THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1967
The Doily Nebraskan
Page 5
6 Huey s Charlies' Are Familiar Vietnam Symbols
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The
following is the fifth in
stallment of a scries on the
war in Vietnam written
by Howard Moffctt, Colleg
iate Press Service corres
pondent in Saigon. The
Daily Nebraskan last
semester ran another series
by Moffctt, who was former
editor of the Yale Daily
News.)
It was grey typical
weather for the northern
border of II Corps. Thick
green jungle covered the
foothills of the Crow's Foot.
In the valley, algae-brown
rice paddies surrounded a
deserted village.
Assault Formations
Flying in tight assault
formation, the first wave of
six Heuy choppers topped a
ridge at about a hundred
miles an hour and slid
toward the valley floor, 600
yards below. Two gun
ship escorts were flying in
front and beneath. Others,
including the battalion
commander's which hover
ed above.
Suddenly the river turned
a bend and the landing
con a send bar on its
left bank was rushing up
at us. The air erupted with
red flashes and the stac
cato burst of aerial rockets.
Our machine guns were
softening up In the tree
line and brush thickets on
the right bank of the river:
that would be where
Charlies were hiding, if by
chance he was there at all.
Captain Benson was half
way out the side door, his
feet resting on the chop
per's skis. He looked very
intent, almost grim, as if
his features had been
chiselled beneath his helmet.
"Stick with me," he said.
I was only too glad.
Choppers Landing
Then we were down, the
skis settling briefly in the
soft sand. Benson was gone;
I stumbled after him. His
men were already jumping
from the other chop
pers, fanning out across the
sand bar in a running
crouch, pouring rifle fire in
to the right bank 40 yards
away.
I was not at my level
headed best in this situa
tion. For a few seconds
there seemed to be nothing
but the whoosh of helicopter
blades and the orange spit
flash and sharp report of
rifles. I couldn't tell If we
were also under fire.
Many of Benson's men
were down on one knee,
continuing to fire at the
thickets on the opposite
bank. Others were running
in the opposite direction,
emptying their rifles into a
jungle-covered slope that
came down on our position
about fifty yards to the left.
Second Platoon
The six whirly-birds were
off and circling back to
ward Pony to pick up the
second platoon. I felt a little
forsaken until I noticed Ben
son and his radio man. They
were standing up, apparent
ly confident that there were
no Viet Cong in the area.
The captain got out his
map to check his position.
He tried- to verify It by ra
dio to Pony, saw his first
estimate did not check with
terrain features on the
map, and called to reclar
ify. Satisfied, he sent one
squad across the river to
reconnoiter upstream, and
watched his other men de
ploying in a widening circle.
Within minutes the sec
ond platoon came in, each
Huey touching down for
just about seven sec
onds, one for each man
that came out the side
doors. I was to go back in
the lead chopper when the
third platoon came in.
Few Orders
Benson was giving a few
orders, studying the ter
rain. Bravo Company would
be here until after dark,
when it would move out
upstream, travel most of
the night and set up three
ambushes along a cluster of
trails at the western end
of the valley.
Benson's two best pla
toon leaders would have
separate positions. The cap
tain himself would take two
platoons and cover the most
likely exfiltration route.
All three groups would ba
within supporting distance
of each other.
The men were quiet, ex
cept for some sporadic re
connaissance by fire. An
M-60 (.762 millimeter) ma
chine gun had been set up
on the sand bar, and now it
began to chattier in the di
rection of a village just
over the brow of the river
bank.
Deserted Village
It seemed deserted, but I
asked Benson how he knew
there weren't any women
or children in there. Then I
remembered the leaflets de
claring the Crow's F o o t a
war zone. He nodded: "Any
body who's still in there has
been warned that we'll
shooting at them, sir." He
kept calling me sir, even
after I told him he was
probably ten years my
senior.
The third assault group
was coming In. I said a
hurried good luck, looked
once around the circle of
men, and started toward
the lead chopper as it came
In across a paddy.
I didn't make it. The
Huey dropped its seven men
and was off again before I
was halfway there. I had
better luck with the last
chopper, which landed just
a few yards away.
We were up and off, cir
cling the men on the s a n d
bar below. As we headed,
back toward Pony, Benson
looked up and waved. I
realized then that I had
never gotten his first name.
I returned to Saigon Sat
urday morning. Sunday's
headline said units of the
1st Air Cav. bad been hit
by Viet Cong forces S8 miles
north-northwest of Quinhon
the Crow's Foot.
First reports said the sky
troopers took "moderate"
casualties in a series of con
tacts with an estimated battalion-size
enemy force.
Some 60 Viet Cong were re
ported killed.
UPI Reports
United Press Internation
al, however, reported that
the multi-company 1st Bri
gade force "suffered heavy
casualties when they heli
hopped into positions sur
rounding the communist
force . . ."
If casualties were moder
ate, it means a good many
men lost their lives. If they
were heavy, it means sev-.
eral units were virtually
wiped out.
