Mike Company               

Third Battalion, Fifth Marines

RVN, 1966 -1971

June and July

July 29, 1999

1.  Corrected the entry on Operation Union. I had originally interpreted the history as having 3/5 coming in late on that op in early '67.  Wrong.  Mike Company was in on it the first day.  With thanks to Denny Dinota for pointing it out.  On the Operations page in the History section.

2.  Added to the Bits and Pieces section the poem The Title.  You all know it and what it means but it's nice to see it in black and white.  With thanks to Mike Wilson for the submission.

July 27, 1999

Welcome to George Blankeship, who was with 106s, H&S Company from March '68 to January '69. From March to June he was on bridge security between DaNang and Phu Bai, moving to An Hoa in June of '68. On the roster page for H&S.

H&S has its own logo, with many thanks to Vic Vilionis for designing it.  On the H&S main page.

July 25, 1999

On India Company's web site, we have added two Silver Star citations awarded to Lt. Mike Carey on Operation Hastings, while he was with them.  Mike subsequently commanded H&S company.

July 22, 1999

1. Added three more Navy Cross Citations.  HM Armando Leal on Operation Swift, Cpl William Trent on May 9, 1968, both with Mike Company; and Sergeant Richard Gresko of H&S Company on March 11, 1970. 

2. Added a Silver Star Citation page (in conjuction with this addition I've reorganized the awards pages into a Citation section, removing them from the Remembrance section).  Two Silver Star awards are shown, both on Operation Hastings.  One, posthumously, to Sergeant Robert Butler (and he's been added to Our Wall) and the other to Lance Corporal Vernon Jessie Ford.

July 20, 1999

1. Welcome to Mike Carey, CO of H&S company from January to April of 1967.  Before that Mike was 3rd platoon commander for India Company.  Added his bio to the H&S roster page.

2. Kilo Company 3/5   has a startup page.  All of 3/5 is on the net....Outstanding!

3. Added two pictures from Paul O'Connell on the picture page.  Both are from a Sea Tiger (remember that?).

4. Added a poem by Brad Reynolds, Wish Upon a Star, and two powerful stories, Hot LZ and The Big One (the titles are self explanatory).

July 16, 1999

Over on the India site we've added an article from India Company's second newsletter.  It's John Olsen's extensive remembrance of Operation Hastings and I'll be adding more of the newsletter next week.  You can find it by clicking here: Issue 2.

July 13, 1999

Welcome to Denny Dinota, who was with Mike Company from January to August 1967.  On the roster.

July 12, 1999

Added three stories from Brad Reynolds:  In Country, on first coming to the nam, right at the end of Operation Swift.  Kitty Kitty, first cat seen in a while and In the Bush, on the preference for being there rather than at base camps. In the Remembrance section.

July 2, 1999

1. Sgt Mike Hayes, Whiskey 2/11, remembers Al Santos, KIA on Operation Swift, 9/4/67.

2. Added 3 Navy Cross Citations for Mike Company members.  LCpl Thomas Fisher and Capt. John Murray on Operation Swift and Cpl. Richard Duncan on Operation Essex.

3.  Made a screensaver out of Vic Vilionis' Wall graphic.  If you use screen savers its a nice one and you can download it at http://207.244.249.66/mike35/download/download.html   Vic has made a bigger version of the graphic which I will be converting next week.  

Happy Fourth of July to All.....Semper Fi!

June 29, 1999

Added four more names to our Wall.  With thanks to Mike McFerrin for the research.

June 28, 1999

1.  We're pleased to add Paul Thomas Williams to the Mike Company roster.  Lt. Tom Williams was the first Platoon Commander in the early part of '69. (And for your info both he and Tim Summers were classmates of James Webb in Quantico).  Tom asks that if anyone has information on where he could find Lt. Col Atkinson, former CO of the battalion, to please let him know....thanks. 

2.  Added Gordon Boswell's fine site, Looking Back Vietnam 69-71, to our links. 

3.  Added LCpl Al Santos to Our Wall. With thanks to Michael Hayes for telling us.

June 27, 1999

1. Added tributes to John Kirchner and Chris Pyle under the Memorial section.   They're remembered through excerpts from Grady Rainbow's memoirs.

2. Added Brad's story about attacking an unfriendly village on line.  See Here We Come, in the Remembrance section.

June 24, 1999

1.  A tribute to Terry Householter can be found in our memorial section.  Portions of Grady Rainbow's memoirs and a fine graphic by Vic Vilionis provide a vivid picture of this outstanding Marine. 

