HEADQUARTERS TROOP STORIES
Introduction to The Nam - Page 4
By Wayne Witwicki
The Summer of '69-Clearing in the Trapezoid
By Wayne Witwicki
While the 2nd Platoon was in Lai Khe at Q-service, the rest of A-troop were sent on Rome
Plow security out in the Trapezoid. The bad guys paid a visit on the night of June 24/25
lobbing mortar rounds, RPGs and 51cal into the NDP. A hunter/killer team of Cobras took
out the 51, one flew high with lights on to draw fire. When the 51 gave away its position
the other snake bit him. Gene Garrison got hit with mortar fragments in his back and was
dusted off. Ron Hamilton had broken his arm somehow and wasn't out with the troops. They
needed medics and, with the 2nd platoon in Q-service, I was available, so I went out on a
re-supply chopper and joined the 1st Platoon. The only event of note was when one of the
plows got RPG'd. Before I was able to get there the engineers had the situation under
control and called in some aerial artillery-Huey Gunships-and a dust-off. The poor guy who
got hit was covered with hydraulic fluid lying on a litter. I asked if anyone had a towel,
was given one and wiped the hot oil off the guy's face. Maybe the engineers like being
covered in hot oil? Before the end of June the 2nd platoon was done with their Q-service
and joined the rest of A-troop at the NDP-Mons II(?) ; the sea of mud.
The bad guys came and harassed us every now and then; either shooting RPGs into the perimeter
at night or by sleeping late and getting caught by the Rome Plows in their bunkers. On the
3rd of July we surprised some of them in a base camp hidden in the forest. At first it was
all confusion. The lead tank swung his main gun to the right and unloaded with a beehive,
then he fired an HE round that sent up a geyser of dust. Then came a stream of tracers out
of the trees. I distinctly saw a series of flashes come off the tank's rear right sprocket,
an RPG hit? I was behind and to the left, but was able to lob several M79 grenades at the
source of the tracers. We shot up the place as we backed out of the forest. Some of the
tracks might have gotten damaged from bumping into each other, but fortunately with the RPGs
and bullets, only one of our guys was wounded in the neck.
We got an air strike. Phantoms streaked by and dropped "Snake and Nape" (250 lb. bombs with
air brakes and napalm). Then up in the sky, a small dot separated from a larger dot and fell
to earth. It must have been a 750lb or larger bomb. The concussion whacked me in the chest
like a punch. Nothing could live through that, so we went back into the trees to see what
remained of the enemy, shooting up the place again. We had infantry with us who went into
the jungle looking. Shots were fired, then several more from an AK (it's report had its own
distinct sound. The M16's sounded more like firecrackers). I grabbed my aid bag and moved
closer to the fire, staying behind some armor. Then I heard several dull thuds from grenades.
Soon several litters were brought out of the jungle with three of the infantry on them. The
first was the infantry medic-shot through the heart. Next was a grunt with no signs of life.
We had one platoon from C-troop with us that day. Their medic-Motto - had gone into the forest
with the infantry and had checked out the casualties. Only one was still alive but had several
bullet holes in his chest. Motto had patched him up already. He and I then began an IV while
the medevac was on its way. I heard that he died twice on the operating table but finally made
it. Motto had a red streak up the small of his back about six inches long. He said that when
the shooting started he went for the wounded, passing over a hole the gook shot up at him but
only grazed his back. That was a close one. The infantry medic came also and, while reaching
forward to drag off one of the wounded, got nailed. I'm not sure what unit of infantry that was,
but I felt that was pretty poor of them to allow their medic to be left uncovered like that
and get shot. Thankfully, my guys never did that to me.
The next day was the Fourth of July. After dark, we had a mad minute and shot off all our M79
rounds. Our TC, Lynn Claybaugh, must have roasted the barrel on the 50cal the day before. Not
to be outdone, the bad guys gave us a light show of their own after midnight, complete with a
Cobra rocket attack all for our entertainment.
The next day two ACAVs were sent with two Rome plows to finish a cut they missed in the
previous days. I was wearing earplugs because my ears were still tender from the mine explosion,
but as we followed the plows, I heard the muffled popping of automatic weapons' fire behind me.
Turning and looking over my right shoulder, there was a red line hanging in the air coming from
the bushes and passing in front of the ACAV behind us. There were several of us on the back of
our track and the others jumped inside, I was able to roll onto the hatch and stitched the
bushes back up along the still visible red line with my M16. The shooting stopped and we beat
it back to the NDP. I would have liked to have some M79 grenades to shoot at the bastard, but
we had not been resupplied with grenade rounds as of yet. Later, Lynn told me that our PSgt
Nolan was on the trailing ACAV and wanted to know who was the "gunner" on our track.
