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James Sanford Henderson |
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Born | 4/20/1947, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin |
Gender | Male |
Parents | Cuyler M. Henderson and Anita D. Henderson |
Schools Attended | Owatonna H.S., Univ of Minn IT, Univ of Minn Grad School |
Branch of Service | Navy |
Additional Identifiers | |
Service Timeframe | 1967 - 1971 |
War/Conflict | Vietnam War 1964-1975 |
Principal Units and Locations | Naval Support Activity (NSA) - Da Nang, RVN; Radioman on the LCU-1622, RM3 at the White Elephant Comm Ctr, RM2 at the Triangle Comm Ctr. (1968-70); Naval Radio Station - Fort Allen, Ponce, Puerto Rico (1970-71) |
Military Awards and Decorations | National Defense Service Medal; Vietnam Service Medal; Vietnam Campaign Medal, Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon. |
![]() Radioman on LCU-1622 at the Sand Ramp, Tien Sha Annex in 1968. | |
NarrativeI began my service in the US Navy on October 11, 1967 at the Navy Training Center (NTC) in San Diego. Following basic training, I attended US Navy schools at NTC San Diego between January 3, 1968 and July 25, 1968 for the Radioman (RM) rating. During my last Radioman school (2304) I received orders to report to the Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Coronado August 26, 1968 for SERE School (including a stay at Camp Pendleton for small arms training). Then I was ordered to report to the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Da Nang, RVN. the command center for I Corps. NSA Da Nang, in the late 1960s, had almost 50,000 men and women, one of the largest US Navy bases in the world. My first assignment was the Radioman (RM) on Landing Craft Utility (LCU) 1622, docked at the Lighterage in the Tien Sha Annex area. I was the only RM of 14 sailors aboard the LCU, responsible for the radios, radar, code books and, oddly enough, the morphine which was kept in the safe with the code books. The shallow draft landing craft were ideal for getting as far inland as possible and delivering whatever was offloaded by the oceangoing ships docked at the deep-water piers in Da Nang, which in 1969 handled more tonnage than the Port of Baltimore, MD. Typical loads were ammunition, construction materials, cement, petroleum, vehicles, food, and medical supplies. The Lighterage (several large barges tied together with a complex of buildings) was the operational center for about 125 different craft attached and 1,000 sailors assigned to man them. The voyage to Dong ha was a typical trip. We would load up at one or more of the various staging area ramps, leave in the early evening, head north (120 miles) to Cua Viet, at a top speed of 12 knots. Our goal was to get to Cua Viet, at the river mouth by dawn. Usually it took 12-15 hours in the South China Sea depending on how the weather was. In heavy seas (15 ft. or more) our speed would suffer. At Cua Viet we would wait for other boats headed up river to Dong Ha. Most nights the Cua Viet River would be mined. A Landing Craft Mechanical (LCM) mine sweeper led the convoy up the river. One time, when a mine exploded about 100 feet away, the shock wave hitting the side of boat nearly knocked me off my stool where I sat next to the radios. The banks along the Cua Viet and the Song Mien Gang River were sprayed with Agent Orange especially areas where an ambush might be staged for one of the LCU boats. The DMZ, about 6 miles north of Cua Viet, was completely bare because it had been repeatedly sprayed. PBRs (Patrol Boat River) provided cover for us if there was any nearby threat. If PBRs were engaged in firefights we stopped until the river was reopened for transit to Dong Ha. By 1969 I was and RM3 in the White Elephant (an old French Fort in downtown Da Nang) where the commanding Admiral was located. It was closed in late 1969, the Admiral moved to China Beach and in 1970 I was an RM2 working at the Triangle Communications Center on the east side of the Han River (between Camp Tien-Sha and China Beach). The Comm Ctr was on a triangular piece of land where the road split. On the point was a MP guard tower, south of the Comm Ctr was the refrigerated storage depot and an ARVN Ammo dump which blew up and flattened the refrigerated storage buildings and pelted the Comm Ctr with pieces of munitions. I go to the Veterans Medical Center at Fort Snelling for all my medical care since I am 70% disabled from prostate cancer which was identified as caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. |