2.  A tribute to Sam Cole, Jr., killed May 9, 1969 near Hai Van Pass,  written by his friend Jerry Lomax can be found in our memorial section.  Jerry includes a picture of Sam.

June 22, 1999

Added Mike McFerrin's very powerful story, First Firefight, under his section of the History part of the page.

June 21, 1999

1.  Added 4 names to Our Wall.  All Navy Cross recipients and are so indicated.  Also, Cpl William Trent, already there, is identified as a Navy Cross recipient.  Added Vic's outstanding graphic to our Final Roll Call page (the introduction page to the Wall).

2.  Added Tom Mullen's bio to the H&S roster page.

June 16, 1999

1.  Added two pictures from Tom Mullen to the H&S picture page.

2.  Added three excellent graphics from Vic Vilionis to the Medal of Honor page. Thank you Vic.

June 15, 1999

1. We have been added to the Band of Brothers Web Ring.  On the home page.

2. Added links to Charlie Company 1/1, and to Semper Fidelis 7th Marines, on the links page.  Charlie Co. added us to theirs and Vic Vilionis, author of the 7th Marines site, is an outstanding artist to boot (for a sample see India's Medal of Honor page). 

3. Added a page in the Memorial section devoted to pictures from a 1969 issue of Life Magazine.  Paul O'Connell's copy received while in country had 3 pictures of guys he knew in Mike Company.  Two of them are also mentioned in Grady Rainbow's memoirs.

June 10, 1999

1. Fixed the thumbnail image for the memorial to Michael Thomas.

2. Added 2 pictures from Mark DeSciscio. On the H&S picture page.

3. Added Tom Mullen, H&S from 9/69 to 4/70 to the roster. Welcome, Tom!

June 9, 1999

1.  Under the Remembrance page, in the Memorial section, added three memorials.

    a)  John Franklin Riegel, from Gettysburg.  Included is an article written my Wayne Motts with a picture of Frankie.  We are trying to find Marines who knew him.

    b)  Michael Clair Thomas, H&S Company, also from Gettysburg.  Included is an article written by Wayne Motts.

    c)  Monty Norris Wilson.  His brother Todd is looking for Marines that knew him.   Included is a memorial from the local VFW and American Legion Posts, the letter that Lieutenant Colonel Webster wrote his family, and a picture of Monty.

2.  Added two pictures from Brad Reynolds, on the picture page.

June 8, 1999

India company has their own web site now, at http://207.244.249.66/india35. Way to go India! To start with, it has the information (rosters and pictures) that was here. Material will be added.  We from Mike and H&S are glad you do have one, you certainly deserve it, but we're going to miss you here. 

Some housecleaning has been done here.   There is new material to be added and I will be doing that shortly.  Thanks for your patience.

June 3, 1999

1. The message board, out since last Friday, was up and running again as of last night.

2.  We have a request, posted on both the guest book and message board, from the brother of a Mike Company grunt killed on August 1, 1967 in Quang Tin.  If anyone remembers Corporal Monty Norris Wilson, 0311, please let us or his brother Tedd know (at trwhome@ix.netcom.com).   He didn't go over with his unit, having had knee problems at Pendleton, but came later.  He's been added to Our Wall.

3.  This is a continuing request for anyone who might remember John Franklin Reigel (Frankie), KIA December, '67. I'm going to try to get a boot camp picture of him to post.  Wayne Motts of Gettysburg was looking for friends who might have known him, in conjunction with the Traveling Wall visit there.    A lot of Lima Company folks were in attendance as some of their folks who were killed in Happy Land were from Gettysburg.  Wayne promised Frankie's mother Sara that we would keep on trying to find folks that knew him.

4.  Added a link to postcards from Marines, part of the Marine Wives website.  If you want to send a nice postcard, designed by and for Marines, please visit them.  On the links page.  

5. On Brad Reynold's remembrance of getting wounded please see Coming Home the Hard Way, under the Remembrance section.

6. Welcome to Mike Wilson, H&S, 1968.  He's on the H&S roster. Humped a radio for the S-3 and the Battalion CO.  Welcome Home Mike!

7. Our Wall additions: LCpl Jack Alan Sanders, Jr. He was killed in Thua Thien Province at Hai Van Pass on April 11, 1968.; PFC Terry Smith, PFC Nathaniel Willingham and LCpl Thomas Henry who were killed on March 29, 1968 also in Thua Thien Province.  Sleep Well, Marines. Research courtesy of Jerry Lomax, who knew them all.