A Fledgling Marine reported about
the First Days of The Easter Offensive 1972
Nguyen Tin
After becoming a Marine, I was sent to Company 3 of the 7th Marine Battalion. This unit was positioned in Holcomb, about twenty kilometres away from Cam Lo in the south west. Captain Hap put me in Platoon 2 of 2nd Lieutenant Dat. My unit performed searching operations around the base for nearly two months. I very much enjoyed this period of time.
The 7th Battalion then moved to Saigon. After staying in our Base Camp for a short period of time, the 7th Battalion prepared to go into operation again.
Sergeant Major Yen gathered all the Marines of Company 3 in front of the Company Commander. I thought it would be Captain Hap. However, standing in front of Company 3 was a tall, lean man with a little weak stature. It was Captain Ton That Tran. Captain Hap had only temporarily replaced him while Captain Tran has been attending a course.
This time the 7th Battalion moved to Gio Linh. I wished I had been able to see Hien Luong Bridge which separated North and South Vietnam. However, the unit was stationed at Base C1 and it then moved to Base C4 Con Thien. In February 1972, Battalion 7 was transported by a convoy to Non Nuoc, Da Nang Province. It served as a reserve for the I Corps.
One day, Sergeant major Yen ordered me to present myself to the Company Commander. Captain Tran told me: "From now on, you stay next to me at my command post"
I asked him to let me continue to serve in a Platoon, but he did not agree. Since then, wherever he went, I accompanied him. He was a soft spoken man, unlike other people. Sometimes, he complained like a teacher to a pupil before applied punishment to a drunken soldier.
At the end of March1972, the 7th Battalion moved. Our convoy reached Ai Tu Combat Base at dusk. We met the 3rd Marine Battalion, also on a convoy. Members of both Battalions spoke to each other jovially.
Our convoy entered the Base. When I had just alighted, I heard a series of loud explosions. I said, "Our Artillery fired so intensely!" Before I finished my sentence, a salvo occurred around out convoy. It combined with shouts of "Enemy shelling ! shelling !". Smoke and dirt flew in all directions. Some minutes later, the 7th Marine Battalion walked out of the Combat Base and positioned in surrounding hamlets. The next morning, a resupply truck arrived. Each person received two days worth of dried rations. At the same time, civilians fled in large numbers via National route 1. The 7th Marine Battalion mounted a convoy to move to Cam Lo. There, dirt and smoke was flying everywhere. On alighting, I met a civilian who told me that the previous night the NVA had attacked and occupied their village. Outside the village, some units of the 3rd Infantry Division and tanks were deploying and preparing to reoccupy the village. I thought Battalion 7 would also attack in Cam Lo, but it was not so. Battalion 7 moved along a trail and advanced towards Cua. In the afternoon, Battalion 7 approached the position of Marine Brigade 147. Looking in the distance, we saw billows of smoke and heard uninterrupted explosions. The enemy artillery rounds fell down like sand being thrown to the ground. I told Corporal Tai and Corporal Chau: "We better not enter; otherwise we would be instantly killed"
So I sat down. When everyone had passed me in their continuous walk, I begrudgingly ran after them. My Company positioned in a helipad in front of the Base where Brigade 147 had been staying. Enemy shellings rained down on the Base. However, it was so strange. A Regional Forces unit positioned next to Brigade 147 did not receive any rounds from the attack. I was in the same foxhole as Corporal Chau, next to the company CP.
The next morning, in front of the company CP, there were about more than twenty packed ponchos. Each bag was about the size of a helmet. Surprised, I asked Corporal Nhon: "Nhon, what is it?".
Nhon answered: "Each bag contained the remains of a Marine. Those bags are waiting to be transported to Quang Tri by truck."
Corporal Chau then explained to me: "Although no enemy artillery round had fallen on our company's defensive line, the attack was completely focused on Brigade 147”. The Brigade was able to reply only occasionally with a sporadic artillery fire. It was nearly paralysed.
Some days later, my company received some resupplies of ammunition from the Regional Forces camp. We then moved in to the direction of the mountain in front of the Brigade Base Gate. Company 1 advanced first and encountered the enemy defensive line. Company 1 broke the line and while gaining momentum, it charged upwards to the middle of the mountain. The enemy started pounding the formation of our companies. I climbed upwards along a slope. Seeing some movement, I shouted: "Buddies, there are also some ARVN infantrymen here"
Before I could finish my sentence, a clip of bullets clattered and Corporal Chau shouted: "They are NVA. Not at all our infantrymen!" Until then, I had only seen the VC in plain black clothes like in newspapers and films. I never knew that they also wore green uniforms. I escaped death by a hair's breadth.
