Vietnam War Timeline

178
13 August 1968
Delta 1/35th
Submitted by: Rodger Leffler

Time: About the 13th August 1968.

The Company had been moved to a large Fire Base west of Kontum (I think) by truck in the morning. We were to be CA'ed to some place west, it was to be a large CA. We were to move the whole Company in two lifts. I was in the 1st lift and on the 2nd bird. We came into a large flat area, small trees and some open ground. The people in the first bird were all out. We had just about set down but then lifted back off. Those off got back on the first bird. I thought the LZ must be hot as we were pulling out. All birds in that lift returned to the place we had left. The LZ was not hot though, they had just put the whole thing off till the next day. The C.O of the Fire Base got his cooks to fix hot chow for us that night. Had not had hot chow for some time.

Next morning the CA was back on. We landed back at the same spot again. The LZ was cold. We set up a perimeter and spent the next six days there (I think). All the usual things, dug in, built overhead cover and cleared fields of fire. We did some patrolling out of there, only small teams.

About the second day the bad guys started mortaring us at night about 1800 hrs, could set your watch by the incoming. They were really close, you could hear them hang the rounds, didn't have to hear the boom to know that you had incoming. This was good because the flight time was pretty short. We started calling the place "Mortar Alley".

It was rainy and cold, we were freezing our asses off. People were having trouble with jungle rot from their feet being wet too long. I remember in the middle of one night when they were dropping a few rounds on us. Harold Montgomery came skipping across, one boot on and one off. Steve Gardner yelled "Harold get your ass in this hole." And he yelled back "I is a comin as fast as I can, Steve".

Doc Olea remembers one of the patrols out of the LZ found a field of corn. They left 4 or 5 cases of Cs and took a bunch of the corn, roasting ears all round.

One night they were giving us a few. One of the dinks snuck in real close and fired an RPG at us. It came in one side of the perimeter and out though the other and then blew up in the trees, didn't hit a thing. I remember having this funny picture in my mind of the dink hauling his launcher and couple of RPG rounds all the way down from Hanoi; then going to be a hero sneaking in real close and not hitting a thing. Then because he had screwed up and not hit a thing they would send him all the way back there to get some more rounds.

One day, too late in the afternoon they sent four of us out to a night location about six or so clicks out. Don Wartchow, Davy Peterson, and someone else and me. We tried to tell 84 Charlie that it was too late to make it in the light but they sent us anyway.

We went about three or four clicks before dark and then said we were in position. About 3 am we started getting friendly H&I fire around us, it was real close. Don had the push to talk button down and ready to tell that we were out of position and to cease fire but they stopped. The next day we went back to the LZ and figured that we had got away with it.

In the afternoon we were told we were pulling out. We were to meet some APC\'s and they were going to move us. 84 Charlie told us that we could lead the Company to them. With some good nav and a little luck we got the Company to the right spot. Just as we got within sight of the APC\'s the lead one hit a mine, must have been pretty big, I couldn't believe it. It just went up in the air end over end. The TC and the driver were killed and the two in the back were hurt badly by all the ammo cans on the floor as the thing flipped over and over.

We got a medivac in and they took the WIAs and one of the KIAs. The other APC crews stripped out what gear they could, ruptured the fuel tanks and set it on fire. We took the other KIA with us. It was late and I was cold and tired and didn't really care any more. I just got in were it was warm and dry, didn't worry about mines and riding on the top, just went to sleep on one of the benches.

When we stopped it was after dark. The APCs got in line abreast and drove in an ever increasing circle to clear field of fire for us and then left. We were extracted by air the next day. This must have been about the 20th. Doc Olea thinks that the APCs were from 2/8th. If any one remembers anything about this, feel free to add to it.