Weeks after arriving in Vietnam in 1968, Korean War veteran Sergeant First Class Floyd Wilmoth- who enlisted in the US Army in 1953- stepped aboard the river vessel LCU1577 ‘Sunset Strip’. Days later, Wilmouth and his crew were unwittingly embroiled in an international incident between Cambodia and the United States.
The following is from selected extracts from a very long 2001 interview between Wilmouth and Wesley Michael. The order that the events were relayed have been changed for clarity, but the words are all Mr. Wilmoth’s own.
“I was assigned to the 5th Heavy Boat Company in Vung Tau. Upon arriving in Vung Tau, I was assigned to the Landing Craft Utility [LCU] 1577 Sunset Strip which was on a supply run to Saigon. I was in my company area for approximately five days before the vessel came in.
1577 Sunset Strip was the nickname of the vessel. I don’t remember the company commander’s name because I never saw him. I never saw the first sergeant for the five days that I was in the company area. I was never issued a weapon from the company. I was never issued a sheet to put on my bunk. I thought the unit commander and first sergeant had a very poor run company.
Once my vessel came in, I boarded it, and we had run two missions, one to Saigon, and I can’t remember the place of the other one. On Sunday, the 15th of July 1968, we loaded 250-55-gallon barrels of jet fuel on the well deck, and then early Monday morning proceeded to Tun Fae. We traveled until approximately 4 4 o’clock in the afternoon on the 16th of July and stopped at an ARVN [Army of the Republic of Vietnam] camp to spend the night.
There were eleven Americans, and one South Vietnamese; Donald Price, Lee Henry, Harley Kassel, and Harl Sims were deck hands. Winfred Crow was a sergeant first class assigned to one the ARVN camps. He was an advisor to the South Vietnamese military. John Chevalier was a cook aboard our vessel. Ralph McCullough was a warrant officer engineer. Cassias Shup and Donald Grigsby were engineers (and) one South Vietnamese soldier that was assigned to the AVRN camp along with Winfred Crow.
Lee was a little, short guy about 5’6″ or 5’7″. Real pleasant guy, easy going, easy to get along with, knowledgeable in his job. Cassias Shup was a German boy, real tall, very nice individual, very hard worker. Took pride in his work. Donald Grigsby was a tall, blond-headed boy, very heavy-set, kind of laid-back, wouldn’t volunteer, but would do his job once you told him what to do. Terry Kramer was about 5’10”, stocky good-built, nice individual, very out-going, good worker.
