Honoring Our Veterans – Monte Schnur
Author: Matt Nelson
Honoring Our Veterans – Monte Schnur
Matt Nelson
LaMonte (Monte) Schnur was in Vietnam with the U.S. Army from November 1965 until April 1966. He spent his time there on water purification projects. He grew up in Wisconsin but came to Montana for a couple of years prior to being drafted, and was heavily involved with hunting, fishing, and trapping. When he entered the military his occupation was listed as a fur trapper, which is kind of funny.
“This time of year I am especially reminded of Thanksgiving 1965, when I was 23 years old, in the Army in Vietnam. We were treated to a Bob Hope USO show, and it was really special! Anita Bryant was part of the show. It was a big difference from Thanksgiving in Townsend.
The U.S. was really ramping up its military presence, and our job was to get things ready for tens of thousands more troops. My Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was “clerk” but I don’t think I ever spent a day in an office.
Our Captain and Sergeant Major sent me out to replace the corporal in charge of the water point. Captain Montagne said, ‘Rocky, South Vietnam needs pure water!’ I was glad there were three or four operators assigned who really knew their stuff. We purified water with ERDlators, purifying equipment mounted on trucks. We mixed a flock of quicklime, charcoal, and hydrochloric acid, to purify water of parasites and germs, and remove bad taste.
At the first water point, we were guarded by five Vietnamese policemen with German shepherd guard dogs. We shared our rations with them and their dogs. One of the truckers told me one day that an artillery unit had moved in just down the road a ways. That night we had a pretty serious attack. One of the guards was killed. Later in the day, some officers came with a Vietnam police officer, all dressed in white. He thanked me and thanked me for feeding his men and I don’t know what all. I have never been thanked like that by anyone.
At our second water point, we had four ERDlators operating, taking water from a creek. This was a jungle, not far from the road. We had two ERDlators operating, and the 159th had two. Together, we pumped into 8 or 10 storage tanks. The 173rd Airborne detailed a company to guard us there. It was a dangerous place, with a lot of VC action. It was a wonderful break to get to see the Bob Hope show while we were at this water point.
I took a crew of 20 local people to our next site to clear the jungle with machetes for several days. They were good workers, and fun to work with. Bulldozers came in and enlarged the cleared area. We had gotten pretty well acquainted in a nearby village. A young lady there knew we were going to be leaving. She told me pretty forcefully, “You go!” At the end of that day, I took our two ERDlators to the compound. That night, a vicious attack destroyed the other two ERDlators at the site, and wiped out the 173rd guards. We heard that all of them were killed. In 2005, I guided a hunter who was talking about his dad being permanently injured while guarding a water point at Tan Hip in Vietnam. It turns out that four of the 173rd company had survived that attack.
The pressure was really on us to produce at the third water point. They were building a 400-bed hospital at Long Binh and getting more troops in all the time. We just couldn’t keep up with only two ERDlators pumping straight from the muddy creek, so I got a crew of Vietnamese to help build a dam of sandbags. We put floating pumps out in the pond we created. We could provide clear water to trucks that needed it for things like washing floors and still had better capacity to purify water for drinking and medical use. Our production went from about 1000 gallons per day to almost 5000.
"When I was discharged and back home, I received this certificate of achievement and letter of commendation. It means a lot.”
After his honorable discharge in 1966, he came back to Townsend and married Mary Ellen. They have 7 daughters and 13 grandchildren, 4 of whom are boys. Beginning in 1971 they operated Monte's Guiding & Mountain Outfitting for 45 years, leading very successful hunts.
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
Image 1 Caption: Monte’s Certificate of Achievement Award
Photo Credit: Matt Nelson
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Image 2 Caption: Monte is in the center of the five Vietnamese policemen who guarded the soldiers with German Shepherd guard dogs.
Photo Credit: Monte Schnur
**Couldn't use, too blurry ~STwm**
Image 3 Caption: Monte at his home.
Photo Credit: Matt Nelson
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Image 4 Caption: Monte as a young soldier.
Photo Credit: Monte Schnur
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