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BATTLE FOR THE HORSESHOE
By Spider door gunner Dick “CHERRY BOY” Detra
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This story is a tribute to Door Gunner Alfred J. “Smitty” Smith who was killed in action during an emergency re-supply mission in the Horseshoe and my close friend Crew Chief Bill Sondey, who was wounded in action while trying to save the 4/9 Manchus that were critically wounded in the hot LZ. Sondey was the only enlisted man in the 188th Assault Helicopter Company “Black Widows” to be awarded the SILVER STAR Medal. Bill took his own life in February 1987, leaving a wife and three children. Whenever the Black Widows and Spiders strapped in for another day on the job they lived with the reality that blind luck dictated who got hit and who didn’t…who lived or who died. There was an old saying that we always joked about,” That any landing you could walk away from was a good landing.”
THE PLAYERS 25TH INFANTRY DIVISION “TROPIC LIGHTNING” 269TH COMBAT AVIATION BATTALION “BLACK BARONS” 4 BATTALION 9TH INFANTRY MANCHUS, motto: “KEEP UP THE FIRE” ALPHA COMPANY BRAVO COMPANY DELTA COMPANY CHARLIE COMPANY The following battle took place in the southern reaches of the Iron Triangle; a no man’s land and free fire zone, during the 25th Infantry Division’s Operation Barking Sands…a Search and Destroy operation, conducted by the 1st Brigade, in southern Binh Duong Province. Running beneath the Iron Triangle and most of the western III Corps AO (Area of Operation), was a vast underground maze of interconnected tunnel systems, which extended for miles in a generally north-south direction. This particular tunnel complex, later identified as the main infiltration route through the Iron Triangle, took three full days and nights to traverse and wouldn’t be discovered by the 25th Infantry Division until Operation Atlanta (November 18-December 23, 1967). These tunnels would be the VC’s ace in the hole. The events leading up to the battle began on the afternoon of August 29, 1967 while the “Manchus” of Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry (4/9), were relaxing in the shade, just inside the tree line of an old rubber plantation. They watched as huge columns of smoke rose up into the overcast sky, from artillery rounds impacting across the Saigon River to the southwest of their position. At 1600 hours Bravo saddled up and moved out of the tree line, along a narrow dirt road (Highway 14) and waited to be extracted. A flight of ten “Hornet” slicks (term used for D and H model Bell Helicopters) from the 116th Assault Helicopter Company, supported by a “Stinger” Light Fire Team (LFT—two gunships) would make the two lift extraction and fly Bravo back to Cu Chi. As Bravo moved along the road, towards the Pickup Zone (PZ-XT708242), they started receiving sniper fire from the west side of the road. Just as the flight was on short final, heavy automatic weapons fire reached up into the flight, hitting two, causing one slick to auto rotate down, and landing hard 200 meters away from the PZ. The second slick (tail #952) managed to fly back to Cu Chi under its own power. 1st Platoon Leader, LT Craig Greaves, ordered SGT Rodriguez’s 2nd squad to move down the road…to rescue the flight crew and secure the crash site. The volume of fire increased as the squad approached the downed slick, where they found both pilots, crew chief and door gunner alive--scared and in fear for their lives, as was the squad. A “DIAMOND HEAD” LFT was scrambled from Cu Chi and added to the mix, to deliver covering fire for the “PIPESMOKE” recovery team. While the gunships worked both sides of the road with miniguns and rockets, the recovery team rigged the slick for extraction. The squad helped the flight crew board the CH-47 chinook just prior to lifting the downed slick out of the crash site. Very cautiously, the squad moved back along the road to the PZ. Even though the gunships were working the area west of the road, the second lift was hit with heavy automatic weapons fire as it approached the hot PZ. Without actually seeing the VC, the remainder of Bravo delivered as much covering fire as possible. As the last of Bravo was lifting out of the PZ, the door gunner on SP/4 C.W. Bowman Jr’s side opened up with his M60 machinegun and then pointed to a spot thirty meters out, where 3 VC lay dead, that the gunner had just killed. Nothing like a hot extraction to get the juices and adrenaline flowing! Instead of the scheduled battalion stand down on August 30th, Bravo was ordered to clean up, load up with ammo and be ready to go back out into the same area in the morning. That evening after chow, Sp/4 Gary Hecter, Sp/4 Paul Frisbie and SP/4 C.W. Bowman Jr. walked over to Delta Company to talk to the new guys about the next morning’s Combat Assault (CA). Telling them, “They wouldn’t need any rations, ponchos or night kits…it would be a walk in the park and back to Cu Chi in time for lunch.” Delta Company had just formed up and a third of them were green, with zero combat experience. To avoid fielding a company made up of cherry FNG’s (F____ing New Guys), a squad from each platoon was infused into Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Companies, with the same number of experienced grunts going to Delta. This reorganization wasn’t well accepted by the troops and would prove to be disastrous during the battle. That same afternoon (August 29th), while flying a visual reconnaissance over the area where Bravo Company had made contact, “CENTAUR” air scouts from D Troop, ¾ Cav spotted an entrenched Viet Cong (slang for South Vietnamese communists or simply VC) battalion. The enemy was dug in along a U shaped bend in the river, at a point where the Thi Tinh River merged with the Saigon River. From the air, this bend in the Saigon River resembled a Horseshoe. The sky spot was called into division intelligence, which then identified the VC unit as the elusive 2nd Go Mon Battalion. Major General Fillmore Mearns, a Korean War veteran, acted on this information immediately using massed artillery and air strikes, just like it was done in Korea. When the smoke finally cleared, the Red Legs at Cu Chi, using an assortment of 105mm, 155mm, 175mm and 8” howitzers, fired close to 6,000 rounds in support of the Manchus…walk in the park. The initial rounds of this barrage were what Bravo witnessed while waiting to be extracted. During the 1950’s, the Go Mon Battalion, named after the original Commander, was formed in Hanoi, North Vietnam, to fight the French. This elite unit trained at a level similar to our own US Army Rangers, making them a very dangerous adversary. Over the years they became a well equipped, battle hardened, cohesive unit…giving them the advantage of combat experience. The Go Mon Battalion excelled at setting up ambushes that would shoot down hovering helicopters and inflict severe damage to those on board. Well trained in fire discipline these guys only fired when they had a clear target; using new Soviet AK-47 automatic assault rifles with folding metal stocks, Chicom (Chinese Communist) model 56 semiautomatic carbines (similar to Soviet SKS) and Soviet RPD light machine guns. All three weapons used 7.62mm ammo with green tracers. RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades) were a favorite weapon used to take out hovering Hueys, their crews and the grunts trying to exit. Using mounted scopes; their snipers were trained to patiently wait until they could get a headshot. For decades the Hobo Woods and Iron Triangle had been their sanctuary and staging area. This battalion would be a major player in the attack on the MACV Headquarters compound during the “TET 68” Communist Offensive. Local Vietnamese were forced to construct expertly designed and camouflaged bunkers, trenches and fighting positions. To insure that the ARVN and US units in the area were not informed of their location, the VC held family members hostage. Three lines of fortified bunkers and fighting positions were built in depth, so they could fall back when artillery was brought to bear and if need be, escape. They never went into battle without an escape route. When the fire lifted they would move back into their forward fighting positions and engage the grunts assaulting across the open rice paddies. Prior to withdrawing, they took great care in picking up all spent shell casings and always removed their dead from the battlefield. This was the first of several bloody battles fought between the Manchu and Go Mon Battalions. They would ambush the Manchus again on March 2, 1968. Charlie Company was ambushed and nearly wiped out at the Hoc Mon Bridge, but that’s another story. In an attempt to get the VC to surrender or defect, the 25th Infantry Division dropped Chieu Hoi leaflets. Leaflets, massed artillery and air strikes told the VC exactly where the helicopters would be landing. Deep down in their bunkers, they waited patiently for the helicopters arrival. At 1700 hours on August 29th, commanders and flight leaders from the 188th Assault Helicopter Company “BLACK WIDOWS”, based at Dau Tieng and the 187th Assault Helicopter Company “BLACK HAWKS” based at Tay Ninh, along with gun platoon leaders