California XXXIX

I ventured into the Naval base at Coronado while visiting the San Diego area a few years back. They have a large "Wall" commemorating those lost in Nam that I will write about in the not too distant future, but, today I want to show you this much smaller memorial that I found close by.

It honors the more than 200 "Gamewardens" of Task force 116 who were lost. TF-116 patrolled the waters of the Mekong Delta driving the Viet Cong into the smaller tributaries where the PBRs and larger boats could not go.

Just behind this obelisk are a couple of the vessels representative of the types these guys spent their time on.

These operations are considered the most successful of the Navy's efforts in 'Nam. The kill ratio was said to be 40/1.

I was a member of the "brown water Navy" even though I was Army. We (the army guys) trained at Norfolk Naval base and Ft. Eustis in Virginia. 

We ran supply of all types down the Mekong River, mostly to Dong Tam and Can Tho. As we were unarmed, except for a couple of M-14s, we were escorted by Navy PBRs while in river-ways. I don't know if they were these guys in particular, but we were mighty glad to have them along, as we sometimes caught fire and rockets from the Cong.

So, I was happy to see these guys commemorated individually from the larger Navy memorial here.

Once again, I would ask that any reader who might have pics of Vietnam memorials not found on this site to send them to me. I will be happy to include them here and give the sender full credit. I would like to make this site as comprehensive as possible and my ability to travel to every site out there is limited, so, let me know what you have. 

Next time, on the 29th, we will return to Colorado, so join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from California, or any other state, please click the state name on the left side of this page.