ARTHUR BELMONT OSBORNE III

506 POST ROAD

WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND 02888

HEAD BODYGUARD

TO AN NSASPY

I arrived in South Vietnam on September 15, 1966.

I depqrted from South Vietnam on July 13, 1968.

I enlisted in the United States Army on

October 10, 1965, shortly after my 17th birthday. I

enlist~d because I wanted to fight for my country. I

volunteered for Vietnam.

When I arrived in Qui Nhon, I was assigned to

Co. B, 41st signal Battalion. From September 1966, until

November 1966, I worked as a driver and bodyguard

for th~ commander of Company B.

On my first day in Qui Nhon, I was flown by a

Huey pelicopter a little over halfthe way the way to the

top ofVung Chua Mountain. My job was to unload

electrpnic communications equipment, and safeguard it

until ~ squad of soldiers walked down to carry the

equipment back to the top of the 6,000 foot plus

mountain. The top half of the mountain was blanketed

in fog, I was alone and scared, but I did my job. I was

not sqot at and I fired no shots in combat.

In early November, 1966, my life changed

dram<;ltically. One evening, another soldier and I were

. ordeq:~d to drive a deuce-and-a-half truck to the u.s. Air

Force base at Phu Cat. We were ordered to load the

truck with bags of cement, and to bring them back to Co.

B.

We drove to Phu Cat and loaded the sacks of

cement and were stopped going out the gate at the Air

force~ Phu Cat base. We were arrested by the Air Force

Police pending court martial for theft of the truck, the

sacks of cement, and all of our weapons. I refused to

talk to the police. We were jailed until the middle ofthe

next qay, when Captain Walter S. Kulbacki,

Commanding Officer of Co. B., 41 st Signal Battalion

drove us to our base. We were out of trouble.

When I got back to Co. B., many people told me

thanks for not talking. U.S. Army Sergeant Major

Marony, who had ordered me to get the bags of cement,

thanked me, as did Captain Kulbacki. Other soldiers

told me that the reason that we were free and out of

trouble, was that another soldier in Company B, an SP4

E-4- enlisted man, David Richard Sanne, had gone into

LieutEtnant Colonel Stringfellow's headquarters and

demapded that the commander of the 41 st Signal

Battalion offer to get me and my partner in crime freed

by trading refrigeration equipment with the U.S. Air

Force general in charge of the Phu Cat Air Base.

Stringfellow refused and Sannes told him that

he had one hour to change his mind and make a deal

with the Air Force general. Sannes told Stringfellow that

if he did not make a deal to free me and the other

soldier, he would kill Stringfellow - and nothing on

earth could save Stringfellow. Sannes then walked out

of the gate into the city of Qui Nhon.

Within twenty minutes after the meeting,

Strin&fellow ordered every vehicle at the base to criss

cross Qui Nhon. The men in the trucks were to scream

contiquously that everything was OK - and Sannes

could come back to the base.

A short time after I got back to Co. B., Sannes

came back to talk to me. My mind was reeling when

SannEjs told me that Stringfellow had ordered the raid

on Phll Cat bags of cement. The purpose was to get

concryte slabs under our soldiers' barracks and

bunk~rs.

Sannes told me that he was the man in charge of

requi~itioning material and equipment from the ships

unloaping at the mile long pier jutting into the Pacific

virtually next door to our camp at Qui Nhon. Sannes

then told me that he could not reveal who and what he

was - that was a military secret. Before he found me,

that afternoon I had already heard that everyone called

him gyneral and saluted him, when Sannes crossed their

paths.

Sannes then asked me if I wanted to stop being

Captain Kulbacki's driver - and take the job of being his

persopal bodyguard. The American patriot inside me

foolishly said yes. Besides, Kulbacki had sold me out.

For the next year and 4 months, I rode through hell

with ~annes, as his personal bodyguard. I also was a

memqer of Sannes' 45 man quick reaction force, which

flew and/or rode into places where sensible soldiers

had flrd from.

Mr. Sannes only told me that he had been attached

to the National Security Agency ever since he got out of

basic training - about 40 years after I left Vietnam. Mr.

Sann~s explained to me that the man he worked for,

CW04q Antuna, had been a Navaho Indian Code Talker

sinc'e right after Pearl Harbor- December 7, 1941. Mr.

