Major James G. Miles
U.S. Army Special Forces (Ret),

1953-73, Served in following units:
508th ARCT, Ft Campbell, Ky 1954-55,
11th Abn Div Ft Campbell/Germany 1955-58,
101st Abn Div Ft Campbell, Ky 1958-59,
1st SFGA Okinawa/Vietnam 1960-62 (TDY to Song Mao Det A-22 Feb-Jul 62),
Infantry OCS Oct 62-Mar 63,
B Co 10th SFGA Germany 1964-66,
CO Det A-428, D Co 5th SFGA Vietnam 1966-67,
Senior Advisor ARVN 42nd Ranger Gp Chi-Lang 4th Corp Aug 70-Jan 71,
Operations Officer Special Mission Advisory Group (SMAG) Nha Trang Jan-Aug 71,
SF slot J-34 Section COMUSMACTHAI Aug 71-Jan 73,
Sr Advisor Royal Thai Army 13 RCT Udorn Thailand Jan- Oct 73.
Retired Nov 73
relocated from Thailand to Guam Jan 74.
Left Guam for Texas Aug 93.

Present Address: 2006 Windy Point Schertz, Texas 78154
Phn: (210) 566-3911.

Joined Texas State Guard Jan 2002,
presently XO 1st Bn 1st Brigade Hq San Antonio Texas.

Comments: A-428 was located in Chau Duc Province IV Corp under
D Co 5th SFGA. My Det was under B-42 at Chau Doc and we were located in Tan Chau
District on Mekong River. 11 kilometers from Cambodian border. LTC Frank Dallas was CO of D Co.
Col Mckean was CO 5th Gp when I arrived in Jun 66. I knew Mckean
when I was SSG in 101st Abn at Ft Campbell Mckean was a LTC at the time.
Mckean was replaced by Col "Splash" Kelly. Gp SGM was George Dunnaway my
neighbor when I was with 1st Gp in Okinawa.

When I was with 10th Gp in Bad Tolz Germany 64-66 Col Jerry Sage was Gp CO
replaced by Col Steve Cavanaugh later chief MACSOG. I was in B Co Cpt Dave
Blair was Co of A-tm and I was his XO. Dave retired as a Col and had 1st Gp
at Ft Lewis. Dave was also at Ashau when it was overrun by NVA. Dave was
awarded DSC for his actions.

During my 1st tour in Nam (1962) I was with an A-Tm out of B Co, 1st Gp,
Okinawa. Col Mills was Gp CO and Sam Hosier was Gp Sgm. The first two SF
KIAs were SP Gabriel and SSG Marchand I knew them both. SFC Quinn and Sgt
Broom were taken prisoner at the time Marchand and Gabriel were killed.
Quinn and Broom were released about a week or two later. Maj Jack Warren
recovered Marchand and Gabriels bodies they were badly mutilated. We
received the news via radio msg at our camp in Song Mao.

I also knew the 1st casualty from 1st Gp Cpt Herman Durrwatcher who was
listed as KIA but was actually killed in a grenade mishap. MSG Troy
Dillinder was messing around with what he thought was a dummy grenade and he
had been throwing it in trucks and scaring the hell out of everybody and he
was usually half drunk at the time. Somehow he got hold of a live grenade
and threw it in a crowded classroom. Durrwatcher scooped it up and started
to throw it out the window when it went off and blew his arm he was mortally
wounded and died right there. Dillender was courtsmartialed in Okinawa and
spent time in the stockade on Oki. He remained in the Army and SF and I saw
him in 63 or 64 at Ft Bragg in the NCO club and he was wearing SSG stripes.

Major Jim Miles, USASF Ret

Comments: Members of my A-Tm:
XO 1/lt John Strait,
Tm Sgt MSG Cobham
(replaced by MSG Jerry House) Jerry was KIA in later tour 69 in Seven Mtns
area Chi-Lang,
Intell SSG Sutton (WIA lost an eye and almost a leg from mine),
Medic Sfc Beaire (patched me up) can't recall other medic,
Commo: Sfc Copeland,
Sp Hasselius (Hasselius joined me later on Nui Gia Mtn Chi-Lang),
Demo SSG Lee also
1/lt Huggins was CAPO officer under my command assigned to District Hqs in Tan Chau.

In what was a mixup of orders we had a Navy Corpman HM2 Telez attached to
A-428. He showed up one day on a chopper with his sea bag and orders to set
up a dispensary (by himself) in a nearby village (Tan An). I told him he
would be dead by morning that the VC would kill him. I kept him in the camp
and he worked in the dispensary with my medics he also stood watch and we
taught him how to fire the mortars 81mm and the 4.2 ne was a good troop. He
was always begging to go on a patrol and I finally took him with me on one.
We had two CIDG troops (WIA) to booby traps on that patrol.

In late 66 a Navy PBR unit ( 6 boats) was assigned to my District and
operated out of Tan Chau on the Mekong. In addition to being the CO of
A-428 I was also Advisor to the District Chief an ARVN Major. We ran join
operations with the unit on the Mekong.

A-428 was closed down in Mar-Apr 67 and we relocated to Tan Chau District
Hqs with our Combat Recon Plt reinforced (about 45 troops many of whom were
Chinese Nungs) and continued to conduct combat opns until Ju 67 when they
were also disbanded. At one time we had 200 plus CIDG troops in our camp.
The local PF (local militia) was supposed to take over camp but they were so
poorly armed and organized with little support that it never happened. The
CIDG troops were slated to be drafted into the ARVN but most deserted and
I'm sure many wound up joining the VC. They were actually mercenaries paid
by CIA many times what an ARVN soldier was paid. There were many VC
infiltrators in the CIDG ranks.

In 1970 I returned to Chau Duc (Chi-Lang) as senior advisor to ARVN 42nd
Ranger Gp where the new Border Ranger Bn plan was put into action. That's
another story.

Maj. Miles

My team arrived in Song Mao Feb 62. Our mission to train ARVN
10th Abn Ranger Bn to include jump training which we did. LLDB team with us
at camp. We stayed in JUSMAG compound in Song Mao part of the time but most
time spent with troops. There was an old French airstrip in Song Mao where
we used VNAF C-47's to conduct jump training and other operations. We made
a total of nine (9) jumps. Also had Nationalist Chinese out of Taiwan
flying resupply drops to us in umarked C-46's.

A Tm from B Co, 1st SFGA to Song Mao, Vietnam Feb - Aug 62.
Maj Joseph Roy Tm Ldr, (replaced Cpt Bolan at last minute so he would outrank ARVN
Bn CO who was a Cpt LLDB)
Cpt Feeley Asst Tm Ldr,
MSG Joe Ferrira Tm Sgt,
SFC Lester Silvernail Intell,
SSG Jim Miles lt wpns,
SSG Fritz Colwell hvy wpns,
SSG Frank George demo,
SSG Joe Vaccaro demo (stepped on mine lost heel of foot in later tour),
SP Horst Erdmann medic,
SP Frank Pasrrish medic (KIA in later tour),
SP Anderson commo,
can't remember name of other commo man but had hands blown off in grenade mishap in later tour.
)Lt wpns myself SSG Jim Miles, Hvy wpns SSG Fritz
Colwell.

Our mission to organize, train and conduct combat opns with ARVN 10th Abn
Ranger Bn. We setup jump school using ARNAF C-47s made 5 qualifying jumps
and 4 jumps in AO. Never recv'd any credit for making jumps in combat area.
One jump in particular where VC had setup a machinegun overlooking drop
zone. Ground troops engaged them as we were jumping. Actually, other than
ARVN jump wings we never recv'd any decorations period. Big joke was that
we were there before any decorations were authorized.

First two SF KIAs SP Gabriel and SSG Marchand were killed by VC while we
were in country. Both men were from 1st SFGA and I knew them personally.
Maj Jack Warren (former B Co CO and 1st Gp S-4) recovered the bodies. SFC
Quinn and SSG Broom were captured by VC and released a couple of weeks
later. Cpt Herman Durrwatcher was also killed in a grenade mishap.

I don't remember all of team that replaced us but MSG Joe Guertin
? spelling was Tm Sgt. Joe and I were on hand to hand combat team (Judo
black belts) on Okinawa and put on demostrations for VIPs. Sgt Freddie
Funk was in karate and part of our team. A SF by name of Cook a black
trooper(Judo) was also on team.

We arrived back on Okinawa in Aug 62. I was selected for Infantry OCS along
with SFC Sheldon K. Vincent and a SF last name Andre, and left in Sep 62 for
Ft Benning. I graduated in Mar 63 and after a tour at Ft Jackson Basic Tng
Command returned to SF 10th SFGA Bad Tolz (B Co).

Maj Miles

Third and final tour Aug 70 - Aug 71. Sr Advisor to 42nd ARVN Ranger Group
Chi-Lang IV Corp and Opns Officer with Special Mission Advisory Group, Nha
Trang (setup in 5th Gp Recondo area and Hqs Compound). LTC Dave Cole CO.
Saw 5th Gp Colors leave for CONUS in Mar 71. Our mission to retrain old
LLDB as Special Mission Services (SMS) for special ops up North.
Unfortunately, it was too late to be effective.

Maj. Miles SF Ret.

Email: greenberet_1@msn.com