I'm Here to Take You Back
The following is my recollections of my activities from 20 April 1971:
The previous day we had our only combat assault ever, in a caravan of dump trucks which traversed Highway 1. We were the point platoon so we led the way until we set up for the night. Another first, was having been assigned a dog and his handler. Not knowing the capabilities or the limitations of this canine GI, I requested a demonstration. This was also one of the first missions of Capt. Bill Neal.
Stan Dillion and I along with the point team got schooled on how the body language of the dog indicated varying degrees of alertness. When extremely alerted the dog would block his handler’s forward motion movement by standing in front of him with his ears perked up. Simple enough! Ok dog handler your walking point! This was a tedious process because the dog alerted every thirty meters! We spent most of the day reacting to the dog’s alerts which severely limited our Northern progress. We discovered a lot of activity by wood cutters specifically in 6-8 inch logs. These trees were prime building material for bunkers.
Early morning, our Company, Delta 2/8 less one platoon (White Skull) broke down our NDP (night defensive posture) and headed in a northerly direction. Because of an R&R situation with Sgt. Don Miller, Stan Dillon took over his point team responsibilities. The team consisted of, Jim Cardwell, Dan Drinkard, Stan Dillon and his RTO. (Bill Holtsclaw?)
I’m not sure about how far we had gone when Cat (Platoon) discovered a hard packed trotter on the south side of a substantial stream (blue line). It was close to midday and Cpt. Neal (Skipper) assigned Cat to recon to the east along the stream and Range was to recon to the west on the northern side of the stream. Before separating we agreed that there would be no shooting across the stream.
We got across the stream and found another very wide, hard packed trotter which resembled a concrete sidewalk. The pucker factor was starting to get elevated! Gi trotters are very narrow and usually unidirectional. This trail is frequently being used by large amounts of personnel. Since it was close to noon, I sent a squad (8-10) to the west about 30 meters and had them set up in ambush mode across the trotter. The balance of the platoon set up in ambush position right where we crossed the blue line.
The balance of the Company CP stayed in place south of the blue line. We broke for lunch and monitored the radios. Cat reported that they had 3-4 Gooks taking a bath in the stream. Too much time had passed when Dillon and I wondered, “When is Skipper going to scream light them up.” Cat was without their platoon leader Lt. Jenkins who, also was on R&R. This may have explained the lull in action. There were no KIA’s but later accounts claimed multiple hits. One account claimed to have fired his M-79 grenade launcher at a fleeing NVA regular. He claims that the round went through his legs and detonated on the bank that he was trying to scale.
We soon got the call to move east. I asked how far had Cat traversed to the east. I want to believe that the reply was 300 meters. This was important for a couple of reasons. If it were relatively close we would have patrolled in our lite gear consisting of guns, bullets and water. The distance of 300 meters dictated that we went in our heavies. Rucksacks loaded with all the essentials weighed around 70-80 lbs. In addition to their ruck the RTOs had also to carry a PRC 25 radio (25lbs) with two antennas and (2) 2lb batteries. If we left our rucks behind we would also have to leave a radio and a couple of stay behinds, then come back and get them. It was a no brainer, go heavy; we have to hump at least 200 meters!
I informed the dog handler that he was going to be with the point team. The handler was beside himself and was exhibiting absolute fear of heading into a contact area. We went down a bank of a small dry tributary that was perpendicular to the main stream. The stream was visible to the right. When I approached the point team there was a heated discussion in progress. I was informed by SSgt Dillon that the dog spotted the water and broke away from his handler and got a drink. When I looked at the dog he was jumping on the water spiders in the stream. The handler was crying and pleaded with me not to shoot his dog. I assured him that we weren’t going to shoot his dog. I told the handler to gain control of his dog and take him to the rear of the column. We had only traveled 80 meters or so and were still standing in the dry stream tributary when Catterson, my RTO informed me that Cat was experiencing movement on the north side of the stream. I told him to notify Skipper that the movement wasn’t Range! Suddenly out of nowhere a White Team helicopter (Loach) appeared overhead just above the tree tops. They approached from the east, hovered overhead, and flew at treetop to the east. They reported nothing out of the ordinary. This dry tributary is the crossing pint that we would use again to evacuate our wounded.
