77 Fall 2024 Proceedings Eddie Hernandez and smallboat operations in Vietnam by williAm h. Thiesen, Ph.d. Atlantic Area Historian U.S. Coast Guard Historical Snapshot F ast-response cutter namesake Heriberto Segovia Hernandez volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1968. Known as “Eddie” by his friends and ship- mates, he was assigned to the 82-foot Coast Guard patrol boat Point Cypress, which served along the Cau Mau Peninsula on the southernmost tip of South Vietnam. Point Cypress deployed regularly to interdict arms smuggling, support troop movements, provide fire sup- port against enemy positions, and gather intelligence. To gather intelligence, Point Cypress sent its smallboat, a 14-foot, fiberglass Boston Whaler outboard motorboat, on reconnaissance missions up Vietnam’s shallow inland waterways. Eddie served regularly on these hazardous missions and, when in port, he visited other 82-footers to get advice and discuss best practices with more expe- rienced smallboat patrol veterans. During smallboat operations, Eddie rode point in the bow of the whaler, holding the M60 machine gun with bandoliers of extra M60 rounds draped over his chest like Mexican revolu- tionary General Pancho Villa. A well-worn flak vest and World War II-vintage battle helmet provided his only protection from automatic weapons fire or rocket pro- pelled grenades. On Saturday, October 5, 1968, Eddie participated in a reconnaissance mission on the Ca Mau Peninsula when his smallboat came under heavy enemy fire, but Point Cypress and another island-class patrol boat (WPB) man- aged to destroy enemy river barriers, fortified structures, bunkers, and armed sampans before withdrawing. On November 9 he deployed in the smallboat on a gunfire damage assessment mission near Hon Da Bac Island, on the west side of the Ca Mau Peninsula, to assess a fire support mission just completed by a U.S. patrol vessel. During this mission, Hernandez’s smallboat located and destroyed four enemy sampans, or traditional Chinese boats. SEALORDS—Southeast Asia, Ocean, River and Delta Strategy —in late 1968, Hernandez frequently volun- teered for reconnaissance missions into rivers and canals in enemy territory—many of them never penetrated by friendly forces. These missions helped to determine whether the waterways could be navigated by U.S. patrol craft, such as Coast Guard WPBs, or the Navy’s newly introduced shallow-draft Swift Boats and PBRs. In the first days of December 1968, Point Cypress con- ducted daily smallboat operations and gunfire support missions, destroying three enemy bunkers, and damag- ing three more. On Wednesday, December 4, the cutter rendezvoused with a Royal Thai Navy gunboat to bring aboard CDR Charles Blaha, deputy commander for Coast Guard operations in Vietnam. Blaha visited the WPB to familiarize himself with Division 11 cutter operations and evaluate the effectiveness of smallboat missions. Blaha and cutter commander LT. j.g. Jonathan Collom planned to deploy Blaha and the whaler the next day to determine the depth of the Rach Nang River for Navy Swift Boat operations, and to see whether the Rach Tac Buo River intersected the Rach Nang somewhere upstream. Point Cypress’s executive officer, LT. j.g. Gordon Gillies, would serve as coxswain and Hernandez volunteered to ride point in the bow. The 82foot patrol boat Point Cypress with its camouflage paint scheme is seen during the Vietnam War. Coast Guard photo
