hello brothers , i am very sad today , Sargent Rufus Hill passed away this afternoon April 14 .at his home in kemtner Tex. Sargent hill was the earth moving platoon Sargent in Texas and in viet Nam , he was a great person and a great leader , he will be missed by me and all the e m platoon,Sargent Hill came to the reunion for the first time last year as i did . wow what a great thing it was to see him again after over 40 years , i wish there were words to describe Sargent Hill , he will be missed and he was a very loved man by his family and his men ,like myself , we will miss you Sargent Hill , may you rest in piece Mr Rufus Hill . thank you brothers and welcome all .

I did not know Charlie but we are always saddened to hear of a Brother passing. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the family.

I am sad to announce that my brother-in-law, Alfred Charles "Charlie" Klotz passed away today, April 13, 2015. Charlie and I both served in the 589th, he was a member of "A" Company and deployed with the 589th from Ft. Hood in 1967. He was a dozer operator and he told me his dozer was the first vehicle to reach the top of Ankhe mountain. He was truly a member of the "Mountain Movers". Remember him in your prayers.

Tina I am sorry but Cirilo is not feeling very well, as in my prior text to you, he does dont feel he can contact you until he is better... I know he wants you to know that your grandfather was a heroe and he feels that that ambush saved the base camp from being attacked... Cirilo did try to push your grandfather out of the truck with him but due to his owe injuries he was unable to., after the ambush Cirilo crawled back to your grandfathers side and Cirilo wants you to know he did NOT die alone. I know how important it is to get information on the last accounts of a loves one life that has been lost... I lost two loved ones in that war.
I know your grandfather would be proud of your service. I will try to contact you soon. Cirilo / Diane

Hello Tina,

Thank you for your service, I know your Grandfather would be very proud of you. Please feel free to explore our website. We have over 8,000 photos and hopefully you will find some of Billy Clayborn under the C Co. tab. I was in A Co and though I did not know him personally, I have heard the stories from our C Co guys of his bravery and dedication to our country.

May God Bless and keep you always,
A fellow Vet

TINA - your Grandfather was the Supply Sergeant for Company C. While I didn't know him other than to see him around, I've heard the story of the ambush in a fair amount of detail from the person who was with him. I'll email you my phone number. Please consider coming to our reunion in September (info on the web page). Other survivor family members come to the reunion. Look for and join the Company C guys. Regards. Larry

Thanks Carp. The Engineer Museum has a 290M tractor and the money to restore it. The pan they want to buy is already restored - they need the funds to purchase the pan.

My grandfathers name was billy joe clayborn. He died by small arms fire. Him and a guy were in a truck and got fired upon and my grandpa died and the other lived thankfully to tell my family the story i havent completely been told. I found this page researching his information. I am his first grandchild and the only one in the family that joined the military after his passing. I retired in 2007 in the navy from a medical disability. I was a corpsman/doc/ surgical technologist before i retired. I joined to honor him. Ive been told he had a helo pad dedicated to him after he died in december 1968 right before Christmas. Worst birthday/Christmas gift my grandma ever recieved.

good day every one . say there is a web site that is donated to the army engineers , look up 290m scrapers and it will come up. they collect and save and sell Clarke scrapers and they have some 290s, they have story's about viet Nam in there and pictures of 290s like mine that were blew up by land mines , not many of us hit mines and some dident live threw it , the one i ran over was 50# that 290 is gone . i think its great they want to restore one ,wouldn't it be cheaper to buy one all ready done . check out the internet , thanks brothers welcome home

Some of us dirt pushers were very happy to have been assigned to 290M scrapers rather than graders - greater mine protection and we could go fast all day (harder for snipers to hit a fast moving / dust producing target). The 591st/595th Engineer Company Association recently donated $4500 for the restoration of a 290M tractor for the Army Engineer Museum. The Museum is now requesting donations for the purchase of a 290M pan to go with the tractor. Those interested can send donations to the MUSEUM SUPPLEMENTAL ACCOUNT, Army Engineer Association, P.O. Box 634, Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473. (My 290M had the blade name Of GRAPE MASHER - it was thought that calling it JEEP MASHER might be misconstrued.)

Jo, sorry to hear Charlie is very sick. I will keep him my prayers.

Alfred C. "Charlie" Klotz was a member of "A" Company and a member during the deployment to Vietnam. His Cat 9 dozer was the first vehicle to reach the top of AnKhe mountain. He is terminally ill in the Leavenworth VA. I am his brother-in-law and a member of HHC in 1969. Please remember him in your prayers.

Joe Leary

Carp, Brother I don't mess with eBay. I like to see what I buy with my eyes. e-Bay will screw you and smile while they are doing it. Sorry you got a raw deal with eBay.