George Allen / EducateMHC Blog Mobile Home & Land Lease Community Advocate & Expert

Blog Posting # 803; Copyright 26 July 2024. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trade term and trend tracker, as well as information resource for both business models, and to a lesser extent, for the recreational vehicle (‘RV’) industry as well. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815 email: gfa7156@aol.com, & via www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry, and SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955. And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as prolific non-fiction author and popular freelance consultant.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (’NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, and MHInsider magazine ‘Allen Legacy’ columnist and editor at large. He’s a Vietnam combat veteran and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 30 books & chapbooks on MH, communities, business management, prayer & figures of speech.

Paradigm Retrospect: Years 1998 – 2024

Enough years have gone by now (i.e. 26 to be exact; 1998 – 2024), for some if not many, in the manufactured housing business and land lease community ownership, to Not Remember how our business models functioned during and after the mini-renascence of the late 1990s, when 1998 MH production was at 372,943+/- units, compared to the heyday of 1973 and its’ 579,940 units. ‘Back then’ – till year 2000, the majority of new HUD-Code manufactured homes were sold directly to tens of thousands of independent (street) MHRetailers (a.k.a. ‘dealers’) who then sold and placed them on privately-owned scattered building sites or in subdivisions, as well as into land lease communities for placement on vacant rental homesites.

At the turn of the century, manufactured housing lost its’ historic ‘easy access’ to chattel capital (a.k.a. personal property mortgages, home-only loans), forcing more than 10,000 independent (street) MHRetailers, according to MHI, out of business, gradually changing the way we distributed new HUD-Code manufactured homes! For the next two decades we (i.e. housing manufacturers & community owners/operators) struggled along, hitting an industry nadir low of only 48,789+/- new HUD-Code homes in 2009. That was until we realized there was no ‘outside $ help on the way’, so we’d have to formally change the business models – which we did! How?

A combination of things occurred. First, manufacturers and community folk agreed on the need for a specially-designed Community Series Home or CSH (i.e. Think porch-loaded front end of homes); then, manufacturers designated Business Development specialists (i.e. salesmen) to sell new homes directly into communities nationwide. Result? Between 2009 & 2018 we doubled the annual number of new HUD-Code homes produced, and increased the percentage going into communities, from 15 percent, up to more than 45 percent!

Along the way, at least two groups – community owners in Georgia, and a Midwest state MH association launched two and three day programs to train community owners/operators how to ‘spec’, buy, sell, and when need be, finance new and resale manufactured homes onsite. And those programs continue to this day.

On 20 & 21 August, the IMHA/RVIC (Indiana), whose program of sales seminars and plant tours commenced in 2016, will hold their annual program at the RV/MH Hall of Fame facility in Elkhart, IN. For information and to register, phone (317) 247-6258 or website.

On 16-19 September, in Atlanta, GA, SECO (originally ‘southeast community owners’) will host their highly popular program that debuted in 2012. Visit www.secoconference.com

I plan to attend both events. How ‘bout you?

What you just read was originally penned a month ago to announce the inaugural MH2X project workshop that was held in Atlanta earlier this week. It was sold out! But more sessions are on the horizon.

Frankly, today’s manufactured housing industry and land lease communities are different from what I experienced when embracing the business models in 1978. Back then we referred to ‘mobile homes’ and the commercial real estate component was popularly ‘mobile home parks’. As our housing product became ever more homelike, and the need for affordable housing grew from being a widely-desired shelter option to a contemporary shortage crisis, our annual production has nearly returned to the 100,000 unit threshold – but we still have a long way to go!

One of the measures that may – or may not, get us beyond the 100,000 unit threshold is the MHI-sponsored design CrossMod® home, single and multisection homes boasting conventional site-built housing features. To name just a few:

• 6 inch or greater eves
• Elevated roof pitch
• FHA-compliant permanent foundation (e.g. no vinyl skirting)
• Durable exterior siding
• Drywall throughout
• Genuine wood cabinets
• Minimum R33-11-22 insulation
• A programmable thermostat
• Paved driveway leading to the house
• Sidewalk connecting driveway or detached garage or carport to a door or attached porch of the home

And there’s more. For more information contact the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’)

George Allen

Blog Posting # 802; Copyright 19 July 2024. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trade term and trend tracker, as well as information resource for both business models, and to a lesser extent, for the recreational vehicle (‘RV’) industry as well. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-3815; email: gfa7156@aol.com, & via www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry, and SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955. And my autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describers personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as prolific non-fiction author and popular freelance consultant.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (’MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, and MHInsider magazine ‘Allen Legacy’ columnist and editor at large. He’s a Vietnam combat veteran and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 30 books & chapbooks on MH, communities, business management, prayer & figures of speech.

