09/25/2022
53 Years Ago! This photo belongs to my brother in arms David Fannin. He was with D Co.3/8 infantry, a unit we came to assist in a place called the Plei Trap Valley, on a Hill 947. Our units were part of the same brigade, which took part in a mission called Operation Wayne Grey. On March 1, 1969, we all staged at a place called Polei Kleng, and choppered west into the North Vietnam Army's base area along the Cambodian border. This photo was of Dave's, platoon, in late February, shortly before Wayne Grey. In the photo, you see some soda cans, which would be rations we received rarely. Also, you will see a couple bottles of booze. Most likely one of the platoon had just come back from R&R. We didn't let our guard down often, so the hilltop they were on in this photo, was most likely thought to be secure. In almost every platoon I would see guys wearing the John Lennon glasses. While the Beatles sang, "All you need is Love", we were fighting for peace. We joked that was like "f-ckin for virginity". Sadly Dave pointed out, "not everyone in this pic was still here around a month or less after this pic was taken." D company lost seven men on March 5th, 1969. May they rest in peace.
