Ray Holtz - Member since 2013
Enlisted in Jan 65 and did Basic at Ft Knox, KY. First day of basic was my 21st birthday and I couldn’t even have a beer. Went next to Ft Belvoir, VA and became a Topographic Surveyor. Was stationed at Ft Belvoir for a year. Engineer OCS started up at Ft Belvoir and I entered one of the earlier classes. After receiving my commission I went to Nam as a Combat Engineer Platoon Leader in Oct 66.
Started out in Cu Chi, B Co 3rd Platoon 86th Combat Engineer Bn and did base camp and road construction for about a month. Operation Junction City was next at the northern border of Tay Ninh Province and the Cambodian border. After that I was temporary assigned to the D Co 2nd Platoon 86th Combat Engineer Bn. Constructed two of three spans of a bridge that the VC had destroyed at Cau Mung Choi in the delta. Next I went back to my Platoon in B Co and we did road side clearing with Rome Plows on Operations Emporia I, II, III, & IV working out of Bearcat and Blackhorse. My final Operation from Sept thru Oct 67 was Akron III in which we cut traces into the jungle south of Bearcat. We uncovered a huge tunnel complex that held 1,140 weapons, nearly 95,000 of small arms ammo, 3,634 grenades, 2,273 recoilless rifle shells, 452 mortar rounds, and 85mm howitzers. At the time it was the largest weapons cache of the war.
Then it was back to the land of the big PX at Ft Leonard Wood, MO for my final year in the Army as a CO of an Engineer AIT company.
Started out in Cu Chi, B Co 3rd Platoon 86th Combat Engineer Bn and did base camp and road construction for about a month. Operation Junction City was next at the northern border of Tay Ninh Province and the Cambodian border. After that I was temporary assigned to the D Co 2nd Platoon 86th Combat Engineer Bn. Constructed two of three spans of a bridge that the VC had destroyed at Cau Mung Choi in the delta. Next I went back to my Platoon in B Co and we did road side clearing with Rome Plows on Operations Emporia I, II, III, & IV working out of Bearcat and Blackhorse. My final Operation from Sept thru Oct 67 was Akron III in which we cut traces into the jungle south of Bearcat. We uncovered a huge tunnel complex that held 1,140 weapons, nearly 95,000 of small arms ammo, 3,634 grenades, 2,273 recoilless rifle shells, 452 mortar rounds, and 85mm howitzers. At the time it was the largest weapons cache of the war.
Then it was back to the land of the big PX at Ft Leonard Wood, MO for my final year in the Army as a CO of an Engineer AIT company.
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