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The Tale of "Frozen Radar Parts"Of all the things that have happened with this website, this is probably the most astonishing. It all started when Joe Urban, who was at Pyramid about a year after I left, discovered the site and contributed a story about someone from the site going to Saigon to get goodies for a 4th of July FIGMO/Short timers party. Under the guise of acting as couriers for emergency radar parts, the story is title "Frozen Radar Parts". I have to admit that I'd never heard the story before, but the reason is that I was one of the two people who took the trip and got the frozen radar parts. What's interesting is to see how the story changed from the reality. In fact, I'm not too sure what the reality is anymore. As I tried to recall the details, I got confused on a few matters. I'm not sure which tale is better or if it really matters. What really mattered was that we were successful, everyone had some great chow and we came away being part of a legend, of sorts. At any rate, enjoy... I know I did. Ken -----Original Message----- From: Joseph Urban [mailto:jurban@sptimes.com] Hi Ken, When I found your website I was amazed; pulled out an old scrapbook that I had stored away and stayed up until 4 AM looking at the pictures. I have many pics of the site (mom and 3 sisters kept the scrapbook with maps etc.). Pics include Pyramid, 155th slicks, Darlac hotel, barbecues & beer busts. I'm sending a sample page(zip of a bitmap file). I'll send more but you will have to tell me the best way to send these. I don't have a scanner so I'm at the mercy of other hackers. Will try to write up some stories (these have been exaggerated over the years and some I don't even remember what was real or made up). There is a funny one about "Frozen Radar Parts". Hope you can receive the pics and view. Regards, Hi Ken, "Frozen Radar Parts"........ This has to be one of a series of great and funny stories associated with the guys at Pyramid. Over the years, I have found it harder to remember all the facts names/times etc.) ,which facts are true from those I've made up and embellished. "Frozen Radar Parts" As legend has it:....Pyramid, Ban Me Thuot BMT, RVN, was a remote and isolated VNAF/USAF radar/training site located approximately 10-15 klicks east of Cambodia, far, far away from any major US base. Being that Pyramid was isolated, headquarters, out of sympathy, would periodically send money to Pyramid to do with whatever was necessary to keep up morale. On one such occasion a small but highly skilled band of negotiators, was told by the commander to go out and bring back the maximum amount of food, fresh veggies and booze that could be purchased (borrowed, stolen, or otherwise obtained) for the sum of let's say $200. Priority orders were cut(of course travel was classified as priority one , secret). This small group of mercenaries set out from BMT to accomplish their mission. They had a quick success in finding a mess sergeant who sold them a large quantity (150 lbs?) of ribs, steaks and veggies). No mention has ever been made of the legality of the purchase. The perishables were all packed in a good-sized wooden crate with several bags of ice for refrigeration. Now all that needed to be done was to get back to Pyramid (possibly 180 KM to the north). Pyramid's finest found that a loadmaster blocked their efforts to get the perishables back to BMT. It seems as though a high-ranking Army officer was taking a large load of personal items "up north" to his new assignment...no room for the perishables on the flight. oh s--t, the team could get back remember they had priority one, secret travel), but the perishables had no priority. The Pyramid team pulled the crate of perishables off the flight line and into the shade of a nearby hanger. By now,(don't forget the heat and humidity), the crate was dripping some of the water that had escaped from the ice bags packed around the meat. Just then, two USAF officers showed up at the hanger to go over their flight plan. As it turned out they were the pilots of the plane going to BMT. After they were told the story of what was happening and recognizing the call sign "Pyramid", they ordered their loadmaster to "pull his head out" and get the crate of perishables for Pyramid on board the plane. One problem remained yet...no room on board; the Army officer had priority on his stuff. Most of the ice had melted in the crate of perishables so one of the USAF officers made a call and shortly thereafter a jeep arrived with a new supply of ice; only this time it was DRY ICE. The crate was opened, repacked and sealed. Another contact was made to retype the orders to read : Travel: PRIORITY ONE, Classification: TOP SECRET, Other Instructions: ABSOLUTE HIGHEST PRIORITY TO BE GIVEN TO COURIERS CARGO. This was in exchange for a solemn promise of a cross bow from the Montagnard camp outside of BMT. The high ranking Army officers stuff was yanked from the plane. Now he was pissed off. What is the meaning of this?, he questioned the loadmaster. The loadmaster pointed to the pilot who showed the doctored phony orders to the Army officer and pointed to the loadmasters truck that was now carrying and loading (you have to picture the flight line at 98+ degrees, with a large wooden crate that was venting white fumes from the dry ice) a crate that was by now prominently re-stenciled by the Pyramid team. The instructions on the crate read:
USAF Special Ops - Pyramid TOP SECRET RADAR PARTS KEEP FROZEN and that's as legend has it... true story, so help me God. Later, Joe
-----Original
Message----- Author: "Ken
Kimbrough" <klk@itjob4u.com> at ~Internet ------------------------------- Message Contents ------------------------------- Joe, great story and almost the "true" story. I know, because I was one of the two guys escorting the parts. In fact, I still have a copy of the orders (see attached). Obviously you heard the tale at Ban Me Thout. Here's how it went: Like many legends, the "Frozen Radar Parts" tale has its origins in booze and boredom. Most everyone stationed at Pyramid in the summer of 1966 was due to rotate soon. In a word we were SHORT!!!! One night in late June several of us were gathered around the spreading Banyan tree in the courtyard of the Darlac Hotel savoring our SHORTness and bemoaning the fact that we'd never really had an "all site" blowout. If memory serves, that group included Henry Beauchamp, Chuck Shirkey, Leroy Houghton, and myself. We decided that a 4th of July BBQ was just the ticket and set about to put it together. At first we tried to get a large quantity of meat locally but (1) the MACV Bungalow didn't have 100 to 200 pounds of meat for us to purchase and (2) the Army doc couldn't/wouldn't certify any locally grown meat (pork, beef, water buffalo, dog, elephant, etc.) as edible. By the evening of July 1 it was looking like no party. Everyone had chipped in for the beer, etc. and Major Cline had put up roughly $200 bucks from the "morale fund" as I recall. Money was not the problem, however. Can't have a cookout without the meat. On the evening of July 1st a bunch of the guys were whopping it up at the Darlac saloon and decided that a 4th of July without a BBQ was unacceptable. Somewhere along the way it was decided that 2 of us would see if Maj. Cline would authorize a quick trip to Saigon to see what we could scrounge. Newly promoted A1C Chuck Shirkey and myself were somehow selected for the job. And I haven't the foggiest idea why we were picked. At any rate, the next morning, Chuck and I presented our proposal to Maj. Cline who promptly had orders cut for us to go. (see attached). While the orders were being typed we went into Ops and ask the guys on duty to see if they could flag down a flight for us. As luck would have it, there was an Army 2 engine, 6-8 passenger utility bird that agreed to stop at Ban Me Thout East if we could get out there in the next 45 minutes. Without going back to the Darlac, someone took the Majors jeep and ran us out to East field just as the Army bird set down. As a sidebar to this otherwise uneventful leg of our journey, as we're on final to Tan San Nhut, I looked out the window to suddenly see the starboard propeller stop turning. At 4 miles from the end of the runway and about 1,500 feet over the rice paddies this was an unsettling sight. About the time that I started to hyperventilate, I heard raucous laughter from the cockpit. Seems the guy in the right seat was getting a check ride and the instructor had shut off fuel to that engine to check the guys pucker factor. All of us in the back end possessed tight puckers but the guy up front passed his check ride. Not my idea of a great place to be playing "shut down the engine and see who panics". After we landed Chuck and I called a "Pack Rat" we had met who had been at Pyramid a few weeks before to work on some radio equipment. He had a jeep and once we explained our mission, he volunteered to run us around. We immediately went to the BX at Cholon and were able to get our hands on 160 pounds of spare ribs and pork loins (steaks were not to be had in that quantity.) My recollection was that the 3 crates of meat only cost us about $200. Our 5th Mob buddy took us back to TSN to the 619th mess hall where the mess Sgt. was kind enough to store the goodies in the walk in freezer. One of the amazing things was that we had been standing in Maj. Clines office at around 10AM and by 4PM we were in Saigon, had the meat in a freezer and thought we had the worst out of the way. We headed over to the 8th Aerial Port to see about getting back to BMT. At the terminal at TSN we encountered our first major obstacle in the form of a hot, overworked, and annoying TSgt who let us know in no uncertain terms that there was no way in Hell we were getting out of there through 