Stories of Vietnam Part Five

While in Da Nang Don was sent on a recon mission. There were 12 of them, 3 Americans and 9 South Vietnamese.They had been out for 2 or three days when they saw some activity. They were pretty sure it was North Vietnamese and followed them for a while and were led to a company of North Vietnamese, probably 200, including some Chinese advisers. The North Vietnamese had a camp in the trees and the recon team figured they probably had tunnels too.

One of the South Vietnamese guys said, "It's NVA."(North Vietnamese Army) The recon team watched them for a while. All of a sudden there was a lot of action. The NVA were picking up their weapons. The recon team thought there was a possibility they'd been seen so they moved to a new position. They continued watching and the NVA was still coming toward them so they changed positions again. This happened 3 or 4 times. Now the NVA was getting close and they realized they were being forced into each new position. They were being funneled back toward a sheer drop off. They realized the NVA could follow them because they were making paths through the tall grass.

The elephant grass was higher than their heads and there were tall bushes too. Don was thinking they could lose someone in there and not know it until it was too late. They were hoping to find a clearing so they could get airlifted out.

The tunnels of Chu Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Chu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Chu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually persuading the weary Americans into withdrawal.

Read more about the Chu Chi Tunnels at Wikipedia.

They could hear sporadic firing but it was far away and they didn't know for sure if it was them that the NVA was firing at. The shooting began to get closer. It was close enough to know that it was them that the NVA was after. They kicked it into a higher gear and ran faster. They were hot and sweating even though it was overcast. They started to wear out quick. Adrenaline was going full tilt. Soon they realized that they were backed up to a steep drop off. They tried to see how they could scale down it but there was no way. They were trapped. They formed a line to defend their position, hiding behind rocks or getting into small depressions in the ground. Don was the radio operator so he got on phone and called home base saying they could not break contact and needed an extraction. Base had him on hold for a while then called back and said to break contact and continue the mission. They had already done that several times to no avail.

Don had a grenade in his hand and was ready to throw it. He had about 6 of them as did all the men. He pulled the pin and threw it. He grabbed for another one and kept moving back, moving back. He pulled the pin and threw another grenade. Because of the tall grass he couldn't see what he was throwing at.

One of the South Vietnamese advisers said, "Don't throw grenades yet. Throw rock. Throw another rock. They don't know if thud is from grenade or rock. Puts them off guard."

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Don called back and said they needed an extraction.
The major he was speaking with asked for authentification. Don went to the team leader and got it from him. They tried to relay the coordinates as best they could. The whole thing was getting out of hand and the gunshots were getting closer and closer!

The major called back and said break contact and continue the mission.
Don, "We can't break contact we're on the edge of a cliff! We are completely surrounded! We need to be extracted!
Major, "We have cloud cover and can't get the choppers in. Break contact and continue the mission"
Don, "Hey! We can't break contact. We're surrounded, you a**^&#@."
Major, "We checked into it and the army helicopters are grounded because of weather. They can't go out."
Don, "We need to get out of here or you'll be picking up our corpses tomorrow!"
Major, "Hey, do you know who you're talking to?"
Don, "Yeah I know! Bring my @$$ in and court martial me. I don't care! Just bring me in alive!"
Major, "Let me talk to the team leader."
The team leader got off the phone and said, "The SOBs aren't coming to get us. We just have to hold our ground or die trying."

As all of this was happening the word was spreading around the base that a recon team was in a situation. The army was apparently told to stand down because of the weather. It was only overcast where the recon team was, no storms or anything so they didn't know what the problem was.

Apparently some Marine helicopter pilots had been drinking at the army base bar and heard about the recon team. They were quite intoxicated but said, "Hell, we'll go get 'em!"

The recon team held off the NVA for what seemed like a couple of hours. There was sporadic firing and they could see the tall grass being mowed down by bullets. The NVA didn't move in any closer. Maybe because they didn't know for sure how many soldiers they were facing. All of a sudden the team heard the chopping of helicopter blades. What a sweet sound that was! They set off a red smoke grenade right on the rim of the cliff so the pilots could see it while flying below cliff level. "We see red smoke," they said. "That's us!" said Don.

