This letter is to explain more fully what's been going on over here.  It's mainly a news letter and for sheer ease of writing I'm going to ask you to take the enclosed map, and overlays, and send them to the NROTC Unit with Bob to let them read it there.  I think they will find it useful when dealing with current thoughts on tactics.  Some of the goobledegoop you may not understand can be clarified by Maj. Chapman or one of the Marine options.

Overlay #1 is of the friendly positions in the area 19 Jan.  Mike Company moved into their position that day as I will describe.  Before that time they were in Khe Sanh and India held both peaks of Hill 881S.

19 Jan. - 0800 2 squads from India's first platoon moved out on a patrol.  The company commander asked me to accompany them since he had a hunch that we would make contact that day (although none had been made for quite some time except by recon units).  Our mission was to recover a radio which a recon unit had dropped in the brush when they'd been ambushed. 

Before we got that far, we made point to point contact with an NVA patrol.  Our patrol was moving in column (the thick vegetation made it the best for travel), the elephant grass was head high and therefore, since they were on higher ground, they were able to see us before we saw them.  There was a sudden burst of automatic fire and two of our men fell wounded.  We returned fire as best we could, but the rear of the column could not fire because of our own men in front.  For the minute, the enemy had fire superiority and while they had us pinned down, they began to move people off to our left flank.  One of our machine gunners (PFC. Leonard L. Newton) ran to the front to try and cover a withdrawal.  The grass was so tall you couldn't see to fire unless you stood up, so he got to his feet and began to fire his M-60 from the shoulder.  The enemy fire slackened and we began to pull back, dragging the wounded.  Again the fire picked up and again he stood and fired from the shoulder.  The fifth time he did this, a sniper shot him through the right eye.  It was just about then that we started receiving heavy fire from our left flank.  We were in a bad spot because they could see us from above, but the heavy grass prevented us from seeing them.  The cross fire grew intense, but miraculously no one was injured.  Then my rounds arrived, 105mm artillery from Khe Sanh.  I began to pound the enemy to our north.  Grabbing another radio, I called an 81mm mortar mission to our left.  We still couldn't move since the rounds were landing so close that fragments from our own artillery and mortars were zinging over our heads.  The enemy fire slackened considerably and we began to pull back to reorganize.  The grass presented a problem.  I had to stand to adjust fire, but I was not eager to follow the machine gunner to Valhalla, so I'd jump up - watch the rounds impact, then drop to a crouch and leap sideways as far as I could.  When I rolled to a stop, I'd watch the AK-47 fire chew up the turf where I would have been had I dropped straight down.

When we had pulled back about 200 meters and were in a better position to deliver fire, I called off the arty and brought in heavy gun ships who strafed and rocketed the area we'd been taking fire from.  The rockets started a fire off to our left and we could hear the ammunition explode as the burning grass engulfed the NVA bodes which were laying there.  Then I called in a napalm strike on the tree line just on the reverse slope of the hill we'd first taken fire from, again we saw several secondary explosions.

Meanwhile, the third platoon of India Company had saddled up and came out to join us.  We medevaced our wounded by chopper from there and prepared to go after them.  Unfortunately, the powers that be decided that it was too late to continue the attack.  We returned to Hill 881S.

Mike Company (two platoons of Mike, that is) had been flown up to 881S to help if needs be.  All of us settled down for the night.

All night long we planned for the next day.  We were going to take out the whole company and an 8 man recon team.  We were going to move in two mutually supporting columns with India's first and second platoons on the left and the third platoon augmented by the recon team on the right (overlay #2).

We moved out the next morning with the company commander and myself with the left column.  The company XO and my FO scout were with the left column.  We had designated certain objectives (2 & 5 being two of several) to aid ease of position reporting.  For example we could say, "We are 200 meters south of objective 2" and only we and the people in the rear would know exactly what point on the ground we were making reference to; by SOP we mixed up the numbers so that there was no easily followable numerical sequence.  India's first platoon was in the lead of our column so I requested and received permission to join them up front rather than remaining with the CP group in the center.  As we neared the place where we'd been hit, we grew apprehensive since they still had the advantage of being above us if they were up there.  Suddenly a fusillade of rifle fire sounded off to our right.  India's third platoon point had run into the enemy who were dug in on objective 2.  The point man had shot and killed 2 of them, when he turned to yell for the platoon to sweep right, he received 3 wounds at the base of the spine, left lung and right arm.  He fell dying but refused medical attention and told the corpsman to care for the other two wounded.  Meanwhile, he was still yelling and pointing out the enemy positions he had spotted.  He continued to do so until he died.

The platoon pulled back under heavy fire to the knoll just south of objective 2 and began to take the NVA under heavy rifle and machine gun fire.  The company CO decided to assault objective 5, from which he could support the attack on objective 2 by fire.  This was predicated by the fact that we had not yet taken a single round from objective 5 though we were at its base already.  We moved out on line and began to climb the hill.  About 3/4 of the way up, the enemy waited and when we were 50 meters from them, they pulled out the stopper.  We were hit by grazing .50 caliber machine gun fire, AK-47s and RPGs (rocket launchers similar to the 3.5 electrically fired).  They were well dug in with two men to a hole.  One would fire while the other reloaded and intermittently tossed grenades.  We took 15 casualties in the first 10 seconds.  We kept on moving but then were hit from the right rear by two .50 caliber machine guns from objective 2.  We couldn't move any further and had to fall back.  I watched one corpsman dash out 7 times under heavy fire to pull wounded to safety.  India's second platoon set up a base of fire to silence the machine guns on objective 2, but they were well dug in and could not be silenced.  India's first platoon pulled back and consolidated as my arty started raining down on objective 5.

The company commander decided to assault objective 2 because objective 5 was unassailable as long as the NVA held it.  I spent the next 3 hours pounding both hills with artillery and direct fire from the 106mm recoilless rifle on hill 881S.  After we had thrown everything we had at them for 3 hours, the third platoon got on line and began the assault.

I'll pause here to relate a little more about the first platoon's withdrawal.

1.  it may seem that they chickened out - but of course the situation in the field is a little more real than just listening to a narrative.

2.  The withdrawal was orderly and well done.  One machine gun squad leader, though wounded by an RPG, stayed with his guns and covered the withdrawal pulling back only when everyone else was safe; then pulling back one gun at a time covering each other with a rain of accurate machine gun fire.

3.  One 3.5 rocket launcher operator got his weapon loaded and fired at a .50 caliber machine gun.  He missed twice and was so irritated that he proceeded to load his third and last round - charged 50 meters ahead of our lines - stand - and calmly blow the enemy machine gun to bits.  He then made the mad dash and folded up his tube (no more ammo) and grabbed a rifle.  He never got a scratch.

4.  When we were back in position, the first platoon called in a medevac and got all the wounded out by chopper.  As one chopper was coming in it was shot down.  It crashed and rolled down the hill and burst in flames.  The two crewmen jumped clear as they rolled down.  As one of them lay there, both legs broken, 5 NVA poured out of the brush at him.  He killed all 5 with rounds from his .38 caliber revolver.  Meanwhile, several Marines from the second platoon went charging down the hill to get the pilots out.  Luckily they too had managed to get free and the whole crew was rescued.  To see the .50 caliber machine gun that had shot down the chopper, I had to dash across a piece of open ground, watch my rounds impact, and then run back into the tree line we had taken cover in - grab my radio and call in my adjustments.  Luckily their snipers are not good at hitting targets running sideways.  They took 7 shots at me but missed every time.  I was pretty lucky earlier when a .50 caliber slug grazed my left leg, leaving a cut like you might expect from scraping your leg on a nail.  Nothing serious at all.

Meanwhile, back on objective 2, the recon team (we were supposed to leave them out there if we made no contact) was asked if they wanted to join the assault.  They eagerly volunteered.  Two squads and the recon team got on line while one squad (plus India's second platoon over by objective 5) laid down a base of fire.  As the assault started, I shifted the arty fire from objective 2 to objective 5 to keep their heads down on our hill.

Tom Brindley, the third platoon commander, drew his .45 pistol from his holster and, like something out of the movies, began to move his people on line and move up the hill.  It was nothing short of magnificent.  They just kept moving - men falling as they went, but everyone else just walking, shooting from the hip and tossing grenades until they came over the top.  By that time, the platoon sergeant and all three squad leaders were casualties.  As they stepped over the crest of the hill, a sniper shot Tom through the heart.  He lived for 30 minutes.  A lance corporal was now in charge of the platoon, Lieutenant Foley, the XO, got together the squad which had been the base of fire and made a mad dash to the top to take charge.  He set his men in and found that 10 or 15 had become casualties and there was very little ammo left.

The company XO, myself and the second platoon went charging off across the boondocks and joined the third platoon before the NVA could reorganize and counter attack.  Then a .50 caliber machine gun killed 2 and wounded 5 of the 8 man recon team.  Mike Thomas, the commander of the second platoon, when hearing of their plight, ran out to aid them.  He was shot through the head by a sniper and killed instantly.  Then Sergeant Jessop, his right guide, crawled out under heavy sniper fire and dragged them back to safety.  The elephant grass was thick with bodies, ours and theirs, and some of them were still alive.  I was in an NVA fighting hole with the 3.5 rocket launcher man I mentioned earlier, Corporal Samsa by name.  Again, darkness was getting near, and only a small group of us were on top of the hill.  Most were getting the wounded back to an LZ (landing zone).  Finally there were only 5 of us - the captain and his radioman, me and my radioman and Corporal Samsa.  Two NVA jumped up in front of Corporal Samsa and I.  I was so intent on calling in artillery and air strikes on the surrounding tree lines housing snipers that I didn't see them, Luckily Samsa did and emptied a 20 round magazine into them.

When all the wounded were out, we began to pull off the hill, turning and firing bursts at the tree lines and fighting holes to keep the "bad guys" from following.

That night we were back at 881S, 4 dead, 35 wounded, 103 confirmed NVA dead plus an untold number of probables and still more wounded.

It's my opinion, and that of most of the officers here, that our attack that day made them rush their plans for an attack on Hill 861 and Khe Sanh.  That next morning at 0430 Khe Sanh took 300 rounds of incoming mortar, rockets and artillery.  Hill 861 was assaulted by several hundred NVA.  We fired 1,400 rounds of 81mm mortar ammo and nearly a thousand rounds of 105mm artillery in their defense.  The enemy broke through in a short lived penetration but wounded the company CO severely and killed their gunnery sergeant.  The company XO took command (not being bothered by the fact that he was practically brand new in country) and drove them out.  When the sun rose that morning the hillside was strewn with bodies.  By actual body count, there were well over 300 and probably closer to 700 or 800 NVA killed or wounded.

All that day I shot artillery at enemy rocket, mortar and anti-aircraft guns in our area.  The order of business ever since the 21st has been to keep your head down to keep it from getting shot away, and kill NVA by the hundreds.  Artillery and air have accounted for well over 4,000 enemy dead in this area and that is a conservative estimate based on actual sightings and aerial photos.  I can't even begin to recall the number of times I've fired at flashlights in the distance, mortar tubes, rocket sites, etc., etc., etc.

Every time a helicopter arrives at our position we take an incoming 120mm mortar.  The first day (the 21st) 3 men were wounded and we called a medevac bird and rushed out to put the men in the chopper.  Two more rounds landed in the LZ killing 4 (including the senior corpsman) and wounding 10 more.  Ever since then we've been more careful, landing in oddball places on the hill, everyone but a few taking cover.  Still tragedy occurs and we've had a few more killed and several wounded since then.

I've been lucky.  Once I dashed out of the trench line and made a crater analysis to determine where the round came from.  I finished the analysis and had just climbed back into the trench line when another round came in 5 feet from the first one.  Their FO must have spotted me and figured he'd knock off an officer, which could be determined from my haste in climbing out to do the crater analysis.  One fragment cut my hand but just a tiny scratch.

Another time I was moving across an open area - unfortunately, the only way to get where I was going.  I just stepped into a bunker when a round landed outside blowing in the door and put three tiny fragments in me.  One in the back of my neck, one in the back of my left arm and one in the back of my - well - my posterior.

As of right now, I'm in the Khe Sanh proper having been flown in to have the fragments taken out, and more important, to have my jungle rot cured since it has reached serious proportions (in one place I have a festering sore 1/4 of an inch deep into my leg).  Today I just shaved off a 2 week growth of beard and took a shower for the first time in a month and a half.

Corporal Samsa came down with me.  He had the tip of his right thumb blown off by a mortar.  The lucky b#^*+"d is on his way back to the states.  Not a good way to come home, though, this brings up a point.  This whole narrative has been clinical.  I haven't stopped to describe the empty, horrible sensation of watching a friend die with his brains oozing out of a hole in the forehead; or the raw fear when you hear the swish of an incoming mortar round; the eternity that is 27 seconds when that 27 seconds is the time of flight for a rocket you've just heard take off; the bared nerves which jump at the sound of a zipper being unzipped unexpectedly; the two hors of sleep a night for 2 solid weeks; the fascination of lying on you face watching .50 caliber slugs cutting the elephant grass inches above you head; the tension of "helicopter roulette"; the boredom of killing day after day; the infinite pleasure of heating a cup of hot cocoa; the unutterable pride in seeing the 18 and 19 year olds around you look to you when those same kids write you up for the Bronze Star  (which they did - it's just a recommendation at this point and will probably be turned down since I was only doing my job); all the mixtures of emotion, fear, and courage which take an strip all the veneer away, all the pretenses, all the lies and expose you to yourself.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my little history of the battle of Khe Sanh as I've seen it.  I intended for this to be shown around, obviously I can't write letters this long to everyone so wish them my best.  I'll try to write them all a smaller personal note when I get a few moments.

I'm now the proud recipient of 2 Purple Hearts - again not yet official but more certain than the Bronze Star, and as of February 1st I should be a First Lieutenant.  I'll probably get my warrant around the 15th of the month.

That should take a load off your mind.  Statistically, far fewer 1stLts get hit than 2dLts.  Both of my wounds were as a 2dLt. so there must be something to it.

Anyway, don't worry - someone up there wants me alive, probably because I'd be too much of a nuisance to Him dead - but anyway, all is going well and I'm rarin to go.

Love,

Chuck