The New York Times – Very Bad Timing!

Not wanting to jump too quickly into the fray, I’ve waited four days to pen these lines to you.

Here goes.

I prefer to get daily news from newspapers. Weekdays I receive and read USA Today and The Journal, a local newspaper. After 40+ years I quit the Indianapolis Star over onerous billing practices. Weekly, Carolyn & I receive and read The Epoch Times. If you’re unfamiliar with this informative late-comer to the USA and international news scene, I suggest you google it and give it a try. We routinely share our copies with family members and friends on a regular basis.

On Sunday I do something different. I compromise my conservative mindset and read The New York Times. Yes, I know going into it I’ll likely disagree with much of the left-leaning news reporting and opining characteristic of the Gray Lady of newspapers – cum purveyor of, IMHO, ‘fake news’ at times. But you know; it wasn’t always this way. The ‘Gray Lady’ nickname was allegedly coined by rival journals who perceived the Times as lacking excitement and sensationalism in its’ reporting. Not so much these days.

This past weekend, presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt at an outdoor political rally in western Pennsylvania. This occurred at 6:11PM Saturday evening. Twelve hours later, The New York Times published its’ Sunday Opinion Section with this full front page headline in white ink on a black background:

HE FAILED THE TESTS OF LEADERSHIP AND BETRAYED AMERICA. VOTERS MUST REJECT HIM IN NOVEMBER. Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead. By the Editorial Board of The Times.

Talk about very ‘bad timing’, this certainly epitomizes it! Especially when the opinion pieces therein embellished and trumpeted the nefarious political theme:

THE FAILURES OF DONALD TRUMP, an editorial by The Editorial Board – ‘A Group of opinion journalists whose views are formed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values.’ Really? Nary a one of these journalists is identified anywhere in this hit piece. In my OPINION, this is obvious and obnoxious cowardice! The content? I don’t read ramblings by individuals who do not identify themselves. Shame on you ‘Gray Lady’!

Oh, the other opinion piece titles in this very badly-timed Opinion Section?    

REPUBLICANS WILL REGRET A SECOND TRUMP TERM

FOUR POSSIBLE SCENARIOS FOR TRUMP VERSION 2.0

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY’S SPLIT PERSONALITY

On Monday I went back to reading my usual weekday fare of news reporting. Almost canceled my Sunday-only subscription to The New York Times, but realized I’d miss opportunities to spot and challenge future errant viewpoints (in contrast with my own) as they are published.

AN UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICE?

I was recently made privy (i.e. ‘admitted to a secret’- not the ‘small building used as a toilet’ definition) to a recurring business practice in manufactured housing that stinks, to me anyway, like a small building used as a toilet! Read the following lightly-edited paragraph and let me know if you’ve experienced the same or similar pricing malfeasance.

“Have you guys run into a situation where a MH plant increases the house price substantially, between the time you order it and the time it’s delivered?

We ordered a ______ home in December and are scheduled to have it delivered next week, and the plant has increased the price by $6,000.00 from when we ordered it.

One of their arguments is that it is a 2025 house instead of a 2024 house. We countered with the fact that we would’ve been glad to take a 2024 house but they are the ones requiring eight months to build and deliver.

We also countered with the fact they do not increase the price to a retailer who has sold the house when he orders it. The rationale there is that the retailer cannot increase the price to the customer. Well, we argue that we too sold the house when we ordered, obtained financing for that amount, and also are not in a position to change either.

Furthermore, we wonder if the plant would reduce the price of the ordered home if their costs decreased between the time we ordered it and they delivered it?”

This is not a new situation; it’s been going on for years, maybe decades. But is it right and fair? At present, roughly 70 percent of the national market for new HUD-Code manufactured homes is corralled by just three manufacturers. If/when all three firms engage in this practice, it takes on the visage of price-fixing.

