“I Didn’t Think I’d Make It Out”: Service With The 173rd Airborne Brigade, The First Combat Unit In Vietnam

Andrew Russell Sr. was born in 1944 and grew up in Florence, Alabama. His father was a construction worker with the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), working on the Army Corps of Engineer projects for the Wilson and Wheeler Dams. His mother was a housemaid for a pharmacist. Andrew is the oldest of nine children, having eight younger sisters. His parents encouraged the children to all get an education. Andrew felt that his high school career was “up and down,” and he played football and basketball. He also learned “don’t quit things.” They lived in a farming and semi-industrial community along a lake, and he loved hunting and fishing. In December 1964, he enlisted in the Army, figuring that he would be drafted anyway. After basic training and advanced infantry training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, he earned his Airborne wings at Ft. Benning. He felt that training was not as hard as he thought it would be and was determined to “get through this.” He recalls at the time that “nobody thought about Vietnam.” Assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, he was stationed in Okinawa, and he remembers sitting by the seashore and having his Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Lancaster, tell his Soldiers “about the bad stuff.” Shortly after arriving in Okinawa, the 173rd deployed to Vietnam on what was supposed to be a three-month TDY (Temporary Duty) guarding the Bien Hoa Airbase. He recalls the noise of jets and living in a pup tent during the monsoon season. He also remembers driving a Mechanical Mule (M274) around the airfield carrying sandbags and PSP (perforated steel planking). By July, the 173rd had built roads and improved their tents. They were starting to conduct short range patrols at night and longer patrols in War Zone D. He describes a fight near LZ Zulu Zulu in the Iron Triangle, and recalls thinking that he would not make it out. During that battle, he was pinned down for 4 hours. He remembers serving as an assistant gunner on a 90mm recoilless rifle, destroying a bunker, and fighting “hard core” VC. In that fight he remembers Stegal and Bellamy being killed. After the battle, he carried bodies back to the helicopters. He did not realize that he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, but wondered “how long do I have to fight this battle.” Attending reunions helps, and he has been attending every year since 1996. He is also going to the Veterans Administration for help. After returning from Vietnam, he became a medic and even trained Cadets at West Point from June to September 1967, when he was in the Headquarters for 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division. After leaving the Army, he worked as a heavy equipment operator in the TVA, and in the early 1970s, he was called to the ministry. Reflecting on his service, he states, “I love the Army. I chose the Army.” He is proud of his service, noting it was “honorable,” and he “did what my country wanted me to do.”