1965 U.S. MARINE CORPS FILM CONSTRUCTION OF CHU LAI AIR BASE VIETNAM WAR 18314
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“Sand and Steel” is a U.S. Marine Corps special film report from circa 1965. It highlights the construction of the Chu Lai Air Base in South Vietnam, and features the United States Seventh Fleet, the Seabees of the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Ten, the III Marine Expeditionary Force, and the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.
The film opens with an aerial of an American fighter bomber attacking a communist installation in Vietnam (0:19). It drops a bomb on the ground below and fires again. An explosion is seen in the distance. The fighter jet was designed for air support and is capable of delivering bombs, rockets, and guided missiles. It slowly descends closer to the surface in order to get an accurate shot, fires again, then ascends to safety.
A fighter bomber is seen flying overhead (2:12), then a quick cut to a series of landings at the Chu Lai Air Base in South Vietnam. The field was built primarily for Marine support aircraft, and each piece is portable.
Viewers see scenes of various Marines and workers on the airstrip. A traffic navigator directs an incoming jet (2:42). A pilot is seen in the cockpit (2:47). Two men sit inside the control tower (2:59). A worker directs a truck as it descends from the cargo hold. A plane takes off from the runway and flies overhead.
The film cuts to a desolate sandy field covered in brush (3:30). This is the site where Chu Lai airstrip was built. Marines step onto the shore in South Vietnam, unloading equipment (3:48). They head into the brush and scout the land, hoping to find enough space to seize and defend in order to create the airfield. A Marine looks out of his binoculars (4:20).
Marines arrive to the site in helicopters (4:24). They land and quickly deboard, weapons and gear in hand, before the helicopter takes off. They survey the terrain (4:58). The Navy Seabees begin work on the airfield, using earthmovers to level the land (5:07). The earthmovers struggle in the sand, getting stuck. The Seabees interlock aluminum plank matting (AM-2) that each weigh 144 pounds (5:42). A Seabee pounds the matting into place (5:50).
Marines walk in formation, patrolling the area surrounding the developing airfield (6:12). They walk towards a hut and investigate (6:25). They speak with a group of local villagers, who assist them in pointing out the hiding spots of the Viet Cong guerilla fighters (6:35). The Marines examine medical stores, caches of food and other supplies. They flip through a Communist propaganda pamphlet. Guerilla fighters sit in the sand, while a Marine guards them with an M14 rifle in hand (6:58).
Marines patrol through tall brush (7:09). They take a break to rest, eat, hydrate, and cool down. Shortly after, they grab their weapons and pursue the enemy, running through the brush.
Back on the shore, the Seabees continue to level the field (8:23). They adjust the interlocking panels until they fit into place. Various workers continue to construct the airfield. Two men sit atop a truck (9:32). Two others sit inside the control tower (9:46). Viewers see a series of Skyhawk jets landing on the airstrip, and a close-up of a Skyhawk taxiing on the runway, the pilot visible in the cockpit (10:33).
The ground crew guides the Skyhawks and prepares to refuel and arm them (10:43 ). Various scenes follow of work on the air base. Equipment is unloaded from a cargo plane (11:46). Viewers see a close-up of barrels of jet fuel. Two men transport air-to-ground rockets along the field. Another cleans 20mm shells for aircraft cannons (12:00). Viewers see a close-up of food rations and containers of water.
The film cuts to a group of armed Marines (12:15). They engage in various recreational activities. One Marine relaxes in the shade of a makeshift shelter, smoking a cigarette. Another rinses off in a shower, and a third writes letters back home. A Marine sits among letters and care packages (12:43), while another works on a money order to send home. Marines engage in personal grooming. They are seen washing their socks in a bucket, getting their hair cut, brushing their teeth, and shaving.
