1st Recon Battalion Association

1st Recon Battalion Association

Thanks for your service.

Part 41

2025

June 1st Half

1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Missions / Patrol Reports

Are you looking for your Old Patrol Reports? Check out this page on my website:

http://www.weststpaulantiques.com/reconmissions.html

Too close to whisper...
...one click for "yes", two for "no"...
"Brothers of the Bush"

----------------------------
Recon...their name is
their honor...and nothing more
need be said...Recon

Floyd Ruggles

Check Out New Messages/Newsletter

...

All Companies

Photo Gallery

The Memory Remains Not All Wounds Are Visible.

"A Brotherhood Forged In Combat"

1st Reconnaissance Battalion Index

Message Board Links

Part 1 - 2018-2019 

Part 2 - 2019-2020 

Part 3 - 2020 

Part 4 - 2020 

Part 5  - 2020

Past Message Board

Past Newsletters 

Part 1 - 2017-2018 

Part 2 - 2018 

Part 3 - 2018 

Part 4 - 2018-2019 

Past Reunions 

Past Stories 

Send in your photos

Part 6  - 2020

Past Photos Galleries 

Part 7  - 2020

Part 8  - 2020

Bobby Bare

 

 

Photo Gallery

Part 10  - 2021

Click a photo to link to a page on our  website or Facebook. Links are found on nearly all Web pages. Links allow users to click their way from page to page. You will find thousands of links on the 1st recon battalion association website.

In Remembrance of our brother Reconnaissance Marines & Corpsmen killed in action or otherwise while on duty.

Look at it as your Time Capsule. This website won't stand long after we are all gone.

 

Daniel M Turpin

1st Recon Battalion Association

Part 11  - 2021

1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Missions / Patrol Reports

Too close to whisper...
...one click for "yes", two for "no"...
"Brothers of the Bush"

----------------------------
Recon...their name is
their honor...and nothing more
need be said...Recon
------------------------

Bravo Company 1968-1969

Part 12  - 2021

To all Association Members,

Please reply and update or confirm your Information.
Your 1st Recon Battalion Association Website Information
can be found at: 1streconbn.org/members.html

Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks for all your help.

My email address is floyd@weststpaulantiques.com.
Please keep your information up to date.

This will allow the Association to send messages out from time to time by email or by mail.

Semper Fi,
Floyd Ruggles
Membership Director & Webmaster

1st Recon Battalion Association

New Members to the Association of the Natural Warrior

2023

Part 13  - 2021-2022

Part 14  - 2022

Part 15  - 2022

Part 16  - 2023

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

Get involved send in your messages, photos, stories share what you think about our website. I will post them on this page.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

Click a photo to link to a page on our website. Links are found on nearly all Web pages.
Links allow users to click their way from page to page.

Navigator is at the top of each page.

**WELCOME to FIRST RECON'S WEBSITE** 2009-2023 

Don't be fooled by the warning signs it's a safe website, it's just an old platfrom. Just hit advance, you will enjoy this website, it's my personal website.

1st Recon Battalion Association

Message Board will be our newsletter going forward. 

It's ongoing and you can be a part of it, each month through out the year.

Association Purpose

Our mission is to help locate former Recon Marines and their families, and to recognize those who paid the ultimate price through the 1st Recon Memorial Fund which has established and will help maintain the permanent memorial at the Marine Corps Historical Museum at Camp Quantico Virginia.

Message from webmaster!

June 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Part 17  - 2023

Part 18  - 2023

Part 19  - 2023

Part 20  - 2023

Part 21  - 2023

Part 22  - 2024

Member of 1st Recon Battalion Association

1st Recon Bn KIA Vietnam War

..

War Story

.....

Rest in Peace

Jim

The Jim Southall Story, Over 200 1st Recon Battalion Marines involved in this story. The story is a work in progress over the next year. Over 100 Patrol Reports.

