We have been learning about Mike Lamfers, who grew up on a farm east of Amiret and served with the Marines in Vietnam. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 1965 after graduating from Tracy High School.

Mike completed boot camp, infantry training, and electronics and radio schools before deploying to Vietnam in October 1966. The Marines assigned him as a ground radio repairman to the Communications Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment at Dong Ha, a combat base 10 miles below the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Vietnam.

Mike described the living conditions and structure of his Communications Platoon at Dong Ha.

“Dong Ha had tents with cots in them with big bunkers around. Captain Boone was in charge of the Comm, and a gunnery sergeant. We also had Staff Sergeant Desarno, who was from the Bronx. That was our platoon chain of command. We had the radiomen — the radio operators — and then we had the wiremen. The radiomen took care of a switchboard. When you were in the rear area they had switchboard lines going to all the companies. The Comm unit had only two other techs and me.”

He explained his work as a tech at Dong Ha.

“That was the only time overseas that I actually worked on a radio. They had a lot of South Vietnamese MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) outposts. They were using obsolete (radios). But the tech shop had a machine we could use to tune them. I didn’t want to be where I was, so every time I could, I volunteered. The first thing I volunteered for was hauling these radios. There was always two of us. We’d take a Jeep and take the radios out to these MACV outposts. After about six weeks, the whole battalion moved back to Phu Bai, which was an amphibious base.”

Mike’s unit was not long at Phu Bai.

“We spent three weeks at Phu Bai. Then we loaded onto troopships and went back to Okinawa where we rebuilt as a special landing force. I spent Christmas of ’66 and New Years of ’67 in Okinawa. We went to the EM Club for New Years and had a good celebration. (Mike laughed) I remember popping champagne corks at the ceiling beams. We had six weeks training and then went onto ship. I was on the USS Iwo Jima, a helicopter carrier.”

Mike recalled the challenge of getting aboard the Iwo Jima.

“We went on LSM boats. (landing craft) to get on this helicopter carrier. We pulled alongside the ship and they had rope ladders to get aboard. We had packs on, our full gear. We were four abreast and you had to grab the next rope rung together. But the ship was going up and down; the LSM was going up and down; and it was slapping you around. You’d look down and at one point the LSM was touching the ship and the next time it was five or six feet from it.”

The newly-trained landing force practiced an amphibious assault before returning to Vietnam.

“We went on the USS Iwo Jima to the Philippines where we went through a practice landing. I always volunteered to go with the advance unit of the H&S Company. I went in with the choppers. That was my first time. It was neat because you could see all the ships below and the small craft that were going in.”

The practice landing was successful, but also taught Mike that his assault landing responsibilities made him vulnerable.

“I was with the advance headquarters. One of the most important things was to get communications set up. I usually carried the “two-niner-two,” a twenty-foot antenna. We’d find a hill someplace and set this antenna up; dig a remote in; and then run a landline back to the colonel’s bunker. You’d put it together in pieces and it had guy-wires, but they were also aiming stakes for everybody else. (Mike chuckled) That’s not where you really wanted to be.”

Mike’s landing force returned to Vietnam.

“We got back on ship and went south of Chu Lai, Vietnam for a landing for real. We went in and were there about 30 days. That was pretty quiet. We had one sniper. The good news was he was a poor shot. (Mike chuckled) He was on a little peninsula. They called in an artillery strike and after that, we didn’t have any trouble with the sniper.”

The operation went smoothly and did not generate any enemy response. Mike described the living conditions after their assault.

“We slept on the ground on a poncho. It was all sand. We were on C-rations the whole time. The Marine Corps guaranteed you one hot meal every day. They didn’t tell you that you might have to eat it from a can. (Mike chuckled) We found a spot where we could get freshwater shrimp and we cooked them in our helmets. (Mike laughed) So, that was our hot meal.”

Mike’s unit re-embarked aboard the Iwo Jima, which took them to Taiwan for two days’ shore leave before returning to Vietnam. Mike explained the new mission.

“We found out we were going back to the DMZ again. This time we were going to a place called Gio Linh, an artillery base.”

This time, unlike their landing south of Chu Lai, the enemy reacted violently to their arrival at Gio Linh.

Please visit our new exhibit at the Lyon County Museum, The Vietnam War and Lyon County, to learn more about the experiences of our area Vietnam veterans.