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Ken Heins and Randy Epperson went on an LZ Russell Expedition in April of 2005 and are the first LZ Members to make it to the top of LZ Russell, since September, 1969. These pictures were sent in by Ken Heins. Here's Ken's story about the trip, posted to our Discussion Forum while he was still in Vietnam. For benefit of those of you who have never chatted on line, "LOL" is a term used in chat to indicate you are "Laughing Out Loud".
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:04:09 +0000 On April 12, 2005 @ approximately 1400 hrs Viet Nam time (0200 CDT) 3 Marines and 3 Vietnamese Guides occupied LZ Russell. We got up on the morning of April 12, @ 0500 hrs, stopped at a road side cafe ( a tent with a long table and chairs ) for breakfast then we continued on by a Russian Jeep to The Rock Pile, then turned off the road onto a back trail to drive approximately 3 miles to a Bru Village where we paid the Bru Chief to use his trail (toll road, LOL) and hired his number 1 son to guide us to LZ Russell (There name Banana Hill). We then drove about another mile and got out at the bottom of a mountain, about 200 ft above sea level the GPS said we were about .80 miles from Russell at that point; this was approx 0700 hrs. We climbed up to the top (there was a sort of trail but I think what it was is a place where the water drains down the mountain). About 3/4 of the way up one of our old friends (the F--- -u- bird) was there welcoming us, so I knew that we had to be close to Russell then, LOL. At the top we were still .80 miles from Russell but we were now @ 1600 or 1700 ft. We walked the ridge line for about .50 miles and came to a place we thought was Russell; this was @ 1200 hrs. It wasn't too hot under the canopy of the jungle, but once we got to that LZ the elephant grass was 7 ft high and the temp was probably over 100 deg. I walked in about 50 ft. and turned around to get out. Then I fell into a old fox hole! By this time I was about dead from the heat and felt sick, so when I got out I went back a bit to be under the canopy again, where it was cooler, laid down and fell asleep. One of the guys (Ray) came back and was yelling at me, but I didn't wake up and it scared the hell out of him, 'cause he could see my legs across the trail. So he thought I had a heart attack and died, LOL! Then we went a little farther and got on a ridge and looked about .25 miles out there we saw LZ Russell in the distance, so we took off. We had a couple of ridges to climb and along the way we found another washout or trail which ever it was, and Mr Duy said that that was (short cut) the way we would go off the hill to get back to the road. Then when we got to the base of the hill (on the grunt side at the south east finger). We saw that someone had built a wooden fence, who knows why??? This was approx 1400 hrs (took 7 hrs to climb up and go about .80 miles. What a bitch! If it wasn't for Randy and Ray and Mr. Duy's cousin helping me, I don't know if I could have made it. I think I remember Randy saying we probably walked over 2 or 3 miles with the climb we did. Once we got to Russell it clouded over and it was cooler, so it wasn't too bad there; nice breeze also. We took a bunch of pictures and I went down to gun 6's pit to where the bunker was, that I was in on Feb. 25, 1969 (the hole is still there)! After sitting there for a bit, looking at the hole, Mr. Duy said it was time to go because it was now 1445 hrs. and we were starting to get socked in by the low clouds. Keep in mind; I think LZ Russell is about 1650 ft above sea level (the hill that we climbed up first was already covered by clouds and socked in). We got back to the short cut trail we were going to use to get off the hill at approx. 1500 hrs. and we started down the hill. I think it was almost as bad going down as it was going up (I was worried that if I slipped I would probably slide a couple 100 ft. before slamming into a tree and would stop). It took me until 1600 hrs to get to the bottom and I had dropped 1200 + ft. in less than .40 mile; and that was from Russell, so from the start of the short cut it probably was .25 to .30 of a mile. We made it back to Dong Ha about 1800 hrs, tired as hell, with a few blisters, soaking wet from sweat and dirty as hell. I had consumed over eight 0.5 liter bottles of water! I had a few leg cramps over the night but I don't feel too bad now. We are all back in Hue now for a few days and then will be going back to Saigon from here.
Here is what our tour guide, Duy, had to say about it. Dear Mr Larry Hammer and Mr Robert Mitchell , |
