Vietnam 68-69

Huey taking off from fire base with troops, headed to an LZ in the jungle.

As my squad readied weapons and gear we were given final instructions by our squad leader, Sgt Dunn.  He told us that our squad would be one of the first ones to be dropped at the LZ, which the buzz was about it being “HOT”.  Sgt Dunn checked and made sure we had enough ammo, and that every man had ammo for Raines’ M-60.   He told us that we were to have our weapons at the ready and be prepared to return fire as the helicopters descended onto the LZ.  We were instructed to dismount from the helicopter quickly and move into position at the edge of the LZ to the right of any men already on the ground.  He stressed how important it was to return fire and secure the LZ as quickly as possible.  We knew we had to stay low to the ground and move to cover on perimeter of the LZ.

It wasn’t too long after we had been given our final instructions before we heard the rythmic thumping of the approaching Huey’s.  Everybody saddled up and checked their weapons one last time to make sure they were ready to “rock and roll”.  As each chopper touched down we loaded up and were airborne.  The helicopters trailed one after the other towards the LZ.  We sat in silent contemplation, myself thinking about what lay ahead for us.  The thought crossed my mind that our helicopter could get shoot down before we had a chance to unload, or maybe we would get shot up while we were still on board, or pinned down on the ground by hostile fire.  I wonder about who might get hit and hoped that one of them wasn’t me.  I looked around at my  friends as we rode high above the jungle, the cool wind buffeting us.  I could tell the were ready to go with their weapons at the ready and I some how felt better.

As we approached the LZ we were given the command to lock and load.  We readied our weapons and prepared to hit the ground running.  Our helicopter was one of the first to drop into the LZ.  I could see the ground rushing up toward us as our Huey made a quick descent into the clearing.  The clearing was big enough for a number of helicopters to drop their troops at once.  As the chopper ahead of us picked his spot to drop in our pilot picked a spot to the right rear of it.  I could see that the LZ was overgrown with brush and the wash of the helicopters blades was blowing it out and down in a circle.  I expcepted our helicopter to touch down, but the pilot stopped his descent about ten feet from the ground.  I looked down at the swirling brush and thought to myself, “There is no way I’m going to jump that far, the pilot needs to get closer to the ground.”  The I heard the door gunner yelling for us to hurry up and jump, that they wanted to get the hell out of there.  I hesitated another second or so and then with my feet on the skid I jumped to the ground.  I knew that with all the weight on my back the I needed to drop and roll.  I hit the ground and rolled over onto the right side of my pack.  Amazingly I didn’t break anything.  The rest of my squad was soon on the ground and moving to the perimeter of the clearing.

There wasn’t any enemy fire and all the helicopters made it in and out without incident.  Once we knew the area was clear we moved out toward our objective somewhere in the jungle.  Needless to say we were on high alert, wondering where the enemy could be and why they didn’t show at the LZ.

Maybe next time we won’t be so lucky.

I believe, Trautmann, Dunn, Schmitz, Crabtree, Crutts, Raines, Winder and Brown were all a part of this story.

We were stationed at a mountain firebase.  One day we were trying to cut something with a razor blade.  Raines had the razor blade and I asked him to give it to me as I reached for it.  Raines jerked his hand back and cut my thumb open on the inside edge, from below the second joint, up and across to the side of  the thumbnail.  It started bleeding like crazy, but I don’t remember it hurting too bad.  I told the guys I needed to go see the medic.  Raines didn’t want me to go.  I think  he didn’t want to get in trouble.  He said he could sew my thumb up and went to get a sewing kit.  Well, I let Raines sew my thumb up with a needle and thread from the sewing kit.  It took a while, but it healed up quite well.  You can still see the scar to this day though.

View of Song Bo river where we ambushed vietcong crossing the river in a sampan.

Our platoon was on patrol along the Song Bo river in the mountains somewhere near the lowlands.  The river was fairly wide and deep, and the water was quite clear.   We waited under cover up stream until after dark and then moved into an ambush position along the right bank of the river.  It was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.  As we moved along the edge of the water the river made a left turn and then went straight along the base of a large hill.  We silently spread out and positioned ourselves on that hillside overlooking the water.  I thought about how exposed we were sitting on that hillside with no cover.  As we sat there straining to see in the darkness, there was just enough light to make out any movement on the river.   We were all quiet as the night as waited for any enemy movement.

  At about three in morning someone spotted a sampan coming across the river.  As the sampan reached our side of the shore one of the men started getting out of the small boat.  But he must of heard us passing the word that there was  a boat with men in it.  He shoved the boat from the shore and jumped back in.  As the men hastily paddle the boat back across the river the current moved them directly in front of our ambush.  Someone gave the order to open fire.  Suddenly the still of the night was shattered by a barrage of small arms fire.  We opened up with M-16′s, M-60′s and M-79′s.  Tracers were streaking into the water and ricocheting through the air.  I was firing my M-79 as fast as I could load it.   My rounds exploded as the hit the water and sent big columns of water in the air.  I heard splashing on the far bank and concentrated my shots in that area.  Jeff Crabtree felt something hot hit him, he thought he had been hit and fell backwards, firing his M-79 as he did.  It wasn’t long before we were given the order to cease fire.  It was then that Jeff realized he had been hit by hot brass from the guy’s M-16 to the right of  him.  We listened for movement but didn’t hear anything.  The sampan had disappeared below the surface of the water.

