Post by Anonymous Vet on Dec 21, 2002 14:14:05 GMT -5
MARCH 11, 1967
ROAD KEPT OPEN BY ENGR CO
PHAN RANG
Men of Company B, 14th Engineer
Battalion, spent four long wet weeks in
repairing a portion of strategic supply
route HL-1 at Phan Rang. A bypass of
the major North-South highway QL4,
around Nha Trang, HL-1 hits
succumbed to the onslaught of heavy
monsoon rains and resembled the bed
of a river more than it did a main
supply route when the 2nd Platoon of
Company B, 14th Engineer Battalion
arrived on the scene.
The first engineer effort was
directed toward keeping the road open
to traffic, since heavy vehicle loads
would be too great for city bridges at
Nha Trang. It was evident that the
road level had to be raised above the
crest of the flowing water.
The platoon soon discovered that
different maintenance procedure,
would have to be employed at various
points along the road.
However, even as the work
continued, convoys had to be brought
through. Often the brute force of an
HD-46M Bulldozer was used to pull
those vital supplies and equipment
through the mud and through rice
paddies. The men of Company B were
determined to keep the road open.
After four weeks the rains began to
lessen and the effort turned from
emergency measures to the systematic
approach of developing the road so that
future problems of this kind could be
averted.
The men of Company B saw the
result of their efforts as supplies and
equipment moved on to units that
needed them.
ROAD KEPT OPEN BY ENGR CO
PHAN RANG
Men of Company B, 14th Engineer
Battalion, spent four long wet weeks in
repairing a portion of strategic supply
route HL-1 at Phan Rang. A bypass of
the major North-South highway QL4,
around Nha Trang, HL-1 hits
succumbed to the onslaught of heavy
monsoon rains and resembled the bed
of a river more than it did a main
supply route when the 2nd Platoon of
Company B, 14th Engineer Battalion
arrived on the scene.
The first engineer effort was
directed toward keeping the road open
to traffic, since heavy vehicle loads
would be too great for city bridges at
Nha Trang. It was evident that the
road level had to be raised above the
crest of the flowing water.
The platoon soon discovered that
different maintenance procedure,
would have to be employed at various
points along the road.
However, even as the work
continued, convoys had to be brought
through. Often the brute force of an
HD-46M Bulldozer was used to pull
those vital supplies and equipment
through the mud and through rice
paddies. The men of Company B were
determined to keep the road open.
After four weeks the rains began to
lessen and the effort turned from
emergency measures to the systematic
approach of developing the road so that
future problems of this kind could be
averted.
The men of Company B saw the
result of their efforts as supplies and
equipment moved on to units that
needed them.