U.S. COAST GUARD IN VIETNAM:
A GALLERY OF HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS
COAST GUARD SQUADRON ONE (Part
3 of 3)
| Photos (Click on image to see full-size) | Original caption; Description; Date; Photographer (if known). Unless otherwise stated all are official U.S. Coast Guard photographs. |
|---|---|
| "82-footer USCGC POINT KENNEDY
(WPB-82320) departing Subic Bay (with others of Division 13 -- not
seen here) at 1700, Feb. 18, 1966, for Cat Lo Base, So. Vietnam.
Original homeport: San Juan, P.R."
CPI-021866-11; 18 February 1966; photographer unknown. |
| "82-footers depart Subic
Bay."
No photo number; 18 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "82-footers of Coast Guard
Division 13, refueling from Navy escort USS FORSTER en route Vietnam
from Subic Bay, Feb. 20, 1966."
CPI-022066-09; 20 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "82-footers of Coast Guard
Division 13, refueling from Navy escort USS FORSTER en route Vietnam
from Subic Bay, Feb. 20, 1966."
No photo number; 20 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "Crew on board the 82-ft. USCGC
POINT WHITE (WPB-82308), Division 13, changing fuses on 81mm mortar
shells prior to heading up river to Cat Lo Base, So. Vietnam, after
completing the voyage from Subic Bay." No photo number;
21 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, photographer.
[Crewman are, from left to right: EN1 Joe E. Moody (in shorts); GM2 Lester Gates (w/o shirt); SN Leland B. Buzzelle; BMC Archie D. French.]** |
| "Vietnamese welcoming ceremony
for Coast Guard Division 13 at Cat Lo Base."
CPI--22266-19; 22 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "Various scenes at Cat Lo Base,
taken after arrival of Coast Guard Div. 13."
No photo number; 22 February 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| Vietnamese fishing junk.
No photo number; 19 November 1965; CDR Lutz, photographer. |
| "The 'Doom Club' Officer's Open
Mess, Danang AB, Vietnam."
No photo number; 19 November 1965; CDR Lutz, photographer. |
| "Views of USCGC POINT HUDSON
(WPB-82322), Division 13, on first Saigon River patrol, CAPT Robert
J. Loforte, USCG Commander, Coast Guard Squadron One."
No photo number; 9 March 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "USCGC POINT HUDSON crew."
No photo number; 9 March 1966; PHC F.
Borzage, USCG, photographer. NOTE: Incorrect caption;
actually the crew of the Point White (WPB-82308).
[Crewman are, back row, left to right: SN Lelend B. Buzzelle; GM2 Lester Gates; ENC Raymond O. Weitzel (sitting in chair); ET3 Gerald M. Sampont; BM1 Ernest Watson (standing with hand on chair); front row, kneeling: EN1 Joe E. Moody; BMC Archie D. French (kneeling with hand on chair).]** |
| "Views of USCGC POINT HUDSON
(WPB-82322), Division 13, on first Saigon River patrol, CAPT Robert
J. Loforte, USCG Commander, Coast Guard Squadron One."
No photo number; 9 March 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "Men on board USCGC POINT WHITE
posed with weapons captured from VC junk sunk in battle of March 9,
1966." CPI-030966-17; 9
March 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer.
[Crewman are, back row, left to right: LCDR Axel H. Hagstrom, Commanding Officer, USCG Division 13; CAPT Robert LaForte, Commanding Officer, USCG Squadron One; LT Eugene J. Hickey, Commanding Officer, USCGC Point White; BMC Archie D. French; EN3 Karl V. Anderson; LTJG S. A. Lessor, Executive Officer, USCGC Point White; second row, kneeling, left to right: CS1 W. C. Clifton; SN Leland B. Buzzelle; EN1 Joe E. Moody; ET3 Gerald M. Sampont; ENC Raymond O. Weitzel; front row, kneeling, left to right: GM2 Lester Gates; BM1 Ernest Watson. For the 9 March 1966 battle, LT Hickey was awarded the Silver Star and GM2 Lester Gates was awarded the Bronze Star.]** |
| "Rel No. 6137; 10 March 1966;
While on patrol in the Saigon River, crewmen stand ready with guns
on board the 82-foot U. S. Coast Guard cutter POINT WHITE
(WPB-82308) as another crewman boards and searches a junk. The
POINT WHITE is commanded by Lieutenant Eugene J. Hickey, USCG.