During the next days we had other contacts with the enemy. On one occasion, a Rome plow hit a
mine in a small grove of rubber trees. It would aggravate me when one of the tracks would hit
a booby trap and not signal me right away if everyone was uninjured. I surely didn't want to
expose myself needlessly, especially if there were booby traps. So what do they do? Send me
across one hundred feet of knocked down rubber trees to check on the plow driver. My thinking
went along the lines of: well if I were going to plant another mine where would I put it? The
trees were laid out in a neat grid. I would put my mine on a diagonal so that I'd have a chance
of getting a hit whether they were going north to south or east to west. So there I went
hopping from stump to stump trying to avoid what I know is a "second" mine on a diagonal, while
at the same time not making myself an obvious target if the bad guys were watching and trying
to get a shot. Maybe I got them laughing and they couldn't aim straight.
Halfway across I froze. All the thoughts of mines and snipers finally got to me and I just
panicked and froze in my tracks paralyzed, unable to step forward or back. I finally decided
that if I was going to die I was going to die, there are some things we have no control over.
For better or worse, I was going on. I finally got to the plow and the driver was wandering
around on the other side where we couldn't see him. Lt. Armstrong motioned to me to check the
size of the hole. It was about one foot deep by three feet in diameter. The driver was all
right and the engineers were coming to repair the plow, so now I had to hop along back to the
tracks. What a day.
On another day we were escorting the plows again when the tanks suddenly got on line, all the
ACAVs followed and we began busting jungle in a hurry. Lynn said a Loach spotted a bunch of
the bad guys making a hasty retreat out of a basecamp up ahead. I usually reconned with an M16,
but since our track was on the left side of the formation, I grabbed the M60 when our gunner
brought it over. Why Watlz when you can Rock n' Roll? I had great fun firing into the bunker
openings and into the jungle beyond. Done just right, I could squeeze off single rounds, but
mostly I shot off short bursts. We had some infantry with us and as I was firing I noticed the
guy sitting next to the cupola squirming and jumping around; the ejected cartridges were hitting
him as I fired. As if in explanation, Lynn leaned over, tapped the guy on his shoulder motioning
toward me with his thumb and said, "That's our medic." We didn't catch up to the bad guys.
When we stopped and send part of our force back with the plows, a group from the 11 ACR showed
up. We had a "professional" rivalry with them and referred to them as the "11th Armored Carnival.
" I'm sure they had their pet name for us, too. They had the misfortune of being issued Sheridan
Assault Vehicles. Jack Hanshew had taken part in the development of that vehicle at Ft. Knox and
said the thing was dangerous. It ran on gasoline, which exploded easily from a mine or RPG hit
and had completely self destructing shell casings. Jack said he would be afraid to light a
cigarette in the turret of one of those things. A group of about two platoons of 11ACR passed
through our formation and went after the enemy. They found them. It was my understanding that
they lost several vehicles and a Cobra was shot down. Luckily for us the bad guys didn't retreat
our way, we only had one tank and nine ACAVs. The jungle was thick and the 50s went through
everything. In the jungle the RPGs would deflect all over the place. I'd take the 50s and M60s
over AKs any time, but I'd prefer not to find out.
We finally finished Rome plow escort duty and went on to sweep more of the Trapezoid. We'd find
base camps and blow up their bunkers. On one occasion I followed Lt. Szabo, 3rd Plt leader, into
a group of big bunkers; he always had a nose for souvenirs. We found an M60 still wrapped in oil
and some neat propaganda brochures-"Yankee Go Home." I stuck my head into one of the doorways
and saw a large warhead protruding out of a side tunnel. Oops! I swiveled my eyes looking for
trip wires and backed out, leaving this for someone who knew what he was doing.
Another bunker complex was another souvenir opportunity. We found some big, long bunkers with
scorpions in them, not for me. One side path led to what looked like a pitcher's mound with a
board over the top. I kicked off the board; it was an outhouse! Who's got a frag? Someone gave
me a grenade, I pulled the pin, hollered "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Dumped it in and ran like hell.
The logs were heaved out of the ground and there was crap smoking and hanging in the trees. I
hope they were especially irritated when they returned.
Later in the month of July we went back to Lai Khe. Maybe because we wreaked so much havoc on
the VC/NVA, we were sent to the First Division in-country R&R center in Di An. We were able to
get a decent night's sleep, eat in comfort, exchange our beat up uniforms for new ones and go
swimming in their pool. Maybe the First Infantry Division was beginning to appreciate us?
