PFC Robert G. Stanko
HQ & Service Battery
Company C, 6th Bn, 29th Artillery
4th Inf Div, Vietnam

Hello sir. First of all thank you for your service in Vietnam. I am seeking information on PFC Stanko, who was the best friend of my brother. He was killed under unusual circumstances in Pleiku. He was at a firebase and in a bunker with other soldiers. An altercation took place, and as PFC Stanko attempted to break up the altercation, he was fatally shot by one of the other soldiers. The incident took place on 10/31/1968. His death was confirmed as an intentional homicide. I am wondering if you could possibly find anyone who served with PFC Stanko and knew him. PFC Stanko was in Vietnam for less than a month before he was killed.

Thank you.
Dean Rosan

Posted 22 SEP 2022

You can make contact via email to the Swamp_fox address at the bottom of this page. I will forward your email to Dean.

Jerry Robotka
S-4
6th Bn, 29th Arty

Howdy Homer,

I was the S-4 for the 6/29th. I was lucky enough to be the one responsible for packing them up and sending them home. I didn't get to go with the unit, since the Army decided I should spend 6 more months in country. Anyway, I'm alive and well and living in Wisconsin.

Best regards, Cpt. Robotka

Jon Aldridge
6th Bn, 29th Arty

Doug Williams

What an amazing site – I have been to many of the places in these threads, starting my tour with the ‘yards and SF at Ranger’s Roost north of Dak Pek!!

My name is Doug Williams and I just read the piece from Terry Ward about FB 20 and Task Force Alpha in March 1969. I’d like to offer what I recall. I was the 1/8 Artillery LNO on FB 20 for the whole period and assigned to the 6/29 Arty. It was a very difficult time because nobody had been in Plei Trap for six months and it showed. There were formidable NVA regular forces coming from the tri-border area along a route that would lead east toward Polei Kleng, and then on to Kontum. Also, for the first time, we were on the receiving end of 105mm rounds. The operation lasted many days with intensity increasing with each day.

The 105’s were shooting Chinese ammunition (later extracted with some tubes) and were devastatingly lethal – in one night, toward the end, we counted over 250 rounds landing at or within the FB 20 perimeter. Throughout much of the action, we fired support both for our position on FB 20, and also the poor guys down in the middle of the NVA trail on Hill 467 – they were right in the middle of the bad traffic; and the stench of the good job they were doing was prevalent. When possible, I got in a LOH and went out looking and on one occasion, spotted about 6 NVA trucks with arms and ammo moving down the trail just a little beyond 467. After cranking up our own 105 DS tubes, as well as our 81’s and 4-dueces, I also brought in 175mm from Ben Het and 155’s from somewhere back near Polei Kleng. The fires were arranged to circle the trucks and close them in – it worked, with several large secondaries forthcoming.

The most heroic thing I have ever seen was while on FB 20 during the night of incredible incoming. The Battalion Surgeon, stranded for the night due to no flights in and out, went way beyond what one would expect. One 105 gun crew that was shooting counter battery took a direct hit – it was chaos and bedlam as the rounds kept coming in. We were all trying to put out ammo fires, tend to wounded and keep our own tubes firing. We heard some more booms and I knew more rounds were in-coming – as they hit, they landed just outside the pit that had taken the previous direct hit. As the landing rounds exploded, there were balls of light in the dark background. Between the light and me, silhouetted there in the light of the fireballs was the Doc, lying on top of a soldier who had just lost his leg, protecting him and holding up an IV to assist the soldier with pain and loss of blood. I can still perfectly see the memory – the troop made it and was evac’d the next day.

Eventually, we found the tubes that were crating so much havoc after a crater analysis and going looking for them in a LOH. As we got near to them, 37's, 12.7's and small arms opened up on us simultaneously – the pilot was incredible and we were at tree top in split-seconds. But we now had their position. That night and early next morning, B52s hit the tri-border area where we found the tubes. After that, their tubes were silent and we extracted both positions, even then under great duress.

In all, we brought out nine 105 tubes, and found they were all American carriages that were traced back to the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The supply line had been broken and the NVA had suffered enormous losses – unfortunately, ours were also high. But for the actions of the Doc, there would be one more -- God bless him wherever he is.

Jim Lehmann

I was a medic with B battery 6th/29th artillery during the Plei Trap valley campaign from March 1, 1969 to April 6th when I left the field to go home. I was amazed when I read your post above. I have been taken by the depth of your feelings about that time. As an enlisted man, I had come to believe that officers didn't have the same feelings I had. Your site has opened my eyes. Recently I've come to the realization that a lot of what I thought was my own specific reaction to the war was common to others who served. After I came home I just didn't have anybody with similar experiences with whom to talk. Civilians just don't have a clue. The issues we had were left for us to deal with on our own.



Posted 16 NOV 2004