Earl Clark

The Siege of Khe Sanh

My name is Earl Clark. I was with Alpha Co. 1stBn, 26thMar during the siege of Khe Sanh. These are the photos I took before, during, and after the siege.

Earl K. Clark


A photo of me at the age of 19.
Corporal Earl K. Clark, 2157497, USMC


An F-4 doing a flyby just before the siege began.
I can tell because there are tent tops still visible in the foreground.


This is an AlphaCo work party digging a bunker
that, unkowingly, would become my home for the next three months.

The date on the photo reads Jan 68, so this must have been just before the siege started. Most of Khe Sanh began going underground in this time period based on intelligence reports that there was a massive NVA build-up in the area.


Photo of the base underground
This photo was taken by Milton McNeely of Bravo, 1stBn, 26thMar.


C-130 on the Khe Sanh airstrip


Chopper pad at Khe Sanh Combat Base


Shower on The Ponderosa
All of us who were there knew The Ponderosa.


This is either the Command Post for 26th Marines (my first choice)
or the 26th Marine Communications Bunker. Can't quite make out the sign


Here is a photo of a bombing run made just outside our wire.

Charlie was tunneling toward the base by this time. I believe we had an ARVN Battalion protecting this end of the base.


Mess Hall

This is the First Battalion, 26th Marines messhall after the first day of the siege. The structure was one of the first things to blow, along with the ammo dump.


The hills surrounding the Khe Sanh Combat base covered with bomb craters.


The "Flying Crane" was used to bring up supplies, trucks and howitzers.


An air-drop at Khe Sanh

Marines would risk their lives going out to retrieve all the supplies while Charlie walked in the mortar rounds.


My license plates read KHESANH.
I had to send this to go along with the other photos.


Reunion

Looking at the photo, Bob Harrison is on the left, Russ Turner, Earl Clark, and Pete James on the right. All of us from Alpha Company, 1stBn, 26th Marines at the 1998 Khe Sanh Reunion in Wahington, D.C.

What a handsome crew we are.

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