NDQSAAir Defense Artillery service during the Vietnam War
NDQSA
This book was produced to provide an account of the Air Defense Artillery’s part in the Vietnam War and originally published in 2009. It is not a chronological record of the war, nor does it take into account the decisions that were made to employ the ADA units as part of the order of battle in any real detail. Rather, it is a collection of photographs, archival summaries, and personal accounts that occurred where ADA weapons were employed in the conduct of the war. All material is owned by the National Dusters, Quads & Searchlights Association, Inc. The stories were written by its members, and the pictures belong to them with permission for use and publication. Selected extracts of the book are published on the NDQSA website to preserve the heritage of the Air Defense Artillery men in Vietnam.
This article was written by Brad Parks when he was a senior at Dartmouth College, in February 1996. He interviewed his father; Robert W. Parks, who served as a platoon leader in A Battery, 5th Battalion (AW)(SP), 2nd Artillery during his Vietnam tour from October 1967 to September 1968. This paper won the Geography prize at Dartmouth for the 1995-96 school year. It is longer than many, at 16 pages, but it captures details and the emotions of service very well. LT Parks was primarily assigned to Claymore Corner, a First Infantry Division NDP (Night Defensive Perimeter) site at the intersection of roads 1 Alpha and 2 Alpha, about 30 miles north of Saigon and 50 miles east of the Cambodian border.
This story covers a 1999 visit by former Battery Commander Doug Mehle to Holly Grove, Arkansas, to pay respects to a soldier lost under his command. On October 3, 1970, Staff Sergeant (SSG) Olen Upshaw of Holly Grove was killed, and three of his crew members were wounded, when their C-1/44th Duster was struck by a command-detonated mine. The crew was providing security for a Hill 4-11 road-clearing operation approximately 7 kilometers west of Quảng Ngãi, Vietnam. Attached to the end of this archived account are historical records from the National Dusters, Quads, & Searchlights Association (NDQSA) archives, memorial comments from fellow soldiers, and photographs of SSG Upshaw from his tribute on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Virtual Wall of Faces.
A paragraph explaining what the story is about with enough information to entice readers.