I’ve got a dandy head-splitter tonight. Doc gave me a dozen odd shaped
pills; they should do something. I’m beginning to have hallucinations; this
stuff’s a trip.
More New Year’s resolutions:
3) I resolve to stop going to Paris
on weekends
4) I resolve to stop wearing snowshoes
5) I resolve to begin saving money for a new ’68 Lambretta
Remember I mentioned something about the 25th division returning
to the States? It was a misprint in the paper. The 24th division
from Germany
is coming to the States. I resolve to stop believing in rumors.
152 days, 2 Jan/68, Tues.
We were supposed to have an operation this morning, but it was called off.
So it was another easy day – until we went out at night. There have been very
few missions at night when we haven’t made contact of one kind or another. This
night was no exception.
We had walked about 5 clicks and had searched three objectives. We were
moving into a hedgerow to set up our ambush for the rest of the night. Two
squads were setting out Claymores; I was setting out the one for the scouts and
Joiner was setting infantry’s, which put us both about 25 meters out in the
open in front of the hedgerow.
As the story goes, as Joiner walked out to set his up, a Vietnamese about
20 feet in front of him called out something. At first he thought it was
an ARVN, then realized everybody was in back of him, and he dove behind a berm.
The ARVNs heard the VC talking and opened up from the hedgerow. The VC got
about two steps before he was cut down. About 5 other VC, seen by the light of
the flare that was fired, got away. Apparently they had been sleeping in the
field when Joiner walked up on them.
Needless to say, the large volume of fire put out made things rather
uncomfortable for Joiner and me, since not too many people realize we were out
there..
[Sketch of firefight]
Joiner had no chance to fire since the infantry fired first. The scouts
were shooting off to my left, but not by much. The 106 started firing directly
in front of them at first, but when they came over to their left, I fired a
magazine (in the general direction of the VC) just to let people know, by the
sight of my tracers, that I was out there.
It didn’t work and the 106 kept me pinned down for about 20 minutes. I
never did get the Claymore set. We left the area after we were sure the VC got
away, and came back “home”. Our reward for our effort: one VC body count, one
Russian carbine.
The VC fired back at us a couple of times, and Stewart got scratched, by an
all-too-close bullet, under the lip!!
151 days, 3 Jan/68, Wed.
After sleeping till 11:30, we spent the rest of the day as we like them –
doing nothing but playing cards, reading, sleeping, etc.
We discovered that the cheese used in the rat traps is better than that
used in the mess hall, so we’ve been robbing the traps every night. You’ll also
notice I’ve switched from the ready-seal envelopes to the lick type. I don’t
know how much food value there is in the glue, but we need all the nourishment
we can get.
150 days, 4 Jan/68, Thurs.
It’s the 4th of January, and I’m just now finishing up my
resolutions. Better late than never.
6) To begin a safety campaign against buffalo carts – they don’t even have
headlights (they do have horns).
7) To raise money for an indoor ice-rink, so the people can use their new
ice skates, sent to them in a CARE package, originally intended for Greenland’s Olympic team (they got air-conditioners for
VN, but that’s their problem).
8) To have a heart transplant just because it seems to be the “in” thing to
do.
9) To have a map of Vietnam
tattooed on my eardrum.
10) To buy the mess hall a cookbook, and, in case they can’t read, a first
aid kit.
149 days, 5 Jan/68, Fri.
We had another night mission last night. I hate it! For a change we
didn’t make contact. For a while though, we sat in a hedgerow and listened to
outposts, etc., in all directions at one time or another, being hit. In one
direction we could hear a radio playing Vietnamese music.
At least we thought it was a radio, until one of the ARVNs came over and said,
“No radio – VC”. VC sing, “Kill US; bav can (?) VC.” I guess they were having a
pep-rally or something, and were using a megaphone. At any rate, I was glad
that when we moved, we moved in the opposite directions. There was firing going
on all night – a lot of it was not too far away. I was glad when we got back at
3:30.
Today was the typical lazy day after a night mission. We did get the
basketball goal backup. I don’t believe it but it’s raining fairly hard right
now – the first rain since Nov. 15th. The windows are down on the
jeep!
I heard today that we’re all being put in for the Purple Heart for eating
in the mess all. Also, Spec. 4 orders came in today, but they haven’t announced
them yet. Tonight will be the last envelope with “PFC” in the return address.
Expecting a raise, Bob
PS. If they can’t transplant hearts because the body rejects the foreign
tissue, why not transplant the whole body?
148 days, 6 Jan/68, Sat.
It’s official; I’m a Specialist 4th class, pay grad E-4 (specialist
at what?). Not much change in rank involved, but there’s a healthy $40 raise
per month to consider. In other words, an overpaid PFC.
It’s taken me less than a year (by 4 days) to make the rank Paul had after
3 years. Nine others is the platoon made it this month. That’ll ease the
financial pain of “buying the bar” tonight.
