unit history information
for 665 TC DET
361 AWC
52 CAB

For date 691231


665 TC DET was a US Army unit
361 AWC was a US Army unit
52 CAB was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Pleiku Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Camp Holloway
Description: The maintenance section of the 361st Escort Company's unit history reported on the activities of the 665th Transportation Department and Service Platoon by stating they provided 24 hour operations to support their Cobra gunships. The 665th won the best maintenance award in the 52d CAB three of the last four times and states the award was only given out five times during the year. The narrative makes statements about professionalism, dedication, responsibility, integrated teams, etc. and then backs them up with examples. In May, during the Ben Het/Dak To action, 337 of 339 missions were successfully completed with no delay, while two ships required replacements to complete their missions. The unit maintained well over 70% flying availabiliy, even though there were times like in October when 8 of 11 aircraft were flown 8 to 11 hours every day in a search and rescue effort for almost two weeks. The narrative mentions battle damage while supporting MACV SOG CCC FOB 2 misions plus their all-night maintenance operations. Only one aircraft had an incident or accident due to maintenance problems during the whole of 1969. Even in December, when the 361st was split and had to keep six mission-ready aircraft at Ban Me Thuot each day, their availability was well over 70%. During the year, CW2 Frank Waugh, who stayed with the unit over 18 months, acted as Detachment Commander for the first two months of the year. CPT Ralph Mullens was the next commander along with 1SG John Harrision, who was later the 361st First Sergeant. CPT Chuck Savage took command of the maintenance personnel in Septeamber. The maintenance team had two slogans: 'In God we trust, everything else we check.' and 'We have accomplished so much for so long with so little, that we can now do anything with nothing.' In closing the narrative reported their motor pool won two 17th CAG Best Motor Pool awards during the year and also the 52d CAB award twice.

The source for this information was 1969 Annual Sup Unit Hist by CPT Manns provided by Bettie Lou Jordan 1998


Additional information is available on CD-ROM.

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Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023