As we moved through the forest, it reminded me of some of the forest back in my home state, North Carolina that I had played and hiked in when I was young boy.It had small and large trees with various shades of light to medium gray bark. The trees ranged in size from twenty to twenty-five meters in height and six to thirty inches in diameter. It was not a very dense forest and the trees had very little foliage. You could see the light blue sky with scattered white clouds through the tree foliage. I remember that there was very little shrubbery and under growth, not like most of the boonies that we had often encountered. The contour of the terrain had small hills with gullies and was rocky, which made walking very difficult. The visibility was good with a good field of vision. Sometimes I could see fifty to one hundred meters in front of me.

We must have been humbling for about a half-hour or so, when suddenly I saw two NVA soldiers running away from us. They were shouting in Vietnamese. The Third Squad immediately gave pursuit and everyone else followed.

Some people might wonder if this was a mistake. Should we have stopped and sent out a small patrol to see what was out there? Luring the enemy into an ambush by first letting him spot you and then run away has been a war tactic for ages. The American Indians used this tactic back in 1876 and were successful in annihilating General George Custer’s Calvary command. This war tactic had been used by NVA, with varying degrees of success. No one will ever know for sure if the decision to give chase that day was right or wrong. One can also argue that being too cautious can cause you to lose the battle.

As we ran after the NVA soldiers, I was in disbelief and thought to myself, this can’t be real; this must be a training exercise. I guess I was in denial. Then I began to realize this was the real thing, my adrenaline began to rush and my heart began beating so hard that I thought my chest was going to explode. As we began to run down a small ridgeline, I could hear M-16 and AK-47 small arms firing. About that time machine guns began to fire and all hell broke loose, tree bark and rocks were flying everywhere. We kept charging forward into this massive wall of steel and debris. I could see Sergeant Guest and his squad, the Guest Gorillas, leading the assault down this small hill. We began receiving machine gun fire about seventy to a hundred meters from the bottom of the hill. Sergeant Guest led the attack in so close to the enemy that it took us out of the killing zone. The fighting was in so close that the NVA lost their tactical advantage. I still believe today by assaulting in so close to the enemy, Sergeant Guest saved our lives. We had the NVA in our sights and he was just as vulnerable as we were.

Just at the bottom of the hill there was flat ground about fifty meters across with short shrubbery and tree stumps. On the other side of the flat ground there was a higher ridgeline about fifty meters high with lots of trees and natural covering. The NVA had setup an ambush with machine guns and snipers. The NVA also had the higher ground, which gave them a tactical advantage.

There was so much incoming fire that we had to take cover behind what few trees there were. Smitty and Moore took cover in a small depression and began return machine gunfire. I took cover behind some small shrubs and laid in a prone position with the two ammo cans in front of me. I could see Smith's M-60 gun smoking from the rate of fire that he was laying down. Moore was attempting to assist Smitty. It was so loud from the automatic gunfire and grenades going off, that I would have to look at a person's mouth and try to read his lips in order to understand what he was saying. I could see tracers and hear rounds of bullets popping around my head. When you see and hear this, you know someone has a lock on you. As I tried to move to a new position for better cover, I would receive more incoming fire. I just laid there trying not to move. I don't remember being afraid at first, I guess I was still having an adrenaline rush.

