We had been in the field for several days, again
helping bail out other units. Again we were in the area west of Cam Lo.
As we were walking down the trail we came upon a position where the NVA
were dug in. One of the squads actually sneaked up and grabbed a couple
of NVA and they were escorted as POWs back through our line. It was the
first time I got a look at any live NVA up close.
Operation Prairie III, Cam
Lo area. Marines filling canteens from a stream near a bomb crater.
Sure the water tasted like iodine and you had to strain out the mosquito
larvae with your teeth, but it tasted great in that 100+ degree heat.
Grunts in the foreground
are riflemen PFC Robert PEUGH (center) and PFC Jenning ANDERSON (right).
Note the line of grunts extending
from behind Anderson across the picture to the left edge and then back
to the bomb crater and beyond. Photo by Rus Jewett
We then set up a sweep of the area. 1st Platoon
initially got hit and 2nd Platoon came in along side them. As we advanced
we came into an area with fighting holes and trenches. I knew things were
serious because the word came down to "fix bayonets". Some of the Marines
had been hit in the fire fight and were laying in a trench. I started performing
CPR on one of the fallen Marines. I soon realized that I was wasting my
time and the more calls for "corpsman up" urged me further forward. When
the word came down to fix bayonets, I pulled out my .45 and kept it ready.
I knew the NVA were close because I heard them yelling insults at us in
English. At one point I had crawled as flat to the ground as I could
get to a wounded Marine. The bullets above me sounded like a swarm of angry
hornets. I was laying on my belly putting a battle dressing on him when
a NVA stood up not 15-20 feet from me and preparing to throw a chi-com
grenade. I shot him 4 times, hitting him in the abdomen and chest. The
impact of the bullets knocked him backward and the grenade exploded near
him instead of near us.
After what seemed like an eternity of intense close-in
fighting, the NVA withdrew. Once things quieted down we were able to assemble
our dead and wounded. Our Platoon Commander, 1st Lt. Forrest GOODWIN, who
had only recently taken over 2nd platoon was dead. So was Cpl. Richard
STRAHL, who was due to to leave in December, but extended his tour beyond
the required 13 months . He was due to leave within the week back to the
world. Cpl. Richard BLINDER was also dead. Helicopters were now able to
get in to take out our casualties and provide us with a re-supply. We went
about collecting all the NVA’s gear. Again they had abandoned their rucksacks
and food and withdrew, but we also found large amounts of ammunition, weapons
and radios. There was more left here than at any other site that we had
come across before.
News reporters and cameramen were able to get into our
position on one of the choppers and were having a field day interviewing
us and shooting film. The NVA then suddenly attacked us again with mortar
fire and small arms. I was hit in the left elbow by shrapnel. I put a small
battle dressing on and continued working with the other wounded. The newsmen
were able to record the events of the attack. I was working on a wounded
Marine with a severe facial wound. He had an obstructed airway and was
unable to breathe sufficiently. I did a crychothyroidotomy (quicker and
easier than a tracheostomy) on him and opened his airway and he was able
to breathe again. It was then that another corpsman, HM3 Daniel FUSS, hollered
over to me "Hey, Jewett, you got any epinephrine?" (he was doing CPR and
was getting frustrated that he was unable to get the marines heart started
again) and I hollered back "No!" The area was again secured. I then had
a chance to check my own wounds. They were minor compared to what else
was around me that I didn’t bother to report it. The helicopters came back
in and our casualties and the news teams were able to get out. (My recorded
verbal exchange ended up on the evening news on both radio and television
back home according to reports from family members and friends.) We stayed
a little longer and near dusk the word then came up to move out. We left
the hill that we had spent the better part of the day obtaining, at the
cost of 11 Lima Company’s men dead and over 60 wounded. We felt that we
should have held onto the position at least long enough to destroy all
the captured gear, but that was not to be the case. So we destroyed what
we could and moved out as ordered. Later that evening I was able to pick
the small pieces of metal embedded in the soft tissue around my elbow with
a scalpel blade, redressed it, and kept my sleeve rolled down enough to
hide it.
List of Casualties
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