In any event, if you’ve experienced the same or similar pricing issues of late, please let me know via gfa7156@aol.com 

George Allen

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trade term and trend tracker, as well as information resource for both business models, and to some extent, for the recreational vehicle (‘RV’) industry as well. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-815; email gfa7156@aol.com, & via www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry, and SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955. And m autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as prolific non-fiction author and popular freelance consultant.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, MHInsider magazine ‘Allen Legacy’ columnist and editor at large. He’s a Vietnam combat veteran and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 30 books & chapbooks on MH, communities, business management, prayer & figures of speech.

Stats from ‘Whole US Housing Story’ for May 2024

Here’re key statistics from the ‘Whole US Housing Story’, for May 2024, researched and published exclusively by George Allen at www.EducateMHC.com

9,408 new HUD-Code manufactured housing units were produced during May 2024

+2,128 modular & panelized (i.e. ‘prefab’) housing units estimated during May 2024

+363 Park Model recreational vehicles (‘RVs’) produced during May 2024; down 24.5%

= 11,899 subtotal of the three previous factory-built offsite construction production totals!

+1,277,000 US Census estimated # of single-family site-built housing starts during May 2024

=1,288,899 estimated grand total of offsite & onsite US housing starts during May 2024!

What you just read. The first known researched and published monthly estimate of total housing starts in the U.S., the Whole US Housing Story! If you’d like to know how each of the housing types was researched (e.g. using IBTS, RVIA, U.S. Census Bureau data, etc.), request a free copy of the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story for May 2024’ via gfa7156@aol.com 

The Rest of the MH Story!

By now, most businessmen and women in the manufactured housing industry are familiar with EducaateMHC’s excclusively researched and published monthly ‘MHShipment Volume & Stock Market Report’. Well, here’re a few key stats from the May 2024 shipment report and 3 July 2024 stock market report.

May’s MH 9408 units are well above the 8971 produced the previous month, and above the 7869 produced during May 2023. So the production trend continues upward! Good News!

Furthermore; Year To Date (‘YTD’) totals? As of May 2024, we’ve produced 42,456 new HUD-Code homes, compared to only 35,719 YTD produced a year ago during the same time period.

MH $ values? Using Dr. Stephen C. Cooke’s decade-old estimated ‘production value’ of a new HUD-Code home @ $43,125 May’s 9408 new MHs = value of $405,000,000.  And YTD 42,456 new MHs = $1.82 billion! Wouldn’t it be strategic to know the total economic impact of our new MHs on regional and national economies? And, IMHO, we should surely include land lease community rent impact in that research and reporting! Anyone at MHI & MHARR listening?

Relative to the stock market report for 3 July 2024. Stock prices, among the ten public firms (i.e. ½ manufacturers & ½ REITs) were a mixed bag during July. But the Composite Stock Index (‘CSI’)  increased from June 2024.

State of the Nation’s Housing 2024; JCHS @ Harvard University

Here’s the Executive Summary of the subject report: “Both homeowners and renters are struggling with high housing costs. On the for-sale side, millions of potential homebuyers have been priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates. Homeowner cost burdens are also on the rise, driven by growing taxes and insurance costs. For renters, the number with cost burdens has hit an all-time high as rents have escalated. While single-family construction is accelerating and a surge of new multifamily rental units is slowing rent growth, any gains in affordability are likely to be limited by robust household growth, ongoing development constraints, and high construction costs. All stakeholders must work together to address the affordability crisis and many related urgent housing challenges, including the inadequate housing safety net, the record number of people experiencing homelessness, and the growing threat of climate change.”

You Reading ‘Offsite Builder’ Magazine? You should!

Why? Because it’s NOT a HUD-Code manufactured housing trade publication – but one that’s demonstrating an increasing interest in the manner in which we pursue our unique Business Model. It’s focus or foci (?) is ‘industrialized construction’ (Do you recall ‘Automated Builder’ magazine of years past?) a.k.a. offsite construction. And yes, HUD-Code manufactured housing is one type of factory-built housing that fits under that variegated umbrella. In fact, in the current issue of ‘Offsite Builder’ (i.e. June 2024, on page # 15) Colby Swanson – Executive in Residence at the advisory firm of ADI Ventures, opines – in a caption under a color photo of five HUD-Code homes, “… offsite construction can and should become more like HUD-Code mobile home (sic) manufacturing. These mobile homes (sic) are in Thermal, CA.”