The battle raged on for what seem like an eternity. I can't remember how much time had elapsed when Smitty, Moore and I were given the order to move the M-60 to higher ground and give cover fire so the Third Squad could pull back to a safer position. There was a knoll just to the left of us about four or five meters high. Sergeant Tankersly gave us the order to move out and take up a position on the knoll while the other members of the squad gave cover fire. Smitty, Moore and I scrambled up that rocky knoll, slipping and tripping all the way to the top. I was so close to Moore that he was kicking me in the face. We reached the top of the knoll under a barraged of enemy fire, everything seem to be happening at once. I don't know exactly what happened but I lost my footing. I fell backwards, bouncing, rolling and tumbling all the way back down that rocky knoll. When I stopped at the bottom of the knoll, Sergeant Tankersly was yelling, "Get that damn ammo up to the gun." I look at my hands and was amazed at what I saw. I had bounced, rolled and tumbled all the way to the bottom of that rocky knoll and still had the two ammo cans in my hands. I didn't even think, I just jumped to my feet and ran back up that rocky knoll. When I reach the top of that knoll for the second time I dropped to my knees to catch my breath. As I look up and to my right, I saw Smitty about two meters away from me lying face down; his back was covered with blood. I though he must be dead. I saw Moore about two meters behind Smitty. Moore was in a slumped position on his knees with his right shoulder up against a small tree. I crawled over to Moore with the ammo cans still in my hands and shouted at him, "Smitty is dead." I thought Moore was in shock and didn't want to see what had happened to Smitty. I knew that we needed to get the M-60 gun into position and give cover fire so the Third Squad could pull back to a safer position. I grabbed Moore by his web gear and pulled him back from the tree, his head fell back and his eyes were rolled back starring up as he tried to breathe, I could hear a gurgling sound. White foaming mucous was coming from his nose and mouth. (The image of Moore's face haunts me, even after all these years.) At that time I almost lost it, my mine was racing. I kept saying to myself, what do I do? Nothing was clear. This can't be real as I looked around for someone to help me. I was alone, truly alone. I had never felt that alienated in my life. I lost track of time, but then all at once something told me to run down that knoll for help. I jumped up and ran while stumbling down that knoll for help. When I reached the bottom of the knoll, there was Sergeant Tankersly yelling, "What the hell are you doing down here, I told you to stay with the gun." I said, "Sergeant! Smitty and Moore, they're dead." He told me to go back up that knoll for the third time and get that M-60 gun in position and give cover fire. I didn't hesitate, I was so relieved to see that someone was still alive and making the decisions. As I started back up that rocky knoll, I remember hugging the ground very closely and trying to keep a small silhouette. When I reached the top of the knoll, I saw Doc, the Platoon Medic, kneeling beside Smitty. I said, "Doc, Smitty and Moore they're dead." Doc responded back and said "Smitty's only wounded." I was relieved to hear that Smitty wasn't dead. I saw the M-60 gun about two meters in front of Smitty. I crawled over to the gun and saw that the butt plate was missing; apparently it had been shot off. I reach back on my shoulder and unslung my M-16. I told Doc that I needed to report back to Sergeant Tankersly, Doc nodded OK. It's hard to believe but I had not fired a round. I had been so busy trying to perform my assigned duties to assist the M-60 gun crew and carrying the extra ammo up and down that godforsaken knoll that I had not shot anything.

Everything was about to change. I went down that knoll for the third time, with my M-16 in my hand. I fell about half way down the knoll. When I stopped rolling, I was sitting up right facing Sergeant Tankersly. I immediately told Sergeant Tankersly that Smitty was alive and Doc was with him. I also told him that the M-60 butt plate was missing. Just as I finished telling Sergeant Tankersly what had happen on the top of the knoll, we began receiving intense gunfire from a sniper. At first, I thought I had been hit but it was only flying debris. I couldn't see from what direction the gunfire was coming. I could see Sergeant Tankersly face and from his expression I knew he was screaming at me. At this time I felt an uncontrollable fear coming over me. This fear numbed me and I was unable to move from that spot. Time seem to have stopped. There was no sound. I felt like I was under water and there was this low rumbling sound. I don't know how much time had elapsed but all at once I heard this loud noise pierced my ears. I was looking straight at the ridgeline in front of me and I saw gunfire coming from a tree. I could see the NVA maneuvering into position. I yelled at Sergeant Tankersly that I could see the sniper and pointed to the trees at the top of the ridgeline. Sergeant Tankersly was unable to locate the sniper's position. He turned and looked at me and yelled "Kill the SOB." Even today it's hard for me to believe what my reaction was. I said "Me?" Sergeant Tankersly said "Yes you! If you don't shoot him, I'll shoot you." I knew from the ex-pression in his eyes that he meant what he was saying. I sucked up my fears and put my M-16 up to my shoulder and emptied a full magazine into the spot were I saw the sniper. I continued firing at anything that moved. I was ejecting and snapping magazines in as fast as I could. I was consumed by this uncontrollable rage and at the same time I was terrified.  

