“Relentless Valor.” Authors Kenneth D. Hughes and Richard J. Hast, available on Amazon. Comments are welcome.
MARCH 19, 1969
Attack on LZ West
The platoon of combat engineers from the 10th Company, 31st Sapper Battalion, 2nd NVA Division, had been rehearsing their assault on Hill 445 for four days. Two days earlier they were gathered in the training area deep in the Nui Chom Mountains looking at a dirt mock-up of the American positions atop Nui Liet Kiem. They listened intently to their platoon commander, spoke to the men before him. “You will be attacking the north face of the imperialist camp during this month’s period of no moon. You will follow our scouts from the 13th Reconnaissance Company to the departure line at the base of Nui Liet Kiem. The reconnaissance platoon has set up two lanes of approach and will guide you to the north side of the American perimeter. The eastern lane has communication wire and the western lane is marked by the bark of banana trees, bright enough to serve as your path to the top of the mountain.
LZ West
The Sapper platoon’s leader continued, “Squad One, you will follow the communication wire. Squad Two will follow the banana bark lane, we can only be successful if we remain hidden. Squad Three will follow squad two with a machine gun. I will signal the attack with two whistle tweets. The retreat signal is four whistle tweets. The American listening post is to the west of your point of attack here.” Ngu pointed to the diagram. Stay hidden, trust in your training, and they will not be able to see you. Good luck, comrades.” The sappers attacked at 0300.
The first platoon, Charlie Company, 4-31st Infantry bore the brunt of the attack. Pfc. Rick Hast and his bunker mates were oblivious to the impending assault.
The static sound from the acoustic motion sensor emitted only faintly at first. As the sound grew more constant, the soldier on guard peered into the darkness. He jumped, grabbing his rifle. “There’s movement out there!” he screamed. “I’m not sh-tin’ ya. Get up!”
Map Created by Ken Hughes
Harold Watson (East Liverpool, OH) grabbed the starlight scope and made out the ghostly green shapes of enemy sappers. “I can see ’em!” he yelled. “They’re inside the wire!”
Hearing the Americans yelling, the enemy platoon leader blew his whistle twice and shouted “attack.” They began tossing grenades and firing RPGs, AK-47s and the RPD machine gun.
The explosions and gunfire alerted the men on LZ West. The enemy was inside their camp. The entire north side of the perimeter erupted in a cacophony of noise and explosions. Cpt. John Long’s company command bunker was less than 40 meters away. He yelled to Donald Miller (Rockhill, MO), his battalion RTO, “Get Ltc. Longino on the net. Ask for illumination.” Long grabbed RTO Mark Crow (Hemet, CA), “You and Miller get out there and kill any son of a bitch who comes our way.” An RPG slammed into the bunker in front of them, knocking Miller to the ground, he got up and began firing toward the unseen enemy. Crow, a former high school catcher, threw grenades toward the NVA’s muzzle flashes.
Long called 1Lt. Paul (Greg) Bavis’ (Baltimore, MD, “Get your ready reaction force to the north side of the perimeter. They’re attacking the first platoon’s positions. We got sappers inside the wire!”
Pfc. Gregory Mainous (Tampa, FL) was in one of the HQ bunkers with Sgt. David Beard and a soldier named Johnson. Bavis called with orders to meet him at the ammo bunker. Moments later, an explosion bunker destroyed the entrance. “Let’s get out of here!” They tore down some sandbags and crawled out and met Lt. Bavis.
Bavis told them to get ammo to the perimeter bunkers. Ignoring a shower of RPGs and Chicom grenades, Mainous raced straight to an ammunition storage bunker, then ran from bunker to bunker with extra ammunition. When he returned to Bavis, he and Spc. 4 Gilbert Smith (Wichita Falls, TX) were staring at two sappers lurking behind the latrine. One tossed a satchel bomb; the deafening explosion destroyed the doorway of Bavis’ fortress. “They moved atop the bunker, and we fired down on the latrine, killing the two NVA.”
On the north side of the perimeter Hast, Robinson, and Ruttan fired rifles and hurled grenades at an unseen enemy. Hast was in his bare feet, kept yelling, “f—, sh-t, damn…,” as he stepped on the hot brass.
Medics Spc. 5 Bill Leander (Salina, KS) and Spc. 4 William Mercer, answered the call for help. They grabbed litters and took off to the bunker line.
Bunker destroyed by an RPG, Courtesy Gilbert “Frenchie” Manasselian.
They reached a soldier bleeding pretty badly. Leander recalled, “We didn’t have a tourniquet, so I made one from the drawstring of a sandbag. 1Lt. James Dean (Penn Yan, NY) and I carried him to the aid station.
Three sappers were trapped inside the perimeter, one was wounded and crawled near the supply bunker and was captured. The other two sprinted toward the perimeter, one ran headlong into Sgt. Steve Martin. Falling to the ground in a fight for their lives. When Martin pinned his enemy to the ground the second sapper leaped onto Martin’s back and began stabbing him.
Spc. 4 Larry Tabor (Pulaski, VA) burst from his bunker when he heard Martin screaming, “I’ve got one on my back!”
Tabor fired, killing both NVA, saving Martin’s life. They hugged one another.
Crow ran to help to help then said, “Wait a minute, you got a knife sticking out of your back!”
Martin, pointing his thumb toward his back and said, “Don’t touch it; this is my ticket outta here.”
1Lt. Josey stepped out of his bunker and looked back at the TOC bunker. “I knew if I could see the flag atop the bunker, we’d be okay, through the smoke and fog flew old glory.”