Dillon said he wanted to bulk up the fire power so we brought up an M-60 machine gun and ammo Bearer. The gun was manned by Steve Schneck and Stan Sargent. To reiterate, we had only moved less than 100 meters from the initial stream crossing. Unfortunately this group that was now reestablishing order of march was less than 30 meters from death and destruction.
We were first engaged by AK fire on full automatic right down the middle of the column. With the possible exception of Stan Dillon’s chin, he (the enemy) missed every member of the platoon all lined up in a single column! My basic training Drill sergeant was correct! “You can’t hit squat on rock and roll.” I dove to my right only to be caught by a small scrub oak which caught me and tossed me right back to the exact spot that I was trying to escape from. I looked to my right and then to my left and noticed impact spots from the AK rounds. All this guy has to do is put another clip in and his chances of success are going to be greatly improved.
I got out of my ruck and looked up to where Sergeant Dillon was. There seemed to be a substantial amount of time that had passed, maybe two minutes. Joe Hall, who was in the back of the column, ran past me and joined the point element. Was this a trail watcher or the start of an ambush? Dillon called back verbally and said he had a latrine up by him, We were on the edge of a basecamp!
I yelled, “Back out,” when an RPG went off in the top of a tree, followed by intense fire from both sides. I was trying to keep aware of who had fire superiority and it was pretty much even. Their clips held 30 rounds, ours held 19. We would have the change clips while they were still firing. Perhaps a minor concern was they might attempt an assault while we were replenishing our ammo. There was a brief lull in the firing and I had Doc Brothers move from his position. I don’t remember that incident but it is about all Doc remembers from the contact. He told me that the mound he was on got blown all to hell. Steve Schneck who was positioned to the right of Stan Dillon and at the base of a huge tree to my front verbally called back that there was a commo (communication) wire. I shouted “Cut it” to which he responded what? I yelled louder; “cut it!”
The explosion in the top of the tree was the loudest I had ever experienced. It must have been a shape charge, command detonated by the wire Schneck discovered. This one did the most damage. There were louder screams of pain and intense weapons fire. It was comparable to the Grand Finale at the fireworks display only instead of being a safe distance away we were in the middle of it. We were fighting for our lives!
I was lying next to Gary Collins and we had the same protection from a downed tree to our immediate front. We could hear and see the rounds hitting this log! We would roll on our sides and hold the weapon up over the log and return fire. In the middle of the most intense fire fight I had ever experienced Collins stands up screaming expletives at the gooks! He challenged them to come on out and get him while firing his weapon from the waist. I tackled his butt and asked what the John Wayne imitation was all about? He replied; “Lt they just shot my balls off.” I said; “You’re not bleeding. Take off your pants and inventory.” He had a purple bruise on the inside of his leg and after he counted to three, everything was better. Gary would later find a spent AK round in his pocket. On one of the rolls it must have passed through the log and found the pocket of those baggy pants we wore.
Bill Neal sent me a diagram with the location of people around me yet I know that there were more people that were wounded. James Gator, a guy from California, myself, Catterson and possibly four or five people behind me were all wounded by that shape charge. I saw on the diagram that Doug Hilts was off to the left of our location. I now remember someone coming up to me and saying he would provide flank security while Doc worked on the wounded.
The fire fight subsided and Catterson asked to go across the stream to get his wounds taken care of. I wanted to keep the Doc prepared for some of the more serious wounds and he didn’t have long to wait. Stan Seargent who was assistant gunner near the tree stood up and started to walk back right toward me. I yelled at him to get down but he ignored my plea. He had his left hand pressing against his head. Doc later told me he was holding his brains in!
I was on the radio with Bill Neal and was surprised that he wanted me to broadcast the number of dead. I didn’t want to concede anything to the Gooks. This was the most stressful situation I have ever encountered! I had to defend our position, give sit reps to my Co, my Btn Co, is also wanting his questions answered. I had a Rash bird on my push asking for targets, I had wounded people all around and still hadn’t identified the dead.
I recommended this guy for a Silver Star, but at the time I can’t come up with a name (Gary Collins?). He went forward and collected Stan Dillon and helped him back to Doc Brothers. What a mess! Stan’s ear drum was ruptured, shot in the chin, two fingers missing, deflated lung, perforated spleen, blown out knee cap and his left arm was separated at the shoulder. Doc worked on him feverishly while I was having a discussion with Colonel Bacon.