He formerly commanded an 82-footer attached to Division 12 at Danang.
USCGC POINT WHITE is one of the nine 82-footers comprising Division
13 of Coast Guard Squadron One which arrived at Cat Lo Base, 35
miles S. E. of Saigon on February 22, 1966." Photo No.
CPI-03-10-66 (07); 10 March 1966; F. Borzage, PHC, photographer.
[Crewmen are, ET3 Gerald M. Sampont, left, with M-16 on shoulder; GM2 Lester Gates, right, standing on the mooring cleat with flack jacket on; others are unidentified.]** |
| "Rel. No. 6135: USCGC POINT
LOMAS FIRED AT SUSPECTED VIET CONG CAVE HIDEOUT: An 81mm mortar
shell fired from the 82-foot U.S. Coast Guard Cutter POINT LOMAS
(WPB-82321) shatters rocks over the entrance to a suspected Viet
Cong cave hideout along a beach in a Viet Cong controlled area near
Danang. Rounds from a .50 caliber machine gun, mounted piggy
back on the mortar gun also were fired into the cave.
Commanding the POINT LOMAS is Lieutenant Keith D. Ripley, USCG of
Baltimore, Md. The 82-footer was stationed at Port Aransas,
Texas, before reporting for duty with Coast Guard Squadron One's
Division 12, based at Danang, Vietnam, in July 1965. There are
eight 82-footers in that division."
Photo No. CPI-03-01-66 (16); 1 March 1966; PHC F. Borzage, USCG, photographer. |
| "May 10, [1966] just after
midnight near the Ca Mau Peninsula about 200 miles southwest of
Saigon, POINT GREY spotted two bonfires burning on the beach. . .A
radar contact with a METAl-hulled vessel brought the POINT GREY to
action. . .She challenged the vessel and forced it aground.
POINT GREY immediately came under intense fire from Viet Cong on the
beach and returned fire with her machine guns and mortar. . .The
grounded vessel, a 125-foot trawler, was blown in two by explosions.
Salvage crews removed 15 tons of weapons and ammunition from the
trawler. . .First catch involving steel-hulled vessel since Vung Ro
Bay incident in 1965." [Coast Guard caption]
No photo number; US Navy Photograph, photographer unknown. |
| Firing the piggyback mortar.
No photo number; no date; photographer unknown. |
| Experimenting with the piggyback
mortar by removing the Browning 50 caliber machine gun and replacing
it with rockets for shore bombardment.
No photo number; no date; photographer unknown. |
| "COAST GUARD CUTTER POINT LEAGUE
FORCES VIET CONG TRAWLER AGROUND: The 82-foot U.S. Coast Guard
Cutter POINT LEAGUE stands off watching the burning 100-foot steel
Viet Cong trawler that the cutter forced aground near the village of
Ba Dong, So. Viet Nam, during several hours of gun battle to keep
the enemy from entering Co Chien River on June 20, 1966. Fire
began with an explosion on board the trawler at 6:15 a.m., and was
extinguished at 2:00 p.m. by Coast Guard and Vietnamese crews.
Salvage crews removed an estimated 250 tons of arms and supplies
which the trawler attempted to infiltrate to Viet Cong ground
forces. When the encounter occurred the POINT LEAGUE was on
routine patrol near the Co Chien River, about 80 miles southeast of
Saigon. Two sister Coast Guard 82-footers, POINT SLOCUM and
POINT HUDSON, joined the battle against ground based Viet Cont
attempting to cover for the trawler. All three 82-footers are
attached to Division 13 of U.S. Coast Guard Squadron One, based at
Cat Lo, which is about 40 air miles southwest of Saigon. The
POINT LEAGUE was under the command of LTJG Robert J. Heid, USCG."
