Dante’s Inferno
By David Beakey
Dear Sophia,
Sorry about the stains on the paper, it’s the last piece I have.
We’re low on supplies…even water! I don’t dream about hamburgers and milkshakes
any more, just water, cold, clear water. We’ve got these pills that make any
water fit to drink, but I still get a little queasy when I have to fill my
canteen from a mud puddle, Ha! Ha! Anyway, how are you? I hope Jody hasn’t been
calling on you lately! That’s a joke between us marines, but it actually
happened to my buddy Cleo. He handled it well though. He’s pretty cool. He’s
from
Stars and Stripes
Well, last week, this reporter decided to “tag along” with some
marine grunts who were flushing out NVA troops from their temporary base camps
west of Khe Sanh. Echo Company was on a three day mini-operation, a thrust
across two mountains and down into a valley where what was left of an NVA
company was pinned down by two large marine units. Echo Company Captain Egan
reckoned there would be only “the quick and the dead” left by the time his men
plugged up the escape route, on day three.
…we humped for two days straight, up and then down and on day
three, up again. We weren’t even sure about what we were doing, but it became
clearer as we got about halfway up the second mountain. Somebody was
over that ridge. We started to receive sporadic sniper fire and took our first
casualties. It was getting hot, too. It must have been 100 degrees. I was
carrying the gun (my M-60), lots of rounds over my shoulder and across my
chest, my poncho, poncho liner, some C rats and three canteens (two empty and
one about ¼ full). Of course we all had flak jackets and helmets. We still had
about half a click of climbing ahead of us in order to reach the crest, and
then it would be downhill, to meet up with that somebody, probably NVA.
We figured it was some kind of mop-up operation, because we had been out for
two days with no action until now. Some guys thought we might have missed the
action this time and they dreamed of choppers coming to pick us up and carry us
back to the firebase. I stopped thinking about it and just focused on putting one
foot in front of the other. Suddenly, the terrain changed. We entered a huge
area that consisted of large grassy patches as big as several football fields,
the patches gradually blended into Elephant Grass, 4-6 feet high and waving
back and forth, pushed by a very warm breeze. My throat started to dry up. My
stomach tightened and I had this out-of-body feeling that I get sometimes in
the bush. I shook it off. I looked left then right and was surprised that I
could suddenly see the whole company, spread out across the slope. Strangely,
we were still in a jagged line, like a snake, moving sideways up the hill. But
almost immediately, the scene faded as the hot wind blew and the grass started
to obscure us, slowly, from east to west. Then I was alone, unable to see Nash
or Montoya, who were so close to me that I could hear them grunting and
swearing. And so it went. We kept marching up that hill, sometimes able to see
each other, sometimes totally engulfed by the grass…
Stars and Stripes
As Echo Company swept up the steep plain of the second mountain,
they encountered sporadic small arms fire. They responded immediately. In the
brief firefight, three marines were wounded. The shooting died down. The flank
squads reconnoitered and discovered several blood trails and miscellaneous NVA
items such as packs and ammunition belts, indicating a hurried retreat by the
enemy. The men moved swiftly up the slope, eager to attack the enemy on the far
side of the mountain. Closer to the peak they encountered an estimated 20-30
NVA. They opened fire when the marines were within 200 yards, but the marines,
utilizing the Elephant Grass, were able to find cover and slowly advance. The
firing was over quickly, as the enemy retreated and disappeared, evidently
running up over the top of the hill. The marines suffered two casualties. Again
the enemy left few clues as to their actual losses. But it is estimated that
they carried several dead and wounded with them, in their retreat. Now the
marines faced a new foe! The firefight had started a fire on the hillside. The
flames spread quickly, feeding on the Elephant Grass, spurred on by the wind.
