Three rounds slammed into the One-Zero’s head, blowing off the right side of his face, killing him instantly. Nothing in the months of pulling garbage detail could prepare ST Alabama for the grisly horror unfolding at that moment…”
“Black and the remaining ST Alabama team members returned fire. The Green Beret stood there, firing on single shot, picking off NVA soldiers on top of the rise. He reloaded his CAR-15 and went down the line, shooting them one after another. Sometimes they spun and he shot them a second or third time. As the NVA continued to fire on the team, Black and Cowboy formed the team into a circle and directed a barrage of M-79 grenade rounds and CAR-15 fire into the surrounding jungle. Then startling, eerie silence….”
“The fearless NVA mounted a charge toward ST Alabama with AK-47s on full automatic. Black detonated the claymore mine. It blew a huge hole in the NVA ranks. Before the smoke cleared, ST Alabama ran through the human carnage, firing CAR-15s on full automatic and throwing M-26 frag grenades while dragging their three, wounded team members. Miraculously, ST Alabama made it through the NVA wave of attackers and moved back toward the LZ, leaving their dead behind…”
“Waves of NVA troops carrying SKSs with fixed bayonets advanced on ST Alabama. When they were 15 feet away ST Alabama opened fire. The semi-automatic SKSs were no match for the fully automatic firepower of the spike team. After the first burst of full automatic fire, the team went to single shot. It was another turkey shoot. Without a word, a look or a plan, acting solely on instinct, all of them, except the One-One, scurried forward and dragged back dead NVA, placing the bodies in a circle around them and stacking them high. The deadly skirmishing continued for several hours before Covey told Black that more gunships and five Jolly Green Giants,…”
“At the last moment, with the NVA a few body lengths away from the perimeter, two Huey gunships from the Americal Division, 176th Aviation Company, the Minute Men Muskets of 36-C, arrived. The UH-1B pilots were code-named “The Judge” and “The Executioner.” They roared into the battle, first with a minigun blast, followed seconds later with several 2.75mm rockets placed in the NVA ranks. Alabama was saved, if only for a little while. The NVA backed off for a few moments, briefly licking their collective wounds, although they were far from whipped. New assault lines of NVA troops formed. Before the NVA opened fire on ST Alabama, however, the Executioner confronted the NVA head on. With both door gunners blazing away with their hand-held M-60 machine guns, he hovered inches off of the ground, between the team and the front of the NVA, and skipped several 2.75mm rockets off the ground into the NVA. Before the bleeding, startled NVA could respond, the pilot lifted the old UH 1B model gunship over the tree line and ducked down into the canyon, regaining enough air speed to return for another pass at the ST Alabama perimeter.
Before ST Alabama could celebrate, the NVA charged again. Three more dead NVA were added to the cadaver wall…”
As many SOF troops know, not all of the time spent on the ground is involved in firefights or open combat with enemy forces. Here’s a brief exert from Chap. 10 of Across The Fence. It was pitch black night and the NVA were searching for our recon team with lights and dogs.
“One of the NVA in the creek started crawling up the embankment toward me. I was still facing the creek. The NVA soldier was good; he only moved when the wind stirred the trees…my heart sounded like a kettledrum during Beethoven’s Ninth. No matter, the NVA soldier kept moving up the embankment. I was very impressed with his stealth. I could barely hear him. Then it happened. During one windy moment, I heard movement very close to me. It was only a slight sound, but a sound nonetheless. Before the wind stopped, the NVA soldier touched the sole of my size 10 R Army-issue jungle boot. I heard a slight gasp of surprise from him. At that moment, I had a death grip on my CAR-15. I had it on single shot. A CAR-15 on full automatic sounds much different from the bark of an AK-47 on full automatic. If I had to shoot, it would be single shots. For a millisecond I wondered if my left foot was far enough to the left so that when I fired, I wouldn’t shoot myself. Time stood still. My pucker factor was minus zero.
After a few of the longest seconds in my life, the wind stirred, but there was no movement. He remained still…”
Respectfully submitted,
John Stryker Meyer
One-Zero ST/RT Idaho
68 – 70
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