Marines carry their gear as they patrol (13:15). One observes the terrain below from a lookout point, while others wait in the heat in foxholes. A group of Marines gather in prayer, kneeling on one knee (14:00). One shakes hands with a young girl as he is surrounded by Vietnamese children (14:13). The film closes with a final shot of Chu Lai Air Base as a plane takes off.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Пікірлер: 76
No matter your opinion of the politics or morality of the Vietnam war you have to admire the Seabees and their ability to turn a wasteland into a functioning airfield in a matter of weeks, in fact you have to admire or respect every single man and woman sent to south east Asia, like it or not they did their duty and did it well. Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative film 🎥👍😀🇬🇧🏴
Flew the A4E there with VMA-211, then the A4C with VMA-214 during 12 Oct '65- 31 Mar '66.
@CHULAIa4-6667
4 ай бұрын
Probably trapped you on the arresting gear.
@JosephLeonard-db8cy
2 ай бұрын
Bulk Fuel, I had the fuel for you in '65.
@CHULAIa4-6667
Ай бұрын
@@JosephLeonard-db8cy Joseph, were you the one on the stand on one of the videos of MAG 12 in 1965 with the A4 comes up to take some fuel ? lol.
My father was at chu Lai. 67-69. He worked on the f-4 phantom. Thank you all for your service.
My Dad was stationed there with VMA-223 "Fighting Bull-Dogs" in 1965, it was his 1st Vietnam Deployment, this is after serving in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, and WWII with the Navy on the Destroyer USS Radford DD-446, he was one of a few who served in Three Major Wars, He was Quite a Character, and a "Good Marine" "Semper-Fi"
@mynameislenny2441
4 жыл бұрын
A hero x 3. Probably broke the mold. Thank you to him or his memory.
@jchapman8248
4 жыл бұрын
Much respect to your dad! It's interesting that he served in the Navy as well. Where in Korea did he serve? How many deployments in Vietnam did your dad serve? My dad also served in the Marines and fought in three major wars. He served in WWII with 3rd Marine Division in the Southwest Pacific at Cape Torokina on Bougainville, Nov. 1943. He participated with fellow Marines during the occupation of Japan. He also served in the 1st Marine Combat Engineers at Inchon during the Korean war. After that he was deployed to Beirut in 1958 and later stationed in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s. Finally he served in Vietnam in Operation Starlite 1965-66. He served only one deployment there before retiring in 1968.
@TJ-USMC
4 жыл бұрын
My Dad joined the Navy when he was 16, and served from 1942-45. During Korea, he was with Station Ordnance MCAS Iwakuni Japan, and his last Vietnam Deployment was with VMA(AW)-242 "Bats" from 1967-68 at Da Nang, his MOS was Aviation Ordnance in the Corps and he retired in 1970. Like your Dad, they were the very Few who Protected Our Country and Family, they went "Above and Beyond" - One last observation, I wouldn't be surprised if my Dad's ship provided fire support when your Dad was on Bougainville - destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/ussradford/index.asp?r=44600&pid=44603 - Take Care "Semper-Fi"
@tet6869
3 жыл бұрын
I served with VMA-223 starting in 1966 there at Chu Lai stayed with them until 67 then was in 311 and finally Hams 13. The matting runway was fine for the A-4s but when the Phantoms started using it, it proved too rough and the concrete strip was being built by that time. You would not believe how they bounced around, as they were twice the weight of an A-4 and were often losing bombs and bomb racks on take off. Most of the time they wouldn't arm but some did, I used to have half of a piece of shrapnel from one that exploded and missed my head by a foot, it ended up in the belly tank and we fished it out. Sadly lost along my travels. Was mortared and rocketed several times and of course during TET. When I stepped off the plane from Da Nang the temperature was 112.
@texasoverland4614
2 жыл бұрын
@@tet6869 My dad was at “Chu Lai in July” but I don’t know the year. He was a Navy Corpsman by the name of Robert Devereaux.
Semper Fidelis, Brothers. Fair winds and following seas. Ooorah!
@danielmarso7242
4 жыл бұрын
GySgt USMC Ret Semper Fi from another Gunny in Rhode Island ,75 years young . 1962 -1982 !
@GySgt_USMC_Ret.
4 жыл бұрын
@@danielmarso7242 Semper Fi, GySgt Marson. Congrats on the 75. Just a few years behind you. I'm a dual-retread, Vietnam-Era & Gulf War-Era Vet. 1970 -1998. If there's another go-around to this life, I'll be back to do it all again. Best to all.