from the “SPIDERS” and the “RAT PACK” were summoned to Cu Chi for a briefing. Black Baron 6, LTC James Merryman (who would later achieve the rank of Lieutenant General), Commander of the 269th Combat Aviation Battalion and his operations officer, Major John Zugschwert went over the details for the next day’s mission. Each company would commit ten slicks, one spare and one maintenance helicopter. Both the Spiders and Rat Pack would commit two LFT’s under Rat Pack control. There would be a twenty-second separation between the Black Widows and the Black Hawks, who were flying lead for the three lifts. The flight would use the same line of approach, northeast to southwest, landing in trail formation, using three separate insertion points (IP). Alpha Company would be on the first lift and inserted along the northern tree line, with full door gun suppression and a left break coming out. Bravo Company would make up the second lift, be inserted south of Alpha’s position, with left door gunner suppression only, and head straight out. Delta Company would be the third lift and inserted south of Bravo’s position, with no door gunner suppression or gunship cover and make a right break coming out. Using the color of the day, Rat Pack lead would mark each lifts IP with guidance from LTC James H. Merryman’s C&C (Command and Control) Huey circling directly above the LZ at 3000 feet. Red smoke grenades, used to mark the spot where enemy fire was received, would definitely be the flavor of the day. The LZ, located at co-ordinates XT735193, was on the boundary line of Binh Duong and Hau Nghia Province, eight miles northwest of Phu Cuong (capital of Binh Duong Province) and ten miles east of Cu Chi. At O-dark thirty on August 30th, sixty-eight Black Widows were (among them were crew chief’s Sp/4 Ron “Oregon” Merlock, Sp/4 Roger Hitzemann, Sp/4 Jim “Blood” Trueblood, Sp/4 Bill Sondey and door gunner’s Sp/4 Ed Pettinato, Sp/4 Dennis “Point” Pierpoint, Sp/4 Bill Crabbe and Sp/4 Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra) rousted by the CQ runner and made their way to the mess hall for a quick breakfast. Before heading out to the”WEB” (flight line), the crews picked up a case of C-rations and water for the days mission. They would be flying another CA into the Iron Triangle, which the Black Widows had been doing a lot of recently and always made contact. Black Widow 6, Major James H. McWhorter would monitor the 188th from his C&C Huey, circling high above the action. 1st platoon was designated Chalks (position in flight) 1 through 5 with 2nd platoon taking Chalks 6 through 10. Flight lead in Chaulk 1 was the XO, Black Widow 5, Major Joe Sites. Twelve slicks and four Spider gunships lifted off from Dau Tieng (Camp Rainier) before first light and headed for Cu Chi, where they landed in trail at the airfield and shut down. Early the same morning, Manchu company commanders were summoned to the Battalion TOC (Tactical Operations Center) and issued a hurry up and go order to conduct a CA into an area along the west side of the Saigon River. Major General Mearns figured that the artillery and air strikes should have killed most of the VC, so the company commanders were ordered to make a quick sweep get a body count and then be extracted back to Cu Chi—two to four hours max. Second platoon WO Bob Sadouski informed flight lead that he was having problems with the cyclic staying in the neutral position, so slick #66-16119, “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” (English translation for slang term used for pussy) was replaced in the flight by the spare. Crew Chief, Sp/4 Jim “Blood” Trueblood located the problem and got to work on disconnecting the faulty part. Door gunner Sp/4 Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra checked both M60’s to make sure they were functioning and good to go. The crew of “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” would miss the first two lifts and listen to the horrific firefight over the company net. At 0917 hours, Alpha Company loaded up and the flight of twenty slicks lifted off, formed up and headed for the Horseshoe. At 0924 hours they were told to orbit off to the east in a holding pattern, while artillery and air strikes dropped their remaining ordinance. As the flight circled, 1st platoon leader, Lt. Ron Beedy, remarked, “My God we’re not going in there are we?” The Spiders and Rat Pack gunships opened up on the tree line with rockets and miniguns, while Rat Pack lead marked the IP with yellow smoke. As the flight descended over the river and treetops into the open LZ, the door gunners opened up with their M60 machine guns. In flight and at the proper altitude and air speed, UH-1C Huey gunships, using various weapons systems, could inflict some very serious damage on the enemy. The entire area was a grunts worst nightmare, a patchwork of water filled rice paddies, crisscrossed with low dikes running parallel and at right angles to each other. The area took on the appearance of a moonscape, water filled bomb craters were scattered throughout the LZ. The scariest terrain feature was the dense tree lines, dotted with stands of bamboo, which encircled the Horseshoe. The VC was dug in deep all along these tree lines. The VC had constructed heavily fortified bunkers in a seven-point ambush configuration within the Horseshoe shaped area, using water accessible inlets as escape routes to the Saigon River. The Go Mon would ambush Alpha Company’s LZ from a complex of twenty fighting bunkers with two escape routes each, and on their right flank were fighting holes. Bravo Company’s LZ would be defended by an enemy complex consisting of two large bunkers (6’x 8’ x 8’), two smaller bunkers, four two-man fighting foxholes, a reinforced bunker hut with a tin roof, twelve spider holes cut into a canal line, and a half completed command bunker. The VC would attack Delta Company from a 12’ x 7’ concrete-walled bunker extending four feet above the ground (with two inch steel beams supporting the roof), three large fighting bunkers (9’ x 5’ x 4’), one large command bunker (14’x 5’x 4’) and fifteen spider holes spaced fifteen meters apart. The three lifts would be landing in the middle of “HELL!” This ambush was a very terrifying and nasty baptism of fire for many of the Black Widows, Black Hawks and Manchus. There was no incoming fire as the Black Hawks slipped in over the trees and made the initial drop along the northeast corner of a large rectangular shaped forested area. The initial radio reports were that the LZ was “COLD”. Alpha 6, CPT Thomas Lewman, his radio operator (RTO) Sp/5 Nick Summerfield and the artillery Forward Observer (FO) LT Duane Niles along with the rest of his command group, 1st platoon and elements of 2nd platoon bailed out of the slicks and moved toward the east, away from the forested area’s tree line. Sp/4 Summerfield was not a happy camper when he noticed that Alpha 6 was wearing shinny silver Captains bars instead of the subdued patch insignia…. making them both prime targets for the snipers. At 0933 hours, the 188th made its final approach into the LZ, carrying the rest of 2nd, 3rd and the weapons platoon. All hell broke loose as enemy tracers reached up into the flight and into the 187th slicks still off loading Alpha. Rounds ripped through the thin aluminum skin of the slicks, wounding some of the grunts on board. As Lt. Bill Howard and his RTO made their way to a dike for cover, a burst of machinegun fire barely missed Lt. Howard, but caught his RTO with the full force of the blast. The sharp crackle of automatic weapons fire swept across the paddies, as cordite smoke drifted across the LZ. The grunts watched the incoming rounds ricocheting across the water all around them. The din of battle and the visual panorama was terrifying, yet surrealistic. In the midst of the ambush a 187th pilot, hovering just above the water, knowing that his slick was about to become a magnet for enemy fire, yelled at PFC Willie Gin and the other grunts on board to, “Get out of the fuckin chopper…now.” They immediately bailed out of both doorways into the leech infested LZ. During his first minutes on the LZ, Alpha 16, Lt Ron Beedy had no idea where any of his men were, except his RTO Peter (Rabbit) Gaviglia, who was right at his side. Beedy’s 1st platoon was scattered throughout the LZ, pinned down and unable to maneuver against the VC positions. He had a small group of grunts with him, but could not take the chance of standing up to look for the others. Beedy said, “We were pinned down for hours by small arms fire coming from a tree line of thick bamboo growing along a canal leading to the Saigon River.” Staff Sgt. Sanford C. Schultz and Sp/4 Randy “Doc” Dunphy jumped from their slick and heard someone cry out “Medic!” They maneuvered through the waist deep water toward the sound and finally located 2nd platoon leader, Lt. McNeal, who was being treated by Larry “Doc” Fulks. Seeing that Lt. McNeal was in good hands, Doc Dunphy moved off in the direction of other frantic calls for help. Lt. Beedy was close enough to see when Lt. McNeal was wounded. He made the mistake of standing up and yelling for a medic to help one of his wounded, who had been hit during the