The Magnificent Bastards Part 14

"It would be a h.e.l.l of a deal," he said later, "to make it through all that bulls.h.i.t-and then have a dead man shoot me."

Staff Sergeant Goad's arm hung uselessly. The bullet had entered his forearm and exited six inches farther up through the elbow, shattering it. He was in shock. When a medic tried to administer morphine, he declined, saying, "h.e.l.l, it ain't hurtin'." Captain Leach ran over to find Goad cradling his elbow with his good hand. Goad, stud that he was, was embarra.s.sed. "Sir, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry for s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up."

The C&C Huey immediately medevacked Staff Sergeant Goad to the 18th Surgical Hospital in Quang Tri City. While he was sitting on a gurney in the triage area, the pain suddenly came down on him-as did the emotions of the moment. Colonel Gelling, the brigade commander, helicoptered up to see him as he was being prepared for surgery. Gelling later wrote that despite the pain, Goad's only concern was for "what was happening to the men in his squad. He was not overly emotional, but actually cried when talking about the men in his squad and wondering who was going to take care of them. He specifically asked me to carefully select a squad leader to replace him because the men in his squad were so outstanding that they deserved special consideration." Gelling added that Goad's action reflected "the deepest concern I've ever seen by one man for those who fought with him."2 The NVA rear guard was still in position. Several GIs were wounded by enemy fire from the northwest. Four air strikes later, the sweep began anew. The single Marine tank that had survived the night attack-it had been positioned with Alpha Company-fired its 90mm gun into likely enemy hiding places, as did the M79 grenadiers advancing across the parched brown lunarscape. Troops used their M16s liberally, and grenaded all the craters and spiderholes as they systematically progressed with the tank.

Sergeant See of Delta Company checked out a brush-camouflaged dugout that the tank had just blasted. The two NVA inside the dugout had been reduced to hamburger. One of the GIs picked up a pith helmet with a red star on it and discovered that it was full of brains. See spotted another NVA with ants crawling out of his mouth and maggots squirming in his eye sockets. When is it going to end? thought See, trying not to gag at the sight and the smell. Some troopers wrapped olive-drab sweat towels around their mouths and noses to filter out the stench. The bodies were everywhere, as were the big green flies and the human debris caused by heavy ordnance. "You'd see something weird-looking on the ground," remembered Sergeant Coulthard of Charlie Three, "and all of a sudden you'd realize, Jesus Christ, it was part of a hand or part of a head." Private Harp encountered a dead NVA who lay atop his AK-47 in a small gully. The man had been hit by napalm. "He looked like some kind of obscene burned rubber doll," said Harp. "He was kind of melted. He had no features at all, just the general outline of a man burned into black rubber. His uniform had been completely burned off. All that was left were his boots. They were completely intact. Strange s.h.i.t, napalm."

There were so many dead NVA that the tank could not avoid running over bodies. Leaving broken weapons where they lay, the troops slung working AK-47s over their shoulders as the sweep progressed. They also checked the bodies for intel material. Private Harp removed the helmet, web gear, grenades, and an intact AK-47 from one NVA with a blown-open head. As he did so, the man's shredded body began to pull apart. The soldier's papers included a couple of hundred piasters, a military doc.u.ment, a letter written in Vietnamese, and a photograph of the dead man with a young woman and two children. "For a minute I thought I was going to cry for that guy," Harp recalled. "But then I remembered Yost and Morse and Sullivan, and all those guys from Alpha Company, and those guys from Second Platoon that we sc.r.a.ped into a poncho, and my attack of humanity pa.s.sed as I went on to the next corpse to police up his gear. An awful lot of very brave people on both sides died extremely violent, miserable deaths at Nhi Ha. I'd had a bellyful."

The Gimlets' DMZ adventure, which was essentially over at that point, cost the 3-21st Infantry a total of 29 KIA, 1 MIA, and 130 WIA-71 of whom required medical evacuation. The battalion was credited with 358 NVA kills and 4 prisoners. An additional 91 kills were claimed by air, and 130 by artillery. The Gimlets' reward was to be included in the Navy Unit Commendation awarded to the 3d Marines. It was a proud moment for the battalion. "Even the Marines admit that we're really kicking a.s.s," Specialist Hannan wrote home from the DMZ. Specialist Farrand of D Company commented that no one was scared anymore "because everyone was too into what they had to do. You didn't sense fear. You sensed fatigue, seriousness, anger at the enemy, and a lot of backslaps and forced levity. Everybody was a brother to everybody. The NVA were up against a force that wasn't going to move."

