| PHOTO ALBUM 6 |
| "Suck Out Sunday" |
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| Article from Stars & Stripes in the Fall of 1970. Courtesy of Marty Hauser, 8/4th Arty: |
| In response to the question, "Who was last one on Fuller?", at the 407th Yahoo Club, Bernie (Capt. Nemo) Murphy replied: "I was on Fuller for 40 days in April/May or May/June 1970. A couple of weeks before I arrived, the 5th Mech abandoned the base after fighting a serious seige attempt by the NVA for about 40 days. They had been taking hundreds of rounds daily, but managed to successfully hold them off. After the seige was broken they humped down the mountainside, still under fire I believe, to waiting choppers at the Rockpile. The base was turned over to the 1st ARVN Div. When I was there, there were only about a dozen Americans, the rest being ARVN soldiers and an Australian Captain as base commander. It remained relatively quiet for several months, but always under sporadic fire. They took a big hit in the Fall of 1970 on "Suck Out Sunday" where all our bases were hit hard (I was at A-4 at the time). A round hit the mortar pit outside of the 407th bunker door and set off the ammo killing 33 ARVNs. I forget who from the 407th was there that day (maybe Jim Richey), but they were uninjured, even though most of our bunker was blown away in the explosion. I left Nam in Dec '70 and don't know what happened after that." |
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| SGT "Hack" was "An Army of One" |
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| [This article can also be found in the Military magazine archives at IM-UR.com] |
| By John Osmundsen |
| The Army's new recruiting slogan, "An Army of One", is receiving mixed reviews among many veterans as not being very compelling and, in general, not a realistic claim. However, one isolated soldier, doing his job, CAN make a difference. In 1970, I was the Commanding Officer of the 407th Radio Research Detachment providing intelligence information to the 1/5th (Mech) Infantry Division along the DMZ in Vietnam. At one of our morning briefings with BG Hill, Commanding General, 1/5th, we presented some information to him and he responded to it with shock. This information was verified and directly conflicted with the General's immediate battle plan. He was very thankful to be able to take necessary corrective action |
| in a timely manner. He then asked for the name of the person at the 407th that was responsible for obtaining this information. We told him it was SGT Rory "Hack" Hakkarainen, who was on ARVN's LZ Sarge, a mountaintop overlooking the Khe Sanh Valley at the western end of the DMZ. BG Hill immediately called for his chopper and he, his Adjutant and I flew to LZ Sarge where BG Hill pinned an Army Commendation Medal on SGT Hackeranian. BG Hill called this an "immediate impact" award and his Adjutant would formally write it up when we return to Quang Tri. SGT Hakkarainen was certainly encouraged in his work and was one of the few soldiers to know just how much impact his work had on the top brass. He was "An Army of One". |
| Music: "Horizons" |