What seems to have hap
pened is this:
One platoon from either
Alfa or Charlie Company,
sweeping the eastern slopes
of the Crow's Foot, very
quickly ran int o a Viet Cong
force in the vicinity of a
dirt road called Central
Highway 506. From the
number of American casu
alties, it looks as though
Victor Charlie knew they
were coming.
U.S. military spokesmen
later said the fighting be
gan about 10:20 a.m., when,
an American platoon
opened fire on a Viet Cong
squad, which fled over a
ridge line. Another 1st Cav
platoon was heli-lifted in
seven minutes later and im
mediately came under auto
matic weapons fire, from
enemy positions about 1,000
years to the south. The bat
tle took shape in the valley
around Highway 506. The
Viet Cong force was esti
mated to be a full battalion,
dug in in trenches and tun
nels. NEWSWEEK's John Ber
thelsen later reconstructed
this story from participants
in Saturday's fighting.
"Valley 506"
About Dec. 8 the shat
tered 7th and 8th Battalions
of the 18th VC Regiment be
gan moving into "Valley
506" to harvest rice. Viet
Cong defectors said they
moved into the valley en
masse because morale was
so low that their political
cadres feared small groups
might desert.
The valley floor Is check
erboarded with rice ppddies
about SO yards square.
Hedgerows and lines of
palm trees border each
square. The Viet Cong dug
complete systems under
each hedgerow, and under
the roots of the palms they
hollowed out "spider holes"
with firing apertures look
ing out across the surface
of the paddies.
The 1st Cav reaction pla
toon, heli-lifted into the bat
tle area Saturday morning
seven minutes after contact
was made, landed in the
middle of these paddies. It
was caught immediately in
withering fire.
Hedgerow Fighting
The fighting went on for
eight hours, hedgerow by
hedgerow. As the 1st Cav
cleaned one out, the VC
used their tunnels to vacate
it and move back to the
next. Air strikes and artil
lery were called in every
few minutes by the Ameri
cans. By mid-afternoon, s i x
companies (two battalions)
of the 1st Cav were fighting
in those paddles. Delta Com
pany, down from its moun
taintop radio station, was
one of the hardest hit.
The Viet Cong, or NVA as
the 1st Cav preferred to call
them, kept incredible fire
discipline, waiting until the
American troops were just
a few feet from the hedge
rows. Many of the bodies
brought into the battalion
hospital after the fight had
bullet holes running diago
onally up from the chest
through the top of the shoul
ders, indicating the men
had been shot from under
foot.
Close Fire
1st Lieutenant Timothy
Feener, commanding Del
ta's Third Platoon, said lat
er: "I was within three to
five meters of a hedgerow.
We were that close and
suddenly we were taken
under fire. Three to five
meters and we couldn't see
where it was coming from.
I never saw a North Viet
namese all day."
About 6 p.m., the Viet
Cong broke contact. The 1st
Cav units pulled into defen
sive perimeters for the
night, while flares were
dropped from circling heli
copters and artillery and
air strikes continued to
pound the surrounding
slopes.
About 7:30 Sunday morn
ing the battle began again,
as the Americans ran up
against an unknown size
Viet Cong force in heavy
bunkers.
The fighting lasted only
about 20 minutes. Seven
Viet Cong were reported
killed and there were no
American casualties. Victor
Charlie simply withdrew
slipping out of the area
along the winding streams
and small game trails.
Bravo Company never
saw this fight, and might
have been oblivious to it ex
cept for radio communica
tion with Pony. While its
sister companies were do
ing some of the bitterest
fighting in recent weeks,
Bravo had its own mission
to perform at the other end
of the Crow's Foot, 15 miles
away.
Bravo should be coming
back In as I am writing
it is Monday afternoon, the
time they were due to leave
the ambush zone if Charlie
didn't show.
These men command re
spect: they do a thankless
job that is hard to under
stand not cheerfully, but
without complaint.
Film Critic
Will Speak
At Sheldon
A noted film critic and
columnist for The New Re
public, Pauline Kael, will
speak Thursday evening to
the Nebraska Union Film
Society at Sheldon Art Gal
lery. Miss Kael is the first of
three lecturers to address
the Nebraska Regional Film
Screening.
The screening, sponsored
by the Nebraska Art Gal
leries and the Nebraska Un
ion Film Committee, con
sists of 11 films shown
Thursday through Saturday
for representatives from
film socities throughout the
Midwest.
However, film society
members and Sheldon film
subscription ticket holders
will be admitted to the three
evening showings and lec
tures, according to Norman
Geske, director of Sheldon
Gallery.
Miss Kael will lecture fol
lowing the 7:30 p.m. show
ing of "Before the Revolu
tion", an Italian movie.
Miss Kael's opinions ap
pear in a variety of maga
zines, including Life, Vogue
and Atlantic Monthly. She
also contributes a monthly
column to McCall's and has
written a book, "I Lost
It at the Movies".
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
John Kuiper, chairman of
the motion picture division
of the Library of Congress,
will lecture and show slides
from the Library. He form
erly taught a film history
course at Iowa State University.
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