About Me
My name is Ernie Camacho,
I served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969.
I graduated from Keesler Air Force Base's US Army Aviation School, Air Traffic Control course, class 12106C, on 14 Feb. 67.
I was in Vietnam from March 1967 to March 1968.
I was assigned to the 125 ATC (Air Traffic Company), of the 1st Aviation Brigade.
I worked in the control tower and Ground Control Approach at Camp Holloway, Pleiku from March to June, 1967.
I was in Dak To from June 1967 through March 1968, working first GCA, then tower.
My MOS (job specialty) was Air Traffic Controller. I went to Dak To in early June, '67, with about a dozen other ATC specialists to set up the airfield (VFR tower, Radar Approach Control) in preparation for a large campaign that was about to begin. We heard that the Special Forces A camp at Dak To had seen enemy activity over the last few days (patrols had not come back), and that a large number of VC were suspected to be in the area. Little did we know.
What I thought was going to be a month or two in the field ended up lasting me the rest of my tour, and it was still going strong when I left the following spring.
During the nine months I was there, I took photos and collected some newsletters from the 4th ID, along with some Stars and Stripes.
Dak To was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Vietnam War. I was directly involved with operations on the airfield, but neither I nor my team really knew what was going on. We saw lots of cargo coming in, lots of helicopters carrying soldiers to and from the jungle around us, lots of bodies loaded into cargo planes, and we got mortared often. At one point I said to someone that we would only learn about what was happening when a book would be written in the far future. I was right. I had no idea how much hell the infantrymen were encountering in the jungles around us. I feel humbled by what they had to endure. This website is dedicated to all those combat soldiers, and also to the many support soldiers, like me, who did all the other work needed in an operation as big as this.
Ernie Camacho
I served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969.
I graduated from Keesler Air Force Base's US Army Aviation School, Air Traffic Control course, class 12106C, on 14 Feb. 67.
I was in Vietnam from March 1967 to March 1968.
I was assigned to the 125 ATC (Air Traffic Company), of the 1st Aviation Brigade.
I worked in the control tower and Ground Control Approach at Camp Holloway, Pleiku from March to June, 1967.
I was in Dak To from June 1967 through March 1968, working first GCA, then tower.
My MOS (job specialty) was Air Traffic Controller. I went to Dak To in early June, '67, with about a dozen other ATC specialists to set up the airfield (VFR tower, Radar Approach Control) in preparation for a large campaign that was about to begin. We heard that the Special Forces A camp at Dak To had seen enemy activity over the last few days (patrols had not come back), and that a large number of VC were suspected to be in the area. Little did we know.
What I thought was going to be a month or two in the field ended up lasting me the rest of my tour, and it was still going strong when I left the following spring.
During the nine months I was there, I took photos and collected some newsletters from the 4th ID, along with some Stars and Stripes.
Dak To was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Vietnam War. I was directly involved with operations on the airfield, but neither I nor my team really knew what was going on. We saw lots of cargo coming in, lots of helicopters carrying soldiers to and from the jungle around us, lots of bodies loaded into cargo planes, and we got mortared often. At one point I said to someone that we would only learn about what was happening when a book would be written in the far future. I was right. I had no idea how much hell the infantrymen were encountering in the jungles around us. I feel humbled by what they had to endure. This website is dedicated to all those combat soldiers, and also to the many support soldiers, like me, who did all the other work needed in an operation as big as this.
Ernie Camacho
I'm asking for your help. I didn't get around much while I was at Dak To, staying close to my hooch and tower. A lot of other soldiers were at Dak To and I'm sure lots of photos were taken. If you have anything that could be added to the Dak To story, please contact me. I can scan photos, negatives, slides and documents. I can digitize audio tapes. If you send me your material, I'll give you back both your originals and digitized versions. Also, If you know of another website with Dak To information, please point me to it.
You can email me at erniecamacho@comcast.net
You can email me at erniecamacho@comcast.net
This website was created by Ernie Camacho. All rights reserved.
All photos are copyrighted by their owners. Please ask for permission if you want to use one.