Sannes said that Mr. Antuna had been attached to the

N.s.A. since the day it was created by a top secret order,

by Pr!j!sident Truman. Mr. Sannes told me that Mr.

Antul)a was the N.S.A.'s chief of Station, for over one half

of the country of South Vietnam since the day he arrived·

in Qui Nhon. Mr. Sannes also told me that he had been

appoirted to be the N.S.A.·s Deputy Chief of Station

since the day Mr. Antuna arrived in Quin Nhon. Mr.

Sannes told me that he was the N.S.A. Deputy Chief of

Station for the 40,000 square miles ofthe total 67,000

squar~ miles of South Vietnam.

Within days of becoming Mr. Sannes' personal

body&uard, I did know that he was responsible for the

safety of over 40 U.S. Army communication centers

acros~ about the middle half of South Vietnam.

COMBAT STRESS EVENTS THAT I CAN STILL

RECALL

a. A. rescue of Sgt. Major Alvin Bunch from an angry

mob of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, who were

inteht upon killing him because Bunch had thrown

a bucket of water at the woman, who we called,

"the little old woman whos c**t was sewn up."

Bunch had intervened to stop this V.c. tortured

spul from using her machete on an old woman who

"Yas selling fish. This was a horror show. The

armed robber had been released from a V.c. prison

- but our u.s. Army did not cut the twine that

srwed her together from front to back. I never saw

1l.S. Army doctors or any other American doctors

treat even one Vietnamese civilian, for anything.

b. I was coming down from the top ofVung Chu

Mountain, where Mr. Sannes was inspecting the

ll.s. Army security units work - which was to guard

the security of the third largest array of

cpmmunication towers in South Vietnam. I was

\Vith Sannes, our driver, SP4, E4 Arthur W.

Trangmar ( 1- 864- 338- 8156) - when from about

4,000 feet up the mountain, we saw three

Vietnamese men, with rifles, running away from

the Qui Nhon Leper Colony. Our quick reaction

force used to have barbecue and beer parties there­

vyhen Sannes could trade for steaks on board the

freighters lined up at the mile long pier. Trangmar,

Sannes and I , screamed, minutes later, when we

SflW Phantom fighter bombers from the Phu Cat Air

~ase bomb and straff the leper colony. The

Vietnamese leper colony had been safe for over

300 years. The Phantoms blew the hell out of the

lepers and the leper colony as we stopped,

sFreamed and stared. We never went there again.

c. For over a year, I saw a crazy, naked man

vyandering the "streets" of Qui Nhon, beating his

bloody, filthy chest with a rock in each hand. He

also was an escapee from the v.c. - then finally, he

"Vas dead.

d. On~ night, under typhoon conditions, I was ordered

by Mr Antuna to wak up Sannes and bring him to the

U. S. Army Qui Nhon Communication Center, which

wa~ the third largest classified communication center

in Vietnam. From the panic in Mr. Antuna's

movements and voice, I was crying when I got to

Sannes' bunker and woke him up. Sannes dressed

anq ran barefoot to the "commo" center. When

Sannes came out of the communication center

bUl1ker, we ran together to the bunker that housed

the 45 man quick reaction force. There, Mr. Sannes

shouted to everyone to wake up. When everyone was

standing at attention, Sannes barked out that he

needed three volunteers for a suicide mis~ion.

Almost all of the men volunteered. Sannes checked

the gear of three (3 ) volunteers and Sannes,

Trangmar, and the three quick reaction force soldiers

and I boarded a couple of jeeps and drove to the

adj9ining air base. Two Huey helicopters and their

five (5) man volunteer crews awaited us. Mr. Sannes

briefed us all. We were headed, in this typhoon, to

the base of the 22nd Army ofthe Republic of Vietnam

(A~VN), infantry division. When we got there, the six

(6) of us would repel down ropes, try to find the

"AJ'iGR26" communication center, and use our PRC6

sat~llite telephones to report back to Mr. Antuna, if

the "ANGR 26" communications center, it's

cryptographic equipment and codes had been

destroyed by the incendiary and high explosive

borpbs set by Mr. Sannes. Sannes briefed us that one

of tpe six (6) of us had to survive to make such a

report, or B-47 and B-52 bombers would have to

asspme that at least one of our KW-35 cryptographic

code machines had been captured intact, and thus

carret bomb the entire base housing ofthe 22nd

ARyN Infantry Division. All there would have to die.

