"Duds" Hit Firebase — FSB Fontaine
Summary
At FSB Fontaine in early March 1971, the enemy turned the firebase's own ordnance against it. When the first round exploded and the cry of "incoming" went up, the Skytroopers of the 2d Battalion, 8th Cavalry and C Battery, 1st Battalion, 21st Artillery found that what was landing on them was not the usual mortar fire — it was U.S.-made 105mm artillery rounds that had been duds when first fired from American guns, recovered by the enemy and fired back. Two nights later more came in, this time 155mm rounds instead of 105s.
The rounds were launched from holes used as makeshift tubes about 150 meters from the firebase, propped up and aimed with sticks. The enemy had rigged a time fuse to blasting caps inside the rounds to produce an airburst; a 3rd Brigade EOD team called to Fontaine found that one round had failed to detonate only because its timing device had fallen out. There were no casualties — as Ken Weaver wrote on his copy of the clipping, "No one was hurt." One Skytrooper's dry comment closed the account: "Let's just hope they don't find any dud 500 lb. bombs."
D Company, 2/8 Cav — Marvin Miller's company — was operating from FSB Fontaine in this period; his 9 March 1971 letter home reports having just "moved to a new base called Fontaine."
The full clipping and Ken Weaver's handwritten note are preserved as the document "Duds Hit Firebase" — FSB Fontaine Incident.
