Several days later a convoy of 12th Engineers
traveling from Ca Lu to a worksite near Khe Sanh were ambushed. One of
them was able to make it back to Ca Lu. We were loaded on trucks and rushed
to the ambush site at a streatch of the highway making a 90 degree turn
called the "Elbow". After securing the area , we observed that it was the
classic L shaped ambush. The smaller lead vehicle known as a "PC"
was let through so that an command detonated mine could be detonated under
a dump truck blocking the road to the vehicles behind. The engineers were
then caught in the crossfire set up along the L. We finally located the
survivors, who had crawled down the bank and toward the river, and had
taken up a defensive position. We sent them back to Ca Lu and continued
on looking for the lead vehicle. As we continued up the road we found that
it had hit a road mine and was blown over on it's side. The driver, the
corpsman, and another Marine were all injured. None of the members of that
convoy escaped injury.
Lima Company now had a new job. We provided security for
engineer work parties and large convoys, known as Rough Riders. When a
Rough Rider passed through Ca Lu, they would load us aboard and take us
along as added security. We would also go out as security for the engineers
when they erected a portable bridge at the point where Highway 9 crossed
the Quang Tri river.
