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This operation would be like no other that would take
place during my tour of duty.
We were brought in from the field for a 4 day “stand
down” previous to us boarding choppers and making an
Air Assault into the Valley. At this time, we would be
given our freedom from our normal daily tasks.
On August 3rd , we boarded the Huey choppers and we were
bound for our AO (Area of Operation)
For those who had taken part in other like situations,
there was an eerie silence as we proceeded.
The newer men were a little more boisterous.
We landed in an area that was some distance from our
major objective. But Charlie (a shorter version for Viet Cong - "Victor
Charlie") was waiting, and the LZ turned hot after a short period of time.
This now being 35 years later, I don’t remember any major
casualties suffered immediately. That would change.
After getting all of our troops on the ground and regrouped,
our company headed out on our mission, Missions of this sort were that of
“Search and Destroy” . Our mission was to find and engage the enemy. Uproot
them from their position and secure the area we were given.
On August 5th all things changed. As we were approaching
a ridge line, near top of a large hill, 2nd Platoon came under heavy fire from
a bunker complex. They were halted in their progress. The pursuing firefight
would cost us a number of casualties, and KIA’s. As 2nd platoon was about to approach
the top portion of the hill, there was a burst of rounds that came from a
machine gun, placed in a well-protected bunker. Immediately the Point man, Gary
Mabrey, was killed, his Slack Man wounded and 3-4 of the next men in line were
wounded. 2nd platoon pulled back. They now knew exactly where the bunker was
located and proceeded to totally destroy the small 3 bunker complex. When
things settled down we called for a "Dust Off" (Medical Evac.) to get
our wounded out and also our KIA's. The next day or so would also be like this;
contact with smaller well-positioned forces. The closer we got to the main
floor of the valley, and to where the NVA were massing, the tougher the
fighting became. During these days I was
walking Slack for one of the finest Point men ever, Dale Kinikin (aka
"Rock"). We were moving down one hill to a saddle area that would
lead to the next hill. As Kinikin and I approached the bottom, all hell broke
out. Immediately Rock jumped to the left, as always, I went the other way. He landed
in a thicket area. I tried to get myself behind some tree stumps, left from
when the Montegnard people had been in the area. I didn't get that far. Lying
on the ground I quickly roll to my left to remove my rucksack, then as I move
to the right to finish, a burst of rounds came up my left side. Then as I
quickly rolled back to the left a burst went up my right side. How I wasn't hit
is still a mystery to me.
I ended up on the same side of the trail as Rock, that’s
when he asked me, “What are Ya doing on my side of the trail”, together we laid
down as much "lead" as we could.
Behind us in the column, the Sargent and 3 other men had
been hit. The C.O. sent 2nd platoon around to our right to cut off any escape
the enemy may have wanted to take. As we stayed put, the other platoon mopped
up what was left. We regrouped and went to the top of the hill and set up our
perimeter for the night. We blew down a few trees and got our wounded out.
The brashness and boldness of the NVA (North Vietnamese
Army) would then be realized. We came upon an area where even at night, Charlie
was driving around, moving supplies, at night, in trucks, with the lights on.
We then knew, this wasn’t going to be any kind of a
cakewalk.
To bring this into perspective, the A Shau Valley was the
first major inlet into Vietnam from the Ho Chi Minh trail. It was where they
stored much of their supplies, ammunition, weapons, and where their replacement
troops were sent out. It was the supply area for 3 regiments of NVA. These 3
regiments were those that did most of the fighting in I Corp and the upper
western area of II Corp. These were well trained, hardcore soldiers.
Our timeline for our operation was also determined by the
on-coming Monsoon season. During the Monsoons, resupply is almost nonexistent
at best. So we were faced with not only the enemy in our way, but the weather
would also play a major factor.
Not everyday were we faced with contact, but when it
happened it was intense and furious. Some days the fighting would last for a few
hours, other days it would seem to go on into the night. As we pushed deeper
towards their strong holds, the tougher the fighting would become.
We came out of a “triple canopy” area (where the bamboo
and over growth was so thick it would filter out the hot sun) into an area that
looked like a freshly plowed farm field. There in the midst of this area was
what looked like an oasis. Our company quickly took cover in that area. Unknown
to us, the NVA were deeply entrenched in caves on the mountain just to our
right. The reason for the oasis was, they couldn’t strike that area with their
rockets and mortars, because of a large ledge above their location. It meant
that we could not proceed any further without the risk of a great loss of men.
In short we were stopped from making an approach from that position.
Our sister battalion, 1/327, was much further to our
right. They were in a position to draw fire, and allow us to relocate to a
better position. The actions of that battalion are well documented.While we were in the oasis area, we witnessed the NVA
actually shoot down a F-104 fighter jet with a RPG rocket as the jet tried to
drop some napalm on their position.
After we had relocated, we then tried to assault the
fortified position. This ended in more casualties and resulted in our being
pulled back to a safer area while they scheduled a massive B 52 raid on the
mountain.The rule of "thumb" is, to be at least 8
kilometers away when there is a B 52 Strike. We only made 5 at best, do to the
terrain and thick under brush. The ground moved like in a San Francisco type
earthquake.
The remainder of our days, were spent tracking down any
of the enemy left in the area. This would also lead to our company taking
several more casualties, and a number of men wounded. Near the very end of our operation in the Valley, we
would lose one more man as a KIA.
On what seemed to be a normal routine scouting patrol,
3rd platoon became involved is a short but deadly fire fight. Crawford Jackson
who was near to the front of the platoon with a couple of others, were cut off
and separated. The rest of the platoon quickly engaged and destroyed the enemy.
But 2 men were wounded and Jackson was killed. Being almost sunset, the platoon
made a quick litter to carry Crawford's body and headed towards the rest of the
company. They arrived when it was almost dark and it was to late to call for a
Dust Off. The wounded men made it through the night and we transported them out
the following morning along with Jackson. The company then proceeded on our
mission objective.
Knowing the Monsoons were soon to be coming, because it
had already started to rain on most days, they made plans to lift us out of the
valley. If we stayed much longer, the weather would make re-supply almost
impossible. We were told to move to a specific area for extraction. That area
was about a 5 day hump from where we were at that time. We were taken to Fire
Base Veghel.
I wish that was the end of the calamities, but there
would be one more.
While on Veghel, we were to also run some patrols in the
local vicinity of the base. It was as 2nd platoon had been out on patrol and
they were setting up our "famous" "Widowmakers" ( an
instantaneous booby trap made with anti personnel mines and grenades) that's
when the "humbug" of the A Shau operation occurred. It is a well-known protocol on a firebase to hold a
"Mad Minute" every day between 5pm - 7pm. It is scheduled by the base
commander, and to not be held the same time everyday. In the Mad Minute, every
weapon from M-16s to M 60 machine guns are fired down the hill area. This also
includes rounds from M 79 grenade launchers.
The men in our 2nd platoon were returning from their
patrol, the "new" 1st Lieutenant with the platoon wasn't convinced
that the "Widowmakers" were set properly. He and 5-6 of the men went
back to check the set up. Our men had set these devises many times in the past
and this was highly irregular. As they approached the perimeter, the Mad Minute
started. Because the rest of the platoon had already returned, it was assumed
that all the men were inside of the perimeter. Lieutenant Jenks was killed
almost immediately and 2 other men were badly wounded. Jenks had only been with
our company 3 days when this mishap took place.
This was the final incident of our 26 days in the VALLEY
OF DEATH.
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