"WE SERVE"
(For photo's please refer to LTC Neilson's photo album)
Diary 11-17 Sep 1968
11 Sep - Quiet nite (FSB Buell, French Fort, a 1/5 NDP hit by RKT, mortar, grnd attack.) R at RC, open road, OPCON A Co; A Co. open Rt 22- 2 large craters at CP 22 held up opening road until 1200. C Co. initially opened Rt 26. Then escorted engr work party to crater site and return. B Co. - 1 plat stand down, 1 plat resupply convoy, 1 plat to FF road. [B Co.] stand down plat OPCON 3/22 at 1400. B Co. (-) with 2 A Co. tracks opened FF road to CP Black. Ordered to return 1610. Attacked on way back. 2 KIA 8 WIA (one from A Co. at FF by mortar.) 9 BC by Stogy and AS.
Road open 1200
Convoy up 1400
Gone But Always Remembered
From the 4/23 KIA list.
SSGT David Oliver Painter, B Co.
12 Sep - Switch A & B Co's. Quiet nite - A Co. open RT 22; crater in same place as yesterday. R at RC, open road, pickup AVLB & Engr work party, escort to crater. 1 sect outpost Big Rubber. C Co. open RT 26. B Co. (-) open FF road ( 1 plat B Co. OPCON 3/22.)
I. C Co - engaged enemy in bunkers w/ air strikes, arty, & gun ships at end of Rubber. VC hit DT convoy as it passed. C Co. broke contact at 1700. 2 BC.
II. B Co. - opened road to FF. Stodgy got 1 BC & 1 poss[ible].
III. A Co. & R - Romeo moved into ambush site at Big Rubber; broke VC attack. A Co. moved to reinforce. Sprung convoy. Cleared Rubber. 14 BC, 9 wpn. R had 1 K, 2 W (Lt. McCollough)
Convoy ran north to TN only, 1/3 convoy ran DT-TN.
From the 12 September 1968 New York Times, p. 1,3: "TAY NINH REPELS BIG ENEMY FORCE 2dDrive in Month on City of 200,000 Is Hurled Back. Allied forces turned back a major enemy assault on Tay Ninh City and nearby American installations today but the enemy was holding on in several suburbs trying to increase his foothold. ...one North Vietnamese prisoner said this morning that three regiments had been sent into the area and told to capture and hold Tay Ninh for three days...."
Gone But Always Remembered
From the 4/23 KIA list
PFC Leonard Joseph Liparoto, HHQ Co.
13 Sep - Quiet nite (Buell attacked) - A Co. secure FSB Hull, open Rt 22 to CP 04; B Co. escort resupply to CP 31, pick up Engr & take down to craters vic [CP] 03 & 04, outpost; C Co. open Rt 26. R at RC; open road to TN, escort Engr vehs back & forth to RC. A (-) & B Cos, & R - neg. contact. (Convoy rolled south only.) Engr work accomplished. C Co. contact vic. CP 36 - AS, arty & gun ship. 1 KIA, 3 WIA - 12 BC, 10 wpns. A Co. plat - ambushed XT285655 5 K south of FF -
2 KIA (LT Elbert, 1 medic; 2 LRP. 1 Engr Marino), 9 WIA, Brought plt back to FF. Arty, gun ships & AS. Lost 1 APC. 88th NVA [Regiment, identity of the attacking force.]
Sgt E-5 Hopkins, Robert L US 53702443
SP E-4 Noonan
PFC E-3 Young, Barney
PFC E-3 Wallert, Harvey
[No notation as to significance of these four names.]
The entry above "Brought plt back to FF" pales to insignificance concerning the circumstances surrounding it. I was in my C & C chopper with the Arty LNO, Captain Ken Koy, and the BCSM, John Wise over Charlie Company. There was heavy contact at CP 36 and I was coordinating fire support for them when I got the call about the ambush, probably from Captain Montgomery, Alpha Co. Comdr. I do not know how he knew about it because the ambushed platoon had no reliably operating radio and A Co. was many miles away. I transferred fire support coordination responsibilities to Col. Fair, 1st BDE Co who was in his chopper in the vicinity and had my pilot fly the chopper to the ambush site.
