553rd Reconnaissance Wing
        Nui Ba Den Mountain - Award of the Purple Heart
                 By Ron Cox - October 18, 2009
                       Rev - A - 10/18/09

In early 1969 the 553rd  Electronic Maintenance Squadron (EMS)
assumed the responsibility for maintaining and manning what was
called the Commando Shackle Relay in South Vietnam about six
miles outside of the city of Tay Ninh.  The relay was placed on
top an extinct volcano, Nui Ba Den mountain, that rose 3235 feet
above the flat delta plains and was considered the end of the Ho
Chi Mihn trail.  While the US Army controlled the top of the
mountain, the Viet Cong (VC) were very active and the mountain
housed the headquarters for the liberation force for South
Vietnam.  

The relay van housed much of the same radio equipment that was in
the EC-121R except it was down linked to operators in portable
vans at Bien Hoa Air Base.  The relay site was a high priority
for the III Corps Tactical Zone and relieved our aircraft and
crews to fly missions in other locations.  The night of June 18,
1969 loomed dark and foggy, a VC sapper team crawled through the
Army lines to make a deliberate attack on the relay vans.  In the
attack the vans were severely damaged and the 553rd EMS Sergeant
on duty at the time, TSgt. John Linaburg, was wounded and at
least two VC were killed by Army personnel responding to the
attack. Sergeant Linaburg was the only 553rd Reconnaissance Wing
member known to receive the Purple Heart.

The attack required the Wing to stretch its operation to provide
immediate coverage to the III Corps mission, the Amber orbit,
which resulted in a significant drain on our limited resources. 
To make matters worse the relay van was a one of a kind item and
a replacement would have had to be contracted and built from
scratch.  A small team was dispatched from Korat the next day to
see if there was any hope for repair.  An evaluation of the van
revealed that while the van was beyond repair the damage to the
equipment and wiring inside could be repaired.  The team
requested that the van be transported to Korat for repair.  

Seventh Air Force immediately gave the repair and return of the
Commando Shackle Relay a Combat Essential priority and within
hours a Chinook helicopter was lifting it off the mountain and
across South Vietnam. When it arrived the next day at Korat on a
dedicated C-130 the Van was stripped by members of the EMS Comm
Shop and repair began.  When two excellent technicians, TSgt
Rozier and SSgt Saltzer, explained that they could increase the
capability of the van by fifty per cent, approval was obtained
and by the time a new empty van was received from the States the
upgrade was completed and ready to be installed.  As an added
measure of protection the entire van was boxed in with steel
boiler plate by 553rd personnel.   

The team returned with the van and installed it on what had
become to be known as Black Widow Mountain, the entire episode
took place between 18 June and 12 July 1969.

Webmaster NOTE - Ron Cox was the Officer In Charge of the
Communications Shop, of the 553rd Reconnaissance Electronic
Maintenance Squadron.