Fickle Lady Luck
First Lieutenant Van Tan Thach
The 3rd Company of the 3rd Marine Battalion advanced to a village north of the Old Citadel. The village was fenced in by a thick bamboo hedge, 50 metres from which were the graves of those who had fallen in battle. Only 200m further, the enemy had set up position. It was at this dangerous site, that we were told to station. Many a friendly force had came to grief in the area - not a comfortable thought considering that my platoon was supposed to evolve right in front of the enemy. To the west of my platoon, First Lieutenant Bong had stationed his men. The first two nights were uneventful, but at 3.00am on the third, the enemy began to shell us with artillery rounds. The rounds, which had delay fuses, caused a great deal of damage to our bunkers. B40 and B41 rockets soon followed. We were familiar with their tactics, so prepared ourselves for the assault that was to come. They were sure to use suicide sappers to initiate the assault. I ordered my guys to stay in the trenches, and to avoid using personal firearms if possible. The enemy began to throw grenades over our defensive line. We were forced to throw grenades of our own. The bamboo fences were well alight from the fires started by the rockets.
As their suicide sappers fell to our gunfire, the enemy held back. The Marine Artillery were superbly accurate that night. At one stage, the NVA troops were so close I had to direct co-ordinates for the Artillery, that were not more than 50m from our position. The NVA suffered many casualties. At 5.00am, I had practically used up all of my grenades. We were in a critical situation. To my left, I heard the NVA shouting “Charge!”. To my consternation, the platoon of First Lieutenant Bong had abandoned its position. To my left, my own men were scurrying out of their foxholes. That left only me and four or five others in the middle. I turned my head, and caught sight of a soldier running directly towards me. “What's the matter?” I asked. To my horror, he raised his gun at me, and I realized in that split second that he was an enemy. It was the end of me, but I shouted at the top of my voice to warn my men:
“NVA! NVA!”
All of us leapt out of the trenches. I rolled myself away, then stood up to run. An explosion from a Beta tore up my bunker, and several bullets flew after me. I waited for the NVA soldier to discharge his entire AK 47 clip into my back - but nothing happened. Had I imagined it? The thought flashed across my mind and instantly went, as I concentrated in running for my life. As I ran, I came across a group of Marines sitting on the ground.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled.
“We're waiting to be captured, sir.”
My blood boiled. “Get the f... up, and follow me. We're going to form another defensive line. They are going to kill us all, do you understand? Now, forward!” I yelled as I kicked a few of them in the butt.
Using some of my best men to spearhead the organization, I repositioned my platoon. The NVA who had just taken over our position, did not have time to regroup, so were caught out by our vicious use of grenades. Petrified, they abandonned their newly acquired position. Taking advantage of the situation, we quickly regained our previous positions. On reaching my bunker, I heard the moans of two wounded NVA soldiers. A third man was trying to make his escape, but he was not as lucky as I had been. As he fell, he gasped “Down with...down with...”, but died before he could finish his sentence. I did not hear what he wanted “down”. American imperialism? The Marines? South Vietnam? His bloody Ho Chi Minh? I really didn't give a damn about his last words.
At dawn, I ordered everybody to stop shooting to review our condition. Further to the left, a few NVA were still being a nuisance, so we called in a few M 48 tanks to finish them off. At 3.00pm, the last of the NVA were silenced. I lost a member of my platoon, and two others were wounded. As I collected the enemy weapons from the battlefield, I realized that the last NVA soldier I had killed was the same one that had trained his gun on me. He had not taken pity on me at all. The reason why I was still standing was because his AK 47 was jammed. I tried to pull the trigger, but nothing happened. I thanked my lucky stars for the blessed mechanical fault! Unable to use the gun, the NVA soldier had resorted to his Beta. Hearing the babble of my radio, he must have thrown one in, hoping that some of us were still within. Unfortunately for him, the explosion set off the smoke grenades inside our bunker. The smoke blinded him temporarily, forcing him to wait inside. At that very moment, Lady Luck had reversed the situation, and I had returned. Thus it was that the hapless guy, fell victim to my bullets.
First Lieutenant Van Tan Thach
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