landing, when he was shot in the thigh. With McNeal out of action, Sgt. Schultz took command of 2nd platoon. A bullet hit Schultz’s M-16 as he held it out in front of him, knocking him backwards but saving his life. PFC Willie Gin and two other Alpha cherries stopped to catch their breath after making it to safety. Peeking over a dike they were able to see Alpha’s command group and other grunts forming up along the closest dike fronting the tree line and firing into it. Most of the enemy fire was coming from the eastside tree line of a large forested area. There was 40 meters of water filled rice paddy between the VC and the Manchu line. Back at Cu Chi, the crew of ”Boom Boom A-Go-Go” listened on the company net to the frantic calls of “Takin’ Fire!!” and the deafening sound of automatic weapons fire and explosions in the background. When the flight started receiving automatic weapons fire, the operational plan turned to shit. The Black Widow pilots had to pick their spots away from the tree line where the VC, firing from fortified positions, had caught the flight in a cross fire. Preparing to take off the pilots made sharp pedal turns in place and came real close to hitting the grunts, who were scrambling for cover, with their tail rotors. The LZ turned into utter chaos as the grunts struggled through the waste deep water and sucking mud to their only cover…the dikes. CPT Lewman quickly ordered an about face and moved his group towards the forested area’s east tree line. The VC shifted their fire away from the grunts and concentrated on the hovering slicks. For those few brief moments, Alpha barely had enough time to reach the dikes. If the VC had concentrated their firepower on Alpha during the landing, the casualties would have been horrific. Many of the grunts were hit during the first few seconds on the LZ. The command group with parts of 1st and 2nd platoon managed to make it to the first dike, but the remainder of the company was scattered and pinned down all across the LZ. The Go Mon Commander waited until the last of the Black Widow slicks had cleared the treetops and the Black Hawks were still off loading grunts before initiating their ambush. The VC caught the entire flight out in the open…like sitting ducks! Unlike the grunts, the flight crews didn’t have the luxury of diving for cover. For the enemy gunners the slicks, hovering out in the open, became prime targets. The slick crews had to gut it out and wait until the entire flight lifted off. While flying cover for the slicks, Spider door gunner Sp/4 Leroy Lamb watched as the flight landed in the middle of the deadly crossfire. To draw fire away from the slicks, Spider and Rat Pack gunships rolled in hot on the VC positions strung out along the tree line. Spider crew chief, Sp/4 Jesse “Dumplin” Johnson said, ‘’ we took most of our hits when we were climbing out and banking away after the run. I saw the VC in holes in the paddy and scattered around the LZ. With only the muzzle of their AK-47 extended out of the water, the VC was firing at us while submerged under water. It took about 200 rounds in each hole to knock the position out.” The FAC (Forward Air Controller) flying above the battle in his bird dog radioed Black Baron 6 that the entire flight had landed in the middle of a seven-point ambush. As the Black Widows lifted off Chaulk 4, crewed by Black Widow 27, WO Chuck Restivo, peter pilot (slang for pilot) WO Chuck Windler (KIA 4/5/72 on 2nd tour while flying cobras with the Blue Max), crew chief, Sp/4 Bill Sondey and door gunner PFC Alfred “Smitty” Smith were on the receiving end of an armor piercing round that entered through the nose, passing through Restivo’s right calf before hitting the radio pedestal on his right. Another slick flown by Black Widow 23 WO Johnnie Spearman and pilot, Black Widow 14, WO Mark Hayes in Chaulk 5, were unaware that they had taken a hit, until they noticed that the engine oil pressure had dropped to zero. The engine had maintained full power during the climb out, so they stayed in position within the formation. The single armor-piercing round had cut both oil lines to and from the oil cooler, completely draining the engine oil reservoir. The bullet continued on, hitting a bolt holding the fuel control unit, glancing aft, it hit and cut a final line going into the diffuser of the engine, which started spraying JP4 all over the engine. WO John Sondergroth in Chaulk 6, who had just taken his first combat hits, contacted Chaulk 5 on the company push to tell them that they were “smokin’ pretty badly” and would keep an eye on them in case they needed to be picked up. Luckily they made it back without the overheated engine transforming the slick and crew into a fireball. Both Chaulk 4 and 5 landed long at Cu Chi and were replaced in the flight. After surviving the ambush, the entire flight shut down to inspect their Helicopters for bullet holes and shrapnel damage. An ambulance from the 12th Evac Hospital was dispatched to pick up WO1 Chuck Restivo. Before being taken to the hospital Sp/4 Sondey handed him the spent round he had found lying on the deck of the cargo bay. While Chuck was in the hospital an intelligence officer from the 25th ID asked him if he knew what type of weapon was used. Chuck said, “He didn’t have a clue, but that he did have the spent round.” He asked Chuck for the round and promised to return it. When the 2nd Lt. returned he informed Chuck that the round was from a Chicom 56 rifle, which was new to this AO. Door gunner Sp/4 Robert “Speed” Matthess, bleeding from bullet fragments to his chin, moved up and down the flight line pointing to the spot where a bullet had hit the center of his chicken plate (bulletproof vest). The chicken plate had just saved his life. Door gunners and crew chiefs always removed the back portion of their chicken plates and sat on them to protect the family jewels from ground fire coming up through the floor of the Huey. PFC Willie Gin and the other two cherries had worked their way to another dike north of Alpha’s command group. The water filled paddy to their front resembled a moat, with one corner of the paddy fronting the forested area. A sergeant gave the word to,”Move out!” At a dead run the three grunts made it twenty-five meters along the dike when a burst of enemy fire hit the two grunts running in front of Willie Gin. The lead grunt fell into the water on the right side of the dike and the other guy fell to the left side of the dike, exposing himself to further enemy fire. Willie reached over the dike and pulled him over to safety, and attended to the bullet wound to the side of his waist. He then went to the aid of the other wounded grunt whose head was lying against the dike and the rest of his body submerged under water. He then noticed 1st platoon medic, Daniel “Doc” Zogg, who had been wounded in the groin, lying out in the open…exposed to enemy fire. Willie disposed of his weapon, made his way over the dike, and crawled slowly towards him, keeping his body well below the surface of the water. He then dragged Zogg to the edge of the dike, and tried unsuccessfully to muscle him up and over the top. Finally, several others arrived and helped pull the wounded medic to safety behind the dike. To this day Willie considers it a miracle that he and “Doc” Zogg were not killed. Willie noticed a large group of Manchus waving him over to their location in a nearby dry grassy field. He didn’t recognize anyone in the group but they seemed to think that he was a medic and wanted him to help one of their wounded that was gut shot. Willie lifted the blood soaked bandage and saw intestines protruding from the wound. He wrapped several clean bandages securely around the wound to slow the bleeding and then headed off to find 2nd platoon. He doubled back in a circular direction that took him east away from the tree line and saw Alpha exchanging heavy fire with the VC. Some distance from the woods he finally ran into the 2nd platoon medic, Sp/4 Randy “Doc” Dunphy, who was lying real still and believed that he had been shot in the back. On further examination Willie told him that the round had passed through his fatigue shirt without hitting him. Doc Dunphy quickly regrouped and headed out in search of the wounded. After some delay, Bravo Company loaded up and the second lift pulled pitch. As the second lift approached the hot LZ, green tracers reached up to meet them. The slick that Bravo 6, Captain Al Baker’s command group were on was taking beaucoup (French term used for a lot) hits. Suddenly a round passed between Sp/4 C.W. Bowman Jr. and the door gunner, seriously wounding a grunt sitting next to him in the neck. The closer they got to the IP, the more accurate the incoming fire became. The command group wanted badly to get on the ground before their slick was shot down. C.W said, “It sounded like someone was beating the hell out of the chopper with a big hammer.” As they flared to a stop, the slick began to vibrate and shake uncontrollably. The command group bailed out leaving the wounded Manchu on board, who survived thanks to the pilot’s quick return to the 12th Evac hospital at Cu Chi. As C.W. tried to free himself from the mud, he saw the slick turning, its tail rotor