Some Give It All

Vietnam 1968-1969

Thoughts of that Day

Doug Wolfe's Story

Patrol Report #349-68

98 hours on Charlie Ridge

Index by dates & names

Sergeant Jim Southall - Hill 200 1969

Are Message Board is now our new newsletter.

1968

1969

Membership Director & Webmaster

2016-2025

Floyd

Last night I awoke to the sounds of thunder. I was recalling a small part of a day a long time ago. As if it was yesterday...

Today is a particularly dreary, rainy day. Lookout Mountain is socked in good. It is not unusual for it to be socked in. Hell they fought the Battle Above the Clouds there during the Civil War.

However, today it put me in mind of another dreary, socked in ridge I was on for around 2 hours on 3 June, 1968. Known only to me as Hill 200, it was a desolate, indefensible place that somebody in the 1st Mardiv G3 shop picked off the map to insert my platoon on as an observation post & radio relay.

Stories from Members

Some Give It All

THE DAY THE CRAP WENT UP IN FLAMES
By Gary Graves, HM3

5 Minutes ‘Til Forever

Part 42

Coming Soon

Applicants

1st RECONNAISSANCE BATTALION ASSOCIATION

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS

ARTICLE II – MEMBERSHIP

SECTION 4. DUES. Association members have no mandatory dues. However, Members and Associate Members are encouraged to make donations, annually, to help defray the Association’s operating expenses. An annual donation of $10.00 is suggested.

Semper Fi, Floyd Ruggles

Membership Director & Webmaster

1st Recon Battalion Association

Welcome to our Members Page

1st Recon Battalion Association

Next Page

Previous Page

All Units
March 1966 - May 1971

This link is to my old website It's a safe website on a old plarform follow instructions to the webpage. 

Part 24  - 2024

Part 25  - 2024

Part 9  - 2020

1st Recon Battalion

Association of the Natural Warrior

June 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Part 26  - 2024

Part 27  - 2024

Part 29  - 2024

Click a photo to link to a page on our website. Links are found on nearly all Web pages.Links allow users to click their way from page to page. You will find thousands of links on this website.

1st Recon Battalion Association is a non-profit organization of former and current members of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division

Thanks for taking the time to stop by our website today.

Your Webmaster

Floyd Ruggles

Coming Soon

Thanks for stopping by today

Part 28  - 2024

Part 30  - 2024

Part 31  - 2025

Rest In Peace, Marines!

from: Bruce Fogarty
I remember that day. I met Colonel Leftwich’s son in Washington Naval Yard for a Recon Reunion. I remember that day as if it was yesterday

Part 32  - 2025

Part 33  - 2025

Vietnam War 1st Recon Battalion 1965-1971

Part 34  - 2025

Coming Summer 2025

Learn More & Pre-Order

1st Recon Battalion Association Facebook Page

Marine's and Corpsmen who have served with 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion from it's inception 1 March 1937 at Quantico, Virginia as the 1st Tank Company and assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade until today's current force. Only members can see who's in the group and what they post.

Passed away on February 8, 2022

3 years ago

1969 - 55 Years Ago Camp Reasoner - Da Nang Vietnam

Vietnam
July 1968 - July 1969

I can recall that day I arrived in Nam as a green know it all rookie marine with an attitude. I was going to win the war by myself. What a dumb kid I must have been then. Only moments after arriving that day, reality set in and I learn quickly that I was in hell or some where close.

The Memory Remains,

Not All Wounds Are Visible.

Part 36  - 2025

Part 35  - 2025

Part 37  - 2025

Remember you are not forgotten while I am still on patrol.

Part 38  - 2025

Bravo Company Photo Gallery 1968 & 1969

Bravo Company Photo Gallery 1968 & 1969

Bravo Company Photo Gallery 1968 & 1969

Bravo Company Photo Gallery 1968 & 1969

Bravo Company Photo Gallery 1968 & 1969

June 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Message Board

Part 39  - 2025

June 2025 - 1st Half Newsletter

Part 40  - 2025

Part 42  - 2025

Bravo Company, 1st Recon Battalion, conducting a night LLSL water jump into DZ Ocean complete with CRRC and Engine.

