Across the A Shau Valley from FSB Eagles Nest, Alpha company had been hit hard with a GA a few nights before.  They suffered 10 or 12 KIA's and I don't know how many wounded. I stood on top of the FO bunker and watched the green NVA tracers
cris crossing with the US red tracer bullets flying up into the black night sky as the fight raged.  I remember talking with Sp/4 Lloyd Lowe, H3X, the Artillery Liaison RTO about how bad it was going to be, and if he thought that we would get hit too. 
A day or so after the attack on Alpha, Cpt. Anderson, with a large green triangular bandage around his neck, cowboy fashion, walked rapidly over to the Charlie company CP on the perimeter of Eagles Nest calling for a meeting of platoon leaders and platoon sergeants.  We were to load up and CA to relieve Alpha Co. across the valley. 
Cpt Anderson was pretty steamed too as he was supposed to already be in Bien Hoa processing for his R&R.  At the time I understood that he was supposed to be DEROS-ing. That bit of misinformation was to crush my soul for decades to come.
We rucked up and humped over to the LZ where previously the dead Alpha company troops had lain in the sun, wrapped in ponchos and poncho liners awaiting their last ride out of the damned A Shau Valley.
One load by one load, we CA-ed out to the small LZ blown out of the triple canopy jungle by Alpha. The LZ was so small that we could only get one Huey in at a time. 
One load of Charlie in and one load of Alpha out.  As I CA-ed in I remember being struck by a feeling of evil that seemed to encircle the LZ and the deep blackness of the jungle beyond.  Pfc. Terry Emmrick, A3X, the Arty RTO was standing on the LZ
with his helmet off exposing his head of silver blonde hair, talking on his PRC25 radio.  Terry's head stuck out a beacon in the night.  We landed and I spoke to Terry.  I can't recall the exact conversation, but he was glad to be out of there.  I didn't doubt his sincerity for a second. Terry urged me to "take care."  The place felt and was evil.
Too many live NVA gooks were running around loose in that AO.
Charlie Co. finally assembled and started on the hump.  The jungle surrounding the LZ was far worse than I had ever seen before and twice as dark.  Daylight was almost blocked out by the overhead triple canopy.  We silently humped along in the dimness and suffocating humidity.  After about an hour or two, the lead platoon either radioed back to C6 or C6 radioed them saying that they were off course. The point man had taken a wrong fork in the trail and Charlie was off course. The company CP was at the fork, so we took the point and the off course platoon reversed and fell in trail behind the last platoon.
We crested a heavily jungled ridge and halted.  The trailing platoons forked off into the jungle to the right of the trail and began to set up our perimeter. Cpt Anderson dropped his rucksack and whispered as he walked by, "I'll find a place for the CP." as I turned to follow him off the trail and around a huge Banyan tree, my Artillery FO, a 2nd Lt, stopped me saying, "Stay here." 
On the opposite side of that tree were two NVA gooks armed with an AK47 and an RPD machine gun.  As Cpt. Anderson walked around the tree, he saw them and screamed "NO" at the very instant one of them opened fire killing him. 
Had I followed C6 around that tree I could have saved him.  The two gooks then ran down into a shallow, bushy ravine where we killed them with grenades and M16s a moment later. 
Later, another two gooks armed with an AK47 and an RPG launcher came down the trail and we killed them. The RPG was brand new. The RPG also had an unknown type of night sight with colored lens and filters.  Both the FO and I got a good look at the sight.
It was decided that "higher" would want to get their hands on the sight, so the sight was taken back to the LZ where we had just taken Cpt Anderson's body. I spent the entire night sitting on my rucksack, leaned against that tree.  I subsequently learned that other troopers had cried that day as the loss hit them.  For me the loss was too great for tears.  The tears, for me would come later and continue across time to this very day.
For those who knew Captain Anderson, we know how much he was loved by all of You.
His loss was a great sorrow for the whole Company.

Good Commanders are never forgotten.