blades skimming across the water. He was in the direct path of the oncoming blades and figured that this was the way he was going to die, but luckily the blades missed him by five feet. As the slicks lifted off many of the Bravo grunts were bogged down in the mud and receiving grazing fire hitting all around their position. Bravo decided to swim out of the LZ. Lying down, half-swimming and half-dragging themselves through the water and mud, they made it to a berm that was fifteen meters behind their IP. C.W. recalls, “There were so many snipers that you had to crawl wherever you went. If you stood up you died on the spot.” With AK-47 and B-40 rockets hitting all around them, Bravo quickly took cover behind the berm and used depressions in the ground for cover. Spider and Rat Pack gunships rolled in with 2.75 rockets and miniguns, trying to break the VC attack. Captain Baker took his 2nd platoon and worked his way along a dike until he was southeast of Alpha’s eastern flank. The tree line to Bravo’s front was part of a small tidal inlet stream branching out from the Saigon River. Alpha was still receiving a heavy volume of fire and pinned down in front of the tree line. Bravo 6 ordered his scattered platoons to organize by smoke grenades, flares and radio. Captain Baker said, “We could show nothing to this unit. If a soldier raised his hand, he would be shot in the hand. If he showed his foot or head, the same…if we showed nothing, the VC held their fire…this was a top flight unit.” Bravo 6 called in artillery support and the Red Legs of the 7/11 Artillery put a ring of steel around the trapped grunts. C.W. Bowman said, “The ground would roll and shake, as the concussion from the explosions rolled over us.” Following this rolling artillery barrage, F-4 Phantom jets, dropped 750-pound Snake Eye bombs that wobbled until the tailfins popped out to stabilize their descent toward the intended target. This was followed by 20mm strafing runs, which rained down red-hot spent shell casing on the grunts as the jets passed over their position. Many grunts thought they had been hit by enemy fire, only to realize that it was just very hot spent brass. Thanks to the gunships, Red Legs, and Air Force Bravo was given a window to move off the LZ to drier ground. Sp/4 Jim “Blood” Trueblood had “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” repaired by the time the second lift touched down at Cu Chi. WO Bob Sadouski informed flight lead that 119 was repaired and good to go. A replacement was needed for one of the other shot up slicks, so Major Sites told WO Sadouski to take Chalk 10, the trail position in the flight. The flight shut down while artillery and air strikes hammered the VC positions, until finally word came down for Delta to saddle up…”We’re going in!” The flight crews immediately slipped on their chicken plates, strapped in, plugged in and pulled down their tinted protective helmet visors, which covered the entire face above the mouth, and waited to pull pitch. Deep down in their bunkers the VC patiently waited out the artillery barrage and air strikes. With Alpha and Bravo pinned down on the LZ there was no reason to retreat. After lift off, the flight formed up and headed east to the Horseshoe. Since the ground commander was not sure of the exact location of his troops and fearful of the gunships hitting them, he suspended gun runs. Black Baron 6, LTC James H. Merryman informed Black Hawk lead that there would be no door gun suppression, unless the door gunners could positively identify their targets. If the LZ was still hot, the flight was to touch down 300 meters south of the initial IP—instead, Delta was dropped in and near the same LZ as Bravo. Newly formed Delta’s first CA would be into a hot LZ …with no covering fire from the gunships or suppressive fire from the door gunners M60’s. At 1009 hours the in bound flight started receiving heavy fire. Everyone felt the impact of enemy rounds exploding through the slick’s thin sheet metal skin…sending fragments everywhere. Adding to that fear was the terrifying sound of rounds passing by in close proximity to everyone on board. As Bravo was laying down covering fire during Delta’s approach, one of the 187th slicks flew into a no-man’s land between the crossfire coming from Bravo and the fortified VC positions. The slick was only fifteen feet above the ground when C.W. Bowman saw the door gunner get hit and fall forward—hanging by his monkey strap. Delta Company machine gunner, Melvin “Buzz” Copple, sitting on the left side of a Black Hawk slick’s open doorway watched in horror as rounds impacted a slick off to his right, sending pieces of sheet metal flying in all directions. Incoming rounds hit the crew chief, who kept firing as he slumped over his M60 machinegun, sending rounds wildly in the direction of Buzz’s slick and wounding the AC in the face and neck. The peter pilot frantically regained control of the slick and brought it to a hover fifteen feet off the ground. The crew chief and door gunner, in fear for their lives, started kicking some of the grunts off before they had the chance to get their feet on the skids to jump. After surviving the insertion, Buzz crawled to a dike and looked over at a large concentration of VC. His first thoughts were, “God, I don’t have enough ammo!”—they were on top of a major bunker complex. On the approach, “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” took a round up through the floor of the right side gunners well, that lodged in the sole of Sp/4 Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra’s jungle boot. As the Black Widow slick’s dropped below the tree line the entire left side of the flight started receiving enemy fire. The company net came alive with frantic calls of “TAKIN’ FIRE!!” The VC shifted their fire to the last two slicks in the formation, trying to transform Chalk 9 and 10 into fireballs. Chaulk 10, flying trail position was twenty feet off the ground when crew chief Sp/4 Jim “Blood” Trueblood was hit in the left arm. The force of the impacting round lifted him out of the left side gunners well and into the wide-eyed Delta grunts that immediately bailed out the right side. In the confusion, Cherry Boy saw his close friend and hootch mate bleeding badly and thrashing around on the floor of the cargo bay. Without hesitation he left his position behind the M60 and went to his aid. As he reached for the first aid kit, a burst of AK-47 fire rocked the slick as rounds tore through the transmission housing at the exact point where he had just been sitting. Going to the aid of his friend had saved his life. WO Sadouski and the peter pilot butted helmets as they turned to see their door gunner and crew chief hugging the floor, totally exposed to the enemy fire…blood everywhere. Very clearly, they also heard them screaming into their mikes, “Lets get the f___ out of here!!” Chaulk 9 (#66-16127 “Fornicator 44) flown by AC, Black Widow 44, WO Herm Fulp with peter pilot WO Alex Vieglais monitoring the gauges and radio, flared to a hover as the grunts bailed out, desperately trying to get away from the death trap they had been riding in. As enemy fire rocked his slick Herm switched to VHF and asked C&C and the Spider gunships, “Where you are…why aren’t you hitting that tree line?” They had landed on top of the VC. Still at a hover, Herm leaned over to reset the master caution light, just as a VC rose up out of the water filled paddy 15 feet away. Firing from the lower right rear of the slick, the rounds passed through the cargo bay at an angle and up through the green overhead panels. A lucky coincidence had just saved his life. If he hadn’t made that move Herm would have taken one or two in the back of the head. One of the rounds ricocheted off a post close to door gunner Sp/4 Ed Pettinato, sending bullet fragments into his arm. Ed immediately returned fire with his M60, killing the VC. “Fornicator 44” and “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” were taking a heavy volume of fire and in dire straights, with lit up master caution lights and two wounded. Herm radioed lead that Chaulk 9 & 10 was breaking formation; they needed to get away from that tree line now. The VC, hidden below the surface of the water was moving into position to out flank Bravo Company. As they broke right and gained altitude Cherry Boy got to work applying a field bandage to his friend’s wound. Blood asked if there was, “One hole or two?” Cherry Boy held up two fingers. Enroute to the 12th Evac Blood’s flack jacket was sucked out of the open cargo bay and into the slipstream, just missing the tail rotor as it fell away. Both slicks landed at the 12th Evac pad to unload their wounded crew chief and door gunner. Trueblood and Pettinato gave their buddies a thumbs up as both slicks slowly hovered over to the airfield and shut down. As Blood and Pettinato entered the triage area they noticed a number of wounded Manchus, who had already arrived from the ambush. An orderly removed Blood’s saturated field bandage, and lifted his arm to get a better look at the wound as a stream of blood from a severed artery gushed out. The orderly yelled out, “We got a bleeder” and he was immediately taken into surgery. As he waited, Sp/4 