I am pleased to report that Dick Carey, the Foundation's Vice President and Founder and President Emeritus of the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association, is making steady progress in his recovery from pancreatic cancer surgery. He has taken a sabbatical of undetermined length from the day-to-day operations of the Foundation but we remain in contact with Dick and periodically seek his good counsel. In a recent e-mail from Dona, Dick's wife, she writes "Dick is progressing amazingly well!  The doctors can't believe how he is snapping back."

  The progress in researching, writing, editing, and getting our E-Book on the wire is steady and positive. The body of the book is the personal stories of -- and written by -- our Vietnam Tankers and Ontos Marines. Pappy Reynolds has combed the available sources of stories from a number of sources, including the Association's Sponson Box. Most authors whose articles have previously submitted their stories for publication in the Sponson Box have given us permission to re-print their article(s) in our book. We have received several articles and hundreds of pictures directly from our constituents, and published authors' books will be a source of stories given proper citation of the author and the respective publication. Many of the taped interviews obtained during the war by the Marine Corps Historical Division in-country of Marines fresh from the fight have been sourced. To date, we have 48 more archived CDs to work which hold promise for details of Tankers and Ontos Crewmen action.

  All the material we attain and deem a candidate for the book has been -- or will be -- re-written in standard font size and format by Jackie Hunter, the Foundation's Administrator. To date, Jackie's re-formatted 150+ articles -- with more to follow. Also, she recently hand-addressed and processed nearly 200 letters intended to reach Tanker and Ontos crewmen for whom we have no e-mail address. She will soon be on the phone to talk with those who have not responded to our attempts to reach them. We will exhaust every means to include all our Brothers with their stories in our book.

  Recently Pappy has taken on a new project to gather in one appendix to the book all the logos we can find that we used in Vietnam: Tank & Ontos names, comments expressed on helmets and flak jackets, signage on living quarters, etc. The response for input has been excellent to outstanding. http://mcvthf.org/names_logos.html

  And Jackie is heading up the project to record the names of all recipients of medals for valor. Navy Cross (NCM) and Silver Star (SSM) recipients are fairly easy to find; Bronze Star (BSM), Navy commendation (NCM), and Navy Achievement (NAM) -- not so easy. If you're the recipient of a Bronze Star, Navy Commendation, or Navy Achievement medal w/the Combat "V" device, please weigh in with your name and medal details.

  And I cannot begin to thank those who have opened up their wallets to contribute to the publishing of our book. You provide the Foundation with our only source of funding. We cannot move forward to completion of the book project without your generosity.

  It's been recorded by a former Marine Corps Commandant and Medal of Honor recipient that "every Marine (is) a historian". And long ago by Col F.C. Caldwell "Chances are, the opportunity to improve history will come your way during your career; make the most of it!" And here it is! Every contributor to the publishing of our book will be cited: stories/pictures submitted, money donated, interviews granted, sweat equity (research, proof reading) invested, books and documents donated to the Foundation Library -- even just a note of encouragement is most appreciated.

Thank you and Semper Fidelis,

Ray Stewart 

  I am starting with a link to a collection of my photos I took during my tour in Vietnam. If you encounter problems copying the individual photos you would like to post on your site, let me know and I will come up with another way to get them to you. I uploaded my photos to flickr,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10147874@N04/sets/  

  I have more photos, but at the present time I cannot locate them. If you need more information about each photo, let me know.

Here is a summary of experiences I had with Marine tanks in Vietnam. My first encounter occurred in December 1968. My company was detached from First Battalion to support a cordon operation being conducted by 2/1 (over near the ocean in a area with lots of sand dunes). We set in as part of a cordon of Marines and Koreans. A tank pulled up and asked where they were supposed to set in. Nobody in Charlie Company had any idea, so our officers started calling around on the radio. While this was going on, a lone Viet Cong stepped out of a tree line and fired an RPG into the tank. The round blew off the right track, but gave the crew concussions. A medivac was called and the crew was taken away leaving the damaged tank.

  The photos of tanks on a sandy area were taken in late April 1969. Late one night enemy rockets were launched from a site very near where my platoon was stationed. At about three o'clock in the morning, those two tanks were sent out from our regimental rear to take us out to the rocket launch site. We finally found the launch site right at dawn, as you can see.

  In June or July of 1969 my platoon was stationed at a little compound called "Fort Apache." This compound was located about a mile and a half from Ha Dong bridge and just below Hill 55 on the north side. We were sent two tanks to go on patrols with. In my photo set you will see three photos of us with tanks at Fort Apache.

  Around the time of Operation Pipestone Canyon (mid 1969) our company swept around Dodge City with several tanks. The tanks we operated with had either an iron cross or a playboy bunny on their search light covers. We never seemed to encounter the enemy when we had tanks with us. We loved you guys mainly because you carried so much "goodies" on your tanks. I remember one time we came up to and climbed over the railroad berm that cut through the middle of Dodge City. Well, the tanks could not get over the berm, so they drove down about three quarters of a mile to an undercrossing point then back up the other side to rejoin us. We were all very concerned because we were told that a tank without infantry was very vulnerable.

  After that, we were assigned to provide protection for a group of Army engineers who were flattening Dodge City with bulldozers. I believe we had two Marine tanks with us. Every morning we would board the tanks and drive to the far corners of a grid square on the map. Then the bulldozers would spend the day driving back and forth knocking down everything they encountered in that grid square. That operation was called Operation Parking Lot. We all remember riding the tanks back to the base area each evening. When we arrived we all had about two inches of dust covering us with holes for eyes, nose, and mouth. We roared with laughter over that scene.

  Sometime shortly after the III MAF ammunition dump had gone up we were assigned to provide security around the First Tank Battalion rear area. You can see several photos I took when we were there. I can't seem to find my photos of me in front of Ontos and Amtracks with turrets on them. All that equipment was being prepared to be shipped back to the states.

  Through out my tour we in Charlie Company always enjoyed working with tankers. You guys are a great bunch of friends.

Wayne Montgomery

Charlie Company

1st Battallion/ 1st Marines

Vietnam 1968-1969