DMSN Raul Herrera, U.S. Navy (1965-1969)

Fifteen minutes after midnight on July 15, 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, the crew of Swift Boat PCF-79 fulfilled the Operation Market Time mission by taking the lead role in the U.S. Navy’s historic Sa Ky River Victory. LT j.g. Edward J. Bergin received the “PER GRA” radio message from the on-scene commander granting permission to take the evading North Vietnamese gunrunner, code-named SKUNK ALPHA, under fire at the mouth of the Sa Ky River on the tip of the Batangan Peninsula, Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam.

Skunk Alpha was denied delivery of more than 90-tons of rifles, machine guns, ammo, rockets, explosives and supplies to the Viet Cong and NVA Regulars operating in the My Lai area in southern I Corps, thus saving thousands of free-world forces lives. The Swift Boat picket-line along the rugged 1200-mile South Vietnam coast remained impenetrable.

Torpedoman Second Class Robert Middleton, bathed the enemy ship with twin-.50 caliber machine gun fire from his position above our pilot house. From the fantail gun mount, Boatswains Mate Second Class Bobby Don Carver trigger-fired an 81mm white phosphorous mortar round into the trawler’s pilot house, forcing it to lose control and run around on a sandbar. Two landing craft took the trawler under tow at sundown and headed north to the Naval Support Activity Detachment at Chu Lai for unloading and repair of hundreds of bullet and rocket holes near the vessel’s water line. The following day, Skunk Alpha was once again under way to Da Nang.

For our action, we were personally congratulated and presented the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry Medal by Premier Nguyen Cao Ky and Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu in a gala awards ceremony held on July 19, 1967, in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam.

On August 7, 1967 and in retaliation for depriving the enemy of Skunk Alpha’s cargo, more than 300 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Regulars overran a South Vietnamese Navy Junk Base, Coastal Group 16, three short miles south of the Batangan Peninsula. Navy LT William C. Fitzgerald ordered his men to a nearby estuary while he bravely held the charging enemy at bay. In addition to posthumously being awarded the Navy Cross, the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) was commissioned on 14 Oct. 1995 in Newport, R.I. in LT Fitzgerald’s honor and memory.

The enemy wasn’t done. The Viet Cong placed a bounty on Swift Boat PCF-79. On December 6, 1967, while conducting a psychological warfare mission along the My Lai shoreline, our boat came under heavy machine gun fire from three bunker positions along the sand dunes, BM1 Bobby Don Carver fell to enemy fire that day.

To recall those days, I have the US flag PCF-79, which flew the night we captured Skunk Alpha. I also have partially melted Zeiss binoculars, brass bullet casings, and a banana-style bullet clip taken off the trawler. Fifty-seven years ago seems like yesterday when I hold these Remnants of War. WE REMEMBER.

Read the Military Memories of our Runner-Ups.