun and the v3 to iraqs project babylon new vanguard by steven j. In honor of national vietnam war veterans day, take a minute to remember the u. While the americans focused all their military resources from special forces squads to boeing b52 bombers on trying to stop the flow of men and materiel from north to south vietnam via the ho chi minh trail, the viet cong used mines, remotecontrolled demolitions, recoilless rifles and rocketpropelled grenades as well as. To counter this, the men begin to modify their trucks, adding upgraded armor and serious firepower. Vietnam era gun truck m151 mutt with armor by point man this is a quick behind the scenes look at my vietnam armored mutt m151. Many of the m35 were quad 50 cal gun trucks and whatever the units came up with armor wise. There was a story in pat bairds hometown about his appearance on the tv show. Despite several advantages, overall victory eluded the coalition arranged to save south vietnam in the unconventional war that was the vietnam.
Gun trucks of the 523rd gun truck ace of spades destroyed 21671. In the show interview baird reluctantly told about his duty running convoys only a few miles from the dmz. It was aired on sunday but will be shown again 5 p. See more ideas about vietnam, vietnam war, vietnam war photos. Vietnam era gun truck m151 mutt with armor by point man. Otto ii, named for the beetle bailey comic strip, is. Armys unauthorized mad maxstyle gun trucks of the conflict. Armys gun trucks as part of convoy operations through the heart of enemy territory. I fired my m16 out the window but i released that our standing orders were to accelerate out of the kill zone. Each crew added details to the trucks over the years. A military gun truck is an improvised fighting vehicle used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces, based on a conventional cargo truck, that is able to carry a large weight of weapons and armor. If you have any information about this picture, this truck, or the crew members please contact us at the address shown on the bottom.
Rottman entered the us army in 1967, volunteered for special forces and completed training as a weapons specialist. There are a total of 48 vietnam war vehicles 1955 1975 in the military factory. Eventually the army developed kits to weld on for the trucks and even jeeps. The gun trucks were decorated with art work on the armored sides, usually with cartoons and a slogan, such as vc undertaker, etc. This is a great story of vietnam gun trucks and the brave men that were part of army transportation. About this site if someone asked me to describe what my idea of a vietnam guntruck web page is about, i would first have to say, even though its been a part of my life for over 43 years, its only been eight years since i learned the story of that huge, little known part of our history.
What trucks were used by the united states in the vietnam. From m16 rifles to huey helicopters, the vietnam war launched weapons that went on to become legendary. The mp jeeps stopped in front of us and returned fire with their mounted m60 machine gun. This specimen got an armored superstructure with two carriages for the 12,7 mm browning m2hb machineguns. Repaints would sometimes even change the name of the truck. The truckers were the front menfirst into battle, first into enemy territory, and always volunteers. This book, written by james lyles, a nco with 4 tours of duty and first hand experience in convoy operations and a former vietnam gun truck commander, is an authoritative reference on a number of special hybrid vehicles called vietnam gun trucks and the extraordinary crews who manned them. To counter this threat the americans began to armor existing vehicles and adding various arms to provide protecting with added offensive capability. Never seen this before, this is some serious og vietnam footage. Zaloga 265 french battleships 191445 new vanguard by ryan k. Armys unauthorized mad maxstyle gun trucks of the conflict while hollywood would inform you just about every tiny point moved by lowflying helicopter in vietnam, the hard reality of life was that it was roadbound truck convoys that schlepped the bulk of the meals, fuel, and ammo to american and.
The actual caption from the museums portraits of guntrucks in vietnam on their webpage is. The result was that many students of vietnam gun trucks and doctrine began to turn to the lessons of the past. In honor of national vietnam war veterans day, take a minute to bear in thoughts the u. Between 1967 and 1971, the 2 12ton and 5ton guntrucks were used to great advantage by 8th group, first in the highlands and coastal areas of northern ii corps and later at hue and da nang in i corps. If someone asked me to describe what my idea of a vietnam guntruck web page is about, i would first have to say, even though its been a part of my life for over 43 years, its only been eight years since i learned the story of that huge, little known part of our history. With names like the piece maker, eve of destruction, puff the tragic wagon and the bounty hunter the gun trucks of vietnam struck fear into the enemy while protecting supply convoys through some of the most dangerous stretches of roadway in vietnam. During the viet war, the us army used 14 tons jeeps, 34 tons dodge pickup trucks with 1930s vintage fenders, 2 12 tons deuce an a halfs, 5 tons, and tractor trailer rigs. The other trucks were the minesweepers where a five ton was loaded with rocks and the driver would sit on the windshield and motor the truck in reverse up and down highway 1 south of danang. See more ideas about vietnam, vietnam war and vietnam war photos. A largely forgotten part of the war in south east asia was the one fought by the u. Czech company real models have just announced three new vietnam guntruck conversions.
The newest entrynumber 184in osprey publishings new vanguard series of concise, profusely illustrated books dealing with military machinery throughout the ages is vietnam gun trucks 48 pp. So the gun trucks continued to serve until the last american truck company was inactivated in vietnam in 1972. And the m1070 trucks became objects of conversion to gun trucks as well. Vietnam war display in dragon mans museum duration. These men were considered the elite of their division. Vietnam road warrior that features a vietnam veteran, pat baird, who served as a truck convoy commander in one of the most dangerous areas of the country. May, 2008 vietnam war gun trucks gathering pigeon forge 08 duration. This was of necessity a stopgap measure, but it helped to establish the operational idea and, as the war progressed, more gun trucks were used being heavier vehicles, better armour and more weapons, including the 50 cal mg, the mini gun and mortars. Jan 01, 2006 the result was that many students of vietnam gun trucks and doctrine began to turn to the lessons of the past.