They saw the choppers flying below the cliff level and then all of a sudden they rose up. One chopper began firing on the NVA, while the other one dangled lines to the recon team. The team ran over to the lines and hooked on with D-rings. The chopper moved out horizontally over the river gorge and then dropped below so they were out of the line of fire. As he was pulled off the cliff Don had the sensation that all around him was a safe zone, like a bubble. They did, however, have their guns at the ready. The other helicopter joined them after providing cover so they could get away.
They flew to a drop zone (DZ), set down and unhooked and the team loaded onto the helicopters. The team leader came around counting heads and it turned out everyone was accounted for and no one was wounded. They had all thought they were going to die that day. They were all so scared that they didn't notice at first that they were Marine helicopters instead of Army. They didn't care. They were just exhilarated to be alive!

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Back at the base everyone was waiting for them to get back and find out what had happened. They were told to be quiet until they had been debriefed, and they were put into isolation for a day until the debriefing. During the debriefing they were asked what happened, what they saw, the size of the force, and what kind of weaponry they saw.

While they were in debriefing the Major came in and asked, "Where's the radio operator?"
And then it occurred to Don, "Oh $&#*. Here it comes."
The Major took Don in a room and apologized. He said he hadn't realized the urgency of the situation. Rumor had it that the Major had been reprimanded by the Lt. Colonel.
Lt. Colonel, "Don't you understand that's their life out there? You're sitting here safe at the base and they are under attack by the enemy."
Major, "The army guys told us they couldn't get in because of the cloud cover."
Lt. Colonel, "WELL THE MARINES GOT IN!"

Whenever those Marine pilots came around they never had to pay for a drink. God bless the Marines!

The team was walking on air for the next couple of days. They were all exhausted coming down from such an adrenaline high and they all got a couple of days off.

About a week after that Don got transferred over to classified courier duty. He doesn't know if that was his punishment for how he talked to the Major or not but it was pretty sweet duty. He was no longer under the auspices of Command and Control North but was now working with SOG (Studies and Observation Group). Classified courier duty included being able to wait in special rooms in airports. He could carry a weapon on board. He traveled to Thailand and other places that were classified. He was now attached to the CIA.

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Don had temporary duty in Thailand and when he came back to Da Nang he had about a week to go in Vietnam before going home. He went looking for Al and he couldn't find him. They had come to Vietnam on the same day so they would be going home on the same day. No one seemed to know where Al was. Don looked in Al's hooch and all his stuff was still there, so he knew he hadn't left the country yet. He began to get worried. Finally he asked a guy if he knew where Al was and he said, "Oh man I hate to tell you this."
"What?" said Don. He was afraid Al had been killed. "He's not dead is he?"
"No, he's in the hospital with malaria."
Don finally found him in the hospital. They were supposed to take quinine pills everyday while in Vietnam to avoid malaria. Apparently Al had not been taking his on a regular basis. Al did get out of the hospital in time to go home as scheduled.

Don headed back to the compound and was staying in Al's hooch. Al had moved his hooch down the beach next to the water. It was so hot that Don was sleeping in the nude. That night the compound got hit and rounds started going off. The conventional wisdom said that many soldiers got killed either their first week or their last week in country. This was Don's last week and he was wondering if it was true. Don jumped up and grabbed his rifle but he couldn't find his pants and boots. He threw on a shirt and knew he had to get out of that hooch so he just ran wearing only the shirt. He jumped into a sand dune as they we were being shot at. He was really embarrassed. But he figured hey, do you want to get killed or do you want to be embarrassed? When it was over he had to walk back to the hooch butt naked and endure the comments of his buddies.
"Hey, nice outfit!"
"Hey that's a nice look!" and other comments that I won't mention here.
When he got back to the hooch there were his pants right at the head of the bed, of course.
That afternoon at the mess hall he was still taking a ribbing.

Richard, Don's Dad. Pearl Harbor Survivor.
Don, Special Forces Vietnam.
Nick, Don's son. Enlisted 2007.