1st Recon Bn conducting mounted patrols to various towns throughout northern Iraq via up armored HMMWVs and Polaris Razors; with Army OH-58D KIOWAs providing additional observation and direct fire support.

November 2008

When doctors declared 27-year-old George Pickering III brain dead and prepared to remove him from life support, his father, George Pickering II, refused to accept their conclusion. Convinced his son was still alive, he took a desperate and dangerous stand—smuggling a gun into the hospital and locking himself in the room with his son.

For three tense hours, Pickering held off hospital staff and law enforcement. But in the midst of that standoff, something incredible happened. As his father pleaded with him to respond, the young man, supposedly brain dead, squeezed his father's hand. Not once, but again—clear, intentional movement. It was the moment George Pickering II had been waiting for.

Though he was arrested and later served 11 months in prison for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Pickering's instinct had been right. His son recovered fully, defying the prognosis that had condemned him. The story remains a haunting mix of love, desperation, and miraculous survival—a reminder that sometimes, belief in someone’s life can bring them back from the edge

Name: MIKE PIERSON
Email: mpierson@thedali.org
Phone number: 727-294-2291
Subject: Lance Corporal Larry James Pierson
Message: Seeing if anyone new my Uncle Larry James Pierson1st Marine Division, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, H S Company He Died at South Vietnam, Quang Tri province on 26 May 1968.
Thanks, Mike Pierson

Nick 3rd from left in the photo (the only non-indig) and with RT Habu and what seems like some monkeys for dinner. Note the SOG "flat black" truck in the background.

Our latest interview is with Nick Brokhausen who wrote one of the best books describing the SOG experience,We Few, it's hard to get hold of now but the interview below gives a snapshot of how Nick writes (reminds me of Hunter S,. Thompson)

Modern Forces: What made you join Special Forces and then how did you end up with SOG?
Nick Brokhausen: I was sitting on the side of a road contemplating reenlisting when I saw this gent with tiger stripes and a whole passel of montagnards that looked like Terry and the Pirates. I asked what they were and was told that they were called a Mike Force. I also asked where their officers were and was told that these indig troops were led by NCOs, no officers. Bingo I was hooked. I got to SOG because I trusted an Irish to do a simple task, like carry our orders down to the desk at the repo depot and to call Nha Trang to make sure we didnt get grabbed by the leg press gangs for the line infantry. I and he, had orders for the II Corps Mike Force, he was supposed to call and make sure we got on the plane to Nha Trang. Instead he came back with some confab about it being all volountary, yada yada,hype. After that its pure peer pressure and terror. This is why the Irish are always involved in the fight, they hear all the noise and think its a wake.

Modern Forces: What was your position on the team?
Nick Brokhausen: I was originally the 13 I think when Snake Adams went back to the US cause his Momma was sick, and Horton took over . After the Brightlight to try and recover Doc Watson and Baby San Lloyd, Mac took over and Jimmy Johnson took his own team and I was left as the 11. I stayed as the 11 of Habu until I nominally took over Crusader as the 10 just before I left country.Mac and I were together the longest of any team as 10 and 11. We clicked and Habu was a heavy team so other teams wanted us as Brightlight and we became very good at it.

Toward the end (71-72) we no longer were using the Hatchet force as Brightlight, unless it was multiple teams getting hammered and sometimes we just used two heavy teams since the hatchet force had nowhere the experience as we did. The drill was you went to the launch site, became the Bright light for anyone on the ground until your rotation for insertion came up. Usually you didnt get Brightlight after you were extracted but that was subject to the tactical situation.

