Paul Christensen page 12

The Story Of The Plaque

On 23, August 1968, at 0210 hours, a large element of NVA Sappers attacked Command and Control North, (CCN), Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. The NVA came in from the sea, after killing the Vietnamese/Yard sentries, they charge into the compound tossing bombs, charges, grenades and small arms fire into the living quarters of MACVSOG personnel. The S2 Headquarters as well as several other areas were attacked and heavily damaged. Personal heroics were displayed by MACVSOG personnel defending their base. In the aftermath, several MACVSOG personnel were killed in the battle. Most of the NVA were also killed, and those who fled were later hunted down. The top pictures shows where a satchel charge was thrown in, and where Paul Christensen was sleeping. This bomb completely destroyed the Hooch. Second Picture, Paul hold the door knob from his blown up Hooch.

This is the story of the plaque above as told to me by my father, S-2, Paul A. Christensen. Within the compound, a young Vietnamese boy lived. SOG personnel called him "Spike". Spike was the mascot of the camp, he was dressed in GI uniforms and lived among the men. While going through the burned out rubble, Spike came across this FOB #4 plaque. He walked up to my father, Paul Christensen and with sadness in his eyes, shaking his head gave it to him, (Paul). The holes in it are from NVA - AK-47 or CAR-15, M-16 rounds as well as bomb fragmentation. The burn marks are from the fires that erupted after the explosions.

My Father wrote Gilbert Secor on the plaque. Gilbert was killed in the attack. SOG personnel heard Gilbert yelling a warning "Paul look out we are under attack" before he was killed. Gilbert and my Father spent TDY in 1962-63 together in the early days of Nam. Both Medics during that tour, they were best of friends.

(Right Picture) Locaiton where Paul was sleeping and locaiton of bomb placement. (Left Picture) Paul sleeping quarters. Note door knob in hand.

I attended, for the first time with my Father the Special Operation Convention, 2001 in Las Vegas. At that reunion, I listened to the stories as told by the SOG personnel who fought through that battle. All of them heroes. I learned in that in the misted of that battle, one of the SOG personnel was hit pretty bad. A brave Lieutenant jumped in a jeep and drove to areas where SOG personnel were wounded. A group of SOG guys were in a ditch, heavy fire was coming in, the jeep came racing in. One of the guys in the ditch was hit pretty bad. Paul Christensen picked up the wounded guy and raced him across the area of heaving shooting and placed him on the jeep. The Lieutenant sped off. This solider lived and he was at the convention. It was pretty amazing listening to that story. So when I gazed upon the motto of the Special Operation Association it made all the sense in the world.

"You have never lived until you have almost died. For those who have fought for it , life has a special flavor the protected will never know".

Spike with CCN troops & Seabees in CCN club. Spike was a Vietnamese orphan who was informally "adopted" by some guys in Recon company. He lived with them and even stayed with them up on the top of Chinstrap, at our outpost up there. Someone finally figured out that there was a security risk in all that, and hanging around with a bunch of G.I.'s wasn't getting Spike the kind of education he needed to succeed in life. So, it was arranged that Spike went to a boarding type school in DaNang. Left to Right.- SeaBee petty officer/photographer - SFC Ammon Sink, NCOIC, CCN S-2 - SFC Jerry Skiorsky (spelling?), CCN S-2 Collections NCO.