They Were the Best in the Company

Staff Sergeant Stan Dillon delivered this account at a memorial service for CPL Danny Drinkard. It covers the events of April 20, 1971 — the contact that killed Drinkard, Cardwell, and Hall, and left Dillon severely wounded — and closes with a personal reflection on Drinkard.

A written account of the same engagement, submitted separately by SSG Dillon, is also held by this archive: I Couldn't Find My Arm.

So, this particular day we were in line. Our platoon was in — first, I was third. I find a cover man, and the point man. We cross this what they call a trotter. It's a trail, wide trail. It's about six foot wide, and it's real hard. And that's a trail or path that they follow everywhere. They're all through the jungle — they've got Ho Chi Minh trails, they're everywhere. Well, this particular one was about six foot wide and man, it was... there was no leaves or anything, and it was just like a road.

We start out going down that site after we had lunch. I tell Lieutenant Bart, I said, "You don't mind let me rip from... you don't have enough time over here." So he agreed. So I walked third behind... I walked third, but I requested Danny Drinkard and James Cardwell. They were the best in the company. They could find anything. And I said, "If we're going down there on this, I gotta have the best point men there is."

Danny and James walked back to me. We're about five meters apart. The two of them, they're together. They said, "There's a gook crapper." What is... the toilet? They dig a hole in the ground, and they take these little thin bamboos and they thread them all together on each side so their feet set so they can squat and do their business in the hole.

And I was... I said, "Oh gosh, we're in a bunker complex." And, um, the first thing Danny and James Cardwell said: "We're in a bunker complex." I said, "Everybody be quiet, be quiet, be quiet."

Anyway, we're sneaking back thinking we're right on top of it. But as we're doing that, I reached back for the receiver from my radio, RTO radio guy. I said, "I'm gonna call it 'Skip' and tell them where we're at, we're out of here."

As soon as I grabbed for that, the first bullet they shot out of those bunkers hit me right here underneath my chin. And it felt like a briar going across you, or a bee sting — real bad bee sting. And blood just shot out from underneath my chin. But the first round, I didn't first think anything about it.

And then this... I forgot, like just a second shot hit me right there in that Bible that I have. And we just got a firefight. And, uh, mainly what you're shooting at is jungle, you know?

Well, about that time I was shooting and shooting. One of them jumps up, and I shoot and hit him right there in the chest, and he falls back. That's the only one I saw.

So everybody... those three are in the prone position. I'm up on one knee. And I got the machine gunner over here — they're in the prone position just shooting that machine gun left, right. And the machine gun on the left over here. And we're just trying to cover ourselves, that's all we were doing. You can't... you're just defending yourself, that's all you're doing.

It wasn't 30 seconds to a minute and a half went by maybe, until they set off a Chinese Claymore.

Now, a Chinese Claymore is a big round... like, our claymore mines are rectangular and they're oval in cut, or concave and convex — they're just oval-shaped. Well, these are big round circles and it's convexed in center. And most of the time when they... they might get some from China, but I always heard them, most of them were made handmade. They would find bombs from a B-52 strike out in the jungle, and they would take that thing apart. Or after, if we saw one out in the jungle, we'd call back and get a demo team, a bomb team would come out and blow it up. They never would try to send them off. So we just tag them, tell them the coordinates where they were, and go on.

And, um, but that's what a Chinese Claymore... and they put nails, they throw junk all in it, everything they can throw — BBs, anything they can put in that thing. And it's got the composition C4 or whatever they have, plastic explosive, and there also behind it, they'll run a wire to their bunkers and with a clacker or some kind of set-off battery. That's how they do it.

Well, they set that off, and all I can figure out is how those four guys got killed was they were all in a prone position, and this thing was in the ground right at ground zero. Right, right on the ground and covered up. And it... so, um...

And when I got that explosion hit me, all I hear was a ringing in my ears and a warm feeling go through my body. It was like... like that, and it would be there just like a flash. And, um, I, I'm shocked, and, uh, it knocked me back on the ground.

I can't find my left arm. I don't know what's... it's just hanging on by the skin. And they were able to save it because I begged them hard enough, but they were... that took years over to get to where it is now. I just didn't want to lose my arm. I kept begging them not to take it off.

But we're sitting there, back to the jungle, and, um, this... uh, I reach out for Danny. And I... like I tell people, uh, I wasn't checking to see if he was alive. I don't think I was checking for help, you know? I was in shock. I was trying to get help, and I couldn't get him to move. So, but I'm still alive. And I think when I reached for Danny, it was out of shock. "Help me," you know? I think it wasn't to check... I could see they weren't moving.