Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [231]
The Huey dropped Claybrook off at Tay Ninh, and General Thurman of the 25th Division immediately called him into his office. Thurman was hopping mad about the NVA flags and the NVA equipment being worn, and told Claybrook that an order had been issued forbidding demonstrations by units coming out of Cambodia. The implication was that footage on the evening news of American GIs cheering as they rolled back into Vietnam would give the impression they'd been mauled in Cambodia. Claybrook said that he had not received that order, and Thur-man responded that if he did not get his troops under control he would be relieved of command.
As for the troops, they pulled into Cu Chi from Cambodia for what was to have been a three-day standdown. They proved so rowdy, however, that the base commander telephoned Major Weeks ahead of time and politely asked him to get his vehicles fixed and then to get the hell out. They ended up road marching to Bear Cat via downtown Saigon at noon, causing a traffic jam that, Major Weeks later laughed, they're still trying to unsnarl.
Peske was evacuated to Tay Ninh, where he stayed with his arm in a cast until 2-47 rolled through on their way back from Cambodia. He'd been wounded twice before and would receive a fourth wound in September 1970 on the battalion's last operation before standdown at Bear Cat in preparation for withdrawal. The platoon had completed a sweep through a marshy brier into a clearing before the men at the rear finally reported seeing NVA in the thickets. Peske radioed Younts, who told him to go back in– Peske claimed he heard an airborne commander talking on the radio about going out with a bang. The men were balking–this was their last patrol–until Lieutenant Peske took the point with Sergeant DeFrank and Sergeant Harris. They walked right into an ambush, which the NVA signaled by shooting Peske in the stomach. He fell to his knees, then was blown over by the claymores. He came back up unable to grip his M16 as he watched the NVA climb from their holes. One took a few quick shots at them, then followed his retreating comrades, leaving Peske with shrapnel in his skull, shoulders, and neck, his shoulder blade shattered and a gaping exit wound in his back. Harris had shrapnel in his face and chest, and DeFrank had shrapnel in his throat, chest, and leg. Prompt medevac saved all three.
Chapter 42: BURNING YOUR BRIDGES BEHIND YOU
At dusk on 14 June 1970, Captain Wallace and First Sergeant Neville L of M Company, 3d Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, were sitting on their cots under the canvas extension rigged from the rear of their M577 TOC armored assault vehicle when a lull in the conversation allowed them to hear the thud-thud-thud of mortar rounds being fired rapidly from a mortar tube.
FSB Susan had no mortars.
Wallace and Neville instantly clambered through the open back ramp of their ACAV, shoving the radioman inside onto the floor as Neville lunged to the driver's compartment to crank the ramp back up. Wallace grabbed the radio to shout incoming across the company net. Hatches were slammed shut and seconds later the first shells impacted inside the muddy laager, followed by salvo after salvo for the next hour, the cacophony more than doubled by the return fire from the tanks. No targets were visible, but M Company split the darkness with sheets of tracers and cannister rounds in case NVA foot soldiers were gliding forward through the elephant grass under the cover of the mortar barrage. By the time the mortaring petered out, the tankers had expended almost all of their .50-caliber ammunition. Several men from the 3-11 ACR Tactical Operations Center and the Howitzer Battery, set up in the center of FSB Susan, had been wounded.