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On Sept. 28th Charlie Company spent the night in a
company perimeter on top of a grassy hill. While we dug in, we could see the
NVA soldiers in the valley below, walking back and forth across the rice paddy.
They called in artillery that night where they had seen them, and also on a
hootch complex near by.
At first light the following morning we were moving into
position to conduct a 3 platoon sweep to the river area at the west of our
position. As we moved out, 2nd platoon, 2nd squad was leading. I remember coming off the hill into a small village below
the hill, winding our way to the far end of the rice paddy, where we had seen
the enemy the night before. The sweep never happened. 2nd platoon walked into a
planned ambush. (a NVA Company size element.) They were on a well used trail
with small grassy mountains on the right. 1st platoon was following, then 3rd
platoon. 4th platoon was remaining with the Company CP as support. On our left, at first, as we came out of a small village,
was a little brush area and then a rice paddy fifty yards wide with a hootch
complex on the other side. We humped down the trail that led along side the
rice paddy. The hills were on our right and the hootch complex was on the other
side of the paddy. The rice paddy was narrow and long, not giving us very much
cover.
Art Vandergrift was carrying the M 60 machine gun, and he
was about 7th or 8th in the column of men. Lt. James Hayes (the platoon leader)
was 2 or 3 men ahead of Art. The platoon had moved all the way down the trail
to a small clearing. The trees were few and were to the front of where the
column was headed. We never got to employ the sweeping maneuver. As Lt. Hayes
reached the clearing, he saw a NVA soldier with a back pack and hollered,
“Vandergrift, bring up the gun.” When Art got to his side, Hayes pointed to the
hootch area and said, “There’s a gook”. Art fired 2 or 3 bursts and saw the enemy fall. Then the
Gun jammed. As he was standing up jacking the bolt to get the gun to fire
again, the rest of the platoon was laying on the ground. The platoon had moved out early in the morning, and
because of Lt. Hayes noise discipline, we had surprised them. Lt. Hayes spotted
them seconds before they had spotted us. As Art was standing there for the 2 or
3 seconds, Lt. Hayes yelled at him to get down. But while standing, Art had seen where the enemy was located across the rice
paddy. They were entrenched in foxholes between the rice paddy and the hootch
area. They were dug in and well fortified. Things began to now seem like they
were in slow motion.
Art could see their heads popping up and down like
“jack-in Ðthe Ðboxes.” The NVA had been asleep. He could even see them reaching
for their AK 47 rifles that were still in the holes. There were so many of them
that it looked like a “Wack-Em” games as they continued to pop up. “I could see
them, they were in front of me, and on both sides. There must have been over a
dozen or more positions that were aimed at us. I can remember thinking, we’re
in for it now.”
I was on the ground and at the same level as they were.
The gun was ready and I was again firing in the direction of where I had seen
the heads popping up and down. There was a little grass in front of me. I
couldn’t see clearly, but I know the gun was on target, by where the tracers
were going. I had fired all the ammo in the gun and yelled for more. My
assistant gunner, George, was reluctant to come to me, but he did. By this
time, all hell had broken out and the platoon was taking heavy casualties.
George and I were able to keep the gun firing. I kept laying down as much lead
as I could, until George was killed. By this time, the Ammo-bearer had also
been killed trying to get more ammo to me. I had been thrown some extra ammo,
but the gun jammed again before
I could fire all of the rounds. This time the firing pin
was bent and it would no longer work.
I picked up George’s M 16 and continued to fire at the
enemy positions in front of me.
At this time, I was all alone and I was in front of the
column. To add to this, there was a sniper somewhere on a hill to the right of
us firing at our positions. By this time, they had put a real hurt on 2nd platoon.
3rd platoon with Sgt. Fletcher, was over near the hootch
area, and were beginning to make their support move.
Lt. Hayes sent a man (crawling) out to where I was, and
helped me get back to the rest of the platoon. The man was hit in the shoulder.
When we reached Lt. Hayes he was all alone except for one other man, Sgt. Wilson (Moe).
We were then told over the radio, NOT to fire in the
direction of the hootches. Fletcher’s and his men were over there. Lt. Hayes,
and Sgt. Williams proceeded to call in artillery and were directing air
strikes. At this time, 1st platoon had almost reached us. Their lead squad had
seen we were in bad trouble and we had no cover. They decided to “pop smoke”
and use it for cover to get to us. Smoke doesn’t stop bullets. As they tried to
get to us they were taking casualties immediately. Then Sgt. Wilson was fatally
hit in the chest. The Medic was
frantically working on him in vane, to save his life. There was just Lt. Hayes,
the Medic, a couple of other guys, and me. We were huddled together. Hayes
helped one of the other guys use a M 79 grenade launcher to try and knock
out the bunkers in front of us.
By this time, the fight was gone from the 2nd platoon.
At this time both 1st platoon and Fletcher’s 3rd platoon
were also in heavy contact.
3rd platoon was able to break free and was able to go
behind the enemy, forming a blocking force. They then attacked and eliminated
the enemy. It was a foxhole-to-foxhole, bunker-to-bunker assault by Fletcher’s
3rd platoon that was the deciding factor. The enemy now was trapped between 3rd
platoon and 1st platoon.
The battle that had started out very early in the morning
was now over. It was becoming dark and there was no time to move to a new
location for the night. We took a head count and readied our wounded and KIA’s
for evacuation. Charlie Company had over 12 KIA’s and over 30 men wounded. 2nd
platoon started out with about 30 men, only 12 remained unhurt.
For their bravery, Sgt. Larry Fletcher, and Spec. 4 Mike
Perry were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
Their bravery resulted in the saving of those men lives
that were in Charlie Company.
Art Vandergrift, for his gallantry was awarded the Army
Commendation Medal with a V device for Valor.
If it hadn’t been for the Leadership of Lt. Hayes and his
conduct under fire, the heroic bravery of the men of 3rd platoon, the results
would have been catastrophic. Lt Hayes had this to say about this encounter and
it’s results.
”The key to that day was, as I have said before, Brave,
disciplined, tough soldiers immediately reacting to an unbelievably dangerous
and chaotic situation. Although we had walked into a company sized ambush
position, they weren’t expecting us to be moving before daylight and we were
able to take out some key positions
before they could initiate the full ambush. If it hadn’t been for the brave men
of C/2/502, and their heroic actions under fire, in combat, it could have been
much worse”.
Article written by Art Vandergrift
Those who wish to use this article have his full permission
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