To subscribe by mail or digitally: visit offsitebuilder.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 801; Copyright 12 July 2024. EducateMHC

Know this! HUD-Code manufactured housing (‘MH’) is federally-regulated, performance-based, affordable-attainable factory-built housing (a.k.a. offsite construction). And land lease communities (a.k.a. manufactured home communities & ‘mobile home parks’) comprise the commercial real estate (‘CRE’) component of MH! EducateMHC is the online advocate, official historian, trade term and trend tracker, as well as information resource for both business models, and to some extent, for the recreational vehicle (‘RV’) industry as well. Access EducateMHC via (317) 881-815; email gfa7156@aol.com, & via www.educatemhc.com to purchase Community Management in the Manufactured Housing Industry, and SWAN SONG, a history of land lease communities & official record of annual MH production totals since 1955. And m autobiography, From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, describes personal combat adventures in Vietnam as a USMC lieutenant, a 45 year entrepreneur business career in MH & community ownership, as well as prolific non-fiction author and popular freelance consultant.

George Allen is the sole emeritus member of the Manufactured Housing Institute (‘MHI’), a founding board member of MHI’s National Communities Council (‘NCC’) division, an RV/MH Hall of Fame enshrinee, MHInsider magazine ‘Allen Legacy’ columnist and editor at large. He’s a Vietnam combat veteran and retired lieutenant colonel of U.S. Marines, and author/editor of 30 books & chapbooks on MH, communities, business management, prayer & figures of speech.

Stats from ‘Whole US Housing Story’ for May 2024

Here’re key statistics from the ‘Whole US Housing Story’, for May 2024, researched and published exclusively by George Allen at www.EducateMHC.com

9,408 new HUD-Code manufactured housing units were produced during May 2024

+2,128 modular & panelized (i.e. ‘prefab’) housing units estimated during May 2024

+363 Park Model recreational vehicles (‘RVs’) produced during May 2024; down 24.5%

= 11,899 subtotal of the three previous factory-built offsite construction production totals!

+1,277,000 US Census estimated # of single-family site-built housing starts during May 2024

=1,288,899 estimated grand total of offsite & onsite US housing starts during May 2024!

What you just read. The first known researched and published monthly estimate of total housing starts in the U.S., the Whole US Housing Story! If you’d like to know how each of the housing types was researched (e.g. using IBTS, RVIA, U.S. Census Bureau data, etc.), request a free copy of the ‘Whole U.S. Housing Story for May 2024’ via gfa7156@aol.com 

The Rest of the MH Story!

By now, most businessmen and women in the manufactured housing industry are familiar with EducaateMHC’s excclusively researched and published monthly ‘MHShipment Volume & Stock Market Report’. Well, here’re a few key stats from the May 2024 shipment report and 3 July 2024 stock market report.

May’s MH 9408 units are well above the 8971 produced the previous month, and above the 7869 produced during May 2023. So the production trend continues upward! Good News!

Furthermore; Year To Date (‘YTD’) totals? As of May 2024, we’ve produced 42,456 new HUD-Code homes, compared to only 35,719 YTD produced a year ago during the same time period.

MH $ values? Using Dr. Stephen C. Cooke’s decade-old estimated ‘production value’ of a new HUD-Code home @ $43,125 May’s 9408 new MHs = value of $405,000,000.  And YTD 42,456 new MHs = $1.82 billion! Wouldn’t it be strategic to know the total economic impact of our new MHs on regional and national economies? And, IMHO, we should surely include land lease community rent impact in that research and reporting! Anyone at MHI & MHARR listening?

Relative to the stock market report for 3 July 2024. Stock prices, among the ten public firms (i.e. ½ manufacturers & ½ REITs) were a mixed bag during July. But the Composite Stock Index (‘CSI’)  increased from June 2024.

State of the Nation’s Housing 2024; JCHS @ Harvard University

Here’s the Executive Summary of the subject report: “Both homeowners and renters are struggling with high housing costs. On the for-sale side, millions of potential homebuyers have been priced out of the market by elevated home prices and interest rates. Homeowner cost burdens are also on the rise, driven by growing taxes and insurance costs. For renters, the number with cost burdens has hit an all-time high as rents have escalated. While single-family construction is accelerating and a surge of new multifamily rental units is slowing rent growth, any gains in affordability are likely to be limited by robust household growth, ongoing development constraints, and high construction costs. All stakeholders must work together to address the affordability crisis and many related urgent housing challenges, including the inadequate housing safety net, the record number of people experiencing homelessness, and the growing threat of climate change.”

