Air Defense Artillery during the Vietnam War 

We were the most highly decorated army artillery outfit in Vietnam. The only A.D.A. unit with a  Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant Mitchell Stout, C-1/44^th Dusters as well as a Distinguished Service Cross recipient, Staff Sergeant Jeffery Jarman, Quad-50 Squad Leader, Delta 71st ADA.

 We were awarded Presidential and Meritorious Unit citations, Silver Stars, Bronze stars, and over 1,000 Purple Hearts.  

We were in demand, ‘Fire Power for Hire’. Over four million 40 MM rounds, ten million .50 cal. rounds, and a million miles of illumination from the D.M.Z. to the Delta.

Our crews were on the front lines throughout their service, and served prominently in every campaign. Given that the Duster, Quad, and Searchlight weapon platforms were completely exposed, the crews suffered more than their share of casualties. When the enemy conducted attacks on fire bases, gun crews were trained to man their weapons to repel the main attacks, while soldiers in supported units occupied bunkers that afforded them far more protection. The NDQSA website is full of accounts of almost unbelievable bravery by these crews. A website visitor has only to review the 212 names of ADA fatalities on the website’s Memorial Wall page and read their linked stories on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund virtual Wall of Faces to get some measure of the sacrifices of these ADA units.

This website is dedicated to preserving their stories and heritage.

For the semi-official version of ADA in Vietnam read this extracted 15 page article from the Air Defense Artillery Journal fall 1983.  

Mowing the Grass-ADA in Vietnam_ADA Journal 1983 fall-C3mb

Mowing the Grass: ADA in Vietnam
by Blair Case, Editor of the ADA Journal
Air Defense Artillery Journal fall 1983

Vietnam remains, for better or worse, very much a part of the national consciousness.  The names of air defense artillery men who died in Vietnam are etched in the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, but the exploits of ADA units which fought in Southeast Asia have gone largely unrecorded.

This is their story.
Air Defense Artillery was designated a branch in the midst of a war in which the air threat it was to defend against never put in an appearance. The sort of war ADA units fought in Vietnam’s rain forests wasn’t the sort of war they had trained for on the desert ranges of the U.S. Army Air Defense Center at Fort Bliss, Texas. They called it “mowing grass.”

Air Defense Artillery was created as a separate branch in the midst of the Vietnam War. Hanoi never risked sending the MiGs south of the demilitarized zone during America’s long involvement in Southeast Asia, but air defenders served in a variety of ground support roles. This issue of Air Defense Artillery contains a special section dedicated to the air defense artillerymen who distinguished themselves and the new branch in the rice paddies and jungles of America’s most unpopular war.

About the Cover
Artist John Paul Jones’ cover illustration shows an M-42 “Duster” arriving at a newly constructed firebase in Vietnam.  Dusters, denied airborne targets, were mainstays of perimeter defenses.