Detra, still in shock after his baptism of fire and near death experience, washed out his crew chief’s blood from the floor of the cargo bay. With nine months left in country, he had an uneasy feeling that there was a very good chance that he may very well be going home in a body bag. During the Vietnam War, Helicopter door gunners had one of the highest casualty rates. When the crews checked their slicks for combat damage at the “Web” in Dau Tieng they found that “Fornicator 44” had taken 38 hits and “Boom Boom A-Go-Go” 39. Waiting to get word on his wounded door gunner, Herm entered the 116th Officers Club and spotted WO Sadouski sitting silently at the end of the bar drinking a shot of whiskey and a beer…lost in thought. As he approached his friend, Sadouski looked up and said, “They really got us good today.” After being treated for his wounds Sp/4 Pettinato was released and returned to duty. Back on the LZ, Chaulk 2 radioed lead that he had lost his hydraulics and his only option was to fly straight out of the LZ. Major Sites made the decision to take the flight of eight straight out. Unaware of the Black Widows situation, Black Baron 6 came up on the company net yelling for Major Sites to break right…wanting to know why he hadn’t followed the flight plan.Major Sites response was to,” Get off the net!” The eight slicks lifted off and while enroute to Cu Chi formed a cocoon around Chaulk 2. When the Black Widows touched down at Cu Chi to refuel, LTC James Merryman’s C&C slick flared to a stop close by. He approached Major Sites and motioned for him to take a walk and said, “We need to talk” After listening to Major Sites side of the story, LTC Merryman understood what had happened and had a change of heart. As Black Baron 6 inspected the first three slicks for damages, he stopped counting after finding 134 bullet holes. Twenty-two of the twenty-four slicks sustained combat damage from mortar, RPG, sniper and automatic weapons fire. Chaulk 1, flown by Major Sites, was the only Black Widow slick not to take a hit, along with one of the Black Hawk slicks. All of the Rat Pack and Spider gunships sustained multiple hits while engaging the fortified enemy positions. LTC Merryman informed Major Sites that everyone on the mission would receive awards for valor. Both companies were released except for five Black Widow slicks, left on five-minute standby. Once on the ground Delta Company attempted an assault on the lower right side of the Horseshoe. By this time, Alpha Company had already made a charge into the tree line east of their perimeter, but had to fall back into the paddies because of the heavy automatic weapons and accurate sniper fire from the fortified VC bunkers. It was difficult to locate the camouflaged bunkers to return fire and Alpha was still exposed out in the open and taking casualties. Meanwhile two of Bravo Company’s platoons had gotten off the LZ and had worked their way to a tree-lined stream several hundred meters southeast of Alpha’s position. Delta’s LZ had become a hell hole, smoke, burning brush, explosions, green and red tracers going back and forth, bodies and wounded lying out in the open, gunships firing rockets and miniguns into the tree lines, and every Manchu on the LZ trying to find a way to fight back and survive. Delta was spread out in small groups over a large area of the LZ due to the withering fire from the tree line, as the slicks had to pick their spots away from the VC gunners in the tree line. Many of the new guys made a fatal mistake when they climbed out of the water and up on the dikes, trying to run for cover. The grunts in Bravo Company were screaming at Delta, as loud as they could to stay off the dikes—watching helplessly as snipers picked them off. Even the more experienced grunts did not escape this deadly trap. Dave Cline was pinned down immediately after splashing down and moved behind a dike for cover. Another Delta grunt was stuck in the mud and screaming for help. Dave went to his aid and was hit by a bullet that entered his upper left back and exited out his lower right back, filling his left lung with blood. He collapsed, lying helpless and fighting for his life for over an hour until a Dust Off could get him out. Larry “Bear” Criteser was carrying Delta’s 60mm mortar tube into battle that day. After jumping from the slick Larry took cover behind a dike just as a Chicom grenade exploded on top of it. The mud gave him no solid ground, so Bear used his helmet for a base plate on which to mount the mortar. After firing four rounds, the recoil had punched a gaping hole in the top of his steel pot. Bear fired off another round into the tree line and was horrified to see it heading straight for one of slicks, which were still on the LZ, but fortunately the slick was climbing out and was not hit. Rat Pack 6 was hit in the arm while engaging the VC positions along the tree line after the gunships were given the OK to attack. By late morning, all three Manchu companies were still pinned down on the LZ, casualties were mounting, and only five casualties had been medevaced out. Alpha Company attempted the first counterattack against the Go Mon Battalion. Captain Lewman called in a series of artillery barrages on the wood line directly to his front and then radioed Lt. Beedy, who was on Alpha’s left flank. He told Lt. Beedy that when the artillery lifted, he was to take whoever was near him and “…Get to that wood line!” Beedy said, “It was the most ominous order I received during the war.” Eager to escape the misery of being pinned down and knowing that there was little chance of making it across the open paddy alive, Beedy decided to move his squad along the dike that ran parallel to the VC’s frontline. Lt. Beedy, Peter “rabbit” Gaviglia, and several others made this left flanking maneuver. This parallel dike intersected with another that ran perpendicular to it, into the wood line. When the squad reached the intersection of the dikes, they jumped up on the perpendicular dike and ran to within a few meters of the wood line. It was then that Beedy saw a fighting position on the edge of the wood line to his right and quickly jumped down behind the dike he was on. After lobbing grenades into several of the fighting positions, his squad moved forward and only found some bloody web gear left behind. All of the wounded and dead VC had been removed by shallow bottom boat, down what appeared to be a small tidal inlet just inside the tree line. The extreme left flank and a small part of the hidden inlet had been secured. Wanting to break out of the ambush and engage the enemy that had Alpha pinned down, Captain Lewman called in fast movers to hit the tree line. Bill Fitch was terrified as he watched two jets fly in at treetop level and pickle off their bombs from way behind Alpha’s position. The bombs wobbled, turned and twisted downward toward Alpha. Bill said, “You could read the serial numbers on the bombs as they passed with a whooshing sound over our heads.” Most of the grunts had ducked under the water prior to the bombs exploding fifty meters inside the wood line. Captain Lewman then ordered everyone up and over the dike and to charge the east tree line, across the open rice paddy in front of them. They were out of options and had to break free of the trap no matter what. Nick Summerfield knowing what Alpha 6 intended to do asked “Are you sure you want to do this Captain?” Captain Lewman’s chilling response was, “Lets Charge!” Nick said, “…Bullets were hitting the water around the Captain and me…all I could think of was, the fool has silver bars shinning and me with my radio…a couple of great targets!” Alpha moved out as one unit, a long line of soldiers charging forward, firing their weapons as they slogged through the knee-deep muddy water towards the tree line. As the grunts moved closer to the wood line, the VC abandoned their forward positions and withdrew to their secondary fighting positions deeper in the woods. There was a high volume of fire during the initial charge, which tapered off as the VC fell back. When they reached the tree-lined embankment, the firefight intensified as the enemy began firing from their fallback positions. At this point others trapped on the LZ began to move over the dikes to link up with the rest of Alpha’s men, who were now strung out along the eastern edge of the wood line. Willie Gin and his small group charged the northeast corner, while others closed in from the north side. A few had entered the north side of the woods and heard the intense firefight coming from deep within the woods to the east of them. For fear of being killed by friendly fire, the decision was made to pull back because they were in Alpha’s line of fire. The weapons squad charged the wood line from the extreme right flank of Alpha’s assault line. As the squad neared the woods, the intensity of the enemy fire increased and Robert Morgan was mortally wounded. The entire squad stopped to help Morgan, who was going into shock. Hernandez and Jim Sitt made a heroic effort, giving Morgan CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as the squad withdrew. Morgan was dead by the time a medic got to him. During the assault, Sp/4 Dennis Gabbert was mortally