In late afternoon, I heard a loud voice: "The brigade has withdrawn!" Looking in the direction of the Brigade, everybody was rushing out. The enemy shellings had stopped.
Captain Tran ordered us not to be anxious and to stay calm while waiting for an order from the 7th Battalion. I was sitting next to the opening of a foxhole when I heard an AK47 clatter and then a M16 replying. Some minutes later, there was a silence like it was previously. In the outermost defensive line, Cu, the machine gunner was severely wounded. Private 1st class Cho, his assistant was injured in the leg. Corporal Chau told me to sit down inside the foxhole in order to avoid injury. Although my foxhole was only three metres from the Company CP, I told Corporal Nhon to call me whenever a retreat order would come. Corporal Chau and I sat in the same foxhole. He opened a bag of dried cooked rice and told me to eat. I asked him: "Why do you eat so frequently?" He answered: "We need to eat for the strength required to move tonight".
Time passed a protracted course in the horrible silence. Since I did not hear any enemy shellings, I stood up and looked around. I saw nobody. Terrified, I jumped up out of my foxhole and ran to the company CP. Nobody was there. There was only Cu, the wounded machine gunner who had been lying on a litter and covered by a poncho. There were two grenades next to him. When I ran to the outermost defensive line, I heard Sergeant Tran Ngam urging his soldiers: "Hurry up. The company has withdrawn and you are still here!" I ran back and shouted: "Corporal Chau! Chau! The Company has withdrawn".
Both of us sprang out. Tran Ngam's squad had disappeared. Not knowing the way of retreat, we ran towards a village. When we arrived, the sky became dark. We met a group of RF. Corporal Chau suggested we follow this group. I said: "No! Following this group means to be killed. This is because they are following a road leading to Cam Lo where the NVA may have organised ambushes".
Although we did not know where the 7th Battalion was, my sixth sense told me that it was near by. I said: "The Battalion certainly withdraws through forests. If we cross the forest, we will meet them sooner or later."
In the forest, the darkness was complete. Seeing a trail, both of us followed it. We saw a very small light point in the distance. "Chau, look carefully! Do you see that bright point?"
"It's probably a firefly," he answered. "No, it is not. Had it been a firefly, it would have to move up and down, but this bright spot just moves around one small area. It is certainly a torch illuminating a map to find directions." I explained my observation. I told him to bend his body, the lower the better, during walking. It was so dark that if we raised our hands in front of us, we could not see it. We had to look up into the sky to determine direction. Then we approached some shadows of human beings. I looked up in that direction and I saw helmets. I whispered, "The 7th Battalion?"
"Yes"
Hearing the reply, I was delightedly relieved. The bright spot that I had seen before was Captain Tran's torch lighting a map. The whole Company had heard the order to retreat. Only the two of us, being lying deep in the foxhole, had not known anything about it.
For me, these days were the most miserable because I almost walked and slept at the same time. Corporal Nhon used a wire and created a kind of lasso around my neck so he could pull me after him. Both of my soles were painful as if I had been stepping on sharp thorns. We continuously dragged our feet for two days and two nights.
On the third morning, Major Hue, the 7th Battalion Commander called in Artillery to fire a smoke round so he could determine our position. Looking at the billow of smoke in the far distance, Major Hue scowled: "It is still a long distance!"
The 7th Battalion stopped to have a rest. The whole Battalion was so tired. Among the people who had followed the Battalion, there were a number of RF soldiers, some civilians and mountaineers. A woman carried a big bag which I firstly thought that it contained her belongings. However, it was not the case. She put it down and opened it. There were only cigarettes, sweets and candies in great quantity. Everybody surrounded her to buy things, forgetting that they were on the retreat.
I pulled my feet out of my boots. It was so comfortable now. Both of my feet were wrinkled from having them soaked repeatedly in water of streams or by climbing the hills and mountains. That night I slept like a log. The next morning, Captain Tran asked me: "Did you hear anything last night?" I replied: "I have not heard anything" He did not comment upon my answer, but only told me to try my best.
In the late afternoon, the 7th Battalion arrived to the position of an Infantry Unit which had stayed in the west of Quang Tri City. Then the Battalion moved further southwards to the area between the Ben Da and My Chanh Bridges.
o0o
My Company performed operations west of National Route 1. While the other Marine Battalions had frequent battles with the enemy in Dong Ha, day and night, we had no encounters. Every unit was shelled by the NVA artillery. Only our unit received no shellings since the day we had left Cua until now.