…Then I heard an AK open up. Damn! It was on our right flank. For a
few minutes the rounds were popping, and then it quieted down. I was steadily
looking around as I walked, expecting some fire from the other side, but it
became quiet again. We kept humping up that hill. It was really getting hot now
and I started to worry about my lack of water. I was usually good at estimating
when we could refill our canteens, but not this time. I walked on. Then we
started taking fire from directly in front of us. It seemed more serious, more
coordinated than the small firefight on the right flank. I took the 60 off my
shoulder and held it by my hip and considered unleashing about 50 rounds. I
heard Montoya and Nash open up with their M-16’s. We were still in the tall
grass. Now I longed for that hot breeze, to blow the sweat out of my eyes. I
put the 60 down. I didn’t want to give away my position yet. I pulled out my
45. I fired three rounds in the direction of the hilltop. The firing stopped
after a few minutes. It was then that I heard screaming. Someone was yelling,
“Fire! Fire!” Several marines opened up again, but then it got quiet and
suddenly, I smelled smoke. “Oh, that kind of fire!” I heard Montoya
yell. Somehow, the hill had caught fire and the wind was blowing our way. Then
the tall grass spread apart and I stumbled into a huge clear area. I looked
left and right and watched as the men on each side of me broke through the
grass, as I had. I could see for 400 yards to my right and my left. I saw men
fall to their knees. Those walking were starting to stagger. My own legs had
become like rubber halfway up the hill. I caught a glimpse of Nash’s back. He had
taken off his flak jacket like he was going to fling it. But he must have
changed his mind and was putting it back on. His shirt was black and shiny from
the sweat. Montoya looked worse. I walked over to him and shared my canteen
with him. He nodded. I looked again to my right. The scene had changed. The
fire had broken through the tall grass and was moving diagonally up the
mountainside. Someone must have dropped some ammo, because rounds starting
cooking off. I knew it was our stuff from the sound and because the men closest
to the noise weren’t really ducking. We kept moving. What else could we do? The
fire at our backs made us scramble faster. The bad guys in front of us were
quiet, but that only made us nervous. They could be anywhere. We were so disoriented
from fatigue and edginess that we had ceased to act like anything resembling a
unit. Each man just wanted to reach that crest. I thought about the “Killer
Teams” we ran out of C-2, just south of Con Thien. No flak jackets, no helmets,
just 10 marines, quietly patrolling for three days. We caught a few by surprise
that way. That’s how to fight this war, I thought, not like this! We kept
moving up the hill. Periodically, I would glance across the side of the slope.
The shorter, yellow grass shimmered. The smoke formed white puffs which were
pushed westward across the troops, by the wind. The sky was bright blue and
cloudless. The men were inching their way up the mountain. We were nearing the
crest. Some of the men started to fall, from fatigue or dehydration. A few got
up and trudged on but several lay where they fell. I started to panic, but
quickly talked myself out of it. I heard numerous cries of, “Corpsman up!” I
kept humping. About 20 minutes later, we reached the top. There was a flat area
about 100 yards wide and then it started to slope down again. The fire
continued to burn across the slope, but luckily, it didn’t come over the crest
of the mountain. After some confusion, we set up a perimeter. The choppers came
to take out the wounded and dead. Rumor had it that 3 marines from 2nd
Platoon had died of heat exhaustion. The real casualty figures for Echo Company
were, 1 dead, from heat exhaustion, 13 down from the heat, 4 men burned by the
fire and 6 hit on the way up the hill…
Stars and Stripes
The men tried to outrun the fire and stay in their attack formation
at the same time. They managed to reach the top of the hill, but several
marines suffered burns from the fire. As they readied to attack, word came that
the battle below had ended. But the blocking maneuver by Echo Company had been
successful in keeping the foe cornered. The NVA rear scouts had reported a
large force moving up the opposite side of the mountain, (Echo Company) so the
enemy had no alternative but to stay where they were. The final body count was
47 NVA killed and 3 prisoners taken. Delta Company, 2/1 lost 6 marines KIA and
14 wounded. It is speculated that some NVA managed to escape. The marines of
Echo Company, 2/1, in addition to “closing the rear door”, captured several maps
and battle plans, left by the fleeing NVA scouts. Colonel William Tecumseh
Johnson (
…After the choppers left it was quiet for a while. Then we heard
that thumping noise again. Sure enough, they were going to pluck us off the top
of the hill! First, though, they dropped some water in a huge rubber container,
the type they usually drop to troops on long operations. But it bounced and
then slid down the mountainside. Then the Hueys came, many of them. I got on
one and slid across the floor when the pilot banked. I looked down and there
was a green canteen. It looked new. I shook it and realized it was full. I
didn’t even ask the gunner or anyone else, I just chugged down that water! As
we headed back to the firebase, I tried to make sense out of the last three
days. But I was a little lightheaded and the chopper was so noisy that I just
laid my head back on some ammo boxes and closed my eyes. Like my friend Cleo
says, “It ain’t nothing but a thing.”
Love, Dante