8th Aerial Port for at least 7 days. We begged, we pleaded, we pointed to our orders. This guy would not budge. Of course there was no way that we were going to wait 7 days to get back. I mean what good would it be to have the party on July 9th and besides the meat would have probably spoiled or been eaten by some enterprising airmen. As luck would have it, I went to high school with the daughter of the CO of the C-130 detachment at Ton San Nhut. So Chuck and I pile back into the jeep with the Pack Rat guy and made it over to the C-130 Ops Center. We marched right in the front door and I asked to see Col. Bridget; told'em airman Kimbrough was there to see him. He invited us in and heard our story. He then called the Ops Officer of the day in and suggested that these young fellows from Pyramid had some radar parts that, if not immediately delivered to BMT and installed would probably affect the outcome of the war and not in our favor. The major, sage and wise in the ways of Colonels, promptly told us to follow him back to the terminal. Which we did. By this time a C-130 had just backed up the terminal and was just getting ready to load passengers. The 3 of us, Chuck, me, and the major went into the terminal where the major told the TSgt. that we were getting on that C-130 out there. The TSgt said no we weren't. The major then suggested that the Sgt. give Col. Bridget a call, if you don't mind. By this time I thought the Sgt. was going to loose it completely. He was seething, I mean turning red. He was livid. At that point the Sgt. picked up the phone and called someone (Col. Bridget I think) After he slammed the phone down and adopted a "fuck it" look and the major told us to haul ass and bring our jeep around to the airplane. When we got to the there, he was talking to the loadmaster and it went like this: "Sarge, these guys are from Pyramid and they've got 160 pounds of frozen radar parts, spelled s_t_e_a_k. Get my drift? They WILL get on this airplane!" At this point there were 2 passengers on the plane, an Army major and a warrant officer. (everyone else was still in the terminal and I've never understood why they were already on. Nonetheless there they sat, all strapped in right inside the front loading door.) The TSgt. came out and told them they were going to have to get off so we could get on. They both had very puzzled looks and were at a loss as to understand how 2 three strippers could bump them. As we loaded our steaming boxes (this part of the legend is true, the mess Sgt. had given us some dry ice for each box and they were indeed steaming) we watched the major and the TSgt glaring at each other. At the time, it didn't occur to me, but as I've thought about it over the years, I don't think that was the first time those two had "spoken". The icing on the cake to that trip was that the A/C was getting a check ride. (What do you suppose the chances were of getting pilots on check rides both coming and going?) At any rate the first stop was BMT. However, as we were starting in, the A/C came over the PA and announced that since he was on a check ride his first landing of the day would be a combat assault and that we should all strap in real tight! What a trip! Don't know if you've ever experienced one of those but they basically get within about 1/2 mile from the end of the runway at about 2-3,000 feet and then dive at the end of the ramp and flair it out just before they hit. I'm sure he passed that segment of his check ride with flying colors. Don't know why he couldn't wait and do that until after they had offloaded a bunch of people first. Ah well, ours not to reason why, etc. On the way in, we went up on the flight deck and had them call Pyramid for transportation. When we landed the jeep was there and we dropped the meat off at the Bungalow. In the process we set a record for trips to Saigon and back, 8 hours, or there abouts. The pictures of Pyramid that you see on the 505th website were taken on the day of the party by some recon pilots who were invited to come up and party with us but had to work that day. By the way, a Sonic crew, Capt's Baker and Mazzi if I remember correctly, did in fact join us and got rip roaring drunk and enjoyed the hell out of getting out of Saigon for an overnight trip "up country". My memory is not what it should be at this stage of life so I'm not sure if that's exactly how things occurred, but that's how I recall it now 32 years later. I recently found out that Chuck is in Arkansas. I will give him a call one of these days and see what he remembers. Thanks for getting me going about this. I've been meaning to write it all down and just never got the urge until you brought it up. Please, please send more pictures and write up some more things. I believe I'll edit this some more and put your account and mine on the website. Should make for some interesting reading.
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