Jerry Catron has many stories to tell about Vietnam. He recalls
units, towns, camps, and operations with precise detail, even though
it has been 50 years since he served his tour of duty there.
Catron, who served with the 86th Engineer Battalion B Company, has
boxes of photos, letters, articles, and emails that he has collected
over the years. Among the collection is an old copy of The Outlook,
dated February 15, 1968, that has pictures on the front page from the
largest weapon cache discovered in Vietnam at that time. The pictures
look much like the ones that Catron has in a photo album, ones that
he took as his unit became part of the historical discovery.
It's that story that Catron decided to share with The Outlook
recently—a fitting one since this month marks 50 years since the
weapons cache was discovered and also as the country marks the 50th
anniversary of the Vietnam War.
Catron served in Vietnam from March 21, 1967 until March 14, 1968.
He was a combat engineer with a unit that cleaned out portions of the
dense jungle. He had been in country nearly seven months when his
unit became part of the weapons cache discovery.
"Those were discovered around October 8, 1967 by one of my friends
James Riden," said Catron, as he looked at the pictures in his photo
album. "They were located about 35 miles southeast of Saigon and
about 20 or 25 miles south of Long Bihn."
"We never got credit for this. I was a combat engineer and we got no
credit for anything...The 9th Infantry Division that was supporting
us got the credit. But it was a dozer operation," he explained.
Referred to as Operation AKRON, the mission was a jungle clearing
operation about 13 miles southeast of Bearcat, the camp that was home
to Catron's unit. A search of a massive system of bunkers and tunnels
found in the area yielded 1,140 weapons, nearly 95,000 rounds of
small arms ammunition, 3, 634 grenades and 453 mortar rounds. Also
included were four 755 mm Howitzers. An official written description
of the operation notes this is the first time "artillery pieces have
been seized from the Viet Cong by U.S. forces."
One of the Rome plows being used to clear the jungle cut into a
large tunnel complex. Combat engineers moved in and cut traces into
the area with plows making it possible for tanks and other security
elements to move onto the scene.
"It was three stories deep, had a complete dental clinic, a
hospital...there was rice and hogs there and a bowl of soup on the
table when the first guys got there," said Catron. "They had a
calendar with a date circled on it and that day they mortared our
base camp back at Bearcat."
That was before the Tet Offensive that occurred in January 1968 and
intelligence later assumed that the weapons were intended to attack
Saigon from the southeast during Tet.
He had no idea the pictures had made their way back to his hometown
newspaper until he received his copy of The Outlook. His parents kept
their copy of the paper though they did not know at the time their
son's involvement with the operation.
Catron found the newspaper that his parents have kept all these
years and it has become part of a collection. It is among the small
New Testament that his parents gave him before he went to war. He
said he carried it throughout his time in Vietnam and still has the
small worn volume.
There is also a box of letters he wrote home to family and a diary
that he kept for several months but then ceased to write in because
he didn't want his family to read some of the entries. He quit
writing on July 21, 1967 after 26 men in the unit died.
There is a copy of the "yearbook" from basic training which he
completed at Fort Knox and another from Leadership School, which
Catron was selected for. He has copies of maps like the ones he used
for operations while serving in Vietnam.
There are pictures in the album of brief meetings he had with other
guys from home, soldiers like Jerry Sexton, Buddy Green and Paul
Denney. Catron smiles as he relates how he randomly ran into each one
of them while serving in Vietnam.
He has a book filled with names of guys he served with that he has
reconnected with through the internet.
Much of this is research for a book that Catron is working on. He
said writing about it gives him an outlet and it relaxes him. It's a
chance to share those stories with another generation.
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