As I recall, our helicopter gunships were about eight

(8) minutes from our target when one the six (6)

cryptographic code equipment operators called from

his spider hole and reported the complete destruction

oftpe "ANGR 26" air mobile communications center.

I can only hope my two children are pleased about

thi~. Neither Sannes or I had to repel down a rope

from a gunship under fire, in a typhoon, nor did the

othrr soldiers. The two Huey helicopter crews did

not have to be killed.

e. Virtually every day of the approximately 485 days

thaf I served as Mr. Sannes' personal bodyguard, we

flew to and from the approximately 47

communication centers in the approximately 40,000

square miles of I and II Corps Tactical Zones of

central South Vietnam. Sannes had to bring new

codes to every such communication center, every

month. Sannes also carried cryptographic code

mar;:hines to such communication centers on a regular

basis. We regularly flew to communication centers in

Nha Trang, Khe Sanh, Pleiku, Cam Ranh Bay, Phu Cat,

VUl1g Chua, Korean Tiger Division Mang Ho Camp,

Market Time Island, Tuy Hoa, An Khe, Phu Yen, Vung

Ta4, Dak To, Hon Tre Island, Ph an Rang, and many ,

oth~r bases. I can't remember-like the base of the

Korean White Horse Division or the name of the

loc<;ttion of the 22nd Arvin Division HQ. The vast

majority of the flights I took with Mr. Sannes, were on

Huey helicopter gunships that Sannes arranged with

the officers ofthe 92nd Aviation Battalion in Qui Nhon.

But we did make a large number of flights on fixed

wiqg airplanes. Whenever we flew on Huey

helicopter gunships, Mr. Sannes had the door gunners

removed-due to lack of security clearances-and he

and I replaced the door gunners on their machine

guns. Many times we dodged incoming fire and

returned suppressive fire on the enemy soldiers. One

fligpt on a fixed wing airplane 8 small windows were

cre~ted in about 2 seconds by enemy fire. On

countless helicopter flights, we minimized enemy fire

by flying just above ground. Figuring 47

communication centers to visit at least once a month,

that adds up to 94 flight missions a month, times 16, a

miIlimum of 1,054 flight missions in our 16 months

tog~ther. In jeeps and in % ton trucks, Sannes and I

traveled, outside of American bases, a minimum of 96

tim~s, just to Vung Chua Mountain, the Mang Ho Base

of tpe Korean Tiger Division, and the Korean White

Horse Infantry Division-whose base I can't

remember the name of. Sannes wore a thermite

firebomb vest, overlain with stitched pockets holding

32 each of clips containing 20 each 7.63 mm bullets.

Sannes always carried homemade "C-4" high

explosive bombs when he carried cryptographic code

ma(:hines. I rode, sat, flew and fought next to him. So

what was the problem?

f. On pne trip from Co. B to the Mang Ho Camp of the

Kor.ean Tiger Division, we lived through a virtual

nig~tmare. Mr. Sannes had to go visit the base.

Mo.p.soon rains prevented us from flying-so we

drove in a sheet lightning sky, monsoon rain, thunder

storm world. We were driving on a bulldozed path

thaf separated the jungle from flooded rice paddies-

in an area of flood plane. The path was slippery with

mup, yet we barreled along as Trangmar balanced

speed and wrecking the % ton truck. The path was

bordered on the jungle side, by a fringe of high

elephant grass and young bamboo. It curved-so

mu~h that at any given point, one could perhaps only

see 20-50 feet in front of our truck. We were all three

>

tot,,-,"lly aware that we were in deep Indian Country-

and we were on our own until the monsoon storm

abated. Sannes was manning an M60 machine gun, I

have a combination automatic rifle/grenade launcher,

and Trangmar was driving with one hand, and

hol~ing an M14 in the other hand. Only Sannes knew

why we couldn't wait for the monsoon to pass. The

Tig~r division codes would have expired at 4:00 pm.

