Personal Favorite

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

M109 with 155mm Howitzer.jpg

The perfect sniper weapon. The M109 Self Propelled 155 Howitzer. Their biggest flaw was the aluminum armor. Under the intense heat and humidity of Vietnam, the aluminum corroded in spots and turned into something you could easily punch through. We had one that would occasionally recoil through the deck when fired at high elevations. It had an equilibrator problem that could only be repaired at Barstow (echelon issue). It had a big hole(s) in the deck that matched the breechblock.

[Major Tom]

I remember when 3 of those self propelled guns set up near our 12 man tents. What a rakket and tents would flutter with each round!

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I spent the night at some firebase near Danang that had 155 guns (Freedom Hill??). When those babies went off, the ground shook. They fired all night until it started to rain. They had to shut down when it rained. Seems the rounds would go off as soon as the fuse armed itself due to the velocity of the round when hitting rain drops. The 105's had no such limitation, but they seemed subdued compared to the 155 guns.