One day, our Company was in charge of protecting a Marine Artillery battery. During this time, the NVA shelled continuously, forcing Artillery batteries into frequently changing positions in order to avoid damages.
On one occasion, my company was protection an Artillery battery near Nationaly Route 1. A NVA 130mm long range artillery round fell. It exploded on the other side of the route, about 500m away. The second round fell closer. Captain Tran shouted: "Everybody jump into your foxholes now! The NVA are adjusting their Artillery."
The third round was only 100m from our position and then a salvo of explosions occurred right on our defensive line. While I was lying at the bottom of my foxhole, I heard loud shouts.
"Run quickly or we would all be killed"
I popped my head up and saw some artillery men who were running out of the defensive line. Some of us also stood up and wanted to flee like those artillerymen. Suddenly a loud shout hit out ears. "Company 3! Stay where you are! Nobody is allowed to run"
Right in the centre of the smoke and dust, which had not been dissipating, Captain Tran stood uprightly holding his pistol P38 in his right hand and continued to shout: "Company 3 should stay in place. Nobody is permitted to flee. Ignore the escape of the friendly unit! Our responsibility is to protect this position. We must stay here. He who runs without my order will be shot dead by myself"
Although the NVA Artillery was still pounding, I admired so much that I confided to Corporal Tai: "Why is our master so extraordinarily audacious? He usually has a kind appearance and a soft voice and now he looks so colossally dignified!"
Corporal Tai replied: "Company 3's strength was from him. From Kampuchea to South Laos, had he not been our Commander, Company 3 would have been destroyed a long time ago"
After a few minutes, the NVA shelling ceased. Marine Artillerymen returned with a presumably NVA artillery scout. This NVA had been hiding somewhere close to us. When he saw artillerymen rushing out to escape, he mistakenly thought they had detected his hiding place and had run out to catch him. Therefore he popped up and ran away. However, he was captured. After he was taken prisoner, the NVA shelling ceased. The fleeing of units had been a blessing in disguise.
At the end of April my company moved from the mountains to National Route 1 at the southern end of Ben Da Bridge where we waited for a convoy to be transported to Dong Ha. At the time, civilian refugees were so numerous. They moved in innumerable masses along the Route.
In the morning of 1.5.1972, my company mounted a convoy and moved northwards. Passing Ben Da Bridge for a short segment, the convoy stopped. Standing on a truck, I looked at the overcrowded column of people who were carrying all their belongings and fleeing southwards. The NVA shellings started raining down. Suddenly there was a loud order: "Get down! Enemy ambush. Company 3 deploy on the left, Company 1 on the right!"
We quickly jumped down from the trucks and lay along the railroad parallel to National Route 1.
The NVA artillery rounds torrentially fell on the refugee columns. Everything on the route surface seemed to be broken into pieces. From mountains in the western direction, the NVA machine guns and recoilless rifles fired directly at the Route to destroy all what had been remaining. I followed with my eyes, a group of approaching running civilians. An explosion busted out. Human bodies splashed everywhere with the smoke. The next group stopped some seconds as they were stunned and then resumed dashing forward, no matter where the NVA shells would fall. They succumbed one after another. We could not help then in anyway except shout and direct them to the comparatively low land between the railways and the National Route 1 in order to avoid shrapnel.
A very long column of vehicles were burning, including ambulances marked with big red crosses. A helicopter flew very low above our head. Seconds later, we turned our head back, it fell and exploded. A whole segment of National Route 1 was covered by NVA shells. Smoke and fire expanded, covering the whole sky.
At about noon, the shells became scarcer. There was only a large devastated area left. Vehicles continued burning. Human bodies were seen everywhere on the ground. On both sides of the National Route 1, bodies were in all positions. At that time, I knew that our Battalion Commander, Major Vo Tri Hue had been wounded. Part of the convoy succeeded in running to Quang Tri. Only Companies 1 and 3 were jammed here. Captain Tran ordered three platoons to deploy in a row formation and advance. An unit of M41 tanks and M113 APCs from Ben Da Bridge came out to support us. However, because the terrain was barren, without shelters, the spearheaded platoons were stilled blocked at small sand dunes and were unable to go further. From the mountain's feet, the NVA recoilless rifles fired. Captain Tran told me: "Put your personal things down here and move forward to help the others medevac the wounded. Remember to walk close to the tanks!"
