Chasing AWOL's At Bearcat

     I was transferred to Bearcat on 6 October 1968 as an original member of the A Company detachment who took over from the 9th Infantry Division MPs.

     We apprehended about 50 AWOL's working with the 9th MP Company the first couple of months we were there. Most were hiding in abandoned hooch's and bunkers on post left vacant when the Thai King Cobra (engineer) Division moved out.

     We would wait till about 2:00 AM to make our raids. One night I was run over by three AWOL's who escaped. A fourth one one went out the back door and was caught by my partner. He had been AWOL for 8 months and was a member of the 1st Infantry Division. We later flew to Lai Khe for his court martial.

     These guys would live off of the black market and often had Vietnamese women living with them.

SP/4 William H. Anttila, A Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, August 1968 to November 1969.