Following are pictures and information about the Vietnam War as waged by the men of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Brigade, 4th Infantry Division; specifically, those who served in 1968 and 1969. This website is created so their families and loved ones can know a little about what they gave to their faith in our Creator and/or for the nation they believed in. Some people didn't like the war. Truth is, most of us didn't like in ways you can't imagine. Still, it was what our country asked of us and we did it for our wives or lovers and for our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and friends. We did it for God and Country. This nation we are favored to live in is important because it has afforded its citizens more individual freedoms than most (maybe any, except ancient Israel under Kings David and Solomon) that have come before.
The website is also to honor the 28 men from Company C whose names are on the list below of those Killed In Action. They made up roughly 30 percent of our company unit and they gave their lives during the period from mid 1968 through mid 1969:
The average number killed among the men and women who served in Vietnam was 3 or 4 percent [depending on the source]. Vietnam was a dangerous place to be in those days. Comparatively, we in Company C had some 30 percent of our number killed. Along with the 28 men killed, about 30 others were wounded [I am unaware of any records kept of those wounded in Vietnam]. That means about 60% of our company was killed or wounded from mid 68 to mid 69. My name is Sgt. Joe M. Cummings, and I am a survivor of Company C. Born in Creelsboro, KY, USA (Creelsboro on my birth certificate with an Aaron, KY address, out of the Albany, KY post office). My family moved to Indiana and I started first grade and grew up attending school in New Castle. Drafted into the Army in 1967, shortly after graduating high school, I was sent to Vietnam where I served as a "Light Weapons Infantry Squad Leader" (11B40 MOS) assigned to Co. C, 3rd of the 12th, 4th Division, beginning mid 1968 (arriving June or July). I am more proud than I can say to have served alongside the men in these photos. [My hope is some group in the future will not smear our names as bad men because they decide they didn't like the war.] We served our nation's call! Please note the names on the list above are not all the unit members killed during the calendar years 1968 and 1969. The list is only the men killed roughly during my tour of duty from mid 68 to mid 69. I served in the presence of these brave men and at the time they died! [A friend was kind enough to research those names based on my tour dates.] We who served together in Company C didn't travel to the Nam as a unit. Replacements for those rotating home and for those killed and wounded came in as needed and available. Our roster thus vacillated roughly between 80 and 100 or 110 men. Some in these photos came in country before me and some after, so, all pictured on the website served sometime during the calendar years 1968 and/or 1969.
To provide some perspective for our high casualty rates: There was a movie airing on TV recently about the "Battle of Britain". Those brave soldiers who fought Hitler over the channel saw about 18% of their number killed. Their sacrifice was so great (willingly flying out day after day in the midst of suffering so many losses) it prompted the now famous words of Winston Churchill who is quoted as saying: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few." The men's sacrifice became so well known, in the light of Churchill's words, they popularly came to be referred to simply as "the few". As you view this site, I hope you will remember as among "the few," the 28 killed from among the 80-100 men of Company C, 3/12, 4th Division.
After I edited this photo, one of the men I served with told me this action took place on hill 1258. (Hill 1258 and 1338 are examples of numbers used to represent the hills we lived and/or fought on. The number is simply the number of meters tall the hill was.) Hill 1258 was one I had been on before and I didn't remember it to be where this combat assault took place. Still... It was a lot of years ago.
A little about life in Company C... Our life was not like those making up the majority of Grunts [infantry soldiers] who served. Most provided security and ran missions out of Base Camp [BC] and returned at night, or at least returned to BC every two or three days; returned to hot showers and cold beer. We almost never saw Base Camp. We were part of a very small percentage that "lived" our year of service out in the jungles of Vietnam. I saw 4th Division Base Camp [Camp Ernie I think, at Pleiku] when I came in country, when I rotated home, and when I went out of country for my R&R and came back. We existed as a "field forward firebase" which meant our 80 to 100 man company spent our lives dug in on the top of a hill, moving our "firebase" often from hilltop to hilltop; to wherever they suspected or had reports of enemy movement. There were few nights that fell that didn't see us with at least a fighting position [holes in the ground with overhead cover if possible] for every man on the hill to get below ground level. We had to be prepared at all times to call in mortars or artillery or air strikes or mini gun spray "danger close" or even directly on our own position. When that need came, everyone who would survive had to be able to get below ground level. There were usually no roads in sight in any direction, and we navigated and kept track of our location using a compass and a topographical map, orienting ourselves only by surrounding hilltops and terrain. Knowing precisely where we were was imperative because that is how we directed supporting fire. When we moved, we walked through the jungle with all we had on our back. Our weapon and ammunition [about 21 pounds], along with the food and water and gear we carried on a move, often weighed nearly 100 pounds. Nothing says exercise like humping [a term created to describe an infantry soldier carrying all he owned on his back as he moved] a few klicks [kilometers] through the Jungle carrying 100 pounds of gear. Let me just say, it was a brutal life in every conceivable way!
