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ASP-1 Da Nang Viet Nam |
Red Beach Camp Books |
Since I was a very young and also very inexperienced I had nothing to do with the daily operation of ASP-1. I was used for everything from exercising my mos in the dump to guard duty, mess duty, and general laborer building the first perimeter fence and guardposts at Red Beach, what was to become Camp Books. There was two ways of reaching Red Beach from ASP-1. Starting at the “T” intersection by the new PX. These first two photos are of two women that were always squatting under their flimsy canopy every time I passed that corner. Rumor had it that they were VC spies, I don’t know because one day they were serving lunch to the field laborers. |
About 100 yards after turning left after the “T” intersection you would pass the new PX on the left. |
As you wound around the base of mountains on this route to Red Beach you passed, shortly after the PX, this quarry on the left side of the road. |
A little further on you would pass the Generals bunker, at least that was what we called this. |
After passing the bunker you would pass the Tent Hospital and Recon on the right then a little further on the road made a sharp left and you would see this tank field repair shop on the right. |
These next two photos really don’t do the mountains on this route any justice. They were spectacular! |
You would come around a turn and see the first guard post built where ASP-2 would be. |
Finally arriving at Red Beach. As you can see by the view behind this cute Vietnamese girl there was nothing at Red Beach when I was there except pretty white sand. We didn’t have to travel very far for sand to fill the sandbags for guard posts with. We even hired the kids to fill the bags for us.The second photo shows one of the first bunkers at Red Beach |
If you turned right at the “T” intersection you would first drive through Dogpatch then at Rt. 1 you would turn left and almost immediately see this Corpsman help station for children. |
These next three are of the roadside along route 1 on the way to or from Red Beach. |
Instead of turning left into Red Beach if you went a bit further you came to the garbage dump. Complete with a mobile snack bar that sold everything from cigarettes, Coca-Cola, and beer to thick milk. One day I was riding shotgun for a load of old candy from the PX and all hell broke loose throwing it from the truck. |
In January of 1967 I was attached to H&S Co 1/3 and moved to red beach to help pack up for shipment to Okinawa for rejuvenation and resupply with new equipment and the soon to be hated M-16’s. I was left on Okinawa because I was short and would have been rotated anyway before they hit Hill 881 with 2/3 and I think 3/9. Where if my memory serves me correctly they lost collectively a battalion and a half men because of the M-16 jamming. As you can see Red Beach was not built up too heavily in January of 1967. The tents are H&S Co’s area. The two Marines with me on the truck are Dukes and Hook. |
On my last night in Viet Nam there was a USO show at Red Beach with a band from New Zealand. Halfway through the performance they asked for volunteers to help with a fire. I was one of the guys that went. This is what I saw and helped with. |
Joe Capozzo |
. Joe Capozzo |
Joe Capozzo |
Joe Capozzo |
Joe Capozzo |
Joe Capozzo |
Joe Capozzo |
The corner today from a different angle |
The PX area today |
The Red Beach Camp Books Area May 2009 |
I spent three days riding my motor bike around trying to find the exact position of Camp Books. Funny thing is I had a "Crystal Clear" picture in my mind of how everything looked from Camp Books. That is until I tried to find it back! Now that the area is modernized and pretty much full of industry and homes, nothing looks the same. There is no clear unobstructed view of the surrounding mountains like there was in some of the previous photos from 1966. What I finally decided to do is start with my first series of photos by the tidal basin just to the north of Camp Books right before you begin the climb up the Hai Van Pass. |
Since I was in the area of the Hai Van Pass, when I was there at Red Beach in 1966, I always wondered what was on the other side. If you have also the next series of photos will show you. |
Followed by my next series approximately one-half mile south of the basin. |
The last in this series was another one-half mile further south. |
Since I was in such a good mood after the Hai Van I decided to continue on up to Hue to see the renowned "Citadel" These next photos are of the grounds, I must say that the Vietnamese did a fantastic job of restoration of the battle damage. |
My last stop in Hue was at the big Buddist Monestary, another impressive place. |