First to Fire Extracts

Dusters, Quads, and Searchlights, Air Defense Artillery in the Vietnam War

 

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.

 

Table of Contents

My Father’s Vietnam: LT Robert Parks A/5/2 67-68

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.

Title of article HD4: Author – who, unit, dates

A paragraph explaining what the story is about with enough information to entice readers.

Title of article HD4: Author – who, unit, dates

A paragraph explaining what the story is about with enough information to entice readers.