We Must Never Forget
(It is
our soul, our fabric, who we are)
Each year I reflect
back and remember the awful chain of events on that Memorial Day in 1966. I also wrote about them in my book here Last
Ride Home (Updated on Kindle). Those events follow as
best I recall, and they are still as fresh as ever.
Background to the Event: There was an interlude between Operation NEW
YORK (February 28, 1966 which also was the day
I was first wounded and evacuated for 45 days before returning to duty in April 1966),
and Operation
JAY (just South of ancient Capitol City of Hue from 25 June to 2 July 1966).
We were told to continue conducting small unit
patrols (squad and platoon level) to “sweep the
villages” and keep our edge sharp and basically to fill the gap
between those two operations as we continued to move more and more northward
towards the DMZ and eventually that led to Operation
HASTINGS (the biggest of the war at that time) during July-August 1966.
On one of those “sweeps” that ended for me and
my platoon was on that Memorial Day in May 1966. We had just finished a couple
days of patrolling in a nearby village east of our battalion temporary HQ
located along Highway 1 just North of Hue. This highway led right into the
most-northern provinces, which further led into the DMZ, and then into
North Vietnam.
We were packed up and were ready to pull out of
the village and trade places with another platoon on their way to relieve us
and also from Golf Company (Platoon Sergeant, SSgt. John Gaines, who was a
very good friend of mine). I had been in radio contact with Gaines over the
company radio net all morning briefing him. We exchanged information about the
village and what was going on back at battalion. I told John what we had done
and what we had seen and had not seen, namely no NVA and not much else to report for him.
Then I told him to be careful moving in from the
direction he was moving in from because our look out had seen some
movement up and around our positions earlier in the morning, but that I didn't know what to make of it, but be careful and remain alert. Gaines said Roger, thanked me, and said he would relay the info to his Lieutenant. That was
that.
My platoon had no officer, so I was acting commander
and had been since January 1966, right after Operation HARVEST
MOON when we
came ashore for permanent duty for the rest of that year.
We had just pulled out of the village and
started up a long dusty road leading back to the battalion perimeter, which was
some 2,000 yards ahead of us. Then once again, as before, my point Marine
spotted a group of NVA moving across our path what looked like the same path
Gaines and his platoon would be coming down that led into the same village we
had just left. I got back on the radio and called for artillery and mortar fire
on them.
The fire was effective because after we reached
the spot where our rounds had hit, we found numerous body parts and some NVA
combat gear - but that was it. I initially thought we had spoiled their plans,
so I passed that information along to Gaines. I told him we had hit them
but that I didn't know if it was the front or rear or any size unit. Then I
reminded him one more time to be very alert. I told him where we had seen them
and the direction they were heading, but didn't know much beyond that. He
acknowledged my advice and again said: “Roger, I'll tell the actual
(his lieutenant), thanks, out.” His radio went silent. We continued on
our route back to the battalion CP.
We had no sooner returned to the perimeter and
started dropping our gear, when a call for help came across the battalion radio from Gaines' platoon. Almost at once, we could hear mortar and machine fire
coming from the village we had just left. It seems that our Battalion's Echo Company, that also had been moving back to the CP, was ordered back to to the same village to assist Gaines and his
platoon in the village who appeared to be in deep trouble.
One of Echo's platoons was led by Staff Sergeant
(later promoted to Gunnery Sergeant) Jim MacKenna. Off they charged into
the village from the southwest side as Gaines was on the northeast side.
I don't know exactly what happened in between the two platoons, but it turned
out to be a mess. While all that was going on, my platoon was ordered to saddle
up and get ready to move back into the area and provide support.
We did end up going back in after things seemed
to have settled down, about two hours later. Then the battle damage assessment
started coming in over the radios.
It was awful news:
Echo Company had eight Marines
killed, including Jim MacKenna, with half a dozen wounded.
In Golf Company, John Gaines was alive, but he
had lost 13 in his platoon. Included in his count were many left over
from the original Fox Company that I had served with and knew quite well.
One of those losses was especially hard for most of us. That was the loss was
Lance Corporal Billy Joe Holt (Cameron, TX). He was probably the best machine
gunner in Fox Company who had been trained by Frank Pruitt.
Also killed along with Holt were:
· Dave Brandon, Lake Oswego, OR
· Gordy Briggs, Seattle, WA
· Jim Briles, Portland, OR
· Tom Britton, Great Neck, NY
· R. B. Marchbanks, Moriarty, NM
The other seven killed were new and had just joined Golf from other units that I hardly had a chance to
know them very well.
With those losses it just about wiped out the original Fox
Company ever since we had arrived in VN from Camp Pendleton back in September
1965.