Arriving on a moonless night shortly before Christmas 1965. One light bulb at the ops shack on the taxiway and runway lights but nothing else lit. Dumped of a C130, picked up in a jeep to my new home at "Mag 12". Greeted by a flight of 2 B58,s making an emergency landing with hung ordinance and stopping successfully with only the lead aircraft nose wheel off the end of the runway and sunk in the sand. Memories and learning experiences for a Marine of the ripe old age of 19 (almost) with much to learn. Strange way to grow up in the control tower, 50' from the runway at Chu Lai ! My so called " friends" were at home chasing the woman I had left for the splenders of Nam.
@PeriscopeFilm
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for your service to our great nation.
3rd Batt. 7th Marines ChuLai,RVN 10/65-11/66 i got there and we were waiting for the trucks to come and get us, we watched jets taking off they were using jato assist to take off, because the runway wasn't complete yet.
This was my base,watched it Built
Stationed with 9th engineers across the road from the air strip. Jan.69 to June 70..then moved up to DaNang. From DaNang we worked all around the country from DMZ all through I Corps.
Tail Code CE; VMA 225; the first to land on June 1, 1965.
AM-2 matting, loved working with them over the old M-8. Only problem with AM-2, the stinking aluminum keys. If they were bent from previous use, they were hell to knock in the keyway. M-8 matting was always easy to work with but heavy and once bent, use it for bunker roofing
Mcb 10 built the air strip when we landed from Okinawa
Whether at peace or at war the blood, sweat, tears and a lot of body wear and tear are sacrificed by our troops. May they always stay strong and brave.
My uncle was a warrant officer with VMA 225 was part of engineers that built the airfield. His brother was there for Tet.
I was with K/3/9 for the landing in March 8th 1965. Our company flew down from Da Nang to help secure the landing of I believe Marines from Hawaii. We also swam 55 gal fuel barrels that had been shoved over the side of an LST. There was nothing at all there except sand and scrub growth. 7 months later I landed there again with 3rd plt B Co 1st Recon Bn. What a drastic change in just 7 months.
@MG-wk2eh
Жыл бұрын
Were Marine Corps infantry using the M16 rifle yet in March 1965 or still using the M14? I know Army infantry ditched the M14 early on (for the most part) and were using M16s in Vietnam from pretty much the beginning of major combat operations.
@usmcscuba90
Жыл бұрын
@@MG-wk2eh When we landed in 1965 we all had M 14’s. I had 7 months back in the states, then back to VN. We still had M 14’s when I left in October 1966. They were starting to add M 16 amo to the amo bunker, but still no M 16 rifles. Greg.
@MG-wk2eh
Жыл бұрын
@@usmcscuba90 Thanks.
@billwalton1971
Жыл бұрын
Greg, it was May when we landed at Chu Lai. Seabees came ashore the morning of the 7th.
@usmcscuba90
Жыл бұрын
@@billwalton1971 Sorry if there was some confusion. I landed at Da Nang on March 8th 1965, not Chu Lai.
My dad was at Chu Lai in 1965. Marines MACS-9.
I was there in 66 at D Med.
57th, Scout Dog Platoon '68-69
Force Logistics Support Group Bravo, USMC, the Beach ? We callled it Red Beach. Semper Fi
A dear friends mother was a career seabee. Amazing woman and an amazing (yet often overlooked by the public) branch! Without them u just flat out do not have the ability to engage in any sustained combat.
at 9:15 you see a little perimeter field of fire clearance going on......with a flamethrower!
That’s my group making the first helicopter assault in 1965 right after the dang nine guys walked up the beach we were August 1965. I gotta look closely and see if I see anybody I know might even be me but right now I’m just too shook up to do it.
Do most Americans know what they were doing and where they were at when the first U.S. Marines landed ashore on March 8, 1965?
My squadron VMA (AW) 533 was there at Chu Lai in Vietnam . . I was wih 533 in Desert Storm
Simper Fi to our Brother !
Troy McClure was busy even in the 60's.
