Home      Photo Index           1971 page 1   RVN, 1971 I have quite a few pictures from 1971 mainly during Lam Son 719 also known as Operation Dewey Canyon II. I was sent to Khe Sanh to be the Liaison between the 463 and the US 101st and the ARVN 101st Airborne. The Operation was to be an ARVN one supported by US forces. We were no longer 'allowed ' to be on the ground anywhere but Vietnam. However I do , recall hearing an American sounding voice directing me where to put my load. The mission was to destroy the NVA's supply routes to the south. From the beginning it was obvious that good intelligence was lacking,. The level of the speed and fury of the NVA counterattack was grossly underestimated; the number of high caliber weapons, missiles, Russian Tiger tanks, WWII style AA were never anticipated. We, HMH -463, did get briefed on the multiple number of high caliber weaponary but not at the level we encountered it. There was a noise, that I still hear, that makes my heart beat faster that I found out during the mission was a missile being launched. We probably were the first Marine Helo unit to practice missile evasion. The mission was declared a success by the Army, a disaster by the press. I was happy to get out alive. Bill Beardall Dimmer 11 ---    Most of these pictures are mine some are 'found' ones from the Combat Photographers files at Marble. They were generous in their sharing of these. - photo courtesy of Bill Beardall [Back to 1971 Photo page 1][Home]