Into Cambodia - Keith Nolan [90]
Major Marsh, XO, 2-11, was also on the road with F Troop and the Howitzer Battery. They had recently (on 3 May) weathered an evening attack on FSB South I, which had been quelled in large part by Sgt. Robert Rush, Flame Section, HHT/2-11. (The attack had begun with an RPG barrage that hit the mess tent; several men were KIA and WIA. Rush had opened fire with his .50-cal before remembering that he had a flamethrower underneath him. He disappeared inside his track to pressurize the tanks, which he did with shaking hands, as an RPG hit the A VLB beside his track and showered debris through the open top hatches. Back up top, Rush hit the ignitors repeatedly with no result until, now mad instead of scared, he got a “golden rod” on his fourth attempt; he then traversed the flamethrower back and forth, and up and down, until the tanks were empty, the brush was ablaze, and the enemy was suddenly silent.) At daylight (4 May), Major Marsh turned FSB South I and their inoperative vehicles over to 1-11, as his group followed 2-11 and 3-11 toward Snoul. Marsh helihopped along the highway, dropping off the sdn mntn sgt to repair disabled vehicles dotting the road north. Unrepairable vehicles were to be left after igniting a thermite grenade on the engine, and another in the main gun breech if it happened to be a Sheridan.
The battle for Snoul lasted (officially) from 1330 to 1945, 5 May 1970, and resulted in sixteen U.S. wounded and the death of an interpreter attached to 3-11 ACR. Two NVA were captured and an estimated one hundred forty-four NVA were killed.
Chapter 17: DREADNAUGHTS AND PANTHERS
The sunny clearing in Task Force B's section of the Fishhook was dotted with trees, in which were hootches and cattle pens so new the wood was still green. There was also a flagpole.
An NVA flag hung from it.
As reported, though, the base camp was deserted. Lieutenant Flowers's platoon of tanks from B Company, 2d Battalion, 34th Armor, followed by Lieutenant Nerdahl's platoon of tracks from B Company, 2d Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry, passed by without difficulty. Having operated independently the first two days of the campaign, they were now on their way to rejoin Captain Santiago, the tank company commander. Where the base camp clearing gave way, their trail continued into thick woods. The glorified footpath was the only one in the forest, and Santia-go's and Flowers's columns headed toward one another like trains on the same track.
Santiago's group was ambushed.
Rushing on to help, Flowers, in the lead tank of his group, saw the point tank of the oncoming column halted ahead on the path, facing him. He recognized it as the Patton commanded by Sergeant Barnett, one of his men who'd fallen behind on Day One with mechanical problems and been scooped up by the rest of the company following them in.
Barnett's tank smoked from an RPG hit.
Figuring the NVA had allowed Barnett's tank to pass to the farthest edge of the ambush so as to catch as much of Santiago's column as possible, Flowers had his driver push on until, almost gun tube to gun tube with the smoking tank, he was stunned by the sudden explosion of AK47 and RPG fire down his own column. Chaos. Like a snail out of his shell, the gunner riding atop the gear in the turret bustle rack began madly firing his M16 into the trees. The loader, sitting topside with his feet dangling in his own open hatch beside Flowers's cupola, disappeared inside the turret