Raindrops and tracking the NVA during Operation Crazy Horse
Chinese Bandit 13
22-23, 1966 by RANGER Jerry Conners, Chinese Bandit 13 and War Eagle
13
The patrol moved north to the location where we encountered abandoned
NVA bunkers that contained the body of one NVA soldier that was
discovered in one of the deeper excavations. While evaluating the
bunker complex, an American rifle squad consisting of 8 men approached
from the north "team carrying" one of their men (believed to be a SP/4
Parks) in a poncho litter. The man was semi-conscious and the poncho
was filled to his armpits in a mixture of his blood and rain. I called
for medivac and had some of the patrol members bring in the UH-1. The
man was evacuated to the sound of rifle and machine gun fire from the
surrounding hills when the aircraft was on approach and during
departure. The UH-1 was not damaged and I was informed many years
later that Parks had survived.
We resumed our search of the bunkers and located another trail having
fresh barefoot and non-American boot marks leading to the west up the
hill in the direction that we had been directed to recon.
We had been in contact with NVA forces for two days. The eight-man
patrol, including myself, had little or no sleep for three days and we
had experienced near continuous movement in the steep and heavily
treed mountainous terrain in the area we call 'Happy Valley'. We had
been mistakenly attacked by two UH-1 gunships earlier in the afternoon
and although no one was injured, our sole PRC radio was damaged and
unable to transmit when the RTO sought cover from the four 2.75 FFAR
that were launched in our direction. I had made the decision to
proceed in our mission to complete the planned patrol route without
reliable radio communications.
The patrol was moving downhill along the trail approaching the stream
located in the valley below which marked the limit of the authorized
area of operation. Anticipating contact with the NVA at any moment, we
were not spread out long distances as was the norm when searching for
the NVA but remained in line of sight of each other. The point man,
Combat Jones, stopped near the stream and signaled enemy contact
ahead. I advanced to join him after signaling the others of the
situation.
As I approached Jones, he pointed toward the stream near the trail
crossing where the trail led up the hill on the far side of the
stream. The bloated bodies of two NVA troops were lying in the water
still clad in their uniforms and web gear. I waded into the water and
examined the bodies. They had no weapons and their wounds appeared to
have been from irregular shaped fragments, not bullets. The
surrounding area showed evidence of 2.75 FFAR impacts.
Jones and I scouted both sides of the stream and did not locate trails
running parallel to the waterway. I returned to my position in the
patrol and signaled Jones to proceed. He entered the water and we
followed him for less than two hours to where a game trail
intersection was anticipated. Jones stopped when he saw the large
abandoned but overgrown slash and burn clearing on his right. We
halted in the stream and I advanced ahead of Jones searching for the
trail that was quickly located less than 100 meters in front of where
we had halted. The trail had recently been actively used by the NVA.
As I returned to Jones, he pointed vigorously over my left shoulder in
the direction of the upper edge of the slash and burn clearing. I
turned to see more than 30 NVA troops filing down the edge of the
clearing towards the stream. I was concerned that any movement in the
stream would dislodge silt, sands or debris that might mark the water
further downstream; however, I carefully moved back along the patrol
positioned and briefed each man to not move and what was occurring out
front. Returning to Jones who had been left to observe, he informed me
that he had counted more than 200 NVA who continued to file out of the
tree line at the top of the clearing. We remained in position for
another thirty minutes until the last NVA was observed. Jones' total
count had reached 423 men that wore khaki uniforms and were carrying
only individual weapons. No crew-served weapons were observed. At
about the time we lost sight of the last NVA trailing the others, we
heard NVA crossing the stream ahead of us. Their crossing made no
detectable noise but their distinctive sing song language could be
heard for more than 100 meters.
While the NVA filed unseen but heard ahead of us, artillery fire began
to impact several thousand meters further down the valley and was
advancing in our direction. It was later learned that this was an
impromptu H&I fire mission. The artillery fire continued for about
five minutes and the closest rounds fell only about 1000 meters from
our position. The NVA could be heard to be advancing uphill in the
direction of friendly forces. They shouted often during the artillery
barrage.
I looked at my stainless steel Omega SeaMaster watch when the last of
the NVA crossing the steam was heard. We remained in position for
another 10 minutes and then began our movement downstream towards the
trail. I kept looking back at the patrol but could only see Jones
wearing his in-country made scroll patch and red scarf grinning back
at me. I remained in the point position as was common for NCOs to do
when closing with the enemy. Nightfall was approaching and I intended
to move around the NVA if they stopped during the night. I came to the
trail and quickly searched for NVA stragglers along the route they had
used on the lower edge of the slash and burn clearing while Jones held
the patrol in the water.
Not locating any remaining NVA near the stream, I rejoined the patrol
and briefed Cpl Matsuoka, my team leader, of my concerns of further
NVA approaching from our rear as we followed the sighted NVA up the
hill.
We had about thirty minutes of adequate light remaining under overcast
skies before EENT and as we began to follow the 400+ NVA uphill. A
light rain began to fall as the sound of an approach H-13 observation
helicopter was heard overhead. On point, I stopped the patrol and
located the helicopter flying along the stream at about 2000 feet AGL.
I waited until the noise of the helicopter was no longer a factor and
continued up the hill as the rain continued to fall. I had only
advanced about 75 meters up the hill from the stream where a small
tree opening in the trail allowed the rainfall to impact the trail. I
watched the droplets land in one set of NVA tracks. I studied the
track that consisted of a flat smoothly worn 'tennis shoe' like print.
There were many droplet impacts in the track and I examined several
more as I moved slowly leaning over the trail. A fresh imprint with no
water droplet markings lay before me. I watched as raindrops fell into
the fresh track. I had not intended to become that close. I turned and
gave the 'freeze' signal that was passed along the patrol filing
behind me. I gave a second signal using two fingers racked across my
upper arm that was also passed down the line. I waited facing the
enemy's position until Cpl Matsuoka joined me. I pointed to the prints
near me and the raindrop markings that indicated the closeness of the
NVA. I instructed him to observe from beside a tree along the trail
located about 10 meters from where we were kneeling and to remain in
place as I held the men in position while I considered the merits of
withdrawing or at least getting some distance between the NVA and
ourselves.
A few minutes later the sound of the returning H-13 was heard and I
again waited until the helicopter was clear of the area. As the sounds
of the H-13 disappeared two M-16 shots rang out in quick succession.
Again, I signaled to hold and began moving uphill towards Matsuoka who
I met coming down the trail. He explained that one NVA had come within
10 feet of him before he fired. As he spoke we could hear the singsong
speech of NVA coming down the hill towards us. I ran towards the
patrol and with Matsuoka's assistance quickly put the men on line with
myself adjacent to the trail on the left and Jones on the other side
of the trail.
Going on line was an ignorant decision and I knew it immediately. I
yelled to Matsuoka to take the men down the trail and follow the
stream back along our route and then take the first major stream
drainage uphill that led in the direction of the friendly forces and
keep moving until darkness, then wait for me. I ordered Jones to
remain with me. As the men ran past us and down the trail I knew that
Jones and I would die in the next few minutes. I pulled the pin from
my only fragmentation grenade and waited for the NVA to overrun us.
The NVA kