1st Radio Battalion search

I expect going in to Dong Ha that I have the advantage: I have a detailed map of Dong Ha Combat Base recovered from the Internet a year ago, including location of 1stRadBn. We'll simply find the air strip for our C-130s, then zigzag North and West.

I know ahead of time that the base has been replaced by the Dong Ha suburbs. We ask a few people for directions and those directions are consistent. Tho talks and when people learn I was with the Marines they want to tell me their story. They worked for MAC-V or 3rd Recon Marines and so on. They have warmth in their hearts, smiles and handshakes. We are no longer strangers.

But, not so fast lone ranger: We conclude the airport has been dismantles into building materials and highway materials. Dong Ha Combat Base as we knew it is really, completely GONE. We give the search and conversations with former strangers about two hours then move on.

Camp Carroll consists of a few sandbags and lots of holes dug by people searching for metal to resell. Nothing more is visible of Camp Carroll. For me, it is better to see the vegetation than the raw red earth that was the camp.