wounded. SFC Charles R. Wilkerson was later found dead quite some distance away in a large rice paddy. The assault stopped short of securing the wooded area because the enemy fire had become more accurate and intense as they entered the tree line. Alpha had no choice but to fall back, taking cover behind the dirt embankment at the base of the tree line. They had finally broken the ambush, with many of the VC being pushed farther back into the woods and their gunfire was less effective. Rat Pack and Spider LFT’s kept up the pressure on the VC, making numerous passes, firing rockets and miniguns into the enemy positions. Alpha had two new problems to deal with: casualties and running out of ammunition. Captain Al Baker had observed Alpha’s earlier failed attempt at charging across the rice paddy into the tree line. He remembers, “It worked for Alpha Company initially. As they pursued, the Go Mon pulled back to their positions in depth. When Alpha tried to pull back, the VC followed them back, and continued the firefight.” Bravo 6 decided to take a different tactic. He decided that Bravo Company had enough ground cover to make a protected approach to a tree-lined canal. Captain Baker and a SFC from Battalion with sniper training worked their way along a dike and found a hole through which they could see a VC bunker. Captain Baker decided to use an old Tom Mix cowboy trick to draw the VC’s fire. He raised his helmet above the dike on the barrel end of his CAR-15. Immediately a burst of gunfire came from the bunker. The SFC quickly squeezed off several well-placed rounds from his M14 sniper rifle into the firing slits of the bunker, knocking it out of action. This left several small streams open to Bravo to move down and Captain Baker made this his offensive objective. Now Bravo 6 was able to bring up Lt. Craig Greaves’ platoon and move it into a tree-lined finger stream to try to roll up the VC’s flank. From further along the stream, Captain Baker discovered that the VC’s right flank was unprotected and he could roll them up across the edge of the wood line. Murphy’s Law played a big part in the following counterattack. Delta 6, Captain Rosenberg, noticed movement on his right flank, mistook Bravo Company’s men for the VC, and called in the gunships. The lead gunship made a run at Lt. Greaves’ platoon, firing all of his rockets, which broke up their counterattack and wounded two men. As the trail minigun ship rolled in, Captain Baker tried desperately to call it off, but could not get through. Finally, the net cleared for a few seconds and he made contact, just in time to abort the mission…as the second gunship pulled off and banked away from the “Americans” they were about to fire on! Delta Company was scattered in small groups, all across the LZ. As the grunts tried to escape the enemy fire and regroup, they were immediately shot by snipers. Sp/4 Bob Castillo, Sgt. Al Clinton and Sp/4 Keith Bolstad, who had been transferred over from Bravo Company, were in one of these small groups and pinned down. They crawled through the mud to a dike where some other men had gathered and began to return fire. Bob said, “I couldn’t tell what everyone was shooting at. I could see a wood line about a hundred yards across the paddy…there was a lot of confusion.” Fast movers were called in on the VC positions closest to Delta. Buzz Copple recalls seeing a bomb released behind Delta and scoring a direct hit on a group of VC: “I saw it hit right in the middle of the VC and they just disappeared…vaporized…then I saw pieces of body parts flying away. Jets then made strafing run…this is the only thing that bailed us out!” Lt. Itow was the only Delta platoon leader to gather enough men to make an attack on the VC positions. The only solid ground between Delta’s LZ and the wood line was a single dike running straight toward the middle of a VC bunker line. Lt. Itow used the cover of the dike to take the platoon closer in, hoping to knock out the bunkers that were pinning Delta down on the LZ. As Lt. Itow’s platoon approached the wood line, they were caught in a cross fire from both flanks and their immediate front. Bob Castillo said, “They didn’t have a chance. They just got cut to pieces.” An ammo re-supply slick came in fast and flared; as the crew chief and door gunner kicked out the boxes into the muddy waters of Delta’s position. The grunts had to fish around in the mud to find the ammo, while enemy fire was hitting the water all around them. Then someone saw Lt. Itow stumbling desperately back from where his platoon had made its heroic but fatal counterattack. The closest Delta grunts began laying down covering fire for Lt. Itow who had returned to get help for his decimated platoon. He was breathing hard, straining for air. Someone gave him a cigarette, and he drew hard on it, and began to talk. He wanted more ammo and volunteers to help him save what was left of his men. Bob Castillo said, “We couldn’t believe it! He was already hit two or three times. It was suicide to go out there. Lt. Itow grabbed a bunch of bandoliers, put them around his neck, and bolted over the edge of the berm…then all hell broke loose again with automatic weapons fire going both ways.” After a while, Bob heard cheering and saw Lt. Itow stumbling and half dragging one of his wounded men back to safety The wounded man had been shot twice in the back and was trembling and silently crying when a medic came to his aid. He was told to hold on; a Dust Off was coming for him. As the Dust Off approached, green and red tracers from an exchange of gunfire erupted again. Doc Hyder asked the wounded grunt if he could walk. ”Yes” came his reply. Bob Castillo and Doc Hyder struggled under the weight of this rather large and heavy grunt as they moved toward the PZ. When Bob was halfway to the slick, he stepped in a bomb crater and went completely underwater. When he surfaced, the wounded soldier was leaning on a dike holding on with both arms. Shaking badly, Doc Hyder collapsed from total exhaustion. The adrenaline had run its course for both men. Bob told the wounded soldier if he wanted to get out of here, he would have to make it the rest of the way on his own. Bob told him, “That’s your chopper man…go get it.” The wounded soldier made it to the Dust Off, where he was quickly yanked inside and flown to the 12th Evac. Near dusk, Sgt, Al Clinton, who was lying next to Sp/4 Bob Castillo along the berm, was mumbling to himself in disgust. There were repeated calls for volunteers to go out in the open and retrieve the wounded. It got real quiet…nobody wanted to go. It was suicide to leave the little bit of cover they had. Frustrated with the situation, Sgt. Clinton stood up, unfastened his web gear, threw his M-16 down in the mud and then lunged over the berm and disappeared over the other side into the open. All hell broke loose as Bob Castillo followed his friend over the berm. They slithered on their bellies along the left side of the curb high dike. Bob was so close to Al that his face nearly touched Al’s muddy soles. To their front the enemy had them zeroed in and the sound of AK-47 and sniper fire was deafening. Bob felt movement behind him and glanced back to see his close friend Keith Bolstad and a long line of weaponless guys who were putting their lives on the line to save their wounded. Al Clinton, Bob Castillo and Keith Bolstad were inseparable and the best of friends. Halfway out guys started spreading out to rescue the wounded and dead, who were spread out all over the area. Others searching the area were yelling back that they had found KIA’s. A handsome, blond haired twenty year old who was shirtless was pushed towards Bob, just as a burst of AK-47 fire came within inches of hitting him. The dead body landed across Bob’s lap, who was in a sitting position, watching the brave Delta grunts that stood up and went after their wounded. When the enemy fire shifted, Bob lifted up the dead soldier to see where he had been hit. This was the first body Bob had ever held in his arms. The young soldier’s mouth was filled with mud. Bob, caught up in the moment, leaned over to protect the dead soldier and ducked as another burst of AK-47 fire came his way. When the fire quieted down Sgt. Beard grabbed him away from Bob as he tried to lift the dead man’s head to keep it from dangling back into the mud, where it would act like an anchor. It was difficult to slide him along unless you pulled him feet first. Sgt. Beard yelled, “What’s the difference...he’s dead isn’t he.” When I tried to explain about his head sinking into the mud, Sgt. Beard wouldn’t hear it. So Bob gently let him go to the sergeant. Bob later found himself standing among those who dared to stand up. He assisted a Hispanic staff sergeant, who had been hit by grazing fire, resulting in his right arm and forearm being sliced open…leaving an ugly gash. One of the first wounded guys Sgt. Al Clinton encountered was shot in the head as Al struggled to drag him back to Delta’s position. Al Clinton, Bob Castillo and Keith Bolstad joined another rescue and recovery attempt—crossing paths with Lt. Parris, who was lying wounded out in the open field along with other WIA and KIA’s. The rescue party managed to recover