Tiger Force Recon is a team that provides recon patrols and reaction
team services for the 1/327 Infantry Battalion. They draw from the companies getting the
top infantry soldiers available at the time replacements are needed. These replacements
usually come about as the result of battlefield losses. At the time I served withthe Tigers,
we were brought in by invitation only. The most experienced and qualified men were
included. Although nominally a platoon sized element, most of the time we were lucky to
have about 12 to 15 men. The team was lead most of the time by a Lieutenant and staffed
by two medics.
At the time I served with the Tigers, I had been in country about
8 months. After being with Tigers for about 3 months,we recieved out in the field a PIO
photographer from the Division. The black and white photos taken here were shot by sp/4
Parker.
Tigers had been in a lot of contact prior to when these photos were
taken, so we had been given a stand-down. Since sooner or later someone would get into
some kind of trouble if we were in the rear, the closest thing to a stand-down for us was
to wander in an area for a week or so, where there would be little chance of contact with
enemy elements, then after a resupply, we would return to the mountains around the A-
Shau Valley for more fun and games. While specialist Parker was with us, we would often
ask him to take our photos to send home to our families. He explained that he would have
no way of getting random shots back to us if he shot any, but offered to shoot one whole
roll in an afternoon, before we were to go back up to the mountains, give the roll to one of
us, and let him get the pictures to each of us. 30 years later, Roy "Zeke" Blevins was
going to go to the 101st Airborne Reunion in Omaha, Nebraska. He dug around in a box
and found the roll of film that he'd gotten from Parker that day in Viet Nam. He developed
the roll and brought it to the reunion. None of us had seen these pictures until that day in
1998.
 This and the next 4 pics are of several of us eating freshwater crabs and little fish that we caught in a small stream. The "Cheu hoi" a young former(?) vietcong who had given up and agreed to travel with us in his old stomping grounds had suggested this as good eating. We barbecued the crabs on a bamboo skewer that we splintered from a bamboo pole cut right at streamside. Pictured here are: the cheu hoi, "Raider Rick", Zeke Blevins, Myself, T.J. McGinley. |  Rick, Zeke and Myself. |  Cheu Hoi and Myself, cooking over small stove made out of c-rat can. |  Rick and Zeke eating some Pork slices, that we cooked over the small fire. Zeke is wearing an Aussie hat emblem, that he got from some Aussies that provided mutual combat aid in a bar fight in Malaysia. That is another story. |  Rick, Zeke and Myself with the skewered crabs. Zeke at this point was still dubious. |  Sgt Fields (Fang), Sgt Page, the Chue Hoi, Saddling up to return to the hills. The Cheu Hoi didn't speak but a little English and we had no VN speaker. At a later date, I went fishing with this kid with hand grenades in some bomb craters that were right next to a river. The floods would allow fish to get into the craters, then as the water dropped the kid would try to get them before they just died. The best method was to drop a grenade in the middle. |  |  Lt. John Toberman. This man was really cool. He had a year of medical school before joining the army, according to legend. See the war story that features him on the war story page, "Dropped From a Helicopter". He led us well. |  Rear: Zeke Blevins, Lt Toberman. front: T.J. McGinley, Sgt Fields also known as Fang |  Toberman, and Zeke Blevins. |  Toberman and Fields. |  The group saddles up. l-r: unknown, Zeke, Toberman, Myself, unk, unk, Sgt Page. |  Roy "Zeke" Blevins, taking a trail break. Packs (rucksacks) weighed around 60 lbs. Inside and strapped to it were items from ammo, to c-rations or,if we were lucky, LRRP meals. We also carried extra machine gun ammo, one or two claymore mines, trip flares, water and personal items. It added up fast. Zeke habitually wore NVA web gear, captured from slain enemy soldiers. Carrying the M16 rifle.Zeke was a point man. A good one. |  Ray May, Lew Leggett, Sgt Page. |  ??? |  Page, Zeke, Setting upo a machine gun position. |  Zeke crossing a stream. Extremely thick bamboo forest. |  McGinley and Blevins: Point and slack man, in heavy rain forest on the edge of the bamboo thicket. It was here that we started to get up toward the foothills, and closer to our usual area of operations. Point man walks with the rifle on full auto (rock and roll), the slack man walks with rifle on single shot, everyone else on safe. |  Zeke |  Left to right: unable to get name of the first guy on the left. He is carrying an m-79 grenade launcher. Next to him is Raider Rick, who I am told accidently shot himself in the thigh, while twirling a .45. smart, Huh? Next is Zeke and finally Specialist Parker, a representative of the Division PIO office. These are particularly tough guys. I would walk anywhere with these four men. In fact I did walk in the most dangerous place on earth with these guys. |  Ray May, and Zeke Blevins |  Grey and Zeke. Although Grey is shown holding an m-16, He was a machine gunner. He packed the M-60 MG. Grey was a good man who ended up in a bad situation. After leaving the Tigers for the Battalion Aid Station, I later learned that he was alleged to have shot a Marine. The stories abound as to what happened, all different in detail to the point of near legend... I hope he is doing well. |
Entered 11/8/98 These Photos were taken with a
camera that had just been received in the field by Roy "Zeke" Blevins. The camera box is
visible in the last picture in this series. The time is about Christmas time of 1968. The film
was developed in 1970, and the prints have degraded over time.
We were young
and strong and vital, and all we wanted out of life was to get home alive. It was my
decided philosophy that the best way for me to do this was traveling with the Tigers. One cannot sneake in the woods with 100 men (a line company) but one CAN sneak in groups of 3 or 4.
These were young men who took the art of combat very seriously.
 Myself at the edge of an elephant grass forest. The grass towers overhead, and is sharp as razors. Point men would constantly receive cuts on their arms from pushing thru the thick grass. these cuts were very hard to heal. |  T.J. McGinley, point man. He and others often wore NVA web gear, captured from enemy soldiers. The Tiger Stripe uniform is typical of the colors worn by Tiger Force and other recon outfits. Later we began to get "Flower Power" jungle fatigues from supply. We usually had to buy our own Tiger Stripes. |  |  |  Roy "Zeke" Blevins at Veghel. Ho Chi Min sandals were made by the Viets, out of inner tubes and truck tire tread. Zeke captured these off an enemy soldier who had had a bad day. |  Myself, T.J. McGinley, and Sgt Page. If anyone knows the location of Page, please make an entry in my guest book. |  My pal, Roy "Zeke" Blevins. Zeke was a great story teller, and aggresive point man. He and McGinley and I were very tight. I thank God that we all got home alive and well. I met with him at a recent reunion, and noted that he still makes this same face. |
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