When I arrived I saw 3 APCs on the road with troops milling about and someone waving at the chopper pointing at his PRC-25 radio. It turned about to be the Platoon Sergeant who I later discovered had 20 months in the Army and 8 in RVN. I finally contacted him on the company net and through very broken transmissions, he told me that his was the only operable radio in the platoon, the platoon leader had been killed, there were several wounded on the APC with him, and a wounded trooper with a fourth APC disabled at the ambush site further north toward FF.
I had the chopper land next to the road with the intention of giving the platoon sergeant the ARTY LNO's PRC-25 so that he could have radio contact with me as he led the platoon back to FF. I gave him the radio and instructions to take the platoon back up the road, stop at the ambush site and recover the wounded trooper, and then continue to the "French Fort". It became obvious to me that such a mission was too much to lay on the shoulders of a well meaning but inexperienced NCO when so many lives were at stake. I quickly decided I could not abandon the platoon in such a precarious position and that I would lead them back to FF.
I had the platoon mount up with every weapon on top of the APC loaded and ready to fire. The .50 cal machine gun on APC 1 covered to the front; APC 2 covered to the left; and APC 3 to the right. An M60 machine gunner covered to the rear from APC 3. Everyone else lay down on top and arranged themselves to fire alternately left or right.
In the meantime, the ARTY LNO arranged for artillery to cover both sides of the road and began the fire missions before we were ready to leave. A USAF TAC showed up and started scrambling Air Force fighter-bombers.
We moved up the road at top speed, not knowing the exact ambush site location. We "hosed down" both sides of the road until we got to the inoperable APC. We stopped, everyone hit the ground, stripped it of radios, weapons, and ammunition and looked for the wounded trooper. We could not find him and presumed the NVA had captured him.
We reloaded and continued to FF. Fighter bombers laid napalm down on either side of the road and as soon as they finished the artillery started again. We pulled into FF without a scratch, got off the APC, and the NVA started mortaring the Fire Base. Several troopers were wounded.
I got back in my chopper and returned to the Charlie Co. action.
In my 6 months of command, this is as close as I ever got to engaging in combat at the "grunt" level.
As we roared up the road firing wildly I do not recall that anyone shot back!
AFTERMATH:
The wounded man had been rescued by some nearby villagers in the field but he died; we recovered his body the next day from them at the same time we fixed the disabled APC.
COL Fair found out what I had done and really chewed me out for using bad judgment since I was a Battalion Commander not a Platoon Leader. Then he assured me that he would have done the same thing.
I received my second Silver Star.
My real reward came when the platoon sergeant came up to me in the chow line several days later with tears in his eyes and thanked me.
"All in a day's work in Tay Ninh Province."
Cliff
Gone But Always Remembered
From the 4/23 KIA list
SGT Edward Kenneth Ryan, C Co.
LT Joe A Elbert, A Co.
SP4 Kenneth George Cushman, A Co.
14 Sep - Special prom
1 E6 1
10 E5 111
5 E4 11
Quiet nite - A Co. (-) opened Rt 22. R at RC, reinforce A Co. (Lt. Bennett Plt Ldr). B & C Co's open Rt 26. B Co. in contact 1200 hrs vic CP 25. Arty, air, gun ships, until1820. 1 KIA, 5 WIA B Co. 1 WIA C Co. 2 AK-47 A - 5 NVA graves BC damaged 1 APC.
Cu Chi-TN-Cu Chi convoy ran both ways
DT-TN convoy one way to TN
SP-4 Hust, Brent B Co. BS"V"
SP-4 Ferguson, Daniel B Co. BS "V"
Gone But Always Remembered
From the 4/23 KIA list
SP4 Robert Paul Walsh, A Co
15 Sep Exit interview - today, tomorrow, or next [I have no idea to what this refers.] Unquiet nite - Sporadic mortar & RPG (?) fire until silenced about 2400 by arty. 3 WIA. A Co. & R open & outpost RT 22; B Co. & C Co. (-) open & outpost Rt 26. 1 plat C Co. accompany resupply. RF Co. 164 w/ B Co.
Convoy up 1030 Down 1530
DT convoy to DT only - 1530
Weapons count - 3 AK47, 1 RPD, 3 RPG-2, 1 RPG-7, 15 RPG rds, 15 grenades. 9 BC. [Something must be missing from the entry above which would account for the weapons and bodies.]
