We have been learning about Gordon Labat who was born in Marshall in 1947 to Emerence “Rose” (DeVos) and Henry Labat. Gordon and his siblings grew up on the family farm just east of Marshall.

Gordon attended school at Holy Redeemer School and Central Catholic High School. He then farmed with his Dad for a couple years with the benefit of farming deferments from the military draft. After the local draft board did not renew his farming deferment, he received his draft notice in the fall of 1968. He completed Army Basic Training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in December 1968

He went home on 30 days Christmas leave with orders to report to Fort Lewis, Washington for Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in the Infantry.

Gordon remembered he and the other trainees were particularly attentive to their Infantry training.

“We knew we were going to Vietnam. That was clear from the beginning. Pay attention? Oh, yeah! We got classroom training on the M-16 at Fort Lewis and then we went out to the rifle range. We sighted our rifles in and then we were shooting targets. I hit every target except one and that was at 100 meters. At 400, I was dropping them right and left. They had villages set up at Fort Lewis like Vietnam. We’d have to go in and check them out and know what to look for. I could pick out where the tunnels were.”

The trainees benefited from instructors who had served in Vietnam.

“We had sergeants who had come back from there. They told us to listen to the guys who were there for a while because they know what’s going on.”

Gordon received assignment orders in early March to Vietnam and 30 days pre-deployment leave at home. He was concerned about his assignment to Vietnam. He believed his folks were concerned as well, but they kept it inside. Nature had a hand in delaying his departure.

“It was a bad winter that year. We had a snowstorm when I was supposed to report. I was three days late getting to California. I flew from Minneapolis to California. Then from there I flew to Vietnam.”

It was a quiet flight to Vietnam, where they arrived at Tan Son Nhut Air Base April 2, 1969.

Stepping off the plane left a big impression on Gordon and then the new arrivals reported to the reception station.

“I mean it was hot and it stunk! The smell — ugh! From the airport they bused us to a reception station. We went through some training there. Every morning they had a roll call and they called names out as to who’s going where. I went to the 199th Light Infantry.”

Gordon explained how his travel delay from Minnesota affected his assignment in Vietnam.

“All of the guys I went through basic training with went to the 101st Airborne, the Big Red 1, and the 1st Cav. I and another guy from Minneapolis went to the 199th (Light Infantry Brigade — LIB). I had never heard of it before. So, we were separated from those other guys we went through training with.”

His orders from the Reception station were to a particular unit of the 199th LIB.

“I was assigned to Company A, 2nd (Battalion) of the 3rd (Infantry Regiment). At that time they were at a bridge by Saigon called the Binh Dinh Bridge. You slept on the ground because they didn’t have barracks. We slept on the bridge because the bridge was shut down at night.”

Gordon’s new unit quickly settled on his role.

“I always said I wanted to be an assistant machine gunner, so I got to be an assistant machine gunner. I wanted something that was going to kick out some lead.”

He explained his responsibilities as an assistant gunner.

“Keep that ammo hooked up to it. I’m carrying 400 rounds of ammo for the gun, plus another box of 100 on my back. Other guys were also carrying, so we had close to 2,500 rounds for that machine gun. The machine gunner, Dave Kimberly of Boise, Idaho, carried the extra gun barrel and he was good. He wasn’t old enough to drink when he came back from Vietnam, but he was good.”

Gordon went on his first combat patrol less than a week after joining his unit. He inventoried his combat load for patrolling.

“I think that first was just one day, so we weren’t carrying that much. But normally we were carrying 60 to 80 pounds on our backs. There would be first aid stuff, food, and water — about three canteens. Then I had extra ammo for my M-16. We had two bandoleers of M-16 ammo. We’d have three or four grenades, probably one smoke.”

“I think it was just our platoon that went on that one. We went in by chopper. When we went through advanced infantry training, they never said anything about a smoke screen on the choppers. So, we went into this LZ and I see smoke come out of this chopper. I thought, ‘Man, we’re going into a hot LZ! He got hit!’ But it was a screen.”

Gordon described the rest of the patrol.

“Oh, I was ready to go! (Gordon laughed) The day turned out all right. It was pretty quiet.”

But not every patrol turned out all right and injuries weren’t always caused by enemy action.

©William D. Palmer 2024.