Nick and team at Marble Mountain

Modern Forces: What kept you and the other team members going over the fence knowing the odds were so stacked against the teams?
Nick Brokhausen: Peer pressure and pride. You wanted to quit, God you wanted to be able to walk in there and get reassigned to the Donut Dollies, but you didnt want anyone to think you couldnt hack it.  You also develop a sense of  fatalism and the sooner the better, for until you just dont give a shit about hanging on to your mortal coil, thats one thing more that will distract you from staying alive.

Modern Forces: Were your indigenous team members Montagyard, Nung or Vietnamese?
Bill Barclay: All our team members were Bru, who are from the  Northern area of South Vietnam. We also had  a couple of Sedang. mixing team  ethnics was not a good idea so we usually stayed with the same tribe.

Modern Forces: Did any of them make it out to the States and if so have you ever been in touch?
Nick Brokhausen: Two of the young ones are living in North Carolina. Most of the older Yards either were outright executed after the war, died in rehabilitation camps or later in the fighting with the Vietnamese after the war.

Modern Forces: Did you have a weapon choice or preference?
Nick Brokhausen: Depending on the Mission it was a mix. I preferred the Car15, but also had a sawed of RPD that I carried when we ran DM targets or had a Brightlight. We normally kept all our armamment, grenades, special equipment etc in the hootch, which is why they were spectacular displays of cooking off munitions when the NVA overran the camp in 68 and tossed satchel chrges in the hootches trying to kill those inside.. For hand to hand nothing beats the old entrenching tool. especially if your nervous system is wired up for terror  and adrenalin. It acts like a bloody battleaxe.

Modern Forces: What’s A DM mission?
Nick Brokhausen: DM target is a Demilitarized Zone target DM ten was the worst of the lot. Mac and I ran it four times and our total time on the ground was less than two hours. We got shot out each time. We started inserting right at Pac time ( afternoon siesta) so we would have enough time between their being rudely awakened by a rack of two fifty pounders and some napalm, so that we could have enough time to grab some terrain for the pissed off afternoon murder session. It was at the conflux of two major trails and ran through an old cauldera, bad place, full of bunkers and pissed off rice burners.

Modern Forces: Is that a Randall knife you are carrying in the group shot?
Nick Brokhausen: That is a Randall and is in the private collection of a close friend. The Smithsonian and the Higgins armor museum are romancing him for his collection.  He has two of my knives. We sometimes pick a Marine or SF guy heading for the Rockpile or back to the Sandbox and he has a stable of custom knife makers who make a special knife for the service member, who carries it for his tour and returns it with the necessary providence. To tell you the truth the only time I ever had to fight it out hand to hand I used an entrenching tool. Sharp as a razor and fueld on sheer terror it makes bloody work in close and there were more than one and I wanted to scare the bejesus out of them, because I sure as hell was.

Combat with the Viet Cong was direct. Unlike the conventional warfare methods of firing artillery into a coordinate location, the SEALs operated within inches of their targets. Into the late 1960s, the SEALs were successful in a new style of warfare, effective in anti-guerrilla and guerrilla actions. The Viet Cong referred to them as "the men with green faces," due to the camouflage face paint the SEALs wore during combat missions.

SEALs continued to make forays into North Vietnam and Laos, and unofficially into Cambodia, controlled by the Studies and Observations Group. The SEALs from Team Two started a unique deployment of SEAL team members working alone with South Vietnamese Commandos (ARVN). In 1967, a SEAL unit named Detachment Bravo (Det Bravo) was formed to operate these mixed US and ARVN units, which were called South Vietnamese Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs).

At the beginning of 1968, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong orchestrated a major offensive against South Vietnam: the "Tet Offensive." The North hoped it would prove to be America's Dien Bien Phu, attempting to break the American public's desire to continue the war. As propaganda, the Tet Offensive was successful in adding to the American protest of the Vietnam war. However, North Vietnam suffered tremendous casualties, and from a purely military standpoint, the Tet Offensive was a major disaster for the Communists.

By 1970, President Richard Nixon initiated a Plan of Vietnamization, which would remove the US from the Vietnam conflict and return the responsibility of defense back to the South Vietnamese. Conventional forces were being withdrawn; however, SEAL operations continued.