Suddenly, we rounded a corner and saw about 16

doyble file bikes, ridden by North Vietnamese troops,

heading towards us on the same bulldozed path.

Sannes screamed "No" and so we did not open fire.

T~angmar kept his foot on the gas, the shocked N.V.A.

troops all dived to their right, into the elephant grass;

more N.V.A. and this nightmare scene continued.

Sannes said there were about 130 rows ofthis two

bik~ wide line of North Vietnamese troops that went

past us in this fashion. These N.V.A. troops had

kal<jlshnikov automatic rifles across their shoulders

and both hands of the handlebars of their bikes. If we

had, opened fire, I would not be recounting this

incident. The N.v.A. bike column outnumbered us

26Q to 3. Without another incident, we got the Mang

Ho HQ of the Korean Tiger Division. Sannes went into

the communications center, did his thing-then we .

drove back to Qui Nhon, to Company B. The return

tri~ was a nightmare, but otherwise without incident.

g. At l~ast once a month, Sannes and I had to go to the

Mang Ho HQ ofthe Korean Tiger Division. We either

went there by Huey helicopters or Trangmar drove

us, pepending on the weather. The trail from

Corppany B. to Mang Ho, in the valley, regularly

sported v.c. or N.V.A. heads mounted on sticks. Mang

Ho ~amp always had suspected v.c. soldiers, as

Korean prisoners, walking, all holding hands, in a

nightmare circle. It was always a nightmare

formation inside the steel post and concertina wire

fenfe. Why? Because if a sick, wounded or tortured

V.c. prisoner could no longer hold the hand on each

side of him, a prison guard would open fire-and the

surviving soldiers had to hold the hands in another

circle-that included the freshly killed or wounded

Viet Cong prisoners. The v.c. prisoners could not

even drop hands while groveling, for food in a trough,

on the ground.

h. On flnother trip to the Mang Ho base of the Korean

Tiger Division, we had to drive our jeep through a

fierce battle between Korean soldiers and v.c.

soldiers. We were going at the jeep's top speed down

a 1+-15 foot dirt bull dozed trail, when a Korean

soldier fell wounded about 150-200 feet ahead of us.

Trangmar slowed down, Sannes and I grabbed the

wO\lnded Korean soldier, and Trangmar hit the gas

back toward Company B.

l. On flnother trip through this same valley, we ran into

an ynemy ambush on 60-80 or so American soldiers.

Th~y were all pinned down in the stinking rice paddy,

which was on the flood plain of a small river that ran

in ll1onsoon seasons. This line of rice paddies ran ,

along the two lane road that the U.S. Army had

grafled next to the area of elephant grass and

bamboo-which bordered the jungle. The jungle was

maybe 100- 150 feet away from the rice paddy where

Am~rican soldiers were pinned down. Mr. Sannes

used his PRC6 satellite radio to call in bombers. A .

small fixed wing spotter plane coordinated the

borpbing attack on the jungle concealing the V.c. or

N.V.A. soldiers ambushing us. 'Within minutes of the

Sannes conversation with the spotter plane pilot-

twq (2) Phantom fighter bombers from the Phu Cat

Air Base screamed up the valley towards us. Like a

cra~y person, Sannes stood up as the first fighter

bOITlber dived down to near ground leveL right over

our heads. Sannes waved his arms at the first

Ph9ntom pilot. The first bomber pilot released his

2,000 pound napalm bomb, directly over our heads .

. Th~ bomber flew off and the second Phantom

dropped its napalm bomb. The huge fire was the only

thing you could see or hear from the jungle. After a

while, and after Sannes emptied his shorts, we drove

to qur destination and then went back to Co. B. That

event rattled the hell out of us.

j. Sixteen months of hanging out with Mr. Sannes was

cerrainly an adventure. We spent over 80% of our

timr outside of American bases. And I mean over

80% of the time, night and day, for that 16 months. I

wa~ barely 18 years old, and had rarely had a bottle

of qeer when I got to Vietnam. By the time I got

dis<;:harged from the U.S. Army, I was an alcoholic-I

stil~ am an alcoholic. I scare myself. I have never

picked up a gun since I left Vietnam. I know picking

up ~ gun is something I cannot do.

k. On January 31, 1968, Sannes, Trangmar and I were

sittfng drinking beer, and eating fresh sandwiches

thar Sannes had stolen from the evacuation hospital

on (;mr Company B compound. We were celebrating

by ~itting on top of Sannes' bunker-celebrating his

bir~hday. We suddenly saw a huge fire, and heard a

col<;>ssal explosion of a gas storage tank. The tank was

in a huge tank farm by the land end of the mile long

pier jutting out from next to the beach we were

sitttng by. As all three of us, in unison started to slide

off the top of the bunker-the huge oil and gas tank ,

farm disappeared in a round of gigantic explosions.

