Although the 697th Engineer Company (Pipeline) as a whole was never deployed to Viet Nam, in mid 1965, one platoon was needed to support operations in central Viet Nam. The following information was taken from declassified documents acquired at the National Archives II located in College Park, MD
2nd Platoon departed Korat on or about
27/28 July1965 enroute to Qui Nhon, Viet Nam to support the 19th Engineer
Battalion with the first link of a complex POL distribution system in central
South Viet Nam.
Attached to the 19th Eng.
Bn. from 28 July 1965 to 5 December 1965, the 697th laid 50.6 miles of 6 inch
pipe and installed 5 pumping stations. The pipeline originated at the tank farm
in Qui Nhon where the 19th Eng. Bn. Had constructed a 102,000 BBL
storage tank. It then followed Route 19 inland and terminated at An Khe, Viet
Nam.
This POL distribution system
would allow tankers to discharge their fuel into the storage tank for further
pumping through the pipeline to it’s final destination.
The line was designed to
deliver 385 BBL per hour of much needed fuel for the 1st Calvary Division
located at An Khe, 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku, or Phu Cat Air Base.
The pipeline consisted of 6” tubing with victaulic
valve couplings. The pumps were 4” stage centrifugal pumps. The design head
loss was 100 ft. per mile. The pipeline is to be used to pump all types of
fuel.
Construction began at Qui
Nhon on 15 August 1966. As segments of the pipeline from one pump station to
another were completed, it was put into operation.
The pipeline was attached to all existing bridges,
and suspension bridges were built at the bailey bridge river crossings.
When it was
necessary to bury long stretches of pipe the following construction operations
were used.
1. Weld the pipe in 400 ft. sections
2. Dig the trench
3. Place 3” sand bottom at rough sections
4. Place the pipe over the trench on 4” x 4”
and weld 400’ sections together.
5. Air
test the line.
6. Coat the pipeline with MC-2.
7.
Wrap the line with roofing paper.
8.
Bury the line with proper back fill procedures.
The following
procedure was used to test the pipeline. A 6” single stage
centrifugal pump was setup at fresh water streams along the pipeline. A 4 mile
segment of the pipeline was tested on both sides of the river site. The first
step was to give the line a good flush. Then the pipeline scraper (a “PIG”) was
used to remove any obstructions in the line. Lastly, the line was drained at
the low spots to remove any water that was present. When the line was put into
operation, there was one leak per 3 miles of pipe.
Construction of
this POL distribution system was completed on 7 January 1967.
The 2nd Platoon
was attached to the 35th Engineer Battalion from 5 December 1966 to 28 January
1967. (more to come)
One section of a
document acquired states:
“There were 63,240 man hours expended on the project. There were 36,840
man hours expended by a 44 man pipeline platoon and 26,400 man hours expended
by a 30 man Combat Engineer platoon.”
This would lead you to believe that the
2nd Platoon at that time was assigned 44 personnel. Not all names are known at
this time. Below are a few that have been identified: (please correct me if I’m
wrong)
1LT. McCarron
SGT Ramsey
SGT Perkinson
SGT Taylor
SP4 Jadrosich