On 6 June 1972, Lt. Melvin S. Dry was killed entering the water after jumping from a helicopter at least 35 feet above the surface. Part of an aborted SDV operation to retrieve prisoners of war, Lt. Dry was the last Navy SEAL killed in the Vietnam War. Photographs by: Paul Bishop

Philip Peters
Bravo Company, February 1966 - March 1967

Troy Hensley

Wingate, Texas

StgMaj. USMC (ret.)

1939-2023

Vincent James Iacopino
September 3, 1930 - January 28, 2022

Known as "Ike" or "Jimmy", he was born in Newark, NJ on September 3, 1930, son of Guiseppi and Concetta Iacopino. He grew up in Irvington NJ and was a football star at Irvington High School. After high school he joined the Marine Corps, fought in Korea, one of the Chosin Few, and was awarded two purple hearts for his brave service. Upon returning home he attended and graduated from Seton Hall University, and Georgetown School of Law.

While at Georgetown, he met a lovely nurse at a party, Lorraine Angwin, from Concord NH. They became best friends and married in 1957, raised their 5 children in Irvington NJ and then Newbury, NH. While in NJ, he was a partner at the law firm of Kein, Scotch, Pollatschek and Iacopino. Jimmy cherished his family time at his shore house teaching his children to sail, swim and fish. He served as Commodore of the Shore Acres Yacht Club. His winter weekends were spent on the ski slopes of New Jersey, Canada and New Hampshire with his five children. There was nothing he loved better than an interesting conversation on a chairlift. He was an active member of the Over 70's Ski Club for many years.

Vincent James "Ike" Iacopino

Arthur L Hansard

Delta Company 

January 1967 - February 1968

Arthur (Art) L. Hansard, age 75, of St. George Utah, passed away Wednesday, June 25, 2022, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Art was born April 23, 1947, to Arthur N. Hansard and Dorothy Griffith Hansard in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised in Bountiful, Utah.

After graduating from Bountiful High School, he joined the Marine Corp where he proudly served his country in Vietnam. After returning he continued his education graduating with an associate degree in accounting, which he later put to use in his 34-year career with the U.S. Postal Service.

Doug Wolfe's Web Page!

SULIE P. BOURQUE

"Louisiane Frenchy" of 1st Recon  Delta Company Chu Lai Dec. 1966 - Apr. 1967

Frenchy was with Delta Company 3rd Platoon.

He passed away February 8th, 2022 from Covid.

He will be greatly missed by his family & friends. We give thanks for Frenchy's life.

Sulie spent his childhood days in Kaplan, LA and attended Kaplan High School. After high school, he volunteered to join the Marines and served in the Vietnam War. Sulie was a proud veteran and served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. During his service, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He actively supported the MIA, CVMA, and local veterans’ organizations.

Oscar Munoz, Alpha Company 1967-1968

Oscar Munoz graduated from Sanger High School in 1962; Fresno State with a B.S. in Criminology and worked as a parole agent and later as a manager in the retail grocery industry. He served in the USMC , the First Marine Division, 1st Reconnaissance Company, team name; Texas Pete during the Vietnam War.
After Oscar's retirement he did a lot of volunteer work with St. Timothy's Catholic Church; Knights of Columbus; Fabulous Finds store and other ministries.
Oscar leaves behind a larger than life legacy as someone who would help anyone in need. Hewas very well liked by everyone with whom he met. His friendly, outgoing personality was contagious, and he was a genuine friend to all.

Evans, John Robert (Alpha Company 1967-1968 radioman with Alpha 1 teams Barkeep, Air Hose, & Lucky Lark.
He received the Bronze Star on June 28th, 1968 while on patrol with Lucky Lark.)
He died peacefully February 4th, 2022. We give thanks for John's life.

Looking for a photo of John if anyone has one send me it. Thanks

Remember you are not forgotten while I am still on patrol.