You Reading ‘Offsite Builder’ Magazine? You should!

Why? Because it’s NOT a HUD-Code manufactured housing trade publication – but one that’s demonstrating an increasing interest in the manner in which we pursue our unique Business Model. It’s focus or foci (?) is ‘industrialized construction’ (Do you recall ‘Automated Builder’ magazine of years past?) a.k.a. offsite construction. And yes, HUD-Code manufactured housing is one type of factory-built housing that fits under that variegated umbrella. In fact, in the current issue of ‘Offsite Builder’ (i.e. June 2024, on page # 15) Colby Swanson – Executive in Residence at the advisory firm of ADI Ventures, opines – in a caption under a color photo of five HUD-Code homes, “… offsite construction can and should become more like HUD-Code mobile home (sic) manufacturing. These mobile homes (sic) are in Thermal, CA.”

To subscribe by mail or digitally: visit offsitebuilder.com

George Allen

Blog Posting # 800; Copyright, 5 July 2024 via EducateMHC

This is a significant blog posting for two reasons. First, it’s the 800th blog I’ve penned during the past 15+ years! And herein, I’m sharing a passage from a recently published nonfiction book that describes a pivotal period in the Vietnam War – which happened to be the last firefight (i.e. combat) I was in, and how what occurred then was historical for the Marines who fought it, me in particular. The battle took place during February 1969, along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, deep in the Ashau Valley in western South Vietnam. That conflict was memorialized upon capture of two large Russian field guns and ammunition (i.e. largest weapons captured in that conflict), and the deaths of non-U.S., NVA, & Red Chinese combatants.  

The book, Victory Betrayed, ‘Operation Dewey Canyon: The U.S. Marines in Vietnam’ was authored in year 2020 by Ronald Winter, a U.S. Marine who participated in that operation as a helicopter crewman and aerial gunner.

What follows here is quoted from the subchapter, ‘The Push Toward Laos’- specifically, pages #171-174, beginning with this quote: “The jungle was so thick you couldn’t see more than the man beside you.” Part I, sets the stage for Part II – where I have a life-changing experience.

Part I.

            “Some of the heaviest fighting of the Da Krong campaign took place from 18-22 February, the majority occurring within the sector assigned to Lt. Col. George W. Smith’s 1^st Battalion. On the morning of 18 February, Company A encountered stiff opposition from an enemy platoon dug into camouflaged, reinforced bunkers on a heavily forested ridge line, five kilometers southeast of FSB (fire support base) Erskine. Armed with small arms and automatic weapons, the enemy ‘appeared to want to hold their position at all cost’. Preceded by air and artillery strikes, Company A assaulted and overran the position, counting more than 30 NVA (i.e. North Vietnamese Army) dead. The following morning, 19 February, Company C moved through Company A’s lines and continued the attack against the heavily reinforced hilltop emplacement, killing an equal number of NVA. Friendly casualties resulting from the two actions were on killed and 14 wounded. Pressing the attack through the bunker complex, Company C again made contact during the late afternoon on 20 February, engaging a large enemy force supported by small arms, grenades, and machine gun fire. Two hours later, the Marine assault, assisted by fixed-wing air strikes with napalm drops within 50 meters of the point marines, carried the position, killing 71 NVA. Equipment captured included two Russian-made 122mm field guns, and a five-ton, tracked prime mover. The two 122mm artillery pieces, the largest captured during the Vietnam War, were subsequently evacuated.”

Part II.

            “The task of hauling the guns out fell to George Allen, then a 1^st Lieutenant, who was the rigging officer for the 3^rd Shore Party Battalion at Vandegrift Combat Base. Allen was tasked with the Herculean responsibility of ensuring the non-stop demand for supplies – food, water, ammunition, for everything from infantrymen’s rifles to the largest artillery pieces, and myriad of other special needs – was met accurately and quickly.