Keeping myself close to a M113 APC, I crawled to the forefront. Suddenly I heard 1st Sergeant Vo shouting: "Charge". He dashed forward with two marines. Clips of bullets clattered. I crawled forward a little further and slit myself down into a trench. I saw about fifteen NVA dead bodies. Squads of 1st Corporals Diep, Buoi, Loi and of Sergeants Tiem, Dung, Ngan fired continuously and tried to crawl forward, but only for a short distance. The NVA had been there long before, waiting for these squads. For reasons unknown to me, there was no Artillery supporting us at that moment. From Ben Da Bridge, a Jeep Wilson ran to the Company CP and stopped. Four foreign reporters jumped down at set up movie cameras to film. A round of the NVA recoilless rifle nearly hit the Jeep and exploded on the other side of the route. The Jeep quickly ran back to Ben Da Bridge. The group of cameramen filmed for some minutes and then fled due to the intense NVA fire.
In the late afternoon, the Company withdrew; the tanks also retreated back to the Ben Da Bridge. When the Company approached the bridge, from the other side of the route a group appeared and ran towards us shouting: "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We are the ARVN! We are on the same side!"
Leading the group was 1st Lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry Division. There were about a hundred people, most of them Infantry soldiers with Rangers and a few Marines. Captain Tran ordered us to disarm all of them. They said that they ran towards this location because of the familiar ARVN gun sounds. They also informed us that there had been an ARVN tank unit being attacked and it had been struggling to flee here. When the company reached the bridge, Captain Tran told them: "Tonight, none of you are allowed to cross the bridge. That's a safety measure. You will be permitted tomorrow"
It seemed that it was quiet everywhere except for the gun sounds from the aircrafts and explosions from Quang Tri. Sitting in a bunker right at the end of the bridge, I asked Captain Tran: "Master, why didn't you allow them to cross the bridge? If the NVA attacked tonight, what would happen to them?"
He looked at, answering in a deep voice: "I know that could happen. In this situation, I cannot do anything else. It is already dark. If I let them cross the bridge and since there is no one to control their rear, the NVA could infiltrate by blending in with them and also cross the bridge. It would become a great danger to us."
That night passed quickly in a sleepless wait. Around the bridge, it was calm. In the sky of the north, we saw flying bullets from spectre gun ships. Artillery sounds blended continuously with bombing sounds.
At day break, there was an order to let the people cross the bridge. Leaning against the bridge, I tended a cigarette to a passing Ranger and asked: "Did you sleep last night?"
He answered: "I was so anxious that I did not get any sleep. I just waited and hoped to see day break as soon as possible"
At Ben Da Bridge, there had already been defensive bunkers and trenches. I heard that this was the foremost position and a big battle could occur here. I recalled some films in which allied forces had tried to occupy a German Bridge. I dug a foxhole at the southern end of the bridge, only a metre from the route.
Captain Tran told me: "There already is a strong bunker further down there. Why did you dig a foxhole here?"
I answered determinedly: "Master, I lie here. The first NVA who will cross the bridge will meet me immediately"
Corporal Tai advised me: "This place is very dangerous. Come down there, at the CP. It is much safer"
I resolutely replied: “No worries! In this battle, I have to let the NVA taste my punch. Yesterday they fired at civilian refugees. We will avenge the innocent deaths up the murderers"
I then advised Corporals Tai and Chau: "Don't stay in the above ground bunkers. The NVA would destroy them all before they charge. It is best to dig a hole".
Everybody prepared for themselves, each with a position for battle.
It was the 2nd of May, 1972. It was a very hot day. We placed containers full of river water on both sides of the bridge so the returning survivors could drink. However, the number of them was too small. There was also no news about the returning tank unit. From the north, sounds of bombs or artillery reverberated.
An engineering soldier arrived. Captain Tran ordered him to set mines, but insisted that he would not be allowed to fit detonators in yet. In films, mines were usually set at the feet of the bridge. However, they were set in the middle of it. Late afternoon came quickly. Captain Tran called me and ordered: "Bring your weapon and go with members of Platoon 4 to carry the antitank mines and set them on the other side of this slope. Hurry! It would soon be dark"
I asked: "Master! Only I have a run. If we encountered the NVA, how could we defend ourselves?"
"Don't worry. There is an outpost of the 9th Marine Battalion." Captain Tran answered.
At the top of the slope, we looked around but were unable to see where the 9th Battalion outpost had been. Someone said: "Set the mines and then go. It is so frightening here!"