Change of address: Spec 4 R. L. Hughes, etc.
147 days, 7 Jan/68, Sun.
Finally had a day mission. It was one of those “go out and wait” deals, and
nothing was accomplished. Lieutenant Enbody took over for the first time today,
and first impressions show him to be worse than Straub – I didn’t think what
was possible. The more I think about it, the more I want out of CRIP.
146 days, 8 Jan/68, Mon.
If you haven’t already, you’ll see us on Huntley & Brinkley soon; also
in the papers. We were attacked last night at about 2:00 by 600 to 700 members
of the 269th VC battalion. A long, tragic night.
It started out with several RPG-2 rounds in the compound (Chinese anti-tank
rockets). One round hit the MACV signal platoon’s hutch, killing two Americans
instantly, and wounding two more – one of whom died waiting for the dust-off
choppers.
The fight lasted nearly 4 ½ hours, with 300 VC dug in with RPG-2s and
recoilless rifles, and AK-47s out in front of the bunker line outside the tent.
The VC overran all three ARVN outposts outside of town and took over and
destroyed an ARVN ammo dump. They also inflicted sever damage to the artillery
unit on the other side of town, and captured an armored car.
The VC were right in the town, and, before anything happened had gotten
close enough o hang a Viet Cong flag on the front gate!! Two of the girls who
serve in the mess had had VC break into their houses. One had her three brothers shot and killed before her
eyes, when they refused to go with the VC and fight against us. Another had her
father killed by a mortar round and the girl who works behind the bar lost 3 cousins.
The little guard tower on the main street wall received 3 direct hits with
the RPG2s, nearly knocking a huge hole in the wall – one more would have done
it. After it was hit, three recon people replaced the wounded MACV guards and,
by firing down the road towards the end of town at VC, trying to cross the road
and get into the compound, they surely saved us from being overrun.
It took choppers 40 minutes to get out of Cu Chi and out to B.T. When they
finally did get here, everything began to turn for the better. We could finally
poke our heads above the sandbags and fire. Within a short time, things had
quieted down considerably.
By the light of flares, we could see the VC trying to get away from the
choppers, our M-16s, and two .50 caliber machine guns. Not many made it. For a
while the captured armored car and .30 caliber guns gave the choppers trouble,
but a well-aimed rocket took care of it.
In the 4 ½ hours, the town had 10 houses destroyed and several stores
burned. Every government and military building in town was damaged in some way.
Nine ARVNs were killed, 10 wounded. The town took over 200 rounds from RPG2s,
recoilless, and mortars.
Our compound had three damaging hits (several others didn’t do much). One,
of course, completely gutted the signal hutch, killing three Americans and
wounding another. A second hit the radio shack with light damage. A third hit
our tent! It left a hole big enough to drive through. Had anybody been
inside . . . too bad. As it was, they
were all on the bunker line, and still seven were hit in various places by bits
of shrapnel.
Only one of our guys required a dust-off. The rest were treated on the
spot. One of our guys was burned slightly on the neck by the heat of an RPG2
rocket, as it barely missed his head.
There were 19 dead VC outside of town, which were found and the choppers
said there must have been another 150 or 200 dead or wounded being carried off
by the retreating VC. Inside the town, they found 15 VC bodies! All were armed
and fully equipped.
The town was a sorry sight this morning; burning houses, wailing women –
just terrible. All of the VC bodies were laid out on the town “square’ for
display. It’s not that they get a kick out of mangled bodies, but it’s an
excellent reminder to all the people what happens to VC.
I took about 1 ½ rolls of film in the town, etc. Not pretty, of course, but
. . . .
We got a new tent this afternoon and claimed the N. Vietnamese flag for
Recon (one of our guys grabbed it from the gate. It’s really huge, about 5’x
8’, red bottom, blue top, with a yellow star in the middle.
[Sketch of flag is missing]
We’ve decided that everyone in Recon now will be given a piece of the flag
when he leaves.
It was the longest and hardest Recon or MACV has fought since we’ve been
here. If it hadn’t been for the gunship’s support, we might have been overrun
ourselves. What’s less than 75 men against 600-700 VC, with rockets, etc.? They
never tried to charge us. If they had, things might have been different now. They had the town surrounded on three sides.
Needless to say, such a large attack brought out the dignitaries. General
Abrams (****), Westmoreland’s right-hand, was here, along with 2 three-stars, a
two-star, and a one-star, along with a host of colonels, ARVN and US.
A news team from NBC was here, filming interviews as was CBS. I missed out
on both of these, but the UPI was there also, and asked for a picture of the
flag; this you might see in the paper or somewhere. I’m in it!
I guess I’ve unintentionally left out anything about me. I’m fine; not a
scratch, just a few new jitters – I was one of the lucky ones. There are
butterflies out here.
There should be a full report on everything tomorrow. Now since I’ve been
up since 2L05 this morning, I’m going to . . . .ZZZZZZZ, Bob
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