A recent article in the "Red Clay" newsletter of the Khe Sanh Veteran's Association, showing the trench line along side the Air Strip built by Sam Messer and the Sea Bees, jogged my memories of the time immediately after India 3/26 was relieved from our long duration on Hill 881S. We were choppered off the Hill and we thought we were going to relative safety.....unfortunately we found ourselves fending for ourselves for a few days in the trenches that ran along the Khe Sanh Airstrip. I don't remember if they even knew what to do with us as the base was still coming under rocket attacks and there were no structures to house us until we eventually were choppered down to Quang Tri.
We sat in these 3 feet deep shallow depressions that they called a trenchline.....now on Hill 881S we "knew" what a trench line was and this was no trench line. Suddenly and unbelievably, we actually missed the security of our bunny holes on the Hill. Hell, when we first settled in on the Hill, Dabney made us dig, dig, dig to make the trenches deeper and deeper (and thank God he did! ). "Sleep by day, dig all night (when the clouds which settled below the Hill protected us from snipers and incoming) and I will report the first man seen without his flak jacket and helmet!" were Dabney's direct orders. They needed his leadership on the Khe Sanh base since there was little protection along the runway.
We watched as C-130s lumbered in for landing and headed for the turn-around indented in the Hill at the end of the strip. Those getting off at the Base jumped off as the plane slowed for the turn and those getting off the Base jumped on the ramp at the rear of the plane...because once the turn was made... it was up, up and away for that ship.....nothing landed on the base for more than minutes. The Bird was off and the rockets came in....."Incoming" and I began to hear those words again "Corpsman Up!" I was treating total strangers along the shallow trench line until they were hauled away to Charlie Med.
Finally, 3rd Plt lead by Lt. Larry "Budda" Boudria (who I owe my life to for yelling at me on the Hill and later along the Perfume River in Hue and the triple canopy jungles SW of Da Nang) got its chance to chopper out of the Khe Sanh Base. Our Freedom Bird was there and the ramp of the CH-46 was down.....we all raced to escape our months in Hell. SWOOSH, a round came in and a fellow Marine fell injured. The chopper waited bravely as I threw down my pack, propped the injured man on my back and ran across an open field, his weight making me fall to my knees a few times, until I dropped him at the door of Charlie Med. News Journalists were watching my actions across the field and they never came to my aid....so when one of them asked me "what do you have there?" (referring to the injured Marine I just dropped off) I turned around and said "here is what I have" and I punched the guy right on the jaw. Without missing a step I charged back to the waiting Chopper.
As I approached the chopper at full gallop, I saw my pack with all the worldly possessions that I kept with me on the Hill laying on the ground. My attention was immediately drawn to the Marines on the Chopper yelling, "Come on DOC!, the pilot is not waiting another second!". Possessions or Life, Possessions or Freedom? I boarded the Chopper and left my worldly goods for the last flight that day outa Dodge. Later, some how, months later my wallet caught up with me....no money....but then the PX closed on the Khe Sanh base on January 21 when the ammo dump blew and I ended-up on Hill 881S. The only item I really miss is the Graphlex 35mm camera, which I used to take the pictures now on the Hill 881S Warrior web site, and it was the only possession passed down to me from my Uncle, 1st Lt. David Steinberg USMCR who directed fire for 1/13 from his Observation Plane the first 2 days of the battle for Iwo Jima. He could not land on his ship the Saratoga since it was hit by a Kamikaze so he was directed to a smaller carrier, the Bismark Sea, which later was also hit mid ship in the powder magazine and sunk with him aboard. I lost his camera, I still have his name.
Anyway, we landed in Quang Tri near dusk.....we were greeted with steaks, showers and clean clothes to replace the gear we wore during the entire siege. We went to sleep on the clean white sand (no more red clay) in tents set-up right across the Quang Tri airstrip. We were finally free from the Hill......but in the middle of the night the Hell returned when a Chinese rocket landed in the next tent and killed a few more of those that survived! I, like others ran into the night, not knowing where to seek shelter or even what the Hell was going on! Those Bastards knew we made it through our time on Hill 881S and wanted one more shot at us and they got it! Where is the trenchline.....where is my bunny hole?
Dave "DOC" Steinberg
3rd Plt. India 3/26
.