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.

Jack Schmitz at one of the 101st Airborne fire-bases near the A Shau Valley

I took this picture of Jack Schmitz as he took a smoke break.  We were on a fire-base near the A Shau Valley.  I’m not sure which fire-base it was but there was trucks and heavy equipment there.  You can see one of the trucks in the back ground of this picture.  You can also see some of the hotches that we built.  You can also see the 101st Airborne patch on the shoulder of his fatigue top, as well as the cross on the chain around his neck.

I sent this picture along with some others to one of Jack’s good freinds in his home town.  Jack called me today and told me that his good friend, Frenchy, had enlarged and framed this picture of him and hung it in the local tavern that Jack frequents.   Jack said the picture had ”Thank You” inscribed on it.  I was quite moved to know that Jack’s friend thought enough of Jack’s service in Vietnam to recognize him in this way.  I’m glad I took this picture of Jack.

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…