What is it that makes a reunion of warriors such a special event?  I ponder this question in the afterglow of the Reunion of the Warriors of Hill 881S, which took place in Northern Virginia from November 16-18, 2006.  This group of mostly Marines shared the “exper- ience” of holding Hill 881S, one of the hill outposts guarding the approaches to the Khe Sanh Combat Base, during the Siege of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive in January through April of 1968.  Although a small minority of them had begun attending reunions of other groups such as the Khe Sanh Veterans over the past decade, many attendees had never attended a reunion, or visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Any reunion of those who have shared a particularly dramatic or traumatic event is charged with emotion. Several factors made this gathering special.  Even those Warriors who had not been in contact with anybody from the Hill in thirty-eight years, knew they would be among that small group who had manned 881S during Tet, so they would know and remember each other.  All anticipated the visit to the newly opened National Museum of the Marine Corps and the Hill 881S exhibit depicting their extraordinary common experience.  In addition, the Warriors would share the visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with the few people who could appreciate the Wall’s importance to the Warriors.

The primary impetus for the organization of the reunion was the opportunity to visit the new Museum near the Quantico Marine Base.  The immersion exhibit depicting the Vietnam War is a recreation of Hill 881S.  One of the reasons Hill 881S was chosen for this honor was the fact that it so dramatically demonstrated the importance of the Marine Air/Ground concept.  The chance to be among the first to see this exhibit, and to do it with fellow Warriors was too good to miss.  Colonel William Dabney, USMC (Ret.) and Major Frank Gulledge, USMC (Ret.) were the two Warriors who organized the assembly.  As a Captain, Bill Dabney was the Company Commander of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines, one of the two Marine rifle companies on the Hill during the Siege.  Frank Gulledge was a CH-46 helicopter pilot in HMM-364, the Purple Foxes, in 1969.

So how did Major Gulledge come to be a Warrior of Hill 881S, when he was not even in Vietnam during 1968?  Not surprisingly, the answer is the Internet!  Several years ago, Colonel Dabney was looking at websites set up by Vietnam era Marine units, when he found the Purple Foxes site (www.hmm-364.org).  He expressed his admiration to the webmaster, Major Gulledge.  This led to an offer by Gulledge to host an 881S site within the Purple Fox site.  Offer accepted!  Gulledge and Dabney had soon collaborated on creation of the Warriors of Hill 881S website (www.hmm-364.org/warriors.html), and become great friends in doing so.

There was a factual basis for the relationship between the Marines who held 881S and the Purple Foxes, which had been one of the helicopter units responsible for supporting the Hill during the three month Siege.  Since the Hill was entirely surrounded by elements of two NVA divisions, the Marines on the Hill were completely dependent on aircraft for resupply, fire support, medical evacuation, and even occasional replacements.  It is not an overstatement to say that holding Hill 881S would have been impossible without extraor- dinary and constant support from the air.  The Warriors soon discovered that although Gulledge (known as “Uncle Frank” to his helicopter comrades) was already the spiritual leader of the Purple Foxes, he was also really devoted to the Warriors of Hill 881S (it was Uncle Frank who so named the 881S Marines).  Indeed Gulledge suggested a trip to Vietnam to revisit Hill 881S, and then organized the trip and went along when it occurred in March, 2003.  Dabney soon named Gulledge an honorary Warrior of Hill 881S.

When it became apparent that the rumor that the new Museum of the Marine Corps would have an exhibit recreating Hill 881S was true, momentum quickly built for a group excursion to see the exhibit.  Nobody was surprised when Uncle Frank took the initiative.  Soon, he had established a relationship with the Museum’s directors, and he and Colonel Dabney began organizing the reunion.  The website was the ideal place to publicize the event and solicit registration among the Warriors.  It was Dabney who suggested inviting Marines from the Purple Foxes.  No sooner said than done.  Gulledge found Purple Foxes who had actually supported the Hill during the Siege, and soon they were registering too.

For most of the Marines of India and Mike Companies of 3/26, the path to Hill 881S began in the fall of the previous year.  In early September, 1967, 3/26 had a major engagement with NVA forces just southwest of Con Thien.  The battalion suffered heavy casualties in that multi-day battle, which is the subject of the book, Ambush Valley, by Eric Hammel (Presidio Press, 1990).  Since the healthy survivors of that battle were due for rotation “back to The World”, 3/26 had to be substantially rebuilt with individual replacements.  This was accomplished during late September, October and November of 1967.  The battalion was located at Camp Evans between Phu Bai and Quang Tri as it absorbed this influx of new Marines.