Periscope has changed his avatar
So, im like looking for a pretty flexible 8mm film player, those types you can hook up to a monitor, what are those called?
@parttime9070
4 жыл бұрын
8mm film scanner..
@MatthewBaileyBeAfraid
4 жыл бұрын
Are you looking to scan the film, or do you want a playback that can then be displayed on a monitor? The latter will probably be fairly expensive, still, as well as probably needing a lot of legacy computer equipment, as such playback devices were really only made for a short while during the 1980s/90s. It is much more typical to just scan the film, digitize the soundtrack, and produce some variety of digital video file.
@brianhawkesworth1286
3 жыл бұрын
Convert them to digital or have them done.
Our Dad was there with the VMA-332. Flew the A4 Skyhawk.
@telesniper2
6 ай бұрын
What year?
Washington Never Learns. Now they have the Bear by the ears and the Dragon by the Tail. This will not end well.
Love the Jarheads, but Chu Lai wasn't squat until the U.S. Army went in and made it a proper air base in 1966-67
@Curbee1945
4 жыл бұрын
The Army didn't make anything,,,,,,M&K built the permanent base....the Army just occupied it.
@AmericasChoice
4 жыл бұрын
@@Curbee1945 I was referring to the ordinance and manpower the Army brought in and operated. Previously, the NVA played hide and seek with the Marines, and the Marines also had no go areas whenever the NVA set up those double Russian .51 machine guns. Not their fault, they had limited equipment and couldn't afford to lose copters. That all changed when the Army arrived, and beat the snot out of the NVA and VC in that region.
Yeah, well, we all know how it ended in 1975.
No highly trained air force in the history of the world killed more rice plants than these brave heroes. Fact.
This airfield lacks supply of a vital resource -- local poontang.
@raysnyder7512
3 жыл бұрын
What you never got to Tam Ky??
@jamesalexander3530
2 жыл бұрын
You mean boom boom
@joe-qo3qi
Жыл бұрын
You want #1
I one of the very first to land there . MCIs/C-rats ... yummy!
China beach eh?
Should have bombed Hanoi into a moon crater.
What a waste of lives time and money...
Propaganda hasnt changed
@Chilly_Billy
4 жыл бұрын
Apparently stupid comments haven't disappeared either. 🤨
All the Sea Bees did was to put the high spots in the low spots. That's not brain surgery.
@fquarn
2 жыл бұрын
All they did was build an airfield in 3 weeks and 3 days that would let the A4s land and take off. In addition to building helo pads for th H-34s, fuel farms, water systems etc. They did this by working 12 hour days 7 days a week and being on lookout with 3 or 4 others all night every night. I went ashore with MCB-10 as a dentist. I was the only dentist for the Marines and Seabees for a couple of months until the Marines brough in their own. I have never know a finer bunch of men who worked harder.
@CHULAIa4-6667
4 ай бұрын
The heavy C130’s coming in caused the runway to have a lot of dips after while but it was because of the sand, @@fquarn
1965??? We were thinking we would win Only the hippies could see the future
I don't know how the US ever justified this war
@gobblox38
4 жыл бұрын
You could look into several sources about how they justified it, containing communism, protecting freedoms, etc. Though I'm sure you're saying that those justifications weren't good enough. Well, millions of Americans at the time would agree with you. As far as other nations waging war in Vietnam, the US is the only one that formally apologised.
@TheDustysix
3 жыл бұрын
McArthur warned Kennedy not to.
@TheDustysix
3 жыл бұрын
Well now. After Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia fell to Communist power, those that did not, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Nor did South Korea. But then again, Poland, East Germany , Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States were LIBERATED by Americas Cold War struggle. I Served USMC AirWing 77-81.
@jamesalexander3530
2 жыл бұрын
@@TheDustysix my argument exactly. Communism stopped in Vietnam and you can thank the US, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, the Philippines, and South Vietnam for their duty and sacrifice in SE Asia. USN mcb 6 and 133, Vietnam I Virus 66 - 67
@TheDustysix
2 жыл бұрын
Ask the Vietnamese boat people. Oh, and ask a South Korean while you are at it.