Click here for a 300 dpi image. Rel No. 6178; Official U.S. Navy Photo No. USN-1116620; PH1 R. Wasmer, USN, photographer. |
| "COST GUARD CUTTER PT. LEAGUE
CREW BATTLES FLAMES ON ENEMY TRAWLER: Crewmen of the Market Time
U.S. Coast Guard 82-foot Cutter POINT LEAGUE (WPB-82304) battle
flames on board the 100-foot steel Viet Cong trawler after the
cutter forced the enemy vessel aground during a battle on June 20,
1966. The trawler attempted to infiltrate arms and supplies
through Market Time patrols to the Viet Cong by way of Co Chien
River, about 80 miles southeast of Saigon. POINT LEAGUE is
attached to Division 13 of Coast Guard Squadron One, based at Cat
Lo." [U.S. Coast Guard caption]
Click here for a 300 dpi image. Coast Guard Photo No. 6179; Credit -- OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO -- No. USN-1116619; R. Wasmer, PH1, USN, photographer. |
| "U.S. and Vietnamese sailors
offload part of the 250 tons of contraband from a 100-foot,
steel-hulled trawler which was intercepted and forced aground by the
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter POINT LEAGUE early yesterday morning.
The trawler attempted to infiltrate MARKET TIME patrols to supply
arms and ammunition to Viet Cong in South Vietnam." [U.S. Coast
Guard caption]
"OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH: United States and Vietnamese sailors off loading some of the 80 tons of ammunition aboard a captured Vietcong trawler that was run aground and set afire." Official U.S. Navy Photo No. USN 1116408; 20 June 1966; photographer unknown. |
| "LITTLE GIRLS ARE THE SAME
THE WORLD OVER--they like presents. Chief Boatswain's Mate C.
C. Gardner of the Coast Guard Cutter POINT MAST gives a package of
pencils, paper, candy, and plastic toys to a young Vietnamese girl
during the cutter's civic action visit to Hom Nam Du. Gardner
has five young children of his own back home with his wife in
Wilmer, Alabama."
Coast Guard Photo No. 6177 [Gen. Photo No. 10-18-66 (11)]; Kenneth Parsons, JOC, USCG, photographer. |
| "Little Hai, youngest and latest
to join the Saigon School for Blind Girls, is cuddled by Coast Guard
Chief Machinist John D. Burkholder. Warrant Officer Burkholder
was visiting in Saigon from his duty station 200 miles to the south
at An Thoi on Phu Quoc Island, where he leads the Coast Guard
Division 11 repair force. Whenever possible Coast Guard
visitors to Saigon stop by the school to visit with the girls and
provide cherished companionship."
No photo number; David Jimenez, JO2, USCG, photographer. |
| "COMMUNICATION: In order to
facilitate communication with the blind girls Journalist Second
Class David Jimenez extends his arm for them to hold on to during a
four way conversation in the dental reception room."
No photo number; Captain William N. Banks, USCG, photographer. |
| USCGC Point Welcome. She
came under attack by U.S. Air Force aircraft in a friendly fire
incident, 11 August 1966. Her commanding officer and one
crewmen were killed.
Click here for more information & photography. No photo number; no date, photographer unknown. |
| The inside of the bridge of the USCGC Point
Welcome after the cutter was attacked by U.S. Air Force aircraft
in a friendly fire incident, 11 August 1966.
The photo was donated to the Coast Guard Historian's Office by BMC Richard Patterson, USCG (Ret.), who was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in saving the cutter and the surviving crew, |
| A view of the rear of the bridge of
the USCGC Point Welcome after the cutter was attacked by U.S.
Air Force aircraft in a friendly fire incident, 11 August 1966.
The photo was donated to the Coast Guard Historian's Office by BMC Richard Patterson, USCG (Ret.), who was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in saving the cutter and the surviving crew. |
| A memorial service held for the Coast
Guardsmen killed when U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly strafed and
bombed the USCGC Point Welcome on the night of 11 August 1966
six times, while the cutter was on patrol near the border between
North and South Vietnam. The attack killed the cutter's
commanding officer, LTJG David Brostrom and one crewman, EN2 Jerry
Phillips, and wounded five others, including a South Vietnamese
liaison officer.
The photo was donated to the Coast Guard Historian's Office by BMC Richard Patterson, USCG (Ret.), who was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in saving the cutter and the surviving crew, and he appears in the first row, right side of the memorial service photo. |
| "Place: Cat Lo Support Base;
Decommission of CG SQ. ONE (1), DIVISION 13, and turnover of WPBs.
This is the last C. G. combat unit in Vietnam."
No photo number; 15 August 1970; Official U. S. Navy Photograph; PH2 Evans, photographer. |
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