9 ITT :

 

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9th ITT History
By Ron Bragdon

      The 9th ITT was stood up as part of the 1st Marine Division aboard Camp Pendleton, CA in December 1965. After three months at DLI, the 9th ITT arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam on 19 April 1966. The 9th ITT was moved to the airfield in Chu Lai and relieved the 7th ITT (also formed in 1965). The ITT operated primarily out of an interrogation facility on the south end of the airfield, but also supported the combat troops. 9th ITT members provided that support in: Operation Hotsprings (22-23 Apr 1966), Operation Montgomery (7-15 May 1966), Operation Oakland (29 Jun-1 Jul 1966), Operation Franklin (27-29 Aug 1966), Operation Fresno (8-17 Sep 1966), and Golden Fleece (18-20 Sep 1966).

AS I RECALL: "THE FORMING AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE 9TH INTERROGATION TRANSLATION TEAM (9th ITT)"

Note:  The following is a brief history of the forming, training (or lack thereof), and deployment to the then Republic of Viet Nam (RVN) of the 9th ITT.  What follows is purely the recollection of the author and may suffer some inaccuracies due to age and senility.

      During the summer of 1965 the author was an instructor at The Track Vehicle School in the 21 Area at Camp Pendleton and chaffing at the bit to get to Viet Nam.  A number of AA forms had been submitted to HQMC requesting reassignment apparently to no avail.  Then out of the blue there arrived a set of orders to the         (9th ITT) and a move to mainside at Camp Pendleton.  The 9th ITT along with the 7th ITT and two Interpreter Teams (don't recall the designations) were being formed and preparing for a short course of instruction in Vietnamese at the Defense Language Institute, West Coast (may have still been the Army Language School) in Monterey, California.

      Members of the team came from a variety of MOSs and a variety of backgrounds.  The original 9th ITT was manned by:

                 Capt. George Gaumont, Team Commander

                 1stLt.Bob Madigan (Lawyer)

                 1stLt Dick Morley (Supply)

                 2ndLt Denny Ellerman (Intelligence)

                 GYSGT St. Hilaire Team Chief

                 SGT Davis

                 SGT James

                 SGt Rogers

                 SGT Stockton

                 SGT Winkler

      Three other members of the Team: CPL Crockett, CPL Kahn, and LCPL Massey were still in language training and would join the Team after deployment to RVN.

      After forming, the first order of business was a series of lectures on RVN and talking with some interrogators and translators who had been in country and their advice on interrogations techniques, etc. There was no time, apparently, for formal instruction at the Army Intelligence School at Ft. Holabird.  I recall very little time spent on Interrogation.  Most of the training time was devoted to lectures on the UCMJ, Code of Conduct and weapons familiarization.  In about October 1965 the two ITTs and ITs headed for Monterey and a 12 week short course of instruction in Vietnamese.  We only had one team member who spoke Vietnamese (SGT Earl Davis) the rest of us were either French, Russian, or Chinese speakers.  The three months at Monterey could be the subject of an entire manuscript.  Suffice it to say we knew we were going to Viet Nam and we partied as well as studied Vietnamese.  All of us, somehow or the other, managed to graduate but after only three months of training were not very fluent. 

      Upon our arrival back at Camp Pendleton our major goal was to get some interrogation training and receive new equipment (everything from Jeeps to weapons to tents to admin supplies).

      Again, our actual interrogation training was more "sea stories" from Marines who had already served 6 months or so in Viet Nam as interrogator translators.  When we got ready to deploy we were issued classified orders (try taking those to Disbursing to get paid!), took care of personal business, and prepared to fly out of North Island.  One of the more amusing moments was taping out our jeep tactical markings and driving down Interstate 5 to San Diego.  The tactical markings were taped out so no one would know who we were or where we were going.  (This, in March 1966).  The 9th ITT and one of the ITs were going to the 1st MARDIV and the 7th ITT and one of the ITs to the 3rd MARDIV.

      The shortcoming in our training was actual interrogation techniques and detailed instruction in the nuances of the situation on the ground.

      When we arrived at Chu Lai the 3rd ITT (memory doesn’t serve me well here) Harold Weist, Gysgt Nichols and another member of the Third Team stayed with us for a couple of months(weeks?) to break us into actual interrogation of prisoners.  This period was critical to the later successes of the 9th Team. Of all the people instrumental in our learning experience Harold Weist spent more quality time with us giving us the nuts and bolts of interrogation techniques tailored to the  war we were fighting.

      The 9th Team stayed at Chu Lai and continued our support to the 1ST MARDIV until spring 1967.  We then moved to Danang, and with the influx of new ITTs, we were assigned support the 7th Marines on hill 55.

      I left the 9th Team in June 1968 and transferred to the 5th ITT at Camp Pendleton.

            The lack of training for Marine interrogators and the 02 community in general later became drivers for a revamp to intelligence training for Marines in the Intelligence Field in the early 70s.