Gil & Lucille Perez

FIRST MARINE DIVISION ASSOCIATION
SPECIAL EDITION

JIM FOSSOS

Jim Fossos has passed away on January 19th, 2022

1968 Medal Ceremony at Camp Reasoner. Cpl. Thompson, Cpl. Jim Southall, Sgt Dave Lopez (all Bravo Deuce)

The Jim Southall Story

James F. "Jim" Southall. , age 65 of Tullos, Louisiana passed away on Saturday, November 24, 2012.

Born Friday, May 16, 1947 in Charleston, West Virginia, he was preceded in death by his Father, Charles F. Southall; Mother, Margie Southall; Wife, Evie Cox Southall; Granddaughter, Amelia Mapp; and Brothesr, Phillip and Lakin Southall.

Jim Southall served his country in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. 1st Recon Battalion, Bravo Company 1967-1969.

Thoughts of that Day

Today is a particularly dreary, rainy day. Lookout Mountain is socked in good. It is not unusual for it to be socked in. Hell they fought the Battle Above the Clouds there during the Civil War.

However, today it put me in mind of another dreary, socked in ridge I was on for around 2 hours on 3 June, 1968. Known only to me as Hill 200, it was a desolate, indefensible place that somebody in the 1st Mardiv G3 shop picked off the map to insert my platoon on as an observation post & radio relay.

200 was a high hump on a triple canopy ridgeline running northeast to southwest. One could observe a small section of a river to the south if one looked closely and the hill wasn’t socked in as it was when I was there. Other than that, all you could observe was a lot of triple canopied high ground that surrounded the hill for aprox 320 of the 360 degrees of view. For those less trained in the fine art of surveillance
than myself………….You couldn’t see shit and the place was a defender’s nightmare.

On 29 May, 1968 team Cayenne 3rd Plt. Bravo co. 1st Reconnassiance Bn. (Rein) led by S/Sgt. Phil Hampton inserted on hill 200 to conduct a 6 day static OP mission & act as a radio relay for teams operating in the far reaches of the battalion communications network Hampton’s team was composed of his normal people operating with Cayenne, HM3 Earl Lerch, and the remainder of the platoon minus an 8 man patrol being conducted on Charlie Ridge by Team Blue Spruce, the other team in the Platoon. His patrol numbered 15. 14 Marines & 1 Navy Corpsman. (HM3 Lerch)

They were inserted by CH46 helicopters after fixed wing had prepped the zone and basically blown the jungle off the ridgeline for about a 100 meters along the spine of the ridge and about 75 meters of the sides of the finger. They immediately set to work digging 2 man positions, setting fields of fire, putting out their claymores, & laying a pitiful single strand of concentina wire on their perimeter. Only God and Phil Hampton knows why a request for extraction from this position was not submitted. Maybe one was, but the 1st Recon Unit Diary shows no such request.

From the insertion thru the day of the 2nd of June, the patrol was uneventful, other than 1 sighting called in on a sampan traveling upriver. The SALUTE report cited 2 male occupants dressed in black Pjs. No packs or weapons were observed and no request for fire was submitted.

The afternoon of 2 June marked a turn for the worse in the weather.
The rain came and the accompanying fog started to sock the team in. the team set in for a miserable night in the mountain jungle, but what the fuck, they were getting out in the morning.

On the 30th of May Team Blue Spruce had returned to Camp Reasoner from our patrol. We were debriefed, cleaned our weapons and gear, and proceeded to see who could get the drunkest on 3.2 beer. 

LCpl. Charles Frank Huff

John Burtoft was the Senior U.S. Navy Corpsman with 1st Force Recon Company/Company "C", at Phu Bai/Hue City Vietnam. I can think of no greater service to America - He is our HERO. God Bless the U.S. Navy Corpsmen - for they are the Hands of God. Great picture, Doc. Salty ... Real Salty.

John Burtoft

Michael & Kathie Willis

Association of the Natural Warrior