many of the casualties, but could not recover those closest to the VC bunker line. Two of the WIA died during the night and six dead Delta Manchus were not recovered until the next morning. Lt. Parris, along with other wounded men, returned to Delta’s perimeter where they were medevaced out by a Dust Off late in the afternoon. Unfortunately, not all of the Manchu’s evacuated casualties were from enemy fire. A Delta grunt with a sucking chest wound was finally evacuated at 2035 hours on the last Dust Off of the day. At 1850 hours, one of Delta’s squads was walking along a dike and the squad leader’s weapon accidentally discharged wounding the grunt that was in front of him. Lt. Fritz Wiese was aboard one of the few ammo re-supply runs that were made that day. With his handle bar mustache and huge 6’4’’ frame hanging out of the hovering slick, Lt. Wiese kicked out boxes of ammo…some nearly hitting grunts on the ground. He was slightly wounded by a ricocheting bullet, which struck his wristwatch and lodged in the flap of skin between his index finger and thumb. During one attempt to get the wounded out, an Australian Cambarra jet with a Spider gunship flying alongside of its right wing headed straight for Bravo’s perimeter, with a Black Widow medevac underneath. The Cambarra jet with its 20mm cannon and the gunship with its 7.62mm miniguns and 2.75” rockets opened up on the wood line to Bravo’s front. While the medevac swooped in and extracted as many wounded as it could get…taking beaucoup hits on the way in and out. At 1630 hours the slicks were parked at the airfields east resupply area, when Captain Fritz Wiese approached and requested two slicks for a strictly voluntary and extremely dangerous ammo resupply mission. The Manchus were pinned down, in heavy contact, and running out of ammunition. There was a real possibility that the VC, who outnumbered the Manchus, may try a frontal attack or worse…try to over run their positions during the night. With total disregard for their own safety, two crews stepped forward and volunteered for the mission. A 2nd platoon slick (#66-16205) crewed by Aircraft Commander Black Widow 42, 1st Lt. Charlie Maurer, Peter Pilot, crew chief Sp/4 Ron “Oregon” Merlock and door gunner Sp/4 Bill Crabbe along with a 1st platoon slick (#66-16222) crewed by Black Widow 23,WO JJ Spearman and Black Widow 14, WO Mark Hayes ( with 8 months in-country, Mark had been infused from the 155th AHC), crew chief Sp/4 Bill Sondey and door gunner PFC Alfred J. “Smitty” Smith, volunteered to fly into the hot LZ and deliver the much needed ammo to Alpha and Delta Company. Spearman and Hayes switched to #66-16222 sometime after Restivo was wounded in action. Both crews helped with the loading of ammo…pulled pitch and headed back to the battleground. Arriving on station the slicks made contact with the Spider and Rat Pack gunships capping the area. Because Alpha and Delta were cut off and spread out over a large area, the gunships were ordered once again not to fire, unless they could positively identify their target. Lt. Maurer’s slick went in first with a Spider gunship on each flank for show, and landed in the middle of a rice paddy, where a number of grunts from Delta were pinned down behind the west side of a dike facing the tree line and no one was moving. Seconds seemed like hours as the crew waited out in the open for the grunts to leave their positions and help unload the much-needed ammo. Charlie keyed his mike and told Sp/4 Merlock and Sp/4 Crabbe to get busy offloading the ammo. Suddenly the grunts placed their weapons on top of the dike and started firing into the tree line to the east. As Charlie lifted off the slick started taking heavy fire. Sp/4 Crabbe marked the spot with red smoke while Charlie got on the horn and told the Spiders where the VC positions were located in reference to his smoke. Flipping their arming switches on, the gunships rolled in hot, firing rockets and miniguns into the VC positions. They took heavy automatic weapons fire during the engagement. As red smoke drifted up into the overcast sky, Black Widow 23 orbiting several hundred meters east listened on the radio as the ground commander contacted the Dust Off orbiting nearby and requested that it enter the LZ and pick up several critically wounded men. The Dust Off requested that artillery fire be brought closer in. The ground commander denied the request because shells were already impacting much too close to his men. The Dust Off advised the ground commander that he could not enter the LZ without endangering his crew, but would stay on station in case a window of opportunity presented itself to get the wounded out. When #16222 made its approach to the middle of a deep, water filled rice paddy, the grunts of Alpha positioned their weapons above the dike and began to fire all of their remaining ammo into the tree line. Sp/4 Bill Fitch fired his last clip of twenty rounds, as did the other grunts to cover the slicks approach. Sondey and Smith immediately assisted the grunts in off loading the ammo. The resupply arrived just in time, with enough M-16 ammo to give each grunt 80 to 100 rounds. Having completed the mission, #16222 was about to depart the LZ when they received a desperate plea from Alpha 6, Captain Thomas Lewman to pickup four critically wounded grunts near the northeast corner of another paddy less than 200 yards away. As Black Widow 23 bravely hovered across the open paddy #16222 started taking a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire. The task of loading the wounded was extremely difficult due to the waist deep water. The four wounded were placed on top of ponchos, and then slowly floated across the water to Sondey and the waiting slick. WO Spearman held the slick at a hover, trying to keep the skids and belly submerged to a point where the water was only inches from filling the cargo bay. After a long, gut wrenching delay the four wounded were finally on board. As Alpha 6 again requested #16222 to pick up three more critically wounded grunts and one E-6 near the northeast corner of the forested area, Sondey was seriously wounded in the buttocks and Smitty critically wounded in the right shoulder. Spearman and Hayes asked Sondey and Smitty if they were OK to pick up the second group of wounded. They replied, “Yes sir.” As the slick maneuvered out in the open, Smitty was hit a second time. Reaching the designated spot, Sondey, in pain and weakened from loss of blood, left his position behind his M60 and assisted the grunts with loading the three wounded and one non-wounded E-6 on his side of the slick. Several of the wounded Manchus tried desperately to help Smitty, who was bleeding badly and slumped over his M60. Undaunted by the sheer volume of enemy fire, Sondey remained calm and quickly moved back to his position behind the M60. With the wounded finally on board Spearman found it necessary to hover the overloaded slick to the middle of the paddy in order to pull a maximum power, circling take off. The pilots, nine wounded and one very shaken up E-6 miraculously survived and made it out of the Horseshoe. The grunts watched in horror as enemy fire rocked the aircraft and shattered most of the Plexiglas windshields, side windows and chin bubbles, as the “Miracle Chopper” lifted off. That’s what the Manchus were calling the crew of #16222. Alpha finally had something positive to cheer about, so they cheered and yelled like hell, knowing that their wounded buddies were safely away. Captain Al Baker, watched with tears in his eyes, as the “Miracle Chopper’ lifted up and out of the Horseshoe. In his three and one half years in country Bravo 6 never witnessed a more heroic act. Pushing the envelope at 120 miles per hour and trying to stay ahead of a moving wall of monsoon rain, WO Spearman made a beeline to the 12th Evac, while WO Hayes worked the radios trying desperately to no avail to reach the 12th Evac. Hayes was later informed that the 12th Evac had indeed received all of his calls but that he wasn’t receiving them. Enroute Sondey, to the best of his ability, continuously attempted to aid the wounded. Just as the full fury of the storm struck, the shot up slick made a straight in approach and landed. Once on the ground, WO Hayes and Spearman waved frantically for the medics standing by to help them unload the nine wounded. WO Spearman shut the slick down and entered the emergency room where the mud-soaked grunts, crew chief and door gunner were being cared for. WO Hayes stayed with the slick in case it needed to be moved. While waiting, Hayes washed the stretched out and blood filled nylon cargo seats and the cargo bay floor with rainwater from the monsoon storm. WO Hayes counted a total of 43 hits, 42 during the ammo/medevac mission and one from WO Restivo’s first lift. WO Spearman could hear the cries from Smitty as the doctors and nurses worked feverishly to save his life. After locating Sondey, who was lying face down on his stomach, on top of a gurney and OK, he left the mud-filled 12th Evac. Forty-five minutes later, one of the doctors who had cared for Smitty approached WO Spearman and informed him that Smitty had died from his massive wounds and loss of blood. Not long after