Page 260 - The Viet-Cong Tet_Offensive_1968

ttNewsrnen covering the operation of the Vietnarnese Marines
drew lots to see who would go with the advance reconnaissance corn-
pany. Maj. Thang jokingly said he did not want to see newsrnen die
-fri
.orr..ing s U.ttt.. He notiJied his rnen over the radio that he was
sending out 'ta childrr whorn sorneone rnust rneet and escort down the
.oad, iy rrchildrt he rneant a good cornrade in arrns, a friend or
sirnilar expression' The word did not irnply anything derogatory' Itrs
Vietnarnese arrny slang. A Marine took rne to the actual battle area
fifteen rninute s later. The area was a rY\aze of torn up trees, broken
dttct s, zigzagging trenches, collapsed houses and the like' The cornbat-
reaay Varlnes were grirnly waiting for the assault signals' They were
in groups frorn two to half a dozen rnen'

It The 4th Marine Cornpany, Ied by Lt' Nguyen Xuan Tong'
was the advance recon colnPany of the lst Battalion' The youthful
officer was poring over a field rnap' He showed rrle enerny positions
on the little rnap. He said one of these positions was in a pagoda and
another in a school, roughly 30 and 60 rneters frorn where we were'
A burst of subrnachinegun fire rnade us lower our heads way down'
This burst was followed by a big explosion right behind our line' less
than ten rneters away' Mud, broken bricks, dust' debris of all sorts'
blown up by the. b last , landed right on our heads' Only then did I
realize that rny darnn heavy helrnet was useful'

It Dusty-faced Lt. Tong shouted at his radio rnen asking
thern whether they had asked for artillery suPport' When the answer
was negative he and his rnen quickly realized that it was an enefiry
rocket. over the radio he called for three ttcrabs't (ARVN slang {or
tanks)' rrYes, readyrr was the answer frorn the other end of the line'
rt Lt. Tongts 4th cornpany lay low, waiting' f iring no
shots until the rrcrabsrt showed up - only three rninute s after the call'
The tanks rnoved carefully, firing almost a1l of their guns' big and
srnall. It was a deajening sound punctuated by the cracks of collapsing
trees and walls. It *"" h",y and cold since Huers winter was at its
height. One of Lt. Tongrs rnen, 3rd Lt' Nhut, led a group with arrnor
sup"port to take over the pagoda. Autornatic weaPons fire was heard
ali..o,lnd the place, rnoving 30 rneters in open terrain under enerny
fire seerned li.ke rnoving 3 kilorneters, I rnoved with the group which
advancedinalineformation'Allofasuddenlwaspusheddownon
the ground. I turned aside and saw a Marine soldier lying a few steps
awa|' g.itnlrrg and pointing to an enerny gun trained on us'I raised
a hand as a thank-You sign.

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