After a short time the intensity of machine gun and rifle fire died down to a point that the decision was made again to try to pull back to a ravine that was about ten or fifteen meters behind our position for more protection. Sergeant Tankersly said he needed someone to protect the right flank while the others pulled back. I was ordered to maneuver about fifteen meters over to our right flank and give cover fire, while the others pulled back. As soon as the others were in a safer position, then I could pull back. I was not too thrilled about being out there by myself. (My greatest fear was not being killed; it was being left behind and separated from my unit, the thought of that terrified me.) As I maneuvered over to the right flank I went past Sergeant Daily and saw that he had been wounded in the hand. While I was out on the right flank, I had a good advantage point and could see the NVA maneuvering around. It looked as if they were mounting a counter-attack, which sent chills up my back. As soon as everyone had moved back into the ravine, I was given the all clear to pull back. I rolled into the ravine and saw a guy name Booze. I asked him if he had any extra ammo since I had dispensed all 460 rounds of my ammo. Booze said yes as he reached into his fatigue side pockets and pulled out a hand full of loose ammo. Apparently he had been carrying the ammo in the paper boxes that they came in and the boxes had came apart. I said, "Booze, where are your magazines?" His response was "I only had two." I just shook my head and reach out to take the ammo. I look around for empty magazines. I had no problem finding empty magazines; they were all over the ground. I loaded as many as I could. 

Everyone was told to close up and move as far back as they could into the ravine. I could hear our Company CO, Captain McElroy on the AN/PRC 25 radio telling someone on the other end that we were pinned down. I could hear the other person on the radio squelch box, when he said, "Pinned down, there is no such thing as being pinned down, fight your way out." I thought to myself, that's easy for you to say from where you are. Captain McElroy made the decision to call in for artillery support. I heard the Artillery FO, Joe Brown, calling the fire mission. We could hear rounds exploding as he bracketed the rounds in closer to the NVA position. The command was given to fire for affect. I heard the rounds coming in with a Shh---Shh---Shh-- sound and for a split second there was no sound and then all hell exploded. I was lying on my right side in the fetal position with my eyes closed. The impact and explosion of a short round was like being crushed from all sides. The explosion literally knocked the breath out of me and my ears were ringing from such a loud noise. Rocks and debris rained down for what seemed to be at least a minute. Everyone was dazed by the impact. I can remember thinking "man" that was close. When I opened my eyes all I could see was this dense dust. I couldn't see three feet in any direction. Then the dust began to settle and I began to make out the silhouette of other troops in the ravine. Everyone was covered in dirt, leaves and tree debris. I was unable to hear at first, but as I regained my hearing I could hear the screams and moaning of troops. I knew we must have taken a direct hit from an artillery round. It was confusion and chaos all around. The impact of the artillery rounds must have been much more devastating on the NVA. I don't remember hearing any more gunfire after the artillery stopped. As I regained my composure, I got up to see if I could help the ones that were injured. All I could see were bodies lying around. Everyone was frantic and trying to help the wounded. I looked down and saw a body with the left leg almost detached. It was the body of the Vietnamese interpreter that was attached to our company that day. I leaned over to help pick up the body and the left leg came off. I dropped the leg and stepped back. I heard a voice behind me saying, "Pick him up, he won't bite." I turned around and said, "You pick him up, asshole." I kept seeing all the horrifying imagines from that day. 

As night fell that evening, C Company came in and relieved A Company. We were told that we would be returning to LZ Cavalair, the LZ that we had left only a few hours earlier. As I walked back to the LZ that night, I felt like I was an old man, I had lived a lifetime that day. I was so relieved that I had survived, and yet at the same time I felt guilty. I can't express my emotions in words. You would have had to been there that day to truly understand. The true teacher of life is through our life experiences. No matter how large your vocabulary, there is no way that anyone can explain those true feelings.

The soldiers of A Company, 2/8th had met two enemies that day, the NVA and Fear itself. They conquered both. I had seen fear in everyone's eyes, but every soldier of A Company mastered their fears. Everyone performed his duties in every heroic way. I'm proud that I had the privilege to call them friends and fellow soldiers. The majority of us did not win any medals that day. We did our duties and fought with pride beside our buddies. We didn't waiver. We stood our ground like true, honorable Air Borne Infantrymen.

November 4, 1965 would not be the last day that A Company, 2/8th Cavalry would meet the enemy. There were many more encounters with the NVA. Each time A Company, 2/8th would prevail!