ThClt was our invitation to the start of the biggest

battle ofthe Vietnam War-the Tet Offensive.

Trangmar disappeared, while Sannes and I ducked

intq his bunker and slipped on our war gear. Sannes

ran out first, spun around, knocked me down and

covered me with his body-as machine gun fire

racl<ed the trench outside his bunker. Sannes went

back to the U.S.A. the next day and I sat behind a M60

mafhine gun at the gate into our compound for the

next three (3) days. After Sannes left for home, I went

to \!York in the personnel department, at Head

QU1rters Co.'s department compound until I left

Vietnam on July 13, 1968. I was discharged from the

ArQ1Y on July 14,1968.

l. I krtew I was mentally and emotionally damaged by

my combat duty in Vietnam, but I never contacted the

V.Ar until November 15, 2010. I only went for help

from the V.A., even then, because of the pestering of

myoid war buddy, David Sannes. When I got back

from Vietnam, until this day, I have been angry that

we Vietnam War Veterans were not, and are not,

hOllored by other Americans for our combat service.

Un~il now, I have never talked about my war to any of

my family, friends, or colleagues. I know that I was

guarding a very important spy, Sannes. I just don't

want to remember my war experiences.

m. I know that once because of monsoon rains, I took

Trangmar's job and drove Mr. Sannes up to our

ant~nna field and army guard station at the top of

Vung Chua Mountain, a volcanic cone mountain,

about 6,300 feet above sea level. I know that coming

down the one lane, bulldozed road on Vung Chua

mopntain, on that inspection trip, rushing water

coming out of the volcanic rock, at a sand lens,

wa~hed our jeep off the cliff hugging, one lane road­

at about 5,500-5,700 feet above the flat ground at the

bottom of the mountain. I know that the jeep held up

for ~ few seconds while I leaped out of the jeep on to

the bulldozed path. I know I was shocked, when a

long time later, I heard Sannes' preacher's voice on

that path behind me. Sannes had lept out ofthe jeep

while the jeep frame hung it up for a few seconds­

and he angled his leap to land maybe 15-20 feet

below the road-and he had climbed back up onto

the one lane road.

n. I kl10w that Sannes wore a thermite/high explosive

sui<;:ide vest when we went to our crypto

communication centers, packing IBM cards or code

ma~hines.

o. I kllOW I once grabbed Sannes' right arm to stop him

from shooting a U.S. Army nurse, a major, for not

imrpediately treating one of our soldiers that we had

driven through enemy territory, at night, after he had

pleCilded with Sannes to not let him die. I know that

Sannes broke my nose, when I decided not to go out

on ;;l quick reaction force mission. I know I, and

Sannes, guarded each other in a fire fight that night­

anq we were both pretending we were not guarding

. eacfl other. In short, I know that as a part of my job of

guarding Sannes-I went places, saW things, and did

things, in the line of duty, that nobody should do. And

to sum it up, I know that the U.S. Army, the V.A. , and

the American people didn't give a damn about what I

did for my country-Americans figuratively, just spit

on it's Vietnam combat heroes.

p. If apyone wishes to confirm the effects of my time

guarding David R. Sannes, GOOGLE HIS NAME. Please

check my account with:,

"u.s. ~rmy Joint Services

Enviq:mmental Support Group (ESG)

7798 pssna Road, Suite 101

Sprin~field, Va. 22150-3197

Signed,

Arthur Belmont Osborne, III

East Warwick-506 Post Road

Rhode Island, USA 02888

Note:

How 40 you guard a man wearing a suicide vest, on over

1,600 trips, and go back home? DAMAGED!!