I had a chance to meet up and talk to John
Gaines later about what had happened. He told me he had relayed my info to his
lieutenant and my warning, but that the lieutenant didn't seem to have cared or
didn't believe our report. John said that his Lt. always did things his own way and
seldom listened to the NCO's. Unfortunately, the lieutenant paid a heavy price
for that style of arrogance. He was shot two or three times in his back and
buttocks, but he lived.
As best as we all could piece together what
happened was this: A larger group of NVA had slipped into the
village from another direction and were unseen by anyone, even as my platoon
was heading the other direction. They apparently were not part of ones I had
called fire on earlier.
The NVA managed to set up a very elaborate “Horseshoe shaped” ambush in and around the
village and along the trail that Gaines was entering in on. When Gaines and his
platoon got in the center of the ambush site, the NVA opened up and hit them from three sides. There was no escape. The NVA had a turkey shoot.
Then as Echo Company
entered from the rear of the horseshoe ambush and unbeknownst to them, they too
entered the trap and were cut to ribbons.
Not only was the day bad for the number of our
losses, both killed and wounded, but the fact that it was on Memorial Day, and
after a thorough sweep of the village area we found only one dead NVA soldier.
Whether there were more that had been dragged away or hidden we never found out
- that was the NVA's style: To never leave traces of their losses.
We did find plenty of NVA machine gun cartridges
and different firing positions all around. That indicated that they had had a
large and strong force. Most of them slipped out just as easily as they slipped
in during the mass confusion. The NVA won a big victory that day. They lost
only one soldier that we knew about, but we had lost 20 Marines.
The lesson was
simple: One young Lieutenant didn't listen to their seasoned sergeant
and they paid a heavy price.
In the whole mess, one hero did stand out,
however. That was Lance
Corporal Paul McGee, also left over from Fox Company. Paul was a classic
Marine, great in the field and in tactics but a real clown in garrison, and everyone liked him despite his clowning and other shortcomings because he was just plain
likable.
Paul was shot three times that day and each time
the NVA shot him, he got madder and fought harder especially after he saw Billy
Holt killed since they had been the best of friends. Gaines said McGee went
nearly berserk when he saw Billy Joe killed as he fired on the NVA.
McGee was wounded pulling Holt back from where
he had fallen. No one could confirm for sure, but indications are that McGee
alone killed a dozen NVA by himself while being shot in the leg, chest, and
thigh. The NVA were notorious for not leaving any of their dead on the
battlefield as I said so that count remained unknown. I figure that day they
employed their best plan that included removing or hiding all their dead - and
it worked.
Paul McGee was awarded a Silver Star for his
actions that day. I wish I had seen his acts so I could have written him up for
something higher. I'm sure he deserved it. As I have said before, the Marine Corps
was very stingy on their awards in the early days of the war. That stinginess
would stay with us for years. We all knew it, but accepted that fact of life
nevertheless as we did our duty.
We moved on a few days later - going towards the
DMZ and Operation
HASTINGS which would be worse – far worse.
Our losses on that sad Memorial Day, Sunday, May 30, 1966
(* VN time zone) are listed on the “Vietnam Wall” in Washington, DC. Their names are there forever.
Full Name; Rank; Age; Hometown:
ALDON ASHERMAN, (Navy), HM3, 20, Towanda, PA
DAVID BRANDON, PFC, 19, Lake Oswego, OR
GORDON M. BRIGGS, PFC, 19, Seattle, WA
JAMES W. BRILES, PFC, 20, Portland, OR
THOMAS BRITTON, PFC, 19, Great Neck, NY
ROBERT A. CORKILL, LCpl, 20, San Benito, TX
RICHARD E. CROWE, LCpl, 20, Long Beach, CA
JAMES R. HEATH, LCpl, 19, Bala Cynwyd, PA
BILLY J. HOLT, LCpl, 21, Cameron, TX
DAVID W. JOHNSTON, PFC, 19, Tucson, AZ
JAMES J. MACKENNA, SSgt, 37, Denver, CO
R. B. MARCHBANKS JR, PFC, 23, Moriarty, NM
JERRY L. NOLAND, LCpl, 19, Houston, TX
ERNEST G. PAUL, PFC, 22, Concord, NH
RONALD RALICH, PFC, 19, Lorain, OH
ROY J. RICHARD, PVT, 19, Lafayette, LA
EDWARD C. SEXTON, PFC, 23, New Buffalo, MI
WALTER B. STEVENS, Sgt, 25, San Diego, CA
JAMES H. STEWART, PFC, 19, Columbus, OH
CHARLES E. WALKER, LCpl, 22, Magnolia, AR
KENNETH W. WICKEL, Cpl, 21, West Lawn, PA
Thanks for stopping by and never forget.
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