  I figured it was all over and was beginning to relax when the silence was broken by something other worldly coming towards us from behind and to the side of the hill that we were on.   High over our right side an ungodly howl moved through the night sky.  The sound was unlike anything I had heard before.   The howl was loud and sound like a small car flying at high speed through night sky.  The round was soon followed by more howling projectiles and they started hitting the ground on the far side of the river.  There were brilliant flashes of light and concussions of sound and shock waves, followed by the sound of huge pieces of shrapnel splashing in the river.   I was hoping that none of the shrapnel hit us.  I later learned that the rounds were fired from a battleship’s 18″ guns.

The next morning one of the guys in our platoon volunteered to dive down in the river to see what he could find.  (Story continued in Part 2)

My 1st Platoon was on patrol somewhere in the jungle west of Hue.  On the particular day, we were walking a trail on a valley floor with a fairly large river running through it.  As we came along side the river, it was decided that we needed to cross.  Our platoon leader, I think it was Lt Trautmann that chose a place to cross the river where the bank dropped straight done into the deep water.  The other side of the river was a gravel bar.  It was decide who would swim across with a rope and secure it.  Then it was decided who would get in the water to help with the mattresses, since I was six foot three, they picked me.  It was something I didn’t relish doing, but when the time came I slipped off the bank and into the cold, murky water.  My feet hit the muddy bank about four feet under the water.  My platoon members started dropping air mattress loaded with a pack to me as the men slipped into the water and took the mattress.  The mattress was attached to the rope stretched across the river.  It was taking forever for everybody to cross over to the other side.

After quite a few had crossed, Raines’ air mattress was lowered into the river and as it passed into my hands, his boots slide off the top of the pack and started floating away.  I jumped for them and started kicking to swim to them.  My legs immediately cramped up, and I mean cramped up!  The cold water had an icy grip on my legs.  I remember going under as my legs spasmed in pain.  I don’t think I made a sound as I went under.  I came back up thrashing my arms to stay above water.  My boots and fatigues were trying to pull me under.  I remember seeing someone jump in the river as I started to go under again.  The next thing I knew was that a strong arm grabbed a hold of me and pulled my head up above the water. Sgt Dunn swam me to shore as I tried to remain calm.  When Sgt Dunn got me to the bank, a couple of men grabbed my arms and hauled me up on to the bank, spitting and sputtering.  I thought I was a goner, like the  boots.  After I recovered, the rest of us crossed the river.

When I got across the river, Raines was blaming me for loosing his boots.  Sgt Dunn told him to shut up.  Everybody was saying how it was his fault for not securing his boots to his pack.  Raines had to walk in his stocking feet until we could meet up with the supply helicopter.  I don’t remember how far we hiked before Raines got his boots, but I remember thinking how lucky I was to be alive and how much gratitude I had for Sgt Dunn for saving me.  Thank you Sarge!

At the end of December, 1968, we were on a company size operation in the mountains somewhere west of Hue.  Delta company was also on an operation  in the mountains and made some contact with the enemy.  Battalion headquarters pulled Delta company out.  Our company was resupplied in the field and choppered to a new location, probably close to where Delta company had made contact.  On Dec 31st, we were humping towards our next night defensive position (NDP).  The weather was nice that morning and into the afternoon, with sunny skies, but the tempature wasn’t too hot for humping.  I thought what a beautiful day it was and I liked the trail we were on.  There were large trees all around, and the thick jungle growth was broken up by large open areas.  I remember the trail started to make a sweeping turn to the left and we were given the sign to stop.  Our platoon leaders, Lieutenant Dugger and Sergeant Perez needed to check the map to figure out which way we should go.  Appearently there were other trails ahead and they needed to decide which trail would get us to our NDP.  I recall that the area where we stopped was quite open, with some big trees here and there.   We were standing in the trail, waiting for the order to move out, when automatic weapon fire rang out.  We immediately hit the ground and I scrambled behind a big tree that was just off the trail to my right.  There was only the initial burst of fire and then silence, only a short echo of the gun fire through the trees.  Soon, word came back through our platoon that Lieutenant Dugger had been hit, a single bullet to the heart had killed him almost instantly, even before the medic could get to him.  When I heard that he had been killed, I was in disbelief, which was soon replaced by rage.  I wanted to kill the bastards that had killed our platoon leader.  Lieutenant Dugger was only days from going home to his wife and family, and this was to be his last patrol.  He had talked lovingly of his wife and he was looking forward to seeing her and his family once again.  It wasn’t right that he wouldn’t be going home to see his wife and family again.

Sgt Perez gave us orders to advance towards the location that the enemy fire had come from.  Jack was on my right and Raines was on my left, thier weapons in firing position, as our squad moved up a slight incline covered with grass and brush towards a denser growth of dark jungle.  I thought that the enemy could still be in there waiting for us, but I didn’t care, I had my M-79 loaded and at the ready.  We advanced side by side and made a sweep of the area but didn’t make contact with the enemy.  We found foot prints that indicated that there were about five NVA.  

A medevac had been ordered and was on it’s way.  Our platoon moved  to secure a nearby clearing large enough for the helicopter to land.  It wasn’t long before we heard the thumping of the Huey’s rotor blades in the distance.   A yellow smoke was popped on the LZ to help the pilot find the clearing we had secured.   The Huey soon broke over the trees and dropped into the clearing and touched down.  Members of our platoon picked up Lt Dugger’s poncho wrapped body and carried it to the waiting helicopter.  Yellow smoke swirled through the blades of the helicopter as it waited forLieutenant Dugger’s body to be loaded onboard.  As soon as the men had placed his body in the Huey and cleared the LZ the pilot applied more throttle to the engine and pitch to the rotors, the helicopter lifted off and slowly rose straight up from the clearing, turned and tilted towards the east and soon disappeared over the trees.  Lieutenant Dugger was going home.

 A beautiful day to die…