The men you see in these pictures were warriors. That's not to say they were mean or aggressive, or even wanted to be there. Most of us were drafted. Still, when they found themselves part of our little "field forward firebase," even in the face of the loss percentages being suffered, they dug in and kept going in support of our nation and each other. The above picture of the downed medivac is one of only two of such pictures displayed. All the photos were obviously taken "off" times, when we had a short break; taken to send home to our family and friends. Another thing about these men: Most all of them are gunfighters. And again, not to imply they wanted or chose to own such a label. They were forced to be! From memory, we had what averaged about one firefight per month. It is unlikely many of the men of Company C could have survived our year long tour of duty without having to use their weapon to defend themselves. One Company Commander told me it took a dozen Army soldiers working behind the scenes in support of every one of us who served in those field forward firebases. [They worked as cooks and clerks and drivers and base camp support etc. They were among those men and women who made up the group living in danger and suffering 3 or 4 percent Killed In Action.] It was and remains my personal belief they needed to "build" companies to do the job we did; companies comprised of men they knew would fight; which meant they had to have seen combat. With only a 1 year long tour, that meant it had to happen fast. Having a green company of men attacked, who had never seen a firefight, would prove disastrous. It takes a bit to adjust to being able to function with people trying to kill you; while some of your friends are dying around you. I think ours was one of the companies they kept in as much combat as they could maneuver us into, because we were tempered from combat and because they were also using us as a crucible firing new combat soldiers. One man I was close to said he served a few months with our unit and then, probably based on the experience he gained, he was moved to another company as a squad leader. As you think of these men who became survivors of Company C, remember, they were loyal. Our job was to exist in the jungle along the communist resupply and reinforcement routes coming down from the North into South Vietnam. The military strategy and effort was simply to maneuver us into contact with NVA regular army elements every time they could. Since we were used as the lens focusing artillery and air support, the bigger the enemy unit they could "bump" us into, the better [in the minds of the strategists, of course, not in he mind of most of us]. That was our Vietnam tour of duty and mission. It was costly and it was dangerous.
Click for: A List of Combat Incidents.
Clearing and examining what ever we found was a part of our job. This was a weapons and or food cache we uncovered.
After I edited this photo, one of the men I served with told me this action took place on hill 1258. (Hill 1258 and 1338 are examples of numbers used to represent the hills we lived and/or fought on. The number is simply the number of meters tall the hill was.) Hill 1258 was one I had been on before and I didn't remember it to be where this combat assault took place. Still... It was a lot of years ago.
A little about life in Company C... Our life was not like those making up the majority of Grunts [infantry soldiers] who served. Most provided security and ran missions out of Base Camp [BC] and returned at night, or at least returned to BC every two or three days; returned to hot showers and cold beer. We almost never saw Base Camp. We were part of a very small percentage that "lived" our year of service out in the jungles of Vietnam. I saw 4th Division Base Camp [Camp Ernie I think, at Pleiku] when I came in country, when I rotated home, and when I went out of country for my R&R and came back. We existed as a "field forward firebase" which meant our 80 to 100 man company spent our lives dug in on the top of a hill, moving our "firebase" often from hilltop to hilltop; to wherever they suspected or had reports of enemy movement. There were few nights that fell that didn't see us with at least a fighting position [holes in the ground with overhead cover if possible] for every man on the hill to get below ground level. We had to be prepared at all times to call in mortars or artillery or air strikes or mini gun spray "danger close" or even directly on our own position. When that need came, everyone who would survive had to be able to get below ground level. There were usually no roads in sight in any direction, and we navigated and kept track of our location using a compass and a topographical map, orienting ourselves only by surrounding hilltops and terrain. Knowing precisely where we were was imperative because that is how we directed supporting fire. When we moved, we walked through the jungle with all we had on our back. Our weapon and ammunition [about 21 pounds], along with the food and water and gear we carried on a move, often weighed nearly 100 pounds. Nothing says exercise like humping [a term created to describe an infantry soldier carrying all he owned on his back as he moved] a few klicks [kilometers] through the Jungle carrying 100 pounds of gear. Let me just say, it was a brutal life in every conceivable way!
The men you see in these pictures were warriors. That's not to say they were mean or aggressive, or even wanted to be there. Most of us were drafted. Still, when they found themselves part of our little "field forward firebase," even in the face of the loss percentages being suffered, they dug in and kept going in support of our nation and each other. The above picture of the downed medivac is one of only two of such pictures displayed. All the photos were obviously taken "off" times, when we had a short break; taken to send home to our family and friends. Another thing about these men: Most all of them are gunfighters. And again, not to imply they wanted or chose to own such a label. They were forced to be! From memory, we had what averaged about one firefight per month. It is unlikely many of the men of Company C could have survived our year long tour of duty without having to use their weapon to defend themselves. One Company Commander told me it took a dozen Army soldiers working behind the scenes in support of every one of us who served in those field forward firebases. [They worked as cooks and clerks and drivers and base camp support etc. They were among those men and women who made up the group living in danger and suffering 3 or 4 percent Killed In Action.] It was and remains my personal belief they needed to "build" companies to do the job we did; companies comprised of men they knew would fight; which meant they had to have seen combat. With only a 1 year long tour, that meant it had to happen fast. Having a green company of men attacked, who had never seen a firefight, would prove disastrous. It takes a bit to adjust to being able to function with people trying to kill you; while some of your friends are dying around you. I think ours was one of the companies they kept in as much combat as they could maneuver us into, because we were tempered from combat and because they were also using us as a crucible firing new combat soldiers. One man I was close to said he served a few months with our unit and then, probably based on the experience he gained, he was moved to another company as a squad leader. As you think of these men who became survivors of Company C, remember, they were loyal. Our job was to exist in the jungle along the communist resupply and reinforcement routes coming down from the North into South Vietnam. The military strategy and effort was simply to maneuver us into contact with NVA regular army elements every time they could. Since we were used as the lens focusing artillery and air support, the bigger the enemy unit they could "bump" us into, the better [in the minds of the strategists, of course, not in he mind of most of us]. That was our Vietnam tour of duty and mission. It was costly and it was dangerous.
Click for: A List of Combat Incidents.
