1) Satellite image magnified to 5,758 feet: Đà Nàng Air Base, South end of the Runway.
Look close and you can read runway numbers 35R and 35L. I look at the photo and clearly see things a little different. In 1965-1966, runway 35L was under construction.
-
About half way between the runway numbers is where the pilots of a B-57 crashed on take off and died.
-
On the taxiway to the right of runway 35R, is where SSgt Terence Jensen was killed in action and won the SIlver Star for saving 25 flight line airmen from sappers.
-
South of the runways, in the area where three large green rectangles are today, is where SSgt Jackie Kays ran through the world's heaviest land-mined perimeter to rescue crewmen of a battle-damaged crashed flareship. SSgt Kays was medically retired from his injuries.
-
Follow the perimeter road to the right, and top of the photo, and you are near where a friend, and one of my tent mates, A3C James B. Jones was killed in action during a mortar attack.
-
On the left, the bomb dump can be partially seen. It was probed and sapper attacked several times during the war. One of the first attempts was in May 1966, when my sentry dog Blackie alerted on a sapper penetration and after a brief firefight, the area was secured.
-
A year later, July 15, 1967, the deadliest attack against the ammo dump occurred. 83 mortars and rockets killed in action 8 Americans, wounded 175, damaged 47 aircraft, and destroyed 12.
|