The exception was Alpha Annihilator. Captain Osborn was, in the words of his replacement, "a broken man who couldn't wait to get out of the bush" and the company was "listless and hurting."

Nine days after the battalion pulled off the DMZ, Alpha was attacked in its night defensive position in the Que Son Valley. In their haste and confusion, the GIs in Alpha Two's LP left behind their starlight scope when they pulled back to the perimeter. Captain Osborn ordered the three-man team to retrieve it. The NVA were waiting, however, and fired an RPG. Sergeant Patterson and Specialist McFaddin-the grenadier who had saved the day in the creek at Xom Phuong- were killed instantly. McFaddin's arm was torn from his body and sent flying. The third man, seriously wounded, was able to crawl back under covering fire from the perimeter. Snyder relieved Osborn the next morning.

In turn, demoralized Alpha Company went to 1st Lt. Hal Bell, who had recently taken over Alpha Two and was soon to be promoted to captain. Snyder commented that "within six or eight weeks, Bell had pretty much turned the company around. Bell turned them into a bunch of tigers." Commissioned from OCS after college, Bell, who had a winning personality and got along well with his men, also had the advantage of having attended the sixty-day British Jungle Warfare School in Malaya. He spent ten months commanding the Americal Division's Combat Tracker Platoon, which employed tracker dogs-specially trained black labrador retrievers-and helped units find the enemy when contact was lost. Bell, thinking of making a career in the Army, had extended his tour to get a rifle company. He would eventually quit, disgusted at the no-win policy of Vietnamization that got a lot of GIs killed even as it lost the war.

In the meantime, however, Bell brought enthusiasm, aggressiveness, intelligence, and experience to Alpha Annihilator. In addition to enforcing the basics, he emphasized squad-sized night operations as the best way to catch the VC and NVA in the Que Sons and the Hiep Due Valley. Despite a lot of initial resistance from edgy, gun-shy troops, he remarked that "once you get used to it, your confidence level goes up." The patrols killed a lot of surprised enemy soldiers who were moving at night in small groups or bedding down in remote hootches. "Once those guys started to get some successes, it became their idea of fun," said Bell. "They would tell you the most ghoulish stories of what people were doing when they got 'Em." Bell added that although the troops had demonstrated that "they would not put up with bulls.h.i.t from incompetent leaders, the GIs' recuperative powers are absolutely marvelous. It just amazes me some of the things they did. And they were not Regular Army-they were just draftees, and the lieutenants were just college kids. But if you've got some captains, lieutenants, and sergeants that don't screw up too bad and keep track of the fundamentals of the foot soldier, then those soldiers do very, very well."

The Gimlets' last recorded casualty on the DMZ occurred on 12 May 1968 when a soldier was. .h.i.t in the back by fragments from the intermittent sh.e.l.ling on Force Tiger. The Gimlets killed a few more NVA as the operation wound down. Small groups of NVA were spotted after dark on 11, 12, 13, and 14 May as they crawled through the gra.s.s around Force Tiger to hara.s.s the perimeter and listening posts with grenades. The closest NVA were engaged with M79s, and the ones farthest away, visible under the near constant illumination, became targets for the artillery.

On 15 May, the 3-21st Infantry was relieved in place by elements of BLT 2/4, which marched up from Mai Xa Chanh West. The Army grunts got down in their bunkers when the Marines started filing along the paths through their claymores, trip flares, and concertina, as they expected all the movement to draw enemy artillery fire. Alpha Company was scheduled to turn over its positions first. A Marine lieutenant walked up to Sergeant Stone of Alpha Three and said, "We're here to relieve your position. Have your men get out."

"We dug these G.o.dd.a.m.n holes-we ain't gettin' out till they give the order to move," Sergeant Stone answered. "They got this place zeroed with rockets. You know, your men are welcome to get in with us, but I'm not telling my men to get out of here."

Staying under cover until it was finally time to leave, Alpha Company formed up into platoon columns and started south. A trash fire was burning inside a crater just outside the bunker line. Enemy munitions had been piled nearby-they were to be destroyed in the crater-and, somehow, what was later thought to be a satchel charge ended up in the blaze. The explosion set off the rest of the NVA ammunition in a huge fireball, which tipped over the Marine Otter parked nearby and sent the GIs standing on it flying. The explosion shook everyone up. They thought at first that the NVA were sh.e.l.ling them. Sergeant Stone, heading back across the paddy in his file, noted that he "turned around and looked back, and here's all this smoke and stuff going up. That was my last look at Nhi Ha. We kept right on going."