The Summer of '69-Clearing in the Trapezoid By Wayne Witwicki
While the 2nd Platoon was in Lai Khe at Q-service, the rest of A-troop were sent on Rome Plow security out in the Trapezoid. The bad guys paid a visit on the night of June 24/25 lobbing mortar rounds, RPGs and 51cal into the NDP. A hunter/killer team of Cobras took out the 51, one flew high with lights on to draw fire. When the 51 gave away its position the other snake bit him. Gene Garrison got hit with mortar fragments in his back and was dusted off. Ron Hamilton had broken his arm somehow and wasn't out with the troops. They needed medics and, with the 2nd platoon in Q-service, I was available, so I went out on a re-supply chopper and joined the 1st Platoon. The only event of note was when one of the plows got RPG'd. Before I was able to get there the engineers had the situation under control and called in some aerial artillery-Huey Gunships-and a dust-off. The poor guy who got hit was covered with hydraulic fluid lying on a litter. I asked if anyone had a towel, was given one and wiped the hot oil off the guy's face. Maybe the engineers like being covered in hot oil? Before the end of June the 2nd platoon was done with their Q-service and joined the rest of A-troop at the NDP-Mons II(?) ; the sea of mud.
The bad guys came and harassed us every now and then; either shooting RPGs into the perimeter at night or by sleeping late and getting caught by the Rome Plows in their bunkers. On the 3rd of July we surprised some of them in a base camp hidden in the forest. At first it was all confusion. The lead tank swung his main gun to the right and unloaded with a beehive, then he fired an HE round that sent up a geyser of dust. Then came a stream of tracers out of the trees. I distinctly saw a series of flashes come off the tank's rear right sprocket, an RPG hit? I was behind and to the left, but was able to lob several M79 grenades at the source of the tracers. We shot up the place as we backed out of the forest. Some of the tracks might have gotten damaged from bumping into each other, but fortunately with the RPGs and bullets, only one of our guys was wounded in the neck.
We got an air strike. Phantoms streaked by and dropped "Snake and Nape" (250 lb. bombs with air brakes and napalm). Then up in the sky, a small dot separated from a larger dot and fell to earth. It must have been a 750lb or larger bomb. The concussion whacked me in the chest like a punch. Nothing could live through that, so we went back into the trees to see what remained of the enemy, shooting up the place again. We had infantry with us who went into the jungle looking. Shots were fired, then several more from an AK (it's report had its own distinct sound. The M16's sounded more like firecrackers). I grabbed my aid bag and moved closer to the fire, staying behind some armor. Then I heard several dull thuds from grenades. Soon several litters were brought out of the jungle with three of the infantry on them. The first was the infantry medic-shot through the heart. Next was a grunt with no signs of life. We had one platoon from C-troop with us that day. Their medic-Motto - had gone into the forest
with the infantry and had checked out the casualties. Only one was still alive but had several bullet holes in his chest. Motto had patched him up already. He and I then began an IV while the medevac was on its way. I heard that he died twice on the operating table but finally made it. Motto had a red streak up the small of his back about six inches long. He said that when the shooting started he went for the wounded, passing over a hole the gook shot up at him but only grazed his back. That was a close one. The infantry medic came also and, while reaching forward to drag off one of the wounded, got nailed. I'm not sure what unit of infantry that was, but I felt that was pretty poor of them to allow their medic to be left uncovered like that and get shot. Thankfully, my guys never did that to me.
The next day was the Fourth of July. After dark, we had a mad minute and shot off all our M79 rounds. Our TC, Lynn Claybaugh, must have roasted the barrel on the 50cal the day before. Not to be outdone, the bad guys gave us a light show of their own after midnight, complete with a Cobra rocket attack all for our entertainment.
The next day two ACAVs were sent with two Rome plows to finish a cut they missed in the previous days. I was wearing earplugs because my ears were still tender from the mine explosion, but as we followed the plows, I heard the muffled popping of automatic weapons' fire behind me. Turning and looking over my right shoulder, there was a red line hanging in the air coming from the bushes and passing in front of the ACAV behind us. There were several of us on the back of our track and the others jumped inside, I was able to roll onto the hatch and stitched the bushes back up along the still visible red line with my M16. The shooting stopped and we beat it back to the NDP. I would have liked to have some M79 grenades to shoot at the bastard, but we had not been resupplied with grenade rounds as of yet. Later, Lynn told me that our PSgt Nolan was on the trailing ACAV and wanted to know who was the "gunner" on our track.