In mid-December, 1967, 3/26 was ordered to the Khe Sanh Combat Base, and soon was given responsibility for manning the critical fire bases on Hills 861 and 881S, west of the combat base.  India Company went to Hill 881S, while Kilo Company deployed to 861.  So it was that India Company triggered the extended 1968 Battle for Khe Sanh, when a recon patrol to the nearby Hill 881N was ambushed and suffered heavy casualties.  Two patrols from India encountered heavy enemy resistance while rescuing the recon Marines, and it was decided to send another company to the Hill to make a company size attack toward 881N.

Mike Company 3/26 managed to get only three of its four platoons to 881S on January 19, so it was decided to send India toward 881N the next day.  That probe ran into very heavy resistance before it had moved half of the two thousand meter distance between the two hills.  In fierce fighting, India and its supporting arms inflicted heavy losses on the NVA, and suffered significant casualties itself.  (A detailed account of this fight on January 20, 1968, can be found at the Warriors of Hill 881S website mentioned above).

Although Mike Company had expected to remain on Hill 881S for no more than two days, both Mike and India remained there for the balance of the Siege, returning to the Combat Base and then Quang Tri in mid-April, after joining the whole battalion in a successful Easter Sunday attack on Hill 881N.  The peak strength of the two companies on Hill 881S during this timeframe was about four hundred.  Enemy mortars and artillery sustained a constant barrage of 881S, resulting in nearly every Marine on the Hill receiving at least one wound.  Since medevac was extremely hazardous, only the most seriously wounded were evacuated.  This steady drain, combined with the receipt of few replacements gradually reduced the manpower on the Hill to well below 300 effectives.

Remarkably, sixty-one of those Marines attended the reunion.  The opportunity to see the new Museum and to do it in the company of fellow Warriors, attracted numerous Marines who had never attended a reunion before,  The organizers of the reunion reached out to those Marines and to relatives of KIAs and since departed Warriors.  Financial help was made available to offset the cost of attending for those who needed it.  Uncle Frank’s recruitment among the Purple Foxes resulted in the attendance of seventeen Squadron members who had actually supported Hill 881S during the Siege.

Steve Thomas came to honor his older brother, Lt. Michael H. Thomas, who was killed in the initial action on January 20, and who was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions that day.  Steve brought along eight more of Mike’s relatives.  They were returning a visit seven of the Warriors made to Lt. Thomas’ grave site in Pawnee, Oklahoma in 2004.

Mrs. Virginia Waters was accompanied by five friends and relatives of LCpl. William "Muddy" Waters.  LCpl. Waters served with India Company on the Hill, and was KIA later in his tour.  She was not the only mother present.  Dorothy (Mom O) Oxendine and her daughter, Lois VanVorst, wore T-shirts that proudly proclaimed their relationship with PFC Willie Oxendine, III, who was KIA after less than two months in Vietnam.

LCpl. Kenny Chilton and PFC Gordon Clow were there to renew acquaintances with PFC Robert Tipton, who they rescued under fire in 1968 after Tipton had received a tour ending bullet wound.  Chilton received the Bronze Star for his efforts that day.  Tipton, in moving remarks at the concluding banquet, thanked Sgt. Mickey Domingue and Cpl. Michael Mahone for the leadership and tough love they provided when Tipton first arrived in Vietnam.

LCpl. Charles "Marty" Martin made a last minute decision to drive up from Tennessee.  It was to be his first reunion.  He was delighted to find five Warriors who served with him in the First Platoon of Mike Company, including his platoon sergeant, SSgt. Ron Echols, Sgt. J. M. "Sgt. Rock" Jones, Cpl. Herrick Lord,  LCpl. Phil Loersch and LCpl. Joe Darrell.

Cpl. Larry "Pee Wee" Turner planned to attend the reunion with his wife, Sharon.  After Larry died several months before the event, Sharon decided she should go anyway.  Larry had told her about the lasting bond among the Warriors.  Sharon put that claim to the test by contacting reunion organizers, and asking for help.  The Warriors responded by helping Sharon to arrange the trip and providing funds to defray the expense of the trip for her and a friend.  Larry’s friends from Mike Company made sure Sharon felt welcome.

Sgt. Moszell Blackmon drove up from Birmingham, Alabama.  Blackie was a squad leader in India Company’s second platoon on the Hill.  Now he is an evangelical preacher in Birmingham, and led the Warriors in a heart felt prayer at the banquet.  The prayer at the conclusion of the Missing Man Table ceremony was delivered by Blackies’ platoon commander, Lt. Owen Matthews, who also serves as the Chaplain of the Khe Sanh Veterans Association.

Many of the Warriors recalled the visit to the Hill of Hollywood Six, as the Marines nicknamed UPI stringer David Powell, who arrived unannounced on a medevac chopper.  Powell recalled his rude reception, when several Warriors unceremoniously tackled him and threw him into a trench just as he jumped off the helicopter.  It was the standard welcome for the newly arrived, designed to get them under cover before the arrival of the 120mm mortar rounds that always accompanied chopper landings on the Hill.  The Warriors still appreciate the series of photographs Powell took during his brief stay on the Hill. (Those photos and the article Powell wrote about 881S can be found at the Warriors website).  Powell was accompanied to the reunion by his fiancée, Beth Crumley, an Assistant Curator at the new Museum.  The Warriors feel a proprietary interest in the Powell/Crumley relationship, because it was Beth’s research on Powell’s photos and visit to the Hill which led to their first meeting.

The Marine air ground connection led to the assignment to Hill 881S of three other reunion attendees.  LCpl. David Assum was part of the Helicopter Support Team assigned to the Hill.  Every time a helicopter approached the Hill, these Marines ran into the Landing Zone, exposing themselves to enemy observation and fire while supervising the landing, unloading and loading of the chopper.  Once, as Assum was trying to hook a load of empty cargo nets to a departing helicopter so the nets could be used for later supply runs, he realized too late that his foot was on one of the nets.  As the helicopter lifted off, it jerked Assum into the air, suspended upside down by his foot tangled in the net.  After he began to recover from his surprise and the terror of dangling over the NVA surrounding the Hill, Assum managed to communicate his predicament to the crew chief, who got the pilot to circle back over 881S to roughly get rid of the unwanted passenger.  Assum laughs about his misadventure today, but says it was not funny thirty-eight years ago.

Cpl. Bob Arrotta was known on the Hill as “the World’s Mightiest Corporal”.  Originally assigned to support an officer from the air wing as he served as the Forward Air Controller on the Hill, Arrotta soon took over that responsibility when the officer departed.  All day, every day, Arrotta lined up targets around the Hill for bombardment by fixed wing aircraft.  Cpl. Arrotta became well known to the Marine and Air Force pilots who respected his professionalism.  Soon, Arrotta had flights of jets stacked above the Hill awaiting his instructions and the marking of their targets, which the Corporal did with white phosphorous rounds fired expertly by the Hill’s crack 81mm mortar crews.  Lt. John Roots, then a pilot and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and now a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., also served as FAC for 3/26.

The group numbered over 230, as they visited the new Museum of the Marine Corps less than a week after it opened.  Words like “Wow”, “Awesome”, and “Unbelievable” were commonly heard as the Warriors made their way through the very impressive Museum.  But the moment all were anticipating came when the Warriors climbed into the actual CH-46 helicopter for their trip to Hill 881S.  As the crew chief delivered warnings about the hazardous conditions on the Hill, and as the chopper began to vibrate as it descended, the Warriors were silent, each alone with his memories.  When the ramp lowered and the crew chief screamed at the Marines to get off his chopper, the Warriors were greeted by a blast of air from the rotor wash and the sound of outgoing artillery, and forcefully instructed to dive into the nearest trench.  The experience amazed and sombered the Warriors, as they took in the fantastic view which surrounded Hill 881S, and the recreation of the red dirt environment that none of them will ever forget.

