Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [169]
Chapter 33: AMBUSH ALLEY
The elevated dirt road cut from the jungle into flatlands. Stubbled rice paddies spread out to the left and scrub brush to the right, while some three hundred meters ahead of the column of APCs–returning from patrol as dusk approached–a lush line of bamboo and cane sprang up. From a shimmer of water near the brush line in the paddies, several white birds that resembled egrets suddenly lifted off with a start. The rumble of the approaching tracks could not yet have reached them, and Sgt. Bill G. Koch, a battalion sniper attached to C Company, 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 22d Infantry, 25th Division, became uneasy: shit, there's something up there that spooked them and we're probably going to get 'bushed!
Sergeant Koch had been incountry almost two years. He was sitting on the back deck of the third track in line, wearing the helmet he used to sit on when shooting, his modified M14 rifle with automatic ranging telescope and silencer resting across his lap. He tried to shout over the engine to the track commander, “You better call the tracks ahead and tell 'em to stop because we've got a problem up there!”
No response. Their APC had to stop moments later anyway when the rear door of the APC ahead, built into the back ramp, vibrated open. In the absence of shock absorbers, the rough ride instantly dumped crates of ammunition and grenades onto the road before the driver could apply the brakes. Behind the APC, the whole company came to a halt on the road. Unaware, the lead APC kept rolling.
“Hey, tell the lead track to stop!”
That's when the North Vietnamese commenced their ambush, with a command-detonated mine blowing off several of the lead track's road wheels. A pair of RPGs suddenly cracked from the canebreak to the left and sizzled across the three hundred meters of open paddy, while a squad of NVA with AK47s also opened fire from spiderholes in the cane and bamboo. Three more NVA began firing from the brush on the right side of the road.
Koch instantly pressed tight against the shielded cupola, even as the riflemen sharing the ride on the back deck jumped to the road and sought cover below the raised highway on the side opposite the canebreak. The driver pushed himself up from his hatch to join them, and was instantly sent sprawling on the track deck with a sucking chest wound. The driver was bigger than Koch, so Koch shouted for help. A GI rushed back up from the embankment, and Koch looped his arms under the unconscious driver's armpits and, still on his knees, tried to lower him to the GI below. He lost his grip. The wounded man fell in a heap on the GI, knocking him down. Koch suddenly realized that the track commander was also sprawled on the highway beside the APC, shot through the top of the head. When the medic who had scrambled up to help gave the track commander mouth-to-mouth, red bubbles came through the hole in his skull. The track commander and driver died in the red dust of the road.
Remaining behind the cupola, Koch shouldered his M14 and scoped in on the bamboo. He was unable to narrow down any targets until some leaves moved. He opened fire. Another pair of RPGs rushed past. Koch grabbed a LAW and went through the procedure to arm it, which wasn't easy when you're scared and excited. When he finally shouldered the weapon, it would not fire. Afraid to toss it aside should it go off if jarred, he laid the LAW down on the other side of the cupola in the direction he'd want it to go if it eventually discharged. Crab-walking back to the safer side of the cupola, he pulled a couple of flak jackets in front of him and reshouldered his rifle.
Meanwhile, the company commander had dismounted from his track and worked his way down the embankment