The Colonel asked what the terrain was like! I replied it was really thick! He says that I should fire a LAW. I replied that it would explode in my face. I don’t have a target! He says the LAW is an excellent brush cutter. He then proceeds to tell his personal war story about using LAWs up north. He doesn’t order me to fire the darn thing but he implied I should get one and break up some of the obstacles impeding my view. I must have been asleep in class when learning about the capabilities of light anti-tank weapons. I don’t remember LAW and brush cutter being used in the same sentence. The Rash Bird pilot thought it was a suicide mission because he interrupted the Colonel and told me not to fire it and told the colonel it was extremely thick and dangerous to fire it. Thank you Rash Bird pilot!
I looked over at Stan Dillon and he said, “Six, I’m hurt real bad get me out of here. I told Gary Collins to get someone to help him and get Sgt. Dillon across the stream.
The day was starting to work on Doc Brothers. His two best friends, Cardwell and Drinkard are lying just in front of us perhaps 10 meters away. In my opinion he was succumbing to the stress of combat! On this particular mission Doc traded in his M-16 for a 45 Cal Pistol. He showed me his new sidearm just after we dismounted from our dump truck insertion. He claimed it afforded him more freedom.
I told Doc; “Give me your 45.” He took it off and handed it to me and I strapped it on. I noticed he had this unusual look on his face. He asked; “What are you going to do?” I said I am going up to the point team and bring them back. I handed him my M-16 and told him; “If you see something coming toward you that doesn’t look like me carrying somebody, I want you to light them up!”
I turned and crouched down and all of a sudden something hit me in the middle of my back! It was Doc Brothers. He was screaming; “No! We are not going to lose you too!” I said; “Doc I have to go up there and make sure that they are dead and not just wounded.” He Said; “I’ll get someone to go for you.” At this time there were three people left on this side of the stream. He got the guy who retrieved Dillon. He reported back that they were all dead. I had the two of them go back across the stream.
I can’t explain how the Rash Bird and I maintained contact but he was still there. My RTO was gone. I popped smoke and asked him to identify. He reported Goofy Grape. Roger that! I was close to setting up a strafing mission when a meek voice in front of the tree said; “Lt is it OK if I come back with you?” It was Steve Schneck. He must have passed out. He too had some extensive wounds to his back. I asked if he needed help getting back and he replied no. I sent him across the stream.
I had to pop smoke again and had the rash bird confirm. I shot him an azimuth to the east and told him to come in 90 degrees to that azimuth. I warned him he had friendlies to the sierra of the blue line. He thanked me for that info. On his first run he was coming in cold and wanted me to make any corrections. I said negative. I was praying he didn’t drift toward my direction. He informed me to take cover because this was going to be noisy. Noisy is an understatement. The hairs on my arms are standing up as I am typing. What an awesome display of fire power! It was a little close so after a minor adjustment to the east, I thanked him and told him to punish the bastards.
I was lying there looking around at the devastation, the smell of dried blood and expended ordinance, jungle vegetation and soil and the temperature. A voice behind me said; “Lt?” I turned around and he was in a ruck sack taking those sound magnifiers that looked like large fat golf tees. He threw them in the stream. It was Tom Vollmar. I didn’t know him at the then. I asked; “Why are you here?” His reply had me on the verge of tears. He replied; ”I’m here to take you back.”
We crossed the stream and I reported to Capt. Neal. He asked if I was OK and I told him I took some shrapnel in my left arm. It went in between the two bones of my arm, but it didn’t break anything. I said; “Skipper we have three pennies up there and I’m not sure that they are dead. This of course was a lie but he didn’t know that. I said; “I’ll go get them.” He said; “We’ll have to assume that they are dead, and I’m not going to risk anymore lives. I’m in the process of unleashing the Air Force on that complex.” I turned away from him and walked back to the stream and stood in the water. I was going to make a break for it when Skipper said; “Lt Bott, I want you to see my medic right now!” I turned around and got some treatment.
I have never forgotten those men I left on the battle field! It is something that I have lived with for a long time. I can say with 100% certainty that had the situation been reversed, my men would never have left me!
