Army Reporter information
for 173 ABN BDE
For date 680831
173 ABN BDE was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Binh Dinh Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Description: The following is an edited version from the weekly Vietnam Communique column in the 31 Aug 1968 issue.
A former VC officer saved the life of a 173rd Abn Bde paratrooper caught in a deadly booby trap. Nguyen Thanh, a Kit Carson Scout, crawled 30 feet to clip a trip wire entangled in the boots of SP4 Charles W. Scudder. As the trooper was moving through a gap in the hedgerow, he heard a loud click. "All I could think of was booby trap," Scudder recounted. Looking down, he noticed a thin wire twisted in his boots. Unable to reach the wire himself without moving it, the trooper called for assistance. The ordnance disposal unit which responded was unable to locate the bomb. By this time, nearly 30 minutes had gone by. "My feet were stationary," he recalled, "but I think my knees were knocking." Then Thanh, a former VC company commander who had rallied to the allied cause, crawled to the troopers aid and cut the wire.
Comments: SP4 Scudder, Charles W.; 173 ABN BDE; ;
The source for this information was 6808AR.AVN supplied by Les Hines
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023