Everybody set the mines and returned quickly.
The sky became darker and darker. Everybody was waiting for the tank unit to return and expecting the big battle to occur. Captain Tran said: "The NVA already had coordinates of this bridge, but they would not pound it with their artillery. They still need this bridge to advance to Hue. They will attack with tanks and infantry. You have to be careful and attentive."
It was completely quiet in the surrounding area. From Quang Tri, there were some flares visible and sounds of guns were audible. It was night, but rather hot. I took of my uniform shirt and lay on my flak jacket in the middle of the route. Looking at the sky, I dreamed about a battle: I will perform like the heroes in films. I recalled images of German soldiers climbing on tops of tanks and throwing grenades inside them. I will imitate them. Once the tanks cross the bridge, they will be only a metre away from me. I will certainly do a good deed in this battle. I still dreaming when Captain Tran's voice sounded: "Why do you lie here? Go closer to your foxhole. Lying here is too dangerous. At the beginning of the attack, the NVA bullets would hit you first or their tanks would crush your bones immediately"
I returned to my foxhole. Lying inside it, I waited for the coming battle… I slowly fell asleep.
After midnight, the order of alarm was given. Turning my head, I saw Captain Tran and his two RTO standing next to a bunker, only a few metres from my position. The tanks were probably coming. I listened attentively but could not hear anything. All the M72 LAWs were ready. After a while, I heard: "The tanks are returning" At the same time, the outpost group from the 9th Battalion ran back and informed us that tanks were coming. Captain Tran ordered: "Everybody has to be careful and attentive. It could be either the ARVN tanks returning or the NVA tanks advancing"
He ordered an engineering soldier to fit the mine detonator, just in case.
I was still naked to the waist, sitting next to the opening of my foxhole. The engineering soldier passed by, silently carrying detonators. When he was approaching the mines, a machine gun salvo clattered. Bullets flew, raking along the surface of the route, very close to me. He lay close to the steel side of the bridge. At that moment, I heard tanks rumbling. I grabbed my flak jacket but had no time to put it on. Everything around me happened at a lighting pace, much quicker than I had thought. I heard a voice shouting: "NVA tanks!"
The M72 LAWs fired from both side of the northern end of the bridge. M72 rockets zipped through the air, drawing bright trajectories in the dark. An NVA tank burst into a ball of flames. The first tank stopped in front of the bridge. The second and the third tanks continued to dash forward, only to meet their fates. Balls of flames ran across the bridge. The M72 LAWs continued to fire at those balls. The sky was brightly lit but these moving masses engulfed in flames. Their heat blew into my face when they passed me. The wriggling NVA jumped down from their tanks. I put my M72 down and grabbed my M16. I was not lucky enough to be able to fire some clips at them because they had jumped to the other side of the route. From the direction of Platoon 2, salvos of M16 reverberated. Everything occurred and ended before the time required for a cigarette to burn out.
There were rumbling noises of the NVA tanks running along the other bank of the river. Suddenly, there was silence. The voice of Captain Tran sounded again: "Beware! This probably was only the NVA pioneers. Their main force would follow"
He then mumbled: "It was burned too soon!"
I asked Corporal Nhon, one of his RTOs: "What is he complaining about?"
Nhon told me: "While the NVA tanks were shot at, Company 1 on the other side of a wooden bridge (in the east, on the other side of the Ben Da village) had hurriedly burned the bridge, for the fear that the NVA tanks could cross that bridge and attack".
The engineering soldier sat up. He was calm enough not to jump into the river. A NVA tank's steel track crushed one of his boxes of bullets. We sat waiting for the following NVA attack but nothing happened. The rumbling of tanks also came to a silence. There were only crackling sounds of the NVA burning tanks. The whole bridge was brightly lit by those burning vehicles. One of them lay ten metres behind me, on the route. Its heat expanded in waves. After a long wait, I swore: "Damn! What are the VC tactics? They raced towards us. Only to flee immediately after having some tanks destroyed!" I was disappointed of course. I waited for a big battle, but it lasted not even ten minutes.
The sky started becoming brighter. The fires on the burning tanks were less intense. There were only small spots that were still burning. Smoke was mixed in with the odour of burning flesh. I sprang to the Platoon 2 position. Meeting Corporal Loi, I hurriedly asked: "Anything happen?"
Corporal Loi elatedly laughed and said: "My squad had been waiting, index fingers on triggers, hearing thud… thud… when the NVA jumped down from their burning tanks, right in front of us. We just released the triggers."