Charlie and Delta Companies pulled out of Force Tiger by 1500 on 15 May, and all four of the 3-21st Infantry's rifle companies spent the night dug in near the battalion CP with a flareship overhead. One NVA was spotted as he reconnoitered their perimeter. At 0700 on the sixteenth, USMC Sea Knights and Sea Stallions began lifting the battalion from the vicinity of Mai Xa Chanh East to the airfield at Quang Tri City. The move took eleven hours and forty lifts.

From Quang Tri, C-123s airlifted the Gimlets to FSB Baldy. Chinooks then moved the platoons from Baldy to FSB Colt, and on the morning of 17 May 1968 the Gimlets were back in the bush under 196th LIB control.

"What struck me the strongest was going back out in the Que Son Valley and starting to hump all over again," said Sergeant Coulthard. "I think that's when my discouragement with the war began. Not that I turned against the war, but I thought, My G.o.d, we're going to have to do this for a long, long time. It's when I really realized the magnitude of what the h.e.l.l we were trying to do-and the enemy's willingness to pay the price."

1. Captain Leach was awarded the Silver Star and his second Purple Heart for Nhi Ha. He also received two BSMv's and an AM during his two combat tours. Captain Leach was awarded the Silver Star and his second Purple Heart for Nhi Ha. He also received two BSMv's and an AM during his two combat tours.2. Sergeant Goad received the Silver Star, BSMv, ARCOMv, and Purple Heart, but his wound canceled his plans for OCS and resulted in his involuntary separation from the service because of physical disability. Sergeant Goad received the Silver Star, BSMv, ARCOMv, and Purple Heart, but his wound canceled his plans for OCS and resulted in his involuntary separation from the service because of physical disability.

Epilogue.

Officially, the Battle of Dong Ha, as the 3d Marine Division labeled the series of actions above the Bo Dieu and Cua Viet rivers, lasted from 29 April until 15 May 1968. The brunt of the NVA offensive was borne by BLT 2/4 and the 3-21st Infantry in the Operation Napoleon/Saline TAOR, under the op-con of the 3d Marines. Considerable combat was also experienced by 1/3 in this sector, and by 3/3, 1/9, 3/9, and 1/ 26 near Cam Lo and Thon Cam Vu in the Operation Kentucky TAOR, as well as by the 1st ARVN Division above Dong Ha. Another highlight was the deployment of the 1st and 2d Battalions, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), which operated under the 3d Marines from 6 to 17 May. The Cav called its partic.i.p.ation Operation Concordia Square, and its units ranged from northeast of Nhi Ha to north of Dong Ha.

The campaign was marked by heavy sh.e.l.lings of allied positions. More than a hundred tons of ammunition in the supply depot at the DHCB was blown up on 14 May. Total casualties in units under the operational control of the 3d Marine Division during this period were 233 killed, 821 wounded, and 1 missing in action. The Navy's TF Clearwater lost 15 killed and 22 wounded. ARVN casualties, haphazardly reported, were 42 killed and 124 wounded. The NVA reportedly lost 2,366 dead and 43 prisoners.

The carnage bought only a week of relative peace for 3d Marine Division units along the DMZ before the next NVA offensive began.

Appendix A Key Personnel of BLT 2/4, 9th MAB (opcon to the 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division), during Operation Night Owl and the Battle of Dai Do (27 April-3 May 1968): CO: Lt. Col. William Weise (until WIA on 2 May); then Maj. Charles W. Knapp (acting until relieved by Lt. Col. Louis A. Rann on 6 May) XO: Maj. Charles W. Knapp Sgt. Maj.: Sg. Maj. John M. Malnar (until KIA on 2 May) S1 (Personnel): IstLt. R. L. Jones S2 (Intelligence): Capt. Richard J. Murphy S3 (Operations): Maj. George F. Warren S4 (Logistics): Capt. L. L. Forehand Medical Officer: Lt. Frederick P. Lillis, USN; with Lt. Runas Powers, USN, and HM1 Walter R. Gorsage, USN CO, H&S Company: 1st Lt. Edward S. Dawson ECHO COMPANY.

CO: Capt. James E. Livingston (until WIA on 2 May); then 2d Lt. Michael L. Cecil (acting) XO: 1 st Lt. David R. Jones (until WIA on 2 May) FO: GySgt. James Eggleston (WIA on 2 May) 1st Sgt.: not available GySgt: GySgt. Roscoe Chandler 1st Pit. Comdr.: 2d Lt. Michael L. Cecil 1st Pit. Sgt.: not available 2d Pit. Comdr.: 1st Lt. James Sims (until WIA on 2 May) 2d Pit. Sgt.: not available 3d Pit. Comdr.: 1 st Lt. David R. Jones (acting until WIA on 2 May); then Sgt. James W. Rogers (acting) 3d Pit. Sgt.: not available FOXTROT COMPANY.

CO: Capt. James H. Butler XO: 1 st Lt. James Wainwright FO: 2d Lt. J. M. Basel (WIA on 30 April) 1st Sgt.: 1st Sgt. Theodore D. Duchateau GySgt.: SSgt. Pedro P. Balignasay (acting until WIA on 1 May); then the a.s.signed company gunnery sergeant, GySgt. P. E. Brandon, who had been in the battalion rear on an administrative run when the battle began 1st Pit. Comdr.: 2d Lt. David K. McAdams (until WIA on 2 May) 1st Pit. Sgt.: LCpl. Ronald J. Dean (acting until WIA on 2 May) 2d Pit. Comdr.: SSgt. Richard L. Bartlow (until KIA on 2 May) 2d Pit. Sgt.: Sgt. Albert Archaleta (until WIA on 2 May) 3d Pit. Comdr.: 2d Lt. Robert Lanham (until WIA on 1 May) 3d Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. Chateau GOLF COMPANY.

CO: Capt. Robert J. Mastrion (until medevacked on 28 April); then Capt. "J. R." Vargas (acting until medevacked on 3 May) XO: 1st Lt. Jack E. Deichman (WIA on 2 May) FO: 2d Lt. Peter A. Acly (WIA on 2 May) 1st Sgt.: not available GySgt.: GySgt. Billy R. Armer (until WIA on 27 and 28 April); then SSgt. Reymundo Del Rio (until medevacked on 2 May) 1st Pit. Comdr.: SSgt. Reymundo Del Rio (until he became company gunnery sergeant on 28 April); then SSgt. Wade (acting) 1st Plt. Sgt.: SSgt. Wade 2d Pit. Comdr.: 2d Lt. Frederick H. Morgan 2d Pit. Sgt: Sgt. Richard F. Abshire (until KIA on 2 May); then Cpl. Pless (acting) 3d Pit. Comdr.: 1st Lt. James T. Ferland (until WIA on 2 May); then 1st Lt. Jack E. Deichman (acting) 3d Pit. Sgt.: Sgt. Robert J. Colasanti (WIA on 30 April and IMay) HOTEL COMPANY.

CO: Capt. James L. Williams (until WIA on 30 April); then 1 st Lt. Alexander F. Prescott IV (acting until WIA on 2 May); then 2d Lt. Bayard V Taylor (acting until WIA on 2 May); then 1 st Lt. Alexander F. Prescott IV (acting after returning to duty on 3 May) XO: 1st Lt. Alexander F. Prescott IV (in field); and 2d Lt. Bayard V Taylor (in battalion rear until battle began) FO: 2d Lt. Carl R. Gibson (until KIA on 30 April); then the FO team radioman, LCpl. Carl M. Spaethe (acting) 1st Sgt.: 1st Sgt. Clifford Martin GySgt.: GySgt. Bobby B. Wagner 1st Pit. Comdr.: 2d Lt. Boyle (WIA on 30 April) 1st Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. Richard A. Kelleher (until WIA on 30 April) 2d Pit. Comdr.: SSgt. Robert J. Ward (until medevacked on 1 May); then Sgt. Bruce Woodruff (acting) 2d Pit. Sgt.: not available 3d Pit. Comdr.: SSgt. Ronald W Taylor (until WIA on 30 April); then Sgt. Joe N. Jones (acting); then 1 st Lt. William B. Zimmerman (acting until returned to the battalion headquarters on 1 May); then 2d Lt. Bayard V Taylor (acting until he a.s.sumed command of the company on 2 May); then Sgt. Joe N. Jones (acting) 3d Pit. Sgt.: Sgt. Joe N. Jones

Appendix B Key Personnel of the 3-21st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division (opcon to the 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division), during the Battle of Nhi Ha (1-15 May 1968): CO: Lt. Col. Col. William P. Snyder XO: Maj. Walter D. Burchfield Sgt. Maj.: 1st Sgt. George M. t.i.tko (acting) S1 (Personnel): not available S2 (Intelligence): Capt. John M. Householder S3 (Operations): Maj. Paul N. Yurchak S4 (Logistics): not available Medical Officer: Capt. Jan S. Hildebrand CO, HHC: Capt. Stephen F. Russell CO, E Company: 1st Lt. Jerry D. Perkins ALPHA COMPANY (ALPHA ANNIHILATOR).

CO: Capt. Cecil H. Osborn (pseudonym) XO: 1st Lt. Robert V Gibbs FO: 2d Lt. William A. Stull (WIA on 6 May) 1st Sgt.: not available 1st Pit. Ldr.: 2d Lt. James Simpson 1st Pit. Sgt.: not available 2d Pit. Ldr.: 2d Lt. Terry D. Smith (until WIA on 6 May); then 1st Lt. Robert V. Gibbs (acting) 2d Pit. Sgt.: Sfc. Alan d.i.c.kerson 3d Pit. Ldr.: 2d Lt. William B. Kimball (until KIA on 6 May) 3d Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. George L. Dale (until KIA on 6 May) BRAVO COMPANY (BARRACUDA).

CO: Capt. Robert E. Corrigan XO: not available FO: Pfc. Rod Bublitz (until WIA on 3 May) 1st Sgt.: Sfc. Charles A. Cunningham 1st Pit. Ldr.: not available 1st Pit. Sgt.: not available 2d Pit. Ldr.: not available 2d Pit. Sgt.: not available 3d Pit. Ldr.: not available 3d Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. William F. Ochs (until WIA on 2 May) CHARLIE COMPANY (CHARLIE TIGER).

CO: 1 st Lt. Gerald R. Kohl (acting) until relieved on 3 May by the a.s.signed company commander, Capt. Dennis A. Leach, who had been in the battalion rear preparing for an R and R that was canceled by the battle XO: 1 st Lt. Gerald R. Kohl (until relieved on 3 May) FO: 2d Lt. John R. Jaquez 1st Sgt.: Sfc. William R. Brooks (until KIA on 4 May) 1 st Pit. Ldr.: 1 st Lt. Roger D. Hieb 1st Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. Isadore Davis 2d Pit. Ldr.: 1 st Lt. Edward F. Guthrie (until KIA on 2 May); then Sgt. Donald G. Pozil (acting); then SSgt. James M. Goad (acting until WIA on 10 May); then Sgt. Donald G. Pozil (acting) 2d Pit. Sgt.: Sfc. Eugene Franklin (until KIA on 2 May); then Sgt. Donald G. Pozil (acting) 3d Pit. Ldr.: Sfc. Henry A. Lane (acting) until relieved on 3 May by the a.s.signed platoon leader, 1 st Lt. Dale W. Musser, who had been in the battalion rear on an administrative run when the battle began 3d Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. James M. Goad (acting) until relieved by the a.s.signed platoon sergeant, Sfc. Henry A. Lane, who had been the acting platoon leader when the battle began DELTA COMPANY (BLACK DEATH).

CO: Capt. James F. Humphries XO: not available FO: 2d Lt. Robert Bybee 1st Sgt.: not available 1st Pit. Ldr.: 2d Lt. Richard J. Skrzysowski (until WIA on 4 May); then Sfc. Buford Mathis (acting) 1st Pit. Sgt.: Sfc. Buford Mathis 2d Pit. Ldr.: 2d Lt. Erich J. Weidner 2d Pit. Sgt: Sfc. Floyd W. Buell 3d Pit. Ldr.: SSgt. Robert E. Gruber (acting); then 2d Lt. Richard A. Holt 3d Pit. Sgt.: SSgt. Robert E. Gruber

Also by Keith Nolan

BATTLE FOR HUE.

INTO LAOS.

THE BATTLE FOR SAIGON.

DEATH VALLEY.

INTO CAMBODIA.

OPERATION BUFFALO.

SAPPER IN THE WIRE.

RIPCORD.

HOUSE TO HOUSE.