I interviewed Norman Nelson in August 2009 at his home near Cottonwood and mourned his passing in 2020. We’ve begun learning about Norm’s Vietnam service to help us better understand the Vietnam War’s impact on our region.

Norm grew up on the family farm near Cottonwood, graduating with the Cottonwood High School class of 1960. The military draft tapped him in 1965 during a break in his education at the University of Minnesota’s School of Agriculture.

The Army sent Norm to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for Basic Training and then to the Army’s artillery center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma to learn artillery survey operations. Norm explained that survey teams used specialized equipment to determine precise locations and directions of fire for artillery gun crews.

While at Fort Sill the Army selected shy, quiet, Norm for additional training as a squad leader. This meant he was responsible for helping his survey trainees meet inspection standards and marching them to training sessions.

Norm visited home on leave before the Army sent its newest sergeant to Fort Lewis, Washington and the 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery — a part of the 4th Infantry Division. The division was preparing for deployment to Vietnam. Norm’s main role was to help organize a survey team to support his battalion’s 105 mm gun batteries.

Norm and his survey crew boarded a military aircraft with other members of the 4th Infantry Division advance party in July 1966 for the long flight to Vietnam.

Norm did not specifically recall their arrival, but shared his impressions of the country that became home for the next year.

“It was a green place. Vietnam in a monsoon was very damp and you were never dry. You were either wet from rain or wet from sweat.”

Norm’s survey team arrived as part of the 4th Infantry Division’s advance party to help organize the division’s base camp.

“We were at Pleiku, which was Central Highlands. It was [a] lot of vegetation. So, when we surveyed, we had to use machetes and cut a path to get line of sight. You had somebody on your theodolite, then you had to have someone go left or right to get a line and chop down. And then we had people that would measure. We made a base camp area.”

The thousands of troops assigned to the 4th Infantry Division arrived once the base camp had established some basic facilities. But Norm recalled that Vietnam gave them a rude welcome.

“I remember the main body came by boat and they came at night. It was raining and they had to set up little pup tents. They had water running through their tents at night.”

Once the division arrived, its commander began establishing forward bases in the jungle-covered hills of the Central Highlands and artillery fire bases to support them. Norm explained how these operations resulted in survey missions to support these new forward bases.

“[W]e went out to survey in the jungle, basically. A lot of vegetation and you could only get there by flying.”

Getting to these remote survey sites was an adventure.

“[I]t was quite an experience riding a helicopter — mainly the Huey. There was a single blade on top. You would get in there and you were strapped in, but they left the doors open. They could bank and you could look almost straight down and you’d fly right over the trees. If you fly too high, the enemy would have a chance to follow you and shoot you down. So, we’d fly right over the trees.”

The survey team had to go in and set the guns before they could begin fire missions. Norm described the process of setting up a fire base in the Central Highlands.

“We did quite a bit of surveying. They’d come in with a Huey helicopter and pick us up and we’d go out to the gun batteries and survey. Everything was airlifted in. With the gun batteries their guns were airlifted in. They had straps – they’d drop down and hook onto the guns and they’d pick them up and take them to the location. [T]he water tanks went out by sling with a big tank underneath.”

These artillery fire bases provided fire support for divisional infantry units patrolling in the area. The forward base camps, in turn, supported the fire bases.

“[W]e were at a different forward base camp wherever they were fighting and that would be kind of a headquarters. We’d have [artillery] ammunition there. We’d have a mess hall there. Survey was there and most communications.”

Norm and his survey team spent most of their time at these forward base camps when they were not surveying new fire bases. He described the survey team’s living quarters.

“[W]e actually had a tent there. I don’t know what size it was. We had cots to sleep on. We had mosquito nets to keep the mosquitoes off us. Outside we’d dig a hole and put sandbags around and over it for protection from mortar rounds. When we’d get hit, we’d end up down in our bunker and [afterward] in our tent you could look up and see holes from shrapnel.”

Norm recalled that survey support for these forward base camps involved frequent moves as the division developed new fire bases and forward base camps.

The Lyon County Museum is organizing an exhibit about the impact of the Vietnam War on Lyon County. If you would like to share Vietnam experiences or help with the exhibit, please contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com or call Jennifer Andries at the museum at 537-6580.