Captain Tran ordered to search carefully. Hearing some noises, I ran in that direction. Four marines were encircling a house and searching.
"What were you searching for?" I asked
"There was a shadow that rushed into this house, but we could not find him"
Corporal Loi approached saying: "All of you leave this place. Let me deal with it"
He then set fire to the house. From the roof of the house, a NVA jumped down and was captured.
I walked on the route and observed. At the northern end of the bridge, three NVA tanks stopped on the route's sides. At the southern end and on the eastern side of the route a NVA tank had climbed on top of another. Two others were in the middle of the route. Next to the fifth tank which had been smouldering, there was a NVA body, in a kneeling position. He had probably been trying to jump down but was then dead when his feet had touched the ground.
Near the river bank there was a bush. A NVA body lay there. Quang, a bearded marine stood looking at it for some time and walked away. I stood there a little bit longer. I going to turn and leave the place when a shadow crawled out from the bush. By a natural reflex, I dashed to him with a kick. I pushed him down to the ground. I immediately pulled my bayonet out of my flak jacket when the communist shouted: "Please don't! Don't kill me! I still have my father and my mother!"
Hearing those words, I stopped and asked: "Well, I will not kill you. Stand up. Why did you wait until now to crawl out?"
He answered: "Minutes ago, seeing that you all fired so intensely, I did not dare crawl out and surrender. Now, thanks to the fact that you are not carrying a gun, I emerged to surrender"
I led the prisoner to the Company Command post. Captain Tran told me to bring him to the 9th Battalion. Behind an Armour unit, in the straw hut, there were many antennae. It was the 9th Battalion Command post.
On the way back to my company, I asked cavalrymen: "Hi, are you preparing to withdraw?"
They just looked at me and smiled. I asked them because I saw that while the turrets had been pointing to the bridge, the heads of their tanks had been facing Hue City.
At about noon, there was an order for the whole company to retreat. It moved to the southern end of the bridge. The engineering soldier was controlling the mines and detonators. A big explosion occurred. After the dissipation of smoke, Captain Tran arrived to have a look and asked the engineering soldier: "Are you sure that the NVA tanks cannot cross the river?"
The soldier replied: "Certainly, authority! Tanks cannot cross this gap".
I approached it and observed. The bridge was cut in halves. There was a large gap. I asked: "Captain, why don't you order to destroy it completely for safety's sake. If the NVA use timber or something else to span over the gap, what could happen next?"
Captain Tran answered: "We need this bridge for our future use. We partly destroy it now just with one goal and that is to hinder the NVA tanks from advancing. Even now, the railroad bridge is spared. It is not to be destroyed so survivors may still cross the river"
Two shadows were tottering down the slope. They were two children. Captain Tran said: "Any two of you go and bring them here. They are too small to be able to cross the railway bridge"
Two Marines put their belongings down, quickly jumped over sleepers (cross-ties) of the railway bridge and carried them in their arms back. The older boy was only about four to five years old. The younger one was a toddler who had been incessantly crying: "Water! Water!"
They had been survivors on a long segment of the road governed by death and only now had they reached this place. There were no more tears left on their emaciated faces. Their parents bodies may have been lying somewhere on National Route 1. The youngest boy probably does not know what had happened. He just followed and walked to where his older brother pulled him.
Captain Tran ordered: "Bring them to the Armour unit. Whenever it withdraws, it is to transport them on their tanks to My Chanh. Someone there will care for them. We care to walk on foot from now on".
His company marched along National Route 1 to My Chanh. Turning my head back, I looked at the two bridges. They seemed to be still intact. Would the railroad bridge be destroyed in the future?
After having crossed the bridge at My Chanh River, the Company positioned at a hamlet. The life of every household here seemed normal, without any trace of war. Some days later, the Company moved to Hoa My Base. It's here that the Company rejoined the 7th Battalion. Captain Tran left the Company to become the Executive Officer of the 7th Battalion, whose Commander was now Major Nguyen Van Kim. Major Hue did not return to the 7th Battalion. It was 1st Lieutenant Tang Ba Phung who replaced Captain Tran as our company Commander, 2nd Lieutenant Tranh was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and was transferred to another Company. Also, 2nd Lieutenant Luu, from the Battalion's S3 became the Executive Officer of the Company.
At Base Hoa My, the 7th Marine Battalion prepared for another operation, the kind of operation which Marines usually dreamed of: an amphibious operation and this time, at My Thuy beach…
Switzerland, 2005
Nguyen Tin
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