I arrived at Khe Sanh from Dong Ha the first week in January of 1968 and reported to Mike Co. 3/26 where I became a squad leader in the 3rd platoon. I found things to be much as I had been told to expect and wrote home about what a great place it was.

We dug fighting holes, filled sand bags, went on occasional patrols, and strung barbed wire to shore of the perimeter. Everyone was generally helpful which I appreciated.  Sometime in mid-January our platoon was sent out to occupy a small hill in the valley leading from the mountains to the main base. I don’t remember the name if it had one but I do remember the assignment. We were told that a division or so of NVA regulars might come that way to attack the main base and our assignment was to “force them to deploy under fire”.

Towards that end we dug deep fighting holes, deployed claymores, flares, etc. and we created the “super claymore”, a partial role of barbed wire with 20 pounds of C-4 in it connected by spliced claymore detonators. After a few days of frenzied digging and preparations our activities came to a virtual halt as we waited. After a few days of that we watched and listened to India Company’s actions on 881-N. We were impressed and excited and wondered when we would face those NVA we were going to force to deploy.

Before we got our shot at the NVA we were ordered to evacuate our position and return to the main base ASAP, no packing up the extra munitions, blow it in place if it couldn’t be carried. One of our last acts there was to blow the “super claymores”; it was almost a last act period. The explosion set fire to the elephant grass surrounding our little outpost and we had to run to escape the flames.

Once we got back to the base we discovered that the rest of Mike Co. had been sent up to 881S and we were attached to Lima Co., I think. After a day or so I was summoned to the 1st Sergeant and advised that I was being transferred to India Co. When I inquired as to why that was being done he advised me that most of India Co.’s sergeants were either WIA or KIA. I commented that such circumstances did not exactly create enthusiasm for the transfer. His reply was classic, “Sgt. Jones, think of it as unlimited opportunities for advancement.” He was so right in so many ways. The remainder of my tour with the exception of three or four weeks with the 7th Marine Regiment S-3 was spent with India Company and I could not have been a part of a finer group of Marines.

After my transfer at the main base I met Staff Sergeant Karl G. Taylor who became a friend and mentor. We were supposed to go up to 881S together but I was the last one to get in the chopper and was ordered off by the crew chief. I protested that I had a top-secret message for Captain Dabney and had to get it to him but I still wasn’t allowed on. I was told to wait for the next bird. While waiting I experienced one of the longest incoming artillery barrages the main base ever received during the siege.

When I finally made it up to 881S several days later I left the chopper and dove into the tall grass only to tangle myself in barbed wire. Once free I made it through the perimeter wire and into the 1st Platoon’s area of the perimeter. We were taking incoming and I yelled to someone asking where the trenches were. They replied that I was standing in them. 35 years and damage to brain cells may account for distortion of perception, but now and then, it seemed that the “trench” was at most one to one and a half feet deep. After making my way to the COC bunker and reporting in I was assigned to the First Platoon.

When I reported to First Platoon I discovered to my delight that S/Sgt. Taylor was the Platoon Sgt. The Platoon Commander was Lt. Fromme. When he asked where I was from I replied, “Chattahoochee, Florida”, and he asked if I knew Will Rodgers.  Will was a couple years older than me but in small town everyone knows everyone. It turned out that Will and Lt. Fromme had been SAE fraternity brothers at the University of Florida. It felt very good to meet someone “from home” in such a place as 881S. The days that followed were adventuresome to say the least, but this was about getting there.

J.M. Jones, Sgt Rock
First Platoon, India Co. 3/26