The Warriors broke into small groups as they explained the exhibit to their friends and relatives.  They explained that the flat tires on the 105mm artillery piece resulted from the constant bombardment of the Hill by enemy gunners.  They made sure everyone got to see the slightly hidden rat located in the mostly underground bunker.  Several Warriors confessed to pilfering C-Rations from the cases Captain Dabney had hidden in the overhead of his command bunker as a reserve for emergency.  And, of course, they had to explain the tube like canister resting against the corner of the command bunker.  The tubes arrived on the Hill containing one 105mm shell.  But Warriors valued them as receptacles for the disposal of human waste.  When full, the canisters received a final deposit---a grenade from which the pin had been pulled.  The canister was then sealed and heaved over the edge of the trench, where gravity could be depended upon to deliver it to the NVA soldiers who clustered near the base of the Hill to avoid air and artillery.  It was assumed a curious enemy soldier would receive an explosive surprise!

Exiting the 881S exhibit by entering the command bunker, the Warriors and their guests viewed some of David Powell’s photos taken during the Siege, including the famous one showing Lt. Owen Matthews playing “To the Colors” on his bugle during the twice daily flag ceremony which was a staple of Hill existence. Matthews never has satisfactorily explained how he came by that bugle.  Next, was a video in which Colonel Dabney comments on the Hill experience and the “awesome” Marines who manned it with him. Video of Dabney is interspersed with more Hill photos taken by Hollywood Six.

On the morning of the final day, the Warriors traveled by bus to Washington, D.C. to visit the Wall.  The bus company proved that Uncle Frank is not infallible when one of the busses broke down on the way.  Gulledge demanded and received a prompt replacement.  For some this was their first time, and emotions flowed.  The HMM-364 Marines present presented Combat Air Crew Wings to HN Jack (Doc Sparky) Ehrhardt, one of their Corpsmen who had failed to receive his wings nearly four decades before.  The brief ceremony was held near Panel 37E, which contains the names of those Marines who perished in the crash of HMM-364 helicopter, YK-13.  Doc Sparky was the only survivor of the crash of YK-13.  Also present was Kelly Lea, the niece of Major Leonard Demko, the pilot of doomed helicopter YK-13.  Doc Sparky said that meeting Kelly Lea and the Purple Foxes who cared enough to see that this award was authorized, and presented to him in this solemn location, was one of the greatest moments in his life. (The full story of YK-13 and the award can be found at the Purple Foxes website, www.hmm-364.org).

The final event of the reunion was the banquet.  Major Gulledge had arranged corsages and boutonnieres for the relatives of departed Warriors.  Colonel Dabney had invited Marine Option Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute to handle the Color Ceremony, which they did with precision.  The guest speaker, former Commandant, General Carl E. Mundy was the Operations Officer of 3/26 when many of the Warriors reported to the battalion.  His remarks included an outstanding description of the qualities that make the Marine corps so popular among American citizens. (Gen. Mundy’s speech can be found on the Warriors website).  Major General Matthew Caulfield USMC (Ret.), who was the Operations Officer of  3/26 during the Siege, responded brilliantly when called upon by the Master of Ceremonies to share his thoughts about the Hill.  Finally, Colonel Dabney concluded the evening and the reunion by telling the Warriors how much he valued the opportunity to command them in combat, and assuring all of them that he would be proud to serve with them anytime, anywhere.

Lt. Rich Foley, who served as Capt. Dabney,s executive officer on the Hill, and, later, as Company Commander of India Company, summed up his reunion experience, “Except for my wedding day and the day my daughter was born, the last three days have been the best of my life.”  Most of the Warriors in attendance agreed with him.

©  John T. Esslinger, 2006

The author wishes to acknowledge that the Warriors present on Hill 881S during the siege included a few representatives of other American armed forces.  Since the vast majority were Marines, I have referred to all present as Marines.  In particular, I do not mean to slight the Navy Corpsmen who served so valiantly under such difficult conditions.  Like all Marine grunts I know, I consider Corpsmen to be Marines, and include them when I use that name.

The Marines of 3/26 were not to first Marines to battle for Hill 881S.  In the Spring of 1967,elements of the Third  and Ninth Marine Regiments seized the Hill from the NVA in several days of the fiercest fighting of the war.  That story is well told in The Hill Fights, The First Battle of Khe Sanh by Edward F. Murphy (Presidio Press 2003).

As a First Lieutenant, Tom Esslinger was the Company Commander of Mike Company 3/26 during the Siege.  He came to Mike Company from India Company, and had the honor of being the Company Commander of India Company later in his tour.