117 days, 6 Feb/68, Tues.
If the VC don’t bother us, our own people do. The 6th of
February will, I hope, go down as the longest, hardest, most dangerous,
frightening, and maddening days I’ve spent in Vietnam.
At 20 to 3:00 this morning, the light came on and we were shaken out of bed
to go on a mission. An ARVN outpost had just been overrun near Hiep Hoa. They
weren’t sure if it was overrun, but they had radio contact and the post was
reported to be on fire.
We went out with 10 armored personnel carriers (APCs) form the ARVN 10th
armored cavalry – 113s, similar to my 114 in AIT only carrying about 12 people.
CRIPs and the ARVNs all piles on top of the tracks and headed cross-country
over the dry paddies and berms. Far better than walking.
All the way out, we had choppers alongside (naturally the Lt. Colonel was
with us) dropping flares and watching for any possible ambush. About 500 meters
from the outpost, we dismounted and went in on foot with the cav’s track
following.
One VC was sighted running and one or our squads ran after him and gunned
him down. Other than that, there were no VC around, only a large NVA flag (same
as the one we had after Jan 8th) hanging from the post’s flag staff.
The post was thoroughly destroyed and everyone inside (37 ARVNs and 2
American) was dead. All had been shot while still in bed. It looked like a
movie scene of a massacred wagon train. The defenses of the post, barbed wire
and several Claymores, were undisturbed.
There was a built up area nearby – houses, etc. – where several stray
mortar rounds fell, killing two children and injuring several other civilians.
Two of the dead in the outpost were small children, murdered with the rest.
There are 12 ARVNs and one American still missing.
Here’s what one of the wounded ARVNs, found in the village, reported. A
7-man ARVN patrol went out on a routine patrol. They came back, only as VC. The
VC had either captured or killed the patrol, and dressed as ARVNs and took
their weapons. As they were let back in the post, they killed the guards and
let a larger group of VC in.
Then they went about and methodically murdered everyone on their beds
before anyone knew what was going on. Not even time to radio and tell of the
attack. The American’s building had been burned and all that was left of the
American were the skeletons.
At 10:00 our business at the post was over, and we started on our way back,
over nearly the same route, only this time with a couple of objectives to
search. The first two went without a hitch; the ARVNs had some chicken and
rice, then took a nap. I was really enjoying my first cavalry operation since
AIT.
Our next objective held our attention for 4 long hours. We had dismounted the
APCs, which were surrounding the hedgerows, while we searched inside. A couple
ARVNs began to wander into a neighboring wood line, in search of some chickens
to take home for supper, and were met by heavy automatic weapons fire. Some
chickens!
The track turned and reacted with .50 and .30 calibers. The tracks on the
other side of the hedgerow even fired – through the hedgerow where we were. We
were pinned down, again, by our own people, only this time worse than the 49th
Recon – the 10 cave has .50 caliber
machine guns!
We couldn’t move to help, as the fire grew more intense. We had AK-47s on
one side, and .50 calibers on the other. The intense firefight lasted,
seemingly, forever. In fact, the rest of the day seemed like 5 years long, so I
won’t even attempt to list events on the clock I will say the contact was made
at about 12:00 noon, and we finally withdrew at 7:15 that evening.
The firing subsided slightly, and the tracks grouped up to form an assault
line on the left of our hedgerow, which was to the left front of the VCs.
They began to assault the hedgerow before all of us got out of our cover.
Our squad was out and hiding behind the headstones of a small cemetery. The
APCs moved forward putting out a terrifying base of fire from .50s (8 of them).
Two tracks had twin .30 machine guns in a turret, and all the .50 tracks had a
.30 on each side also. One track had a 57 mm recoilless rifle in place of the
.50.
They began their assault and were firing through our men in the hedgerow,
trying to hit VC in the next wood line. Hicks was hit 5 times in the legs and
hips with .50s. Polk was creased on the knee with a .30 and the mechanic, who
isn’t supposed to go out on missions – the one from Mifflin – got a crease on
the shoulder blade with a .50 – all ARVN guns! They didn’t give us a chance to
get out. Where can you go to hide from a .5 caliber?
While we were under fire at first, those big slugs were tearing through the
trees, tearing off limbs and shattering through the houses. You can see those
big black slugs even though they aren’t tracers. They sound like a big bee
going over your head, instead of a mosquito or fly, as .30 calls and AK-47s
sound. It’s terrifying to see such a big thing moving so fast – coming at you,
digging dirt behind you, chopping off branches above you.
The APCs pulled back and we went in to get the wounded. We were only
receiving an occasional shot or two from the enemy positions. After the wounded
were pulled back out, the APCs assaulted again and we went back into the
hedgerow complex, and fired from there. The assault was turned back as the
enemy fire increased steadily, the closer the tracks came.
One track was knocked out here with on RPG2, which killed two of the ARVNs
inside. We pulled back to the line [indicates a map line like battlements]
which was a very high berm. A track came over to pick up our wounded and
carried them even farther back to the dust-offs could come in without getting
shot at.
I’ll go into detail about the bungling of Lt. Enbody (our new one) later
on, as it’s a story by itself. But I’ll say now that all this action took about
1 ½ or 2 hours, and it was at this time the finally pulled himself together
enough to call for gunship support. We waited for nearly a half hour before
they answered.
