My Major Battle Story
Vietnam, January 15, 1967
In the mid afternoon on January 15, 1967, I was sitting in an advisor hut in South Vietnam in a remote hamlet in the most southern area of the country that we had a U.S. presence. I was newly promoted first lieutenant in the United States army Infantry at the chronological age of 22 and was assigned as an Assistant Battalion Advisor to the 3d Battalion, (a Vietnamese Infantry Battalion), 31st Regiment that was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 21 Division (the furthest division in South Vietnam). I was newly assigned to the Battalion and new to Vietnam having arrived just before Christmas in December 1966. I had prepared my field gear for a combat operation where my Battalion was assigned as the reserve for a large Division operation. I was very excited because I was told that we would have access to the Post Exchange service and there was a number of items I wanted at Vi Thanh before being committed to the operation. I had only been shot at by the enemy on two separate occasions prior to this (these were minor scuffles) and felt I was still very green regarding what was expected of me and how I would react under fire. I was very excited the previous evening when I ran to an open field and the operation plans were dropped to me in an open field by a light observation plane sent for that purpose. I had never seen such a plan before which consisted of numbered objectives on a large overlay to be placed on a map. No where did it indicate what specific objective would be targeted for our attack.
Captain Shipey had taken both of our two Sergeants with him in the morning along with both of our only assigned radios. He promised me that I would not need the radio because my half of the Battalion was not to be committed to a possible battle. I was to be prepared anyway. I was very concerned about this and had to trust him because he was my Captain. My counterpart for the Vietnamese was newly assigned to the Battalion and was a previous Vietnamese Special Forces Officer that the Vietnamese soldiers had not learned to trust. He and I had also just met and we would learn to have to trust each other soon.
It was exciting that morning. Captain Shipey and his half of the Battalion were lined up in two columns, in small groups of soldiers called sticks over a two hundred yard distance. They were in these formations so that when the large group of helicopters arrived in a large V formation of 22 helicopters they could easily board the helicopters and were in immediate battle formation if deployed to combat. We responded to the radioed instructions and popped smoke grenades to guide this large formation of helicopters to our location. I was able to watch this activity from a distance and was very impressive to watch as Captain Shipey’s half of the battalion loaded on helicopters. I went back to the Advisors hut to relax and await further instructions. I had studied the tactics of the area of operation and had no practical experience. I was very insecure with no radio and no experienced Sergeant to assist me.
It happened in the early afternoon, suddenly, without warning, I was called on the radio to move my half of the Battalion to the pick up location, have them in stick formations, and be prepared for pick up when so ordered. Over the political district U.S. advisors radio, I reported that I did not have a radio and hopefully I was not being deployed to combat without one. There was no response from the radio to this message and I “sucked up” my courage. I ran to my counterpart, explained what we must do and he had the troops assembled and correctly positioned. The large formation of helicopters (22) arrived and we were picked up. I had properly placed myself in the lead helicopter and as we lifted off I observed a U.S. Lieutenant Colonel who was in the copilot position. I asked him where we were going. He pointed at objective 22 on the overlay. I was in a state of panic and explained to him that I had no radio and no Sergeant. He grinned broadly at me and suggested that I have good luck. Welcome to Vietnam and the U.S. Army, survive or perish succor. I was going to survive.
We landed in a very large open rice paddy surrounded by a tree line next to a stream. We also landed on top of some villagers in the field who were farming. The villagers advised us that we were surrounded by significant elements of a Viet Cong Regiment in the tree line. We were shooting ducks in the open field. The villagers were trying to crawl under very large clay pots that they had with them for protection. I did not see that they could do it or that it was a practical solution to their situation. My counterpart, the Vietnamese Captain, had his body guard’s start digging him into the ground by digging around him. It was impressive image of their culture. Then it hit. I felt I was in the middle of a live fire demonstration that I had seen at the Infantry School at Fort Benning Georgia where we were shown how many rounds of ammunition and fire power could be used against the enemy in a short period of time. We lost twenty five percent of our unit at the onset who were killed or wounded. I scrambled to use one of the ARVN’s radios to contact anyone and report the enemy contact, battle. The ARVN’s radio was our old family of communication equipment (PRC 10) and it could not go to the frequency that was being used by the Americans for this operation (PRC 25). I started to patiently move the dial through the frequencies trying to hear anyone who was using the English language so I could tell them that I was in a heavy battle with the enemy and no one in the U.S. Army knew about it to help us with heavy fire power and reinforcement. We were being systematically killed and I had to do something about it.
Finally, I heard an American voice passing on administrative traffic on a frequency on the Vietnamese radio. I interrupted and identified myself and our situation. The American voice acknowledged that he understood and pledged to help us. I felt relieved and was not especially confident that it would be smooth sailing considering what transpired. In the mean time, the Vietnamese were stacking their dead and wounded around me. They worship the dead and were prepared to transport the dead first away from the battle field before the wounded Vietnamese. The wounded Vietnamese were constantly moaning. I wished that there was something I could do for them, at least kill some of the enemy that was killing us.
Finally, a Vietnamese soldier tapped me on the shoulder and told me that there was a helicopter approaching. I then saw it, a sole helicopter with the crew motioning for me to come to them was landing near me. I realized that my days could be numbered at that moment. I was expected to run across a flooded open rice field under intense enemy fire and retrieve the radio that we so desperately needed. I did not want to do it. I did it anyway-falling, tripping, desperately moving my body through the water, hearing the bullets fly over me, whizzing, zinging. I made it to the helicopter, still do not remember how I did it and was very much tempted to crawl on to the helicopter to escape this hell on earth. I did not do it. I took the radio, thanked the crew, the same Lieutenant Colonel who dropped us in. I heard later that this Officer was very much impressed by the volume of fire he experienced delivering me this radio. I immediately went to the correct frequency and reported exacting details of the battle that we were involved in. Immediately the fire power started to arrive, as I type this tears come to my eyes remembering the very strong emotions that I experienced in this battle and the relief I felt when we were able to start not just being victims and were combatant aggressors. As I write this, I have the feeling right now of wanting to start to personally shoot at them. That was not my job. My job was to coordinate the enemies’ demise and take care of my Vietnamese. I started to work very hard at this job. I gave as exact information as I could regarding the location of the enemy elements and our positions. Then it arrived, the U.S. armed forces fury of unleashed fire power. One system would be replaced by another sending killing fire power into the enemies’ positions. As I remember, U.S. Army helicopter gun ships strafed the positions by diving out of the sky on them. This was followed by U.S. Air force jets dropping bombes and using cannon fire. Then ARVN artillery would take their deadly effect. Then the Air Forces dragon fire machine of gattling guns would pepper the area in broad swathes. At this time it was my war and I felt that I was coordinating it. This constant rain of terror went on for a full day.
At one time early in the battle, my counter part kept telling me he wanted the jets to shoot closer to the front lines of our troops. The troops had placards as markers to guide the Forward Air Controllers that they mounted to their backs. I would pass on his repeated requests to the point where my counterpart told me to stop because we were shooting our own people. I had the jets stopped.
Our unit needed reinforcement and a ARVN Ranger Battalion was dropped in behind us by helicopter and moved through us late in the evening. There was not much left of the men that I initially landed with. I coordinated a Medical Evacuation at night that evening. We did not have enough signal lights to bring the helicopters in safely. We did it anyway. We used one flashlight and the butane cigarette lighter that I carried (a gift from my Mother before I left to Vietnam). The helicopters landed successfully and we loaded the bodies on them. I personally assisted and carried out a Vietnamese myself. I dropped him twice struggling to run I the dark rice paddy water which was at knee deep level. When I got him on the helicopter, in very good English, he thanked me.
The lower part of my body was submerged in water through out the night while I took cover behind a rice paddy dike. This was one of many incidents that resulted in my development of hemorrhoids in this year. My supervisor signaled me over the radio that I should take a nap. I carried a small flask of alcohol and consumed some which helped kill my adrenaline high and allowed me to take a brief nap in combat.
To our amazement, the enemy had vanished in the morning. The Vietnamese had purposely allowed them to escape rather then accept very high casualties that we would have experienced if the enemy tried to break out of our encirclement. I was told that we had taken 14 prisoners. After the fighting had long ceased, I heard brief firing of small arms. I was told shortly thereafter that we no longer had prisoners. I reported this information.
My involvement resulted in my one award for valor in combat. The feedback I got from the Regimental Senior Advisor was that I did everything correctly; but, at times he was concerned about the inflection in my voice. I squeaked (not very military).
In the mid afternoon on January 15, 1967, I was sitting in an advisor hut in South Vietnam in a remote hamlet in the most southern area of the country that we had a U.S. presence. I was newly promoted first lieutenant in the United States army Infantry at the chronological age of 22 and was assigned as an Assistant Battalion Advisor to the 3d Battalion, (a Vietnamese Infantry Battalion), 31st Regiment that was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 21 Division (the furthest division in South Vietnam). I was newly assigned to the Battalion and new to Vietnam having arrived just before Christmas in December 1966. I had prepared my field gear for a combat operation where my Battalion was assigned as the reserve for a large Division operation. I was very excited because I was told that we would have access to the Post Exchange service and there was a number of items I wanted at Vi Thanh before being committed to the operation. I had only been shot at by the enemy on two separate occasions prior to this (these were minor scuffles) and felt I was still very green regarding what was expected of me and how I would react under fire. I was very excited the previous evening when I ran to an open field and the operation plans were dropped to me in an open field by a light observation plane sent for that purpose. I had never seen such a plan before which consisted of numbered objectives on a large overlay to be placed on a map. No where did it indicate what specific objective would be targeted for our attack.
Captain Shipey had taken both of our two Sergeants with him in the morning along with both of our only assigned radios. He promised me that I would not need the radio because my half of the Battalion was not to be committed to a possible battle. I was to be prepared anyway. I was very concerned about this and had to trust him because he was my Captain. My counterpart for the Vietnamese was newly assigned to the Battalion and was a previous Vietnamese Special Forces Officer that the Vietnamese soldiers had not learned to trust. He and I had also just met and we would learn to have to trust each other soon.
It was exciting that morning. Captain Shipey and his half of the Battalion were lined up in two columns, in small groups of soldiers called sticks over a two hundred yard distance. They were in these formations so that when the large group of helicopters arrived in a large V formation of 22 helicopters they could easily board the helicopters and were in immediate battle formation if deployed to combat. We responded to the radioed instructions and popped smoke grenades to guide this large formation of helicopters to our location. I was able to watch this activity from a distance and was very impressive to watch as Captain Shipey’s half of the battalion loaded on helicopters. I went back to the Advisors hut to relax and await further instructions. I had studied the tactics of the area of operation and had no practical experience. I was very insecure with no radio and no experienced Sergeant to assist me.
It happened in the early afternoon, suddenly, without warning, I was called on the radio to move my half of the Battalion to the pick up location, have them in stick formations, and be prepared for pick up when so ordered. Over the political district U.S. advisors radio, I reported that I did not have a radio and hopefully I was not being deployed to combat without one. There was no response from the radio to this message and I “sucked up” my courage. I ran to my counterpart, explained what we must do and he had the troops assembled and correctly positioned. The large formation of helicopters (22) arrived and we were picked up. I had properly placed myself in the lead helicopter and as we lifted off I observed a U.S. Lieutenant Colonel who was in the copilot position. I asked him where we were going. He pointed at objective 22 on the overlay. I was in a state of panic and explained to him that I had no radio and no Sergeant. He grinned broadly at me and suggested that I have good luck. Welcome to Vietnam and the U.S. Army, survive or perish succor. I was going to survive.
We landed in a very large open rice paddy surrounded by a tree line next to a stream. We also landed on top of some villagers in the field who were farming. The villagers advised us that we were surrounded by significant elements of a Viet Cong Regiment in the tree line. We were shooting ducks in the open field. The villagers were trying to crawl under very large clay pots that they had with them for protection. I did not see that they could do it or that it was a practical solution to their situation. My counterpart, the Vietnamese Captain, had his body guard’s start digging him into the ground by digging around him. It was impressive image of their culture. Then it hit. I felt I was in the middle of a live fire demonstration that I had seen at the Infantry School at Fort Benning Georgia where we were shown how many rounds of ammunition and fire power could be used against the enemy in a short period of time. We lost twenty five percent of our unit at the onset who were killed or wounded. I scrambled to use one of the ARVN’s radios to contact anyone and report the enemy contact, battle. The ARVN’s radio was our old family of communication equipment (PRC 10) and it could not go to the frequency that was being used by the Americans for this operation (PRC 25). I started to patiently move the dial through the frequencies trying to hear anyone who was using the English language so I could tell them that I was in a heavy battle with the enemy and no one in the U.S. Army knew about it to help us with heavy fire power and reinforcement. We were being systematically killed and I had to do something about it.
Finally, I heard an American voice passing on administrative traffic on a frequency on the Vietnamese radio. I interrupted and identified myself and our situation. The American voice acknowledged that he understood and pledged to help us. I felt relieved and was not especially confident that it would be smooth sailing considering what transpired. In the mean time, the Vietnamese were stacking their dead and wounded around me. They worship the dead and were prepared to transport the dead first away from the battle field before the wounded Vietnamese. The wounded Vietnamese were constantly moaning. I wished that there was something I could do for them, at least kill some of the enemy that was killing us.
Finally, a Vietnamese soldier tapped me on the shoulder and told me that there was a helicopter approaching. I then saw it, a sole helicopter with the crew motioning for me to come to them was landing near me. I realized that my days could be numbered at that moment. I was expected to run across a flooded open rice field under intense enemy fire and retrieve the radio that we so desperately needed. I did not want to do it. I did it anyway-falling, tripping, desperately moving my body through the water, hearing the bullets fly over me, whizzing, zinging. I made it to the helicopter, still do not remember how I did it and was very much tempted to crawl on to the helicopter to escape this hell on earth. I did not do it. I took the radio, thanked the crew, the same Lieutenant Colonel who dropped us in. I heard later that this Officer was very much impressed by the volume of fire he experienced delivering me this radio. I immediately went to the correct frequency and reported exacting details of the battle that we were involved in. Immediately the fire power started to arrive, as I type this tears come to my eyes remembering the very strong emotions that I experienced in this battle and the relief I felt when we were able to start not just being victims and were combatant aggressors. As I write this, I have the feeling right now of wanting to start to personally shoot at them. That was not my job. My job was to coordinate the enemies’ demise and take care of my Vietnamese. I started to work very hard at this job. I gave as exact information as I could regarding the location of the enemy elements and our positions. Then it arrived, the U.S. armed forces fury of unleashed fire power. One system would be replaced by another sending killing fire power into the enemies’ positions. As I remember, U.S. Army helicopter gun ships strafed the positions by diving out of the sky on them. This was followed by U.S. Air force jets dropping bombes and using cannon fire. Then ARVN artillery would take their deadly effect. Then the Air Forces dragon fire machine of gattling guns would pepper the area in broad swathes. At this time it was my war and I felt that I was coordinating it. This constant rain of terror went on for a full day.
At one time early in the battle, my counter part kept telling me he wanted the jets to shoot closer to the front lines of our troops. The troops had placards as markers to guide the Forward Air Controllers that they mounted to their backs. I would pass on his repeated requests to the point where my counterpart told me to stop because we were shooting our own people. I had the jets stopped.
Our unit needed reinforcement and a ARVN Ranger Battalion was dropped in behind us by helicopter and moved through us late in the evening. There was not much left of the men that I initially landed with. I coordinated a Medical Evacuation at night that evening. We did not have enough signal lights to bring the helicopters in safely. We did it anyway. We used one flashlight and the butane cigarette lighter that I carried (a gift from my Mother before I left to Vietnam). The helicopters landed successfully and we loaded the bodies on them. I personally assisted and carried out a Vietnamese myself. I dropped him twice struggling to run I the dark rice paddy water which was at knee deep level. When I got him on the helicopter, in very good English, he thanked me.
The lower part of my body was submerged in water through out the night while I took cover behind a rice paddy dike. This was one of many incidents that resulted in my development of hemorrhoids in this year. My supervisor signaled me over the radio that I should take a nap. I carried a small flask of alcohol and consumed some which helped kill my adrenaline high and allowed me to take a brief nap in combat.
To our amazement, the enemy had vanished in the morning. The Vietnamese had purposely allowed them to escape rather then accept very high casualties that we would have experienced if the enemy tried to break out of our encirclement. I was told that we had taken 14 prisoners. After the fighting had long ceased, I heard brief firing of small arms. I was told shortly thereafter that we no longer had prisoners. I reported this information.
My involvement resulted in my one award for valor in combat. The feedback I got from the Regimental Senior Advisor was that I did everything correctly; but, at times he was concerned about the inflection in my voice. I squeaked (not very military).
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