Ted Gilmore
tgilmore@hal-pc.org

I happened onto the site today, by accident, while looking for contact information for a former good friend and fellow aviator, Marshall S. Scott
Garrett. You have done a masterful job on the web site.

I returned from Vietnam in February 1972 after serving as a Cobra pilot with the 4/77th Arty (101st Airborne) in Phu Bai, RVN. I was stationed at Fort Campbell with the 20th Engr Bn from March 1972 until ETS April 1974. Initially, I was a Platoon Leader in Company D and was involved with the park project in Bowling Green. Later, I served as the Company Commander for Co. A for a year. My final assignment was assistance S-3. I was promoted to Captain just 17 days before leaving the Army on April 30, 1974.

There was only one other rated aviator in the battalion, CPT Scott Garrett. He and I were very good friends but unfortunately have lost communication over the years. When the battalion was finally authorized a UH-1, Scott and I went to Corpus Christi, Texas to test an aircraft that had served in Vietnam. I remember it was winter time, and Scott and I managed to spend almost a week in balmy
Corpus Christi before making the two day helicopter ferry mission back to Fort Campbell.

My company was also involved in the Indian Mound exercise. In fact, Lt. Glen Hankstrum (sp?) and I developed an attachment that was mounted onto the blade of a Caterpillar dozer and used to rip the PSP off of the old landing strip. Supposedly, the project would not have been completed in time for the exercise if the ripper had not been used. I recall us spreading a lot of diesel fuel onto the air strip for dust control during C-130 usage.

It is ironic that LTC Fred Cole in shown on the memorial section of the web site. I knew that LTC Cole had been killed in Vietnam but didn't realize that he was with the 20th when he died. MAJ Fred Cole was a military instructor at the University of Missouri at Rolla, before he was promoted to LTC. I remember him well from the ROTC program I completed at UMR.

I would be happy to discuss other details of my experience with the 20th. Meanwhile, keep up the great work on the web site. I can be reached at tgilmore@hal-pc.org

Best regards,

Ted R. Gilmore
21611 Cimarron Parkway
Katy, TX 77450

P.S. Would appreciate any contact information that you may have for Scott
Garrett.