Suddenly, Crack! Crack! Crack! Our two platoons had made enemy contact. They hadn’t moved more than a hundred meters or so down the ridge when they came under fire. Word came down the line that there were wounded, so I grabbed my radio and weapon and went in search of the company commander, First Lieutenant Andrews, to see what I could do.
“We’re going to need an LZ, Hunt. We’ve got wounded. See what you can do, find an LZ, and tell me what you need. We’ve got C-4 so we can blow trees if we have to, but we’ve got to be able to get birds in here.”
“Roger that skipper. I’ll get ‘em in.”
The hilltop was covered in debris from broken trees. The jungle was so dense that the bombs just knocked the trees over but did little to clear them from the hill. At the very top of the hill it was clearest. Although I knew there wasn’t enough room to land a chopper, I felt that one could at least set its tail wheels down and lower its gate. The zone would have to be here; but the clearing was narrow, and I didn’t think a chopper’s rotors could clear the trees on each side. I also didn’t like the fact that this hilltop was the most visible area around, making it a prime target for enemy fire.
As I looked around the perimeter of the hilltop, I could see Hill 461 directly across and to the west. It was only a thousand meters away, as the crow flies. If there were NVA on that mountain top, which was likely, they could easily hit a helicopter trying to land on this hill, using mortars or other crew-served weapons such as recoilless guns or large machine guns. I didn’t like it, but there was no other position close by that was even remotely large enough and clear enough to land a helicopter. Unless we had engineers brought in with equipment and lots of explosives, this was going to have to do. I just needed to have some of the outer trees blown down to be sure that a chopper’s rotors would have ample clearance.
I reported back to the CO what I had decided, and he called one of his platoon leaders to have some men blow the trees. I pointed out which ones I wanted blown down. Meanwhile, the fighting had intensified. The two platoons left behind were now reduced to one as another platoon moved down the ridgeline to reinforce the engaged platoons. This was developing into another major battle. The wounded were mounting, and I knew that resupply and medivac choppers would need to land soon.
“Hunt, get an AO up here so I can get a better idea of what we’re up against!”
“Roger skipper! Candy Tuff one four, this is Alpha one four. Request an AO, ASAP, over!”
“Roger, Alpha, out.”
While I waited for the AO to arrive, I took up my position on top of the hill and began digging a foxhole right in the middle of the new LZ. A couple of the grunts who had been sent to blow the trees helped to remove the loose debris and tree limbs from the landing zone area. Soon I had the LZ up and ready to receive aircraft.
“Alpha one four, this is Bulldozer X-ray, over.”
“Bulldozer X-ray, this is Alpha one four. We’ve got enemy contact at grid six two zero, niner five two, over.”
“Roger, Alpha. I’ll take a look.”
An OV-10 Bronco approached overhead. This was a new aircraft which had just recently started operating in Vietnam in a reconnaissance role. The plane carried two pods of 60 millimeter rockets and six M-60 machine guns. The plane was reminiscent of the World War II aircraft P-38 with two tail booms jutting aft from the wing, one on each side. The OV-10 was much faster than the older O-1 Cessna, and it carried more fire power.
“One four man up!” the CO yelled out. I made my way down the backside of the LZ to see what he wanted.
“Hunt, I need that medivac chopper now. First platoon is sending back wounded. They need water and ammo as well. Get me a chopper NOW!”
“Yes sir!”
The CO turned to Terry who was his radio operator. “Terry, get the four on the line, tell him I need 5,000 rounds of ammo and a sling of water, ASAP.”
“Roger that, skipper,” Terry replied. As he radioed the battalion supply officer to request the needed supplies, I began walking back up the hill to the LZ and radioed battalion for a medivac chopper.
“Candy Tuff one four, this is Alpha one four, over.”
“Alpha, this is Candy Tuff, over.”
“Candy Tuff, request a routine medivac, over.”
“Roger that, Alpha. Routine medivac, out.”
“Alpha one four, this is Bulldozer X-ray, over.”
“Go ahead, Bulldozer.”
“Ah roger, Alpha. I’ve got what looks like a bunker complex on Hill 461. I buzzed the hill to take a closer look and took some small arms fire. I’m calling in an airstrike. What’s the coordinates of your closest people, Alpha?”
“Wait one, let me check, Bulldozer.” I stopped in my tracks and turned heading back down the hill to talk to the CO again.
“Skipper, the AO says he’s got a bunker complex on Hill 461. Wants to call in an airstrike, but he needs to know where our people are.”
“Tell him grid coordinates niner five two, six two one. Make sure he uses a run in heading of two one five, Hunt.”
I took out my map to get a fix on those coordinates. It was just west of our position and about 500 meters from Hill 461. We could use 500 pound bombs and napalm on the hill, but the bursting radius would be close. Given the denseness of the jungle, I felt that this ordinance would still be safe for our troops.
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