During the next days we had other contacts with the enemy. On one occasion, a Rome plow hit a mine in a small grove of rubber trees. It would aggravate me when one of the tracks would hit a booby trap and not signal me right away if everyone was uninjured. I surely didn't want to expose myself needlessly, especially if there were booby traps. So what do they do? Send me across one hundred feet of knocked down rubber trees to check on the plow driver. My thinking went along the lines of: well if I were going to plant another mine where would I put it? The trees were laid out in a neat grid. I would put my mine on a diagonal so that I'd have a chance of getting a hit whether they were going north to south or east to west. So there I went hopping from stump to stump trying to avoid what I know is a "second" mine on a diagonal, while at the same time not making myself an obvious target if the bad guys were watching and trying to get a shot. Maybe I got them laughing and they couldn't aim straight.
Halfway across I froze. All the thoughts of mines and snipers finally got to me and I just panicked and froze in my tracks paralyzed, unable to step forward or back. I finally decided that if I was going to die I was going to die, there are some things we have no control over. For better or worse, I was going on. I finally got to the plow and the driver was wandering around on the other side where we couldn't see him. Lt. Armstrong motioned to me to check the size of the hole. It was about one foot deep by three feet in diameter. The driver was all right and the engineers were coming to repair the plow, so now I had to hop along back to the tracks. What a day.
On another day we were escorting the plows again when the tanks suddenly got on line, all the ACAVs followed and we began busting jungle in a hurry. Lynn said a Loach spotted a bunch of the bad guys making a hasty retreat out of a basecamp up ahead. I usually reconned with an M16, but since our track was on the left side of the formation, I grabbed the M60 when our gunner brought it over. Why Watlz when you can Rock n' Roll? I had great fun firing into the bunker openings and into the jungle beyond. Done just right, I could squeeze off single rounds, but mostly I shot off short bursts. We had some infantry with us and as I was firing I noticed the guy sitting next to the cupola squirming and jumping around; the ejected cartridges were hitting him as I fired. As if in explanation, Lynn leaned over, tapped the guy on his shoulder motioning toward me with his thumb and said, "That's our medic." We didn't catch up to the bad guys.
When we stopped and send part of our force back with the plows, a group from the 11 ACR showed up. We had a "professional" rivalry with them and referred to them as the "11th Armored Carnival. " I'm sure they had their pet name for us, too. They had the misfortune of being issued Sheridan Assault Vehicles. Jack Hanshew had taken part in the development of that vehicle at Ft. Knox and said the thing was dangerous. It ran on gasoline, which exploded easily from a mine or RPG hit and had completely self destructing shell casings. Jack said he would be afraid to light a cigarette in the turret of one of those things. A group of about two platoons of 11ACR passed through our formation and went after the enemy. They found them. It was my understanding that they lost several vehicles and a Cobra was shot down. Luckily for us the bad guys didn't retreat our way, we only had one tank and nine ACAVs. The jungle was thick and the 50s went through everything. In the jungle the RPGs would deflect all over the place. I'd take the 50s and M60s over AKs any time, but I'd prefer not to find out.
We finally finished Rome plow escort duty and went on to sweep more of the Trapezoid. We'd find base camps and blow up their bunkers. On one occasion I followed Lt. Szabo, 3rd Plt leader, into a group of big bunkers; he always had a nose for souvenirs. We found an M60 still wrapped in oil and some neat propaganda brochures-"Yankee Go Home." I stuck my head into one of the doorways and saw a large warhead protruding out of a side tunnel. Oops! I swiveled my eyes looking for trip wires and backed out, leaving this for someone who knew what he was doing.
Another bunker complex was another souvenir opportunity. We found some big, long bunkers with scorpions in them, not for me. One side path led to what looked like a pitcher's mound with a board over the top. I kicked off the board; it was an outhouse! Who's got a frag? Someone gave me a grenade, I pulled the pin, hollered "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Dumped it in and ran like hell. The logs were heaved out of the ground and there was crap smoking and hanging in the trees. I hope they were especially irritated when they returned.
Later in the month of July we went back to Lai Khe. Maybe because we wreaked so much havoc on the VC/NVA, we were sent to the First Division in-country R&R center in Di An. We were able to get a decent night's sleep, eat in comfort, exchange our beat up uniforms for new ones and go swimming in their pool. Maybe the First Infantry Division was beginning to appreciate us?
Page Five - Pay Back Time
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