USS Wilhoite (DE-397) - Capturing A Viet Cong Trawler

Capturing A Viet Cong Trawler

Throughout the night, Wilhoite and the other ships intermittently fired into the beached trawler; the following morning, a party went on board the wreck to inspect the damage and learn the nature of her cargo. The holds were found jammed with guns, ammunition, and explosives—the largest arms cache captured during the Vietnam War. Ultimately relieved of her "Market Time" patrol duties on 26 July, Wilhoite sailed for Hong Kong and a period of recreation.

Alternating the tours of duty on Market Time stations with periods in port at Hong Kong, Sasebo, and Yokosuka, Wilhoite periodically returned to such ports as Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay.

Not all of the ship's highlights of "Market Time" operations were combat-oriented ones. On 6 September 1968, for example, Wilhoite was called upon to perform an SAR mission, while she was riding out the tail-end of Typhoon Bess. Assigned to locate a lost Vietnamese Navy PGM, Wilhoite centered her search on a point some 30 miles (48 km) from the port of Da Nang. Although she never sighted the PGM, however, the radar picket destroyer escort maintained contact via voice radio; and ultimately, the PGM was able to reorient herself and continue on her voyage.

Later, while returning to her patrol station, Wilhoite came across an Army landing craft, LCU-1481, which had been adrift and lost for some 48 hours. Typhoon "Bess" had proved a nuisance to the LCU, for it had caused damage that had rendered the craft powerless. Wilhoite stood by while another LCU was dispatched from Da Nang to take the stricken LCU-1481 in tow and bring her to port safely.

Later that autumn, Wilhoite received an availability alongside the veteran destroyer tender Dixie at Subic Bay from 25 to 28 September. On the latter day, the radar picket destroyer escort sortied for "Market Time" once more, relieving the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Ingham on station. Wilhoite later saw her first action of that deployment when she was called upon to deliver gunfire support in an area north of An Thoi. There, Wilhoite shelled an area heavily infested with Viet Cong, destroying or damaging several enemy junks that had attempted to infiltrate matériel from the north.

Wilhoite departed Vietnamese waters on 15 January 1969, bound for Hawaii. She stopped for fuel at Subic Bay and at Apra Harbor, Guam, before she continued on, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 1 February. After a period of tender availability alongside Isle Royale, from 17 February to 3 March, Wilhoite underwent a restricted availability at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard before she conducted her sea trials at the end of May. On 2 June, the radar picket destroyer escort departed the Hawaiian Islands for the west coast; and she arrived at Bremerton, Washington, a week later. There, on 2 July, Wilhoite was decommissioned.