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383rd QM Detachment at Ft Lee just before they shipped out to RVN
Was first located in the Qui Nhon (Quin Nhom) South Vietnam area.
Then at Saigon as a Provisional Air Delivery Company.
Then Attached to the 109th QM Co. (Air Delivery) at Cam Ranh Bay late 1966.
Lastly at Bien Hoa as a separate Provisional Air Delivery Company in DEC 1967.
Photo: Doug Flenniken (Doug's Photo Album)

Retired CW4 Lowel Hamel (1st SGT. of the 383rd 1967 -`1968) lead an effort to nominate and approval was granted for the 383rd Quartermaster Detachment induction into the Quartermaster Corps' *Distinguished Unit of the Regiment*. Award was presented 18th day of June 1999. Photo not available.

goodjob/awardt.jpg

 

Moto "Charlie Knocks, We Drop!"

 

In May, 1965, a group of men were taken from the 109th Quartermaster Company, then at Fort Lee, Virginia, to form the nucleus of the 383rd Quartermaster Detachment. One month later the 383rd received orders for Vietnam. While there the 383rd had a long and distinguished history. In November, 1966, the 383rd was reattached to the 109th QM Company at Cam Ranh Bay, and remained an important platoon of the 109th until it moved to Bien Hoa in December, 1967, in order to start another Air Delivery Unit.

In 1967 the 383rd, while attached to the 109th, played a key role in Operation Junction City resupply airdrops. Operation Junction City with the 173rd Airborne was the only official Combat Parachute jump in the Vietnam War. Spc 4 James Linville, SGT Harris, and Spc 4 Harvey did a parachute jump during the resupply missions.

Just a month after the 383rd went to Bien Hoa the Siege of Khe Sanh started on the 21st of January 1968. The 383rd, 109th and 623rd all played a major role in the airdrops delivering over 8,000 tons of supplies by parachute and extraction systems that set a record of most tonnage ever drop into *actual combat* for a 30 day period. A record that still holds to this day.

At Bien Hoa the 383rd was but a single platoon, it was augmented with a platoon of riggers from the 549th QM Company (Air Supply) in Japan, a platoon of riggers from the 173rd Airborne, and another platoon from the 101st Airborne. After The Battle for Khe Sanh and the A Shaw Valley airdrops in April 1968 the 549th, 173rd, and 101st platoons returned to their respective units.

Very little history or documentation has been recovered for the 383rd, but much has been recovered the past few years with contributions by Ret. Warrant Officer Lowel Hamel, James Linville, and Doug Flenniken. The 383rd was inactivated on March 20, 1972, while still in the Republic of Vietnam. The 383rd is still inactive.



383rd Lineage and Honors


Also See:

See Unit Histories: 109th, 383rd, 278th
See 1st Log Fact Book 1968
See Newspaper Clippings
See Suggested Reading