Tony Keezer
Sergeant, U.S. Army
1968 - 1970
In April 1968, I was drafted out of Lenawee County, into the Army, and served basic training at Fort Knox, KY.
After basic training, I was sent to Fort Sill, OK for advanced artillery training.
In September 1968 I was sent to Vietnam to serve with the 9th Infantry Div., 1st of the 11th Artillery.
Our base camp was Dong Tam, south of Saigon at the Mekong River in the delta area of South Vietnam.
We frequently airlifted our cannons and supplies (by hanging them under a helicopter) to support the infantry.
For the first half of my tour, I was given a top-secret status to work in the fire direction center where we calculated all of the data needed to aim and fire the cannons at a given target. We maintained 24-7 radio contact with the infantry in the field as well as battalion HQ, and forward air observers, while working 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week. Everything over the radio was always in code, and the codes were changed regularly.
After about 6 months in the fire direction center, I had a disagreement with one of our lieutenants, and he transferred me out to work on the cannons for the rest of my tour. That ended up being a good change for me.
Each cannon shell weighed about 35lbs and consisted of a canister filled with 7 bags of gunpowder, and a projectile of various types, and the projectiles had different nose cone detonators (timed, point detonating, and delated detonating), all of which were determined by the fire direction center. Our cannons could fire up to seven miles away.
After Vietnam, I was sent to Fort Sill where I was assigned as the battalion Commander's driver, for the rest of my service time. I was promoted to Specialist 5th class (E-5) before being honorably discharged in April 1970.
I was awarded 5 medals: the Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 4 Bronze Star attachments, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with 1960 Device.
Tony Keezer
Vietnam Veteran US Army
9th Infantry Div.