            Since virtually all of Dewey Canyon’s resupply missions were carried out by helicopter, Allen’s team of riggers engaged constantly in selecting the proper supplies, laying them out on huge cargo nets – with each net containing the specific supply requisition for specific Landing Zones, Fire Support Bases, and units in the field. Then, at the proper time, they hooked those nets to the underbelly of cargo helicopters, ensuring each helicopter took that load to the proper destination, and doing it all over again and again.

            But after the intact Russian artillery pieces were captured, Allen was ordered to take a team out to the Laotian border to retrieve the big Russian guns that had made life miserable for the Marines since Dewey Canyon kicked off a month earlier. It was Allen’s job to dismantle the guns (which were far too big, if left intact, to be lifted out by any of the military helicopters) rigging the sections with netting and calling in U.S. Army, Sikorsky-built, CH-54 Skycrane helicopters, which were the only ones capable of carrying that load.

            Allen and his team arrived at the artillery positions not long after the last of the fighting had cleared the zone, and found the field guns intact, although the zone was strewn with the bodies of the gun crews. That was no surprise. What was surprising was that some in the gun crews were not North Vietnamese soldiers.

            What Allen found were Caucasian soldiers…in Russian uniforms! In addition, among the Russian soldiers’ belongings were firing tables, which contained the fire control information (‘FCI’),….The existence of firing tables at an artillery position was not surprising. What was surprising was that these tables were written in Cyrillic! More than a half-century after being assigned that mission, and successfully ‘hauling’ the Russian artillery out of the zone, to be reassembled in safer surroundings (i.e. Dong Ha combat base), Allen noted that he had been accompanied that day by a photographer from a stateside news magazine.

            The photographer took myriad photos, Allen remembers, but none ever surfaced back in the States. The existence of Russian soldiers involved in direct combat against American forces was declared to be Top Secret, Allen said, and remained that way for decades after the war ended. As General Westmoreland had stated nearly a year earlier, the Vietnam War would never be won militarily so long as America’s politicians and bureaucrats continued to insist that it not be ‘widened’. As the recovery of the Russian artillery, and discovery of the bodies of Russian combat troops showed, the war had already been widened. American troops were not only in danger as a result, but were denied the ability to respond appropriately, both to secure themselves, and to defeat an enemy that already was fighting against us. Today, one of the field guns is on display at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum in Quantico, VA.”

A personal epilogue.

Some near forgotten matters relative to the above-described battle and retrograding of two Russian field guns:

• A graphic description of the actual assault and capture of these Russian field guns can be read in the late Don Myers’ Your War, My War (2000); pages # 350 & 351. The book describes his several tours in Vietnam as a Marine rifleman. Available via amazon.com

• The night before the two dissembled guns and hardware were lifted out by chopper, NVA regulars, and presumably Red Chinese mercenaries, attacked our hilltop position in a desperate attempt to recover their captured artillery. This was a pitched firefight, broken off in the early morning by incoming air-ground support Phantom jets, dropping napalm and strafing the forward slope of our position. Read the short story ‘PUC Beer’ in my autobiography for one of those ‘never can happen’ tales – that happened!

• According to some reports, a dozen Russian field guns were captured during Operation Dewey Canyon, but only two intact; the other ones likely destroyed; presumably, by spiking their barrels (i.e. plugging barrel before firing a round through it).

• The U.S. Army authorized use of their ‘flying crane’ to retrograde the two guns only if one of them was given to the Army as a war trophy. That was a bitter pill for Marines to follow, given their casualties during Operation Dewey Canyon in general and daring capture of the two intact guns. When the guns were lifted back to the Dong Ha forward combat base, they reassembled (i.e. barrels mated with carriages) and sent to the U.S.

• One gun has long been on display, as a memorial to Marine lieutenants killed during the assault and operation. During decades to follow, it was parked outdoors, and then moved indoors when the USMC Museum opened in year 2006. The other gun? Allegedly sent to Fort Sill (Oklahoma) for field testing – given the ammunition and firing tables captured at the time. Then, again allegedly, it was sent to Afghanistan and was used against the invading Russian troops there during 1979-1989.

For more information about this historic event (i.e. Description of capture, & rigging notes per retrograde) during the Vietnam War, read ‘Pluck, Politics & Shore Party’ in the Appendix to From SmittyAlpha6 to MHMaven, PMN Publishing, 2021. Available via www.educatemhc.com

Lt. Col. George Allen, USMC (retired)