16 Sep - 59th malaria. Unquiet nite - 6 mortar rds at 0200 - no cas. A Co. & Recon - open Rt 22. B Co. (-) & C Co. (-) open Rt 26. 1 plat B Co. stand down. 1 plat C Co. escort resupply.
Road open 0810
Convoy up - 0945
Convoy down - 1400
[Then all hell broke lose on Rt 26 when the 4/23 suffered the most KIA in one day while I was its commander.]
DT to TN convoy hit vic CP 36 (coord XT354441) at 1230. Gun ships, arty (956 rds), AS, CS [incapacitating tear gas] [incapacitating tear gas. 2 APC destroyed, 1 APC damaged; 1 ST tractor truck destroyed. Several vehicles dam. 7 KIA, 6 WIA, no body count.
Letter to ML & Dad
Gone But Always Remembered
From the 4/23 KIA list
Lieutenant Alfred Vincent Schofield, C Co.
SP4 Anthony Robert Signa, C Co.
SGT Dale Arthur Morrow, C Co.
SGT Donald Eugene Glime, C Co.
PFC James Ray Miller, C Co.
(From a message sent to me in 2004; My Apology to the author as I neglected to note the name. )
"I knew James Miller, we called him Red. We were both in the third platoon, Charlie Company. He was KIA on September16th 1968 when our platoon was ambushed on Route 26. We had 7 KIA and 8 WIA (myself included) that day. Started the day with 22 men and 3 APC's, two APC's were completely destroyed by satchel charges and the third got hit with a RPG. Red was a good guy and is remembered fondly by the other guys that I have been in contact with from the third platoon."
SGT Joseph Raymond Brown, C Co.
PFC Ralph Warren Kuchinski, C Co.
17 Sep - Quiet nite - Admiral McCain [CINCPAC. At the time of his visit, his son, COMDR John McCain, USN (now Senator McCain) was a POW in Hanoi.], LTG Kerwin Deputy COUSMACV], assorted VIPs visited. Adm presented decorations, received trophy [AK 47 mounted on a plank with the 4/23 crest]
observed arty & flame thrower demonstration.
Departed pleased.
[During the Admiral's visit, FSB Rawlins was mortared . The Admiral, his aide, and I went in a bunker. Making small talk, the admiral asked me where I was going when I left RVN. I told him I had no orders yet but that I had requested Hawaii. He turned to his aide and said something to the effect "Make sure that happens." The aide did as he was told and on 31 December 1968, my family and I arrived in Hawaii for our next tour.
The Admiral heard I was aboard, invited my family and I to meet with him in his office. He showed my three kids the AK47 the 4/23 had given him which was hanging on his wall and then surprised us all by presenting me with the Silver Star awarded because of the ambush on 17 Sep discussed above.
While in Hawaii, my wife and I attended several cocktail parties at which he was present. When he noticed us he would called us over and told the crowd around him about being mortared at FSB Rawlins. Since he was a highly decorated submariner from WWII, I figured he wanted me there as backup so his Navy buddies wouldn't think he was telling a sea story.]
23 September 1968
VIP VISIT - Admiral John S. McCain, Jr., Commander in Chief, Pacific, (left) talks with Major General Ellis W. Williamson, 25th Infantry Division Commander, (center) and Lieutenant General Walter T. Kerwin, Jr., Commanding General, II Field Force, (right) at Fire Support Base Rawlins during the Admiral’s recent visit. (PHOTO BY MAJ. A.J. SULLIVAN)
A Co. & R - open Rt 22. B Co. (-) & C Co. (-),
B & C Co's, 3/22 opened Rt 26.
1 plat C stand down.
B plat escort.
B Co. rec'd mortar fire vic blown culvert CP 25.. B-3/22 on north side ran into enemy in bunkers. Called in arty, gun ships, air strikes, CS. Broke contact. Pulled out 1630. 3 KIA, 10 wounded - 3/22, 12 WIA - B Co.
Cu Chi-Tay Ninh convoy ran okay
No DT convoy
Letter from ML
Cliff Neilson
Mohawk 6
May-Nov 68
Illegitimati non carborundum
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