Photographs of Bill Bontemps - Charlie Company, Feb. '68 to Feb. '69

"Minehune" 106mm on APC

173rd Airborne Brigade Public Information Photographer

Click on the images below to enlarge and read a description.   You can also move through the entire collection from any image page...and/or return to this page.

Webmaster's Introduction: Please note that many of these photos are "darkened", or "shaded". In a very few  instances, where it would not detract from other clarity in the photo, they have been "brightened". I found that to try to brighten many of these would detract from the color of the sky and other areas of the photo...and as such, determined that these were likely so affected by Bill Bontemps purposely, with various camera settings and filters applied. We ask that you view these photos for their artistic value and not neccearily as though they were the everyday "run of the mill" Vietnam photo. Many photos ask for help with identification of individuals and locations. Click on the links provided on the individual photo pages to submit pertinent information


Webmaster's Introduction: The following Images were taken during an ambush on Highway 19 on 14 February 1969. The 173rd Airborne Brigade Newspaper "Fire Base 173", dated 17 March 1969, related the story:

AN KHE, RVN -- "A Battalion Commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade organized and led a Vietnamese local forces platoon to victory over an estimated NVA Platoon who had ambushed a truck convoy on Highway 19, just east of An Khe. Responding to a radio distress call from the convoy, Major James R. Woodall, commander of the 1st Battalion (Mech), 50th Infantry, from Belton, Texas, notified his mechanized infantry road reaction force some 10 miles away and sped in his vehicle to the ambush site. The NVA brought the convoy to a dead halt with a barrage of automatic weapon's fire, B-40 rockets and machine gun bursts. A local Popular Forces platoon from a nearby hamlet was pinned down by heavy enemy fire when Maj. Woodall and two members of his staff, Major Oren R. Culpepper, battalion executive officer from Melvin, Ark., and Command Sergeant Major Terry M. Pierce of White Right, Texas, arrived. Immediately taking charge, the commander and his staff led the Vietnamese troops on a frontal assault against an enemy machine gun position. After quelling the gun position, the Army officers moved the platoon toward the enemy using closely controlled fire and maneuver tactics. Several of the enemy threw down their weapons and retreated with the ground troops on their tail and helicopter gunships firing from the air. A little later, the mechanized reaction force of Armored Personel Carriers took the initiative, sweeping over the enemy positions and clearing the area with their organic M-60 and .50 caliber machine guns. The action resulted in five enemy dead and two captured along with two RPG machine guns, three B-40 Rockets and three AK-47 assault rifles left behind by the NVA. Within 2 hours the road was cleared and traffic resumed."

Webmaster's Comments: The following Images are of the ethnic Vietnamese population....children, adults and Military.  There are a few American soldiers scattered throughout that have not been identified...and we solicit your help on those image pages. I hope you all enjoy these photos. I know I enjoyed putting them together for Bill. Somewhere down the road he has another 200 or so photos he will be sending!   Check back in a few months!