that WO Hayes and Spearman mounted up and made what had to be the longest and quietest flight of their Army aviation careers back to Dau Tieng. WO Spearman and Sp/4 Bill Sondey were awarded the Silver Star. WO Hayes was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and PFC Alfred J. Smith was promoted posthumously to corporal and awarded an Air Medal with “V” device for Valor. In the author’s opinion the entire crew deserved a Silver Star for putting themselves in harms way, hovering out in the open for an unforgivable length of time, all the while being hammered by automatic weapons fire from fortified positions, was definitely way above and far beyond the call of duty. They saved the lives of seven Manchus, who may not have made it otherwise, while suffering one wounded in action and one killed in action. Smitty and Mark Hayes deserved more. PFC Willie Gin and his group were pulling out of the tree line when the “Miracle Chopper” came in. Watching through the tree branches and undergrowth, he watched the slick slip past the northeast corner of the tree line and the pilot struggling to maneuver it into position. Small groups of Alpha grunts were moving through the knee-deep water toward the slick. They were crouched down, eyes covered to protect them from the blinding swirl of mud, water and debris being stirred-up by the hovering slick’s rotor wash. Willie could see the boxes of ammo being thrown out. There was a desperate rush to put as many wounded as possible on board. Jack Connell’s M16 exploded or was hit by an AK47 round during this exchange of fire and was disabled. Bill Fitch threw him Morgan’s M16 so he could keep firing. The VC still managed to shoot up the Miracle Chopper almost badly enough to bring it crashing down. Captain Baker had taken the finger stream objective but could not get LTC Stanley Converse’s permission to resume his flanking counterattack because Manchu 6 was afraid they would get bogged down and said, “No.” When the C&C helicopters left the area, Captain Baker was put in command of organizing the entire battalion for a long, rainy and cold night’s stay. Alpha, Bravo and Delta linked up and spent the long night along the banks of the Saigon River. Their positions became flooded as the incoming tide rose. Many of the Manchus slipped down under the water of the rice paddies because it was safer and warmer than sitting on the dikes shivering in the cold monsoon rain and wind. Illumination flares lit up the night sky, casting eerie shadows across the surface of the water, just enough to see hordes of swarming leeches, trying to attach themselves to any of the grunts uncovered body parts. At 1806 hours Spider 60 radioed the 269th BOC (Battalion Operations Center) that they were escorting the last re-supply slick of the day into the Horseshoe. A Spider LFT was left on standby over night. That evening the Wolfhounds were ordered out of Cu Chi to march to the Manchus relief. Throughout the night the Manchus observed flares off in the distance as the Wolfhounds crossed the river to the east of Cu Chi…for some reason they never linked up with the Manchus. During the night the VC slipped quietly away, vanishing into the night like ghosts to the safety of the nearby tunnels, their ace in the hole. A small rear security force was left behind to cover their escape. At first light on the morning of August 31, everyone stripped naked and began the painful process of pulling, burning and scraping leeches off each other, a process which left bleeding wounds and sores. An OH-23 Raven observation helicopter carrying Major Bob Sage flew over the LZ and dropped a map overlay wrapped around a rock ordering the ground commander, Captain Al Baker to pursue the VC east along the southern banks of the Saigon River. Alpha Company took lead, followed by Bravo. After two exhausting days, with no enemy contact Bravo was air lifted north to Camp Juanita, which was located north of Trang Bang. Alpha and Headquarters were flown back to Camp Martha. In the morning after the artillery and air strikes ceased Delta Company swept the battlefield and enemy bunkers enroute to their pick up point along the river. They came upon the guys they couldn’t get to the evening before. It was a mess. Guys lying face down facing in the direction of Delta’s position. Web gear was scattered everywhere. These guys had desperately stripped themselves of any impediment to running fast and free. Most were hit in the back, mostly the back of the head. The survivors picked up the bodies and gear as they went. During the sweep Keith Bolstad found two dead Delta guys who had been missed on the rescue sweep. They had been wounded with Lt. Itow earlier in the day but missed during the cover of darkness rescue attempt…resulting in their deaths during the cold, wet night. Not being medevaced out had sealed their fate. When they searched the bunkers they didn’t find a damn thing. No empty shells, no blood, and no evidence of any kind. It was like they had been fighting ghosts. Delta was picked up by riverboats and dropped off at Go Dau Ha, where they were trucked back to Cu Chi. Bob Castillo and several other grunts from Delta were put in for the Bronze Star, but never received the award. Charlie Company was flown from Cu Chi to Camp Caroline, located just east of Trang Bang. During his stay at the 12th Evac, WO Chuck Restivo happened to run into Spider 69, WO Ross “Scotty” Scott who had been wounded on the 27th in the same area. After three days in the hospital Chuck hitched a ride back to Dau Tieng aboard an Army caribou. When he arrived back at the company area it looked deserted. One of the 188th security guards informed Chuck that the entire company was at a memorial service for PFC Alfred Smith, who was killed during an emergency ammo re-supply/medevac mission. Chuck was unaware that Smitty had been killed and later found out that he was in the operating room next to Smitty when he died. Chuck recovered from his wounds and was back flying within a few weeks. During Blood’s thirty-day stay in the hospital, crew chief Sp/4 Roger Hitzemann paid his friend a visit. While they were talking, Charleston Heston (in Cu Chi with Nancy Sinatra for a USO show) just happened to be making a goodwill tour of the 12th Evac to try and lift the spirits of all the wounded soldiers. Heston approached Blood and shook his hand, telling him that during World War II, he had taken some shrapnel in his hand from a grenade and that Blood’s wound would be OK in no time. WO Bob Setzer refused to accept his own DFC after word came down that the upcoming awards ceremony excluded a large number of the crew chiefs and door gunners, who had been told by their battalion commander that they would receive awards for valor. Casualty results: VC: 4 KIA (Body Count) Manchus: 10 KIA, 36 WIA Black Widows: 1 KIA, 5 WIA Black Hawks: 4 WIA Alpha Company KIA: Sp/4 Dennis Gabbert, Age 20, Eureka, California Sp/4 Vaughan S. Morgan, Age 23, Hollis Center, Maine PFC Robert W. Morgan, Age 20, Jersey City, New Jersey SFC Charles R. Wilkerson, Age 31, Anderson, Indiana WIA, 12 Bravo Company: 0 KIA, 4 WIA Delta Company KIA: PFC Tom J. Bagenstose, Age 20, Reading, Pennsylvania PFC Douglas Coats, Age 19, Red Bay, Alabama Sp/4 Benjamin D. Coy Jr., Age 21, Noblesville, Indiana PFC Terrence J Kudro, Age 19, Bellevue, Ohio Private Roy H. Leach, Age 19, Decatur, Georgia PFC John J. Pinder, Age 19, Bellerose, New York WIA, 20
188th KIA: Corporal, Alfred J. Smith, Age 27, Somerville, New Jersey WIA: WO Chuck Restivo, Sp/4 Robert Matthess, Sp/4 Jim Trueblood, Sp/4 Ed Pettinato and Sp/4 Bill Sondey 187th WIA, 4 The Go Mon Battalion surely suffered a large number of casualties, but we’ll never know because they removed their dead and wounded from the battlefield. The four dead VC were left behind as rear security to cover the retreating main force.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Steve Maxner, an oral historian for the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University started the sequence of events that made this true story possible, when he forwarded an email to me from Bill Fitch in December 2001. Bill asked if I was interested in helping him and Willie Gin write the story about the ambush and battle they fought in at the Horseshoe on August 31, 1967. Over the years I have had vivid nightmares and flashbacks of that day, so I had mixed feelings about reliving in detail the day I lost my cherry and nearly lost my life. My life changed after surviving that third lift into the Horseshoe. Thirty-four years later I felt compelled to help write this sad account of the Ambush. I would like to THANK Black Widow’s, Jesse Johnson, JJ Spearman, Mark Hayes, Herm Fulp, Tiffany Sondey (Bill Sondey’s daughter), Joe Sites, Bob Setzer, Charlie Maurer, Ron Merlock, Bill Crabbe, Jim Trueblood, Roger Hitzemann, Marty Schorr, Chuck Restivo, Lee Lamb and Manchu’s Al Baker, C.W. Bowman Jr., Bob Castillo, Al Clinton, Keith Bolstad, Ron Beedy, Craig Greaves, Melvin “Buzz” Copple, Randy Dunphy, Nick Summerfield, Larry “Bear” Criteser, Jim Stitt, Truman Boyce, Dave Cline, Mike Smith and Rich Parris for sharing their memories of that sad day.
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