Let me add also that except for when we made a move on the enemy’s position
we weren’t receiving any fire from the VC. The original estimate of enemy force was one platoon dug-in. after the heavy
firing ended, there were only one or two snipers doing the shooting, so we had
to stay down.
The choppers came with a spotter plane and fired everything available into
the enemy positions. They were receiving ground fire all the time. After the
choppers were out of ammo, the spotter was still receiving ground fire, so the
pilot began calling the 144 howitzers in Bao Trai. The area was pounded for
quite a while with the heavy artillery.
After the shelling, we were certain that the VC had to have been either
killed or driven away, so in a Hollywood
type assault (Anybody’s idea) CRIP began to approach the hedgerow – sniper fire
still. Enbody ordered us to charge – we did – more sniper fire pinned us down.
It was unbelievable. A platoon running across open field at dug-in enemy positions,
which even the gunships had failed to penetrate. It’s a wonder no one was hit.
I had a round glance off my steel pot, which everyone was wearing today in
case we had received mortars at the overrun outpost! It’s the first time I ever
wore one as it was for everyone else. I believe it save my life!
The APCs pulled up to cover our retreat, but pulled up behind us instead of
beside us, and therefore once again had us pinned. We crawled 300 meters to our
high berm; just like in “Combat”.
Next, air strikes were called. At this point we all became worried and
angered. Why were we wasting so much time on 1 or 2 snipers, while the rest of
the suspected platoon was probably flanking us and planning an ambush between
where we were and Bao Trai? Why couldn’t we just pull back and say forget it?
Was it worth our wounded and the two ARVN dead?
We also had one hope left after the air strike. The 3/49 ARVN bat. Had
moved up on the flank of the VC – a move our small force couldn’t even consider.
The ARVN planes dive-bombed the area for an hour and then disappeared, leaving
the area in flames and smoke. They dropped their loads not only where the
snipers were, but extremely deep into the woods, also. Each time they bombed
and pulled up, they received ground fire!
Now was the time for the big assault. The APCs would go first with the 3/49th
moving in on the flanks and CRIP directly behind the tracks. We approached to
within 100 meters, with .50s and .30s blazing, with not much return fire. The
last 100 meters to the edge of the hedgerow was the most Hell I’ve ever been
through.
We soon discovered that the whole platoon, or rather shall I say 100 or
200, VC were still there, after ravaging machine gun and gunship fire. And
nearly an hour of devastating ARNV air strikes! None of that had phased them,
and here we were trying to break in with a ground assault. Suicide!!
We realized it, but were already in the trap with VC to our front and right
flank (another big surprise). The incoming fire was intense; ARVNs were
dropping like flies, either wounded or killed. The sound of the muzzles and the
slugs whizzing by was terrifying. Some of us tried to climb inside the tracks,
but the ARVNs locked the doors.
We could see the bunkers inside the hedgerow only 20 meters from us, but
even the .50s and grenades couldn’t penetrate, while the VC inside put out a
steady volume of fire at the tracks. When the rounds hit the APCs it sounded
like someone dropping marbles into an empty trash can. The noise was deafening.
After an eternity, the VC began dropping mortars on our lines and the track
were quickly thrown into reverse and we retreated the same as we had assaulted
– scrambling behind the tracks and crawling behind berms. We made it to our
previous defense line and dug in. the VC stopped shooting as if they had never
been there at all.
What next? Nearly everyone was low on ammo, it was getting dark, the task
of getting at the VC was apparently impossible, and we still weren’t on our way
back to Bao Trai. One more assault and our ammo would be gone and we figured we
might need some on the way back in.
Someone said they weren’t going back in on another assault and someone else
agreed. Then it spread like the flu until the new platoon Serge (Brooks) told
the Lt, “I don’t know what you have in mind, Sir, but I’m not going back in
there and neither are any of my men”. I loved the way he referred to us
as his men, not the Lt.’s.
By this time, Lt. Col. Cassidy, our boss in Bao Trai, and Lt. Col. (Trung
Ta) Nahn, the s-2’s boss, were both out there giving orders. They made the plan
for USAF air support and 4 gunships. The air strikes came and dumped more
explosives on that area than was dropped on Berlin,
it seemed. Thane the gunships again unloaded everything they had.
We hadn’t received any fire since our last assault, but the choppers and
even the jets reported receiving ground fire as they made their runs!!
Next, the APCs (without CRIP because of our ammo situation) and the 3/49th
made one last move in. they were pushed back by only a slightly decreased
amount of enemy fire. Unbelievable that they could still be there after all
that. We were now forced to return to Bao Trai – now the APCs only ad 200
rounds a piece, for the .50s.
At 7:15 we broke contact and the last dust-off hurried off for Cu Chi. We
had 4 dust-off casualties: hicks, Polk, Hook, and a new section sergeant named
Crump who had been hit in the hand twice on the last assault, he reached out to
pull an ARVN behind the track as the fire increased, two rounds went through
his hand and through the ARVNs neck killing the ARVN instantly.
ARVN casualties were: 10th car 3 killed, 8 wounded; 3/49 6
killed, 9 wounded, including the American advisor who was hit in the chest, but
will be OK.
We had no contact on the way back and tonight the air strikes and the
artillery continue in that area, while back here we have received a hero’s
welcome. If we hadn’t come back the town and compound security would be gone. I
don’t think I’ve been so tired and dirty and emotionally shaken as I am
tonight. God, don’t let Charlie mortar us tonight! Through Hell and back, Bob
