A Vietnam Memory: Kurt Knoblock

My name is Kurt Knoblock. My tour in Vietnam was from July of 1969 to December of 1970.   I was assigned to the First Signal Brigade.

The first thing that I remember upon landing in Vietnam at Bien Hoa, was the smell.   The smell along with the heat made you sick right away.

I processed into my company and about two weeks later, the First Sgt. informed me that he was assigning me to our signal site at Bien Hoa. Then he made a comment that I have never forgotten.

 

"I hope you like rockets and mortars, because Bien Hoa gets a lot of VC rockets and mortars."

I arrived on site and I had a window where I could look out.  We were hit almost every night for about five months, although there were breaks in this. I lost count of the actual number of times we were hit, but it always happened in the very early morning hours. It is hard to explain to people what this was like.  In the morning you would find shrapnel laying around with Russian and Chinese markings on it.

To this day I do not sleep through the night and any little sound wakes me.

Kurt Knoblock
First Signal Brigade
Bien Hoa, Vietnam
1969/1970

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Kurt, and Welcome Home.

~CJ

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale