COMPANY C
Copyright - Ron Heller 1999
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A few days before Christmas, 1969, I relinquished my command
of Company A -- I was no longer Darkness Alpha 6. I felt that I had done a
good job and was satisfied. My company had achieved the highest total body
count in the battalion and had suffered the fewest casualties. I like to
think that my leadership had something to do with it. I was made an
"Assistant Executive Officer, Counter Insurgency." I'm not sure
exactly what that meant but I was a REMF once more. The battalion XO was a
nice guy and I look forward to an enjoyable month prior to DROSing (Date of
Return from OverSeas).
- A day or so after I took over my new job the Charlie company commander was
evacuated with malaria. I still had a severe cold that I had contracted on
R&R in Taipei and was generally feeling rotten. The battalion commander
asked me if I felt well enough to assume temporary command of C Company. I
heard myself saying "Yes Sir." I really felt like shit but the
mission came first.
- Before leaving I went to see the battalion surgeon and asked him for help.
He said that he had a special elixir that contained paregoric as well as
other mysterious goodies and that it would cure me if it didn't kill me
first. Charlie was in the field on daylight ambush patrols. When I arrived I
called for the senior platoon leader and told him that I was sick and that
he would be in charge while I got better or died. I crawled under a bush and
went to sleep. The doc was right. When I woke up that night I felt better.
- Soon after I took over Charlie we got word to move up Thunder Road to
north of Lai Kae. This was new terrain to the battalion and to the Second
Brigade for that matter. There were three fire support bases along Highway
13, north of Lai Khe, Thunder I, II and III. Thunder II was the largest and
in the middle so I established my company headquarters there. It would be a
new type of duty for me and my company. We would provide base security and
security for the daily road clearing operations between the bases. It was
really pretty good duty and we were far from the rice paddies of Thu Duc.
The countryside was sparsely vegetated and was extremely dry that time of
the year.
- The Thunder bases were fairly large, especially Thunder II. They were all
in the process of being phased out or turned over to the ARVNS. There was a
support battalion commander on Thunder II who was the nominal base
commander. That was fine with me because there were a lot of ash and trash
units on what had been a brigade- sized base camp. We were the only combat
units. I reported in to the LTC and asked him if he wanted me to take
responsibility for base defense. He was glad to let me as he had to worry
about his support mission.
- I became immediately unpopular with the tenant units on Thunder II when it
became obvious that there were not enough infantry to cover the perimeter. I
assigned the most likely avenue of approach to one of my platoons and kept a
platoon available as a ready reaction force (RRF) for both Thunder II and
the other two bases. The remainder of the perimeter was doled out to the
support units on the base. That was rough for them because they still had to
perform their support missions. War is hell.
- Only a fraction of its former population remained on the base but the size
was the same. I felt distinctly uncomfortable with our ability to defend in
and told my battalion commander. He told me to use my initiative (Will they
ever learn?). I contacted an engineer unit and had them do some major
surgery on the base resulting in a smaller perimeter and a more defensible
base. It's usually easier to get forgiveness than get permission. I probably
wiped out several million dollar's worth of fortifications. I'm glad that I
didn't have to pay for it.
- I couldn't believe how many Vietnamese nationals were on the base. It
seemed like every one of the support soldiers had his private maid. The
situation had changed since the base shrank and I felt that the Viets were a
security hazard. Some of the people had passes signed by people who were
long gone. I got the attention of the tenant units by closing the post to
all Vietnamese civilians. I was soon besieged by irate company commanders
and first sergeants. I limited each unit to a certain number of civilians
and instituted a system of monthly verification of the passes. My men got a
kick out of the whole thing. We eventually reached equilibrium with a
reasonable amount of civilians on the base.
- One of the positions I was required to man was a sentry post on the edge
of Thunder II along Route 13. I'm not sure what the sentry was supposed to
do but it was mandated by higher. The first day one of my men stood in the
sun, he decided to make a shelter for his comfort. I had no problem with
that and lord knew we had plenty of building material. My only directions
were to make it look fairly decent so some passing VIP's sense of aesthetics
wouldn't be offended. A crowd of courteous children gathered to watch the
guard and his buddies build his shelter.
- Some of the bolder kids grabbed some of the timber and dragged it to the
other side of the road. They pointed to the side that the guys were building
on and said "Numbah 10" and then pointed to the other side of the
road and said "Numbah 1." My men were not going to listen to any
children especially children who were probably commies to boot. They
finished the shelter as planed and gathered around to admire their work. A
few minutes later, the first convoy went by. It was huge and took almost an
hour to pass. Just before the convoy arrived, the kids went to the other
side of the road to watch. The guard disappeared in a swirling cloud of
dust. When it had passed the guard sheepishly moved the shelter to the other
side of the road with the help of the children. Out of the mouths of
babes....
- I established my command post in a bunker that had previously been
occupied by an engineer unit. It was a wise move on my part because
engineers don't stint when it comes to their own safety. It was a huge
bunker with 12x12 beams in the roof. We probably could have survived a
nuclear blast. It was so impressive that I actually was embarrassed when I
entertained visitors. My new First Sergeant was an impressive figure of a
man. He was black, well muscled and over six feet tall. He looked like SGT
Rock and I was glad to have him. I soon learned that appearances could be
deceiving.
- One day I heard a commotion topside and went up to investigate. A swarm of
bees had affixed itself to the ladder leading to our observation tower,
trapping the sentries. Somebody said to pop some smoke grenades to scare
them off. Pretty soon all sorts of smoke was going off. The First Sergeant
seemed to be on top of the situation and I soon lost interest and went back
into my bunker where it was cool. A few minutes later I heard a muffled pop
that sounded familiar. I heard some yelling and some medics brought the
First Sergeant into the bunker. He was pale and in obvious pain. Parts of
his skin were smoking, including his genital area. I called in a dust off
and he was soon gone.
- What had happened is that Top had thrown a grenade marked "SMOKE
WP." A normal smoke grenade is about the size of and is shaped like a
beer can. A white phosphorus or WP grenade is shaped different and is
heavier. It looks nothing like a common smoke grenade and it is next to
impossible to mistake one for the other. The WP called Willy Peter by the
troops is a very special smoke grenade and is only used when necessary. It
has a bursting radius of twenty five meters and showers that area with
burning white phosphorus and produces an extremely thick cloud of billowing
white smoke. Nothing puts it out. It will burn right through a person unless
it is pried out with a stick or falls out from gravity. In short it is quite
nasty.
- Unlike a smoke grenade which has an instantaneous fuse, a WP grenade has a
delayed fuse like a fragmentation grenade. When the WP didn't pop like a
normal smoke grenade, Top kicked it and it exploded in his face. An
infantryman would not have made that mistake in the dark much less in broad
daylight. It turned out that my First Shirt had a finance Corps background!
- I was to spend Christmas at Thunder II. My last Christmas had also been in
Viet Nam and the one before that away from home in Colorado Springs.
Christmas Eve I went to inspect the perimeter with the Lieutenant Colonel in
nominal command of the base. It was a nice night and I enjoyed making the
rounds wishing the men a merry Christmas. All of a sudden the sky to the
south was filled with flares. It looked like somebody was celebrating. The
Colonel and I agreed that the display was evidence of poor discipline and a
lack of professionalism.
- Just then I heard a helicopter and learned the reason for the light show.
The Commanding General of the First Infantry Division had taped a holiday
message to the troops and was having it played all over the division AO. As
soon as I heard it, I cringed because I knew what was going to happen. Woosh!
The first flare rocketed skyward and was soon followed by scores more. The
men were not impressed with what they heard and let the world know it. I was
embarrassed and the Colonel was good-mannered enough to pretend like he
didn't notice.
- There is and old army story designed to impress upon a new leader the role
of the non-commissioned officer. It goes something like this: The OCS
lieutenant was asked in a leadership class how he would move a flag pole
from point "A" to point "B" if he had an NCO with a
squad of men, 200 feet of rope and three 4x4x8's. The young LT came up with
some elaborate solution in which he used all of the assets given. He was
told that he was incorrect and that the proper solution was to say
"Sergeant, move the flag pole. Let me know if you need any help,"
and then to leave so he could get the job done.
- One day the post commander called me to his CP. He pointed out the flag
pole in front of it and told me that he wanted it moved. I said "yes,
sir, I'll get it done." I couldn't believe my opportunity to test the
old story. I selected a sergeant and told him to see that it was moved.
About an hour later I checked it out. Sure enough it had been moved. It was
a little crooked but it was in the right place. I guess they knew what they
were doing at Ft Benning.
- One of the main duties of my company was to clear the roads between the
Thunder bases every morning. This was vital for the re-supply of An Loc and
other places up north. At nights Charlie loved to mine the road and we had
to find them. A sweep team consisted of two engineers with mine detectors
walking in front of one of our jeeps which held a small security detail.
More troops followed not to far behind in a five ton dump truck full of
dirt. The dirt was to fill in any holes that were blown in te road. A hole
in the road did not necessarily mean friendly casualties because it was the
safest procedure to detonate a mine in place rather than try to disarm it.
- The duty was not really too bad but it was hard on the nerves. One day I
went along with a sweep team. I tried to accompany all of my units every so
often. It was a beautiful morning and I was enjoying myself. All of a sudden
two men popped up by the side of the road with their arms in the air.
Luckily they were trying to surrender. We would have been SOL if they had
jumped up with AK's blazing. It is difficult to protect against a determined
adversary who is not afraid to die. I still have the hammock that one of the
prisoners was kind enough to give me.
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