Sublette Examiner & Pinedale Roundup • Veterans Salute • Page 3
An era of conflict
A salute to Vietnam War veteran Tony Keys
By Robert Galbreath, rgalbreath@subletteexaminer.com
PINEDALE – The Vietnam War polarized
America. By 1967, 500,000 U.S. troops were
stationed in South Vietnam and in April 1969,
the number of Americans killed in Vietnam sur-
passed the total death toll in the Korean War.
Opposition to the war intensified and peaked in
1968 with mass protests across the country.
Tony Keys was one of millions of Ameri-
cans who took to the streets to voice their op-
position to the war.
“I was a politically leftist radical,” Keys
said, “I was dating an SDS (Students for a
Democratic Society) girl at the time. But I kept
thinking, how can you dislike something if you
haven’t experienced it?”
Keys decided the best way to gain first-hand
experience of the war was to enlist in the Ma-
rines. Because of a draft deferment, Keys was
21 when he joined the Marine Corps in 1968.
He trained for six months in San Diego and
shipped out to Vietnam after a 30-day home
leave.
Keys served in K Battery 413, 4th Battalion
of the 13th Marines. He was stationed at two
bases, An Hoa and Que Son, during his year-
long tour from Jan. 15, 1969, to Jan. 15, 1970.
Each base was about 30 miles from the strategic
air base in Danang, a city on the central coast of
Vietnam.
Keys was a Lance Corporal, E-3, and
worked in artillery fire direction control. He
spent his days with maps and geometry tools to
calculate range and deflection for large artillery
pieces they called a “penny-nickel-nickel,” or
155 mm artillery gun.
“Our basic mission was to throw an 80-
pound shell 12 miles,” he said.
Most of Keys’ work was done at the base,
but he spent two months out in the countryside
as a field forward observer for his battery. He
traveled through the bush with infantry units
and kept track of enemy positions in order to
direct artillery fire from his battery back at base.
Completely exposed to the elements and the
enemy while out in the field, Keys said the ex-
perience “was not a fun sort of deal.”
Back at base, the soldiers lived in huts or
tents surrounded by sandbags. The base even
had a church with sandbag walls. The men built
furniture out of used ammunition cases. The
soldiers slept in cots. There was never enough
mosquito netting to go around, Keys said.
Monsoonal rains swept across the country-
side in late fall, turning dirt roads into a muddy
mess and making conditions miserable for the
men.
“The canvas on the tents didn’t stop any-
thing, even rain,” Keys said, “The tents always
stunk like hell from all the mildew.”
The canvas tents were also exposed to
enemy fire. The Vietcong used the antennae
tower at the Que Son base as a target for their
artillery. One night, Keys switched guard duty
with his tent-mate. A rocket tore through Keys’
tent, vaporizing his cot. His tent-mate was seri-
ously injured and wound up with a metal plate
in his head.
Photo courtesy of Tony Keys
Lance Corporal, E-3, Tony Keys poses
next to sandbags at the base near
Que Son in Vietnam, 1969.
“That rocket would have killed me if I was in
the tent sleeping that night,” Keys said, “Luck
plays an awful lot in who survives, no matter
what you do to prepare.”
In February 1969, North Vietnamese forces
launched another major offensive to coincide
with the Tet New Year’s holiday. The Vietcong
attacked American bases throughout South
Vietnam, killing 1,140 Americans.
The ammo dump at Danang was hit and
Keys could see the flames from his base, 25 to
30 miles away. Then the Vietcong turned their
sights on An Hoa where Keys was stationed.
They managed to hit the ammo dump there,
too. Shrapnel flew everywhere, Keys said. The
fire burned for two days. He and his unit were Photo courtesy of Tony Keys
“sandbagged well,” and they survived. Tony Keys, third from left, holding the right side of the flag, with fellow mem-
On the very last day of his mobilization, bers of K Battery 413, 4th Battalion, 13th Marines at Que Son, 1969.
Keys found himself fighting in the thick of a
major battle that broke out at Que Son on Jan.
10, 1970. He was supposed to fly out with his
unit on Monday morning and the Vietcong
struck on Sunday night. Keys and his unit were
tossed into the battle even though they were to
be decommissioned in less than 24 hours.
The Vietcong pounded the base with 200
rounds of mortar. Thirteen Marines were killed
and 63 wounded. Thirty-eight Vietcong were
killed. Five made it into the base perimeter.
“It was a really scary night,” Keys said,
“I thought (the Vietcong) were coming right
for me and my buddies since our time left in
Vietnam was so short you could crawl under a
snake’s belly.”
Many of the men Keys served with were
“peaceniks” and anti-war, he said. These were
the guys he spent most of his time with.
“There was a general awareness that the war
was winding down,” Keys said. Photo courtesy of Tony Keys
“Everyone thought that the war was run Lance Corporal, E-3, Tony Keys stands outside the sandbagged walls of the
poorly by the administration. Battles seemed artillery fire direction control bunker.
fruitless. We never seemed to gain any ground,
Keys said. “We’d put a lot of money and ordi-
nance into battles – what we called $500,000
firefights – to gain a position, just to leave an
area the next day for the VC to retake.”
Keys returned home to his former group of
anti-war protesters. He attended a protest around
the time National Guard troops opened fire on
Kent State students on May 4. The America he
returned to and some of his friends disillusioned
him.
“People (at home) weren’t as concerned
about life as we were over there,” Keys said.
“We had to be on alert, fully aware, 24/7. My
former friends were lollygagging around. Peo-
ple weren’t serious enough. I took everything
seriously,” he said.
“I’m proud of my service. But I wouldn’t do
it again,” Keys said.
Keys works as a self-employed carpen-
ter, woodworker and handyman in Pinedale
and Cora. He is also the sole U.S. Commerce
Department field representative for Sublette
County and conducts census bureau surveys.
Keys is writing an adventure novel based on his
experiences.
HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED
On Veterans Day, we salute the American veterans and
active-duty military whose courage and dedication have
protected our freedom and our way of life for generations.
We recognize their service and their sacrifice, their
selflessness and bravery, their hard work and their faith.
Please join us in celebrating the men and women of our
military, past and present, this Veterans Day. Proudly fly
your flag, thank a veteran and show your support for those
who continue to serve today.
Robert Galbreath photo
Tony Keys, October 2018.