Troy is a grandson of John & Kizzie.
“I was in Vietnam all of 1971 and the first half of 1972. My job was keeping inventory of supplies, keeping records of supplies on computers, delivering supplies by day, and by night protecting the supply depot, either in a bunker or in a guard tower.In 1971 the enemy would fire rockets and artillery at our bases from 18 miles away. but that was so far, they wouldn't be very accurate.
They would still blow up equipment and buildings and supplies, and we had some casualties, but sometimes where they landed didn't make a lot of sense. Some of the rockets would land in a big empty field, or blow up your laundry. Sometimes they would blow up a porta-potty "outhouse". They blew up my favorite place to eat hamburgers! We had a boxing ring and held boxing matches, they blew that up too. It was always dangerous, and always sad when some body got hurt, but sometimes it was just stupid and annoying.
At night enemy soldiers would creep around in the "elephant grass" (grass that was taller than the elephants) and sometimes we had short shoot-outs that didn't last very long.The enemy had lots of spies. They had more spies than soldiers! I think so many people would rather be a spy than a soldier. Spies live longer and they are more comfortable. I thought the best thing to do was figure everybody was a spy and not say nor do anything stupid. That worked out pretty well for me, besides, I didn't care if the cleaning lady was a spy. I just wanted her to do my laundry, ha!
In 1972 every thing changed for the worst. The enemy launched a big offensive to take over the whole country, they bombed us with Migs, attacked us with tanks and charged with millions of soldiers.
I didn't want to leave Vietnam, I wanted to stay and help out our soldiers and the people of Vietnam, but the U.S.A. was leaving because we could only help them so much, but we couldn't save them, only they could save themselves. So president Nixon ordered our most senior soldiers back to U.S.A., and I had been there a year and a half, so i had to go. Later, when they were handing out medals, they told me I had been in the last 4 campaigns of the war.
Being a clerk or a cook or a mechanic doesn't mean you don't get shot at, every soldier gets shot at. It just means you don't have to carry everything you have on your back! (You get to take cover behind it instead of carrying it, ha!)The coolest souvenir I liked was an elephant hide wallet. I really liked it. It never wore out! The thread would wear out and I had to have it re-sewn, but elephant hide is tuff! I didn't kill the elephant, but i figured since he was already dead, I might as well have a good wallet.
When i was in Vietnam I got to go on vacation (R&R) in Australia and in Hong Kong! Australia was mostly like America so that was kinda’ boring but Hong Kong was great! I wouldn't mind living there! It was really cheap and the shopping was awesome and the cafe food was wonderful!
Vietnam had lots and lots, I mean a really, really, really lots of wild animals!!!!! Elephants, tigers, 30 foot crocodiles, 30 foot snakes!
30 FOOT SNAKES!!!!! When I would see these monster snakes, I would almost faint!
Most of the time, the snakes were asleep! Ha-ha!
I guess when you're a snake that big, all you want to do is sleep between meals, Ha-ha! They had to be very old to be that big, but buddy you couldn't get any of the national geographic boys to come down there and measure them, ha! They don't want to see a snake that big unless it's dead, but I wasn't going to kill a sleeping snake just to make "NAT-GEO" happy. It wouldn't seem right.
The first thing you think when you see a wild tiger in the jungle is "I need a bigger gun!", but tigers don't like the taste of people, so if they ain't hungry, nor sick, and you don't make eye contact with them, they will leave you alone. Elephants will leave you alone if you leave them alone, but if you go over and start touching them they will slap you right off your feet!!!I'm typing this letter because it hurts too much to write. The war ruined my health. but that is what we call "professional risk". If you accept a job, you accept the risk that go with that job,
Then you will be in the emergency room telling the doctor your face hurts because it's busted up aaaaand, you will have big globs of elephant snot on you.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the best thing you can do for yourself and your family is go to college. become a doctor, lawyer, nurse, accountant or something else to build a better society for you, your parents and your children to live in.
Because that is what soldiers fight for. A better society for us to live in. Yeah! Hamburgers and fries taste better than seaweed and water buffalo any day!”
Troy Littrell
The above letter was unavailable when the MRC book went to print last year. It will be included in the next edition/printing of the book… possibly as early as 2016. GlennDL
With Troy's enlisting in 1970 he was stationed with the 24th Supply and Transportation Battalion at Ft. Riley Kansas (5th Army)
Then with the 1st Supply and Transportation Battalion in Germersheim, Germany (USAREUR). In January of 1971 Troy arrived in Vietnam where he was stationed; first at Bein Hoa Air Base with the 506th Quartermaster Battalion(MACV) and then at Long Binh Post with the 44th Medical Brigade(MACV).
"The massive Long Binh military base, once the largest U.S. installation outside the continental United States, was constructed on the outskirts of Bien Hoa near the Saigon, included numerous ammunition depots, supply depots, and other logistics installations. It served as the headquarters for U.S. Army Vietnam, 1st Logistical Command, and several other related activities..."
The above information is from: Military Role Call: The Littrell Family of Mississippi County, Missouri, The Littrell Family Journals Volume IV. (click here)
also: Littrell Family Veterans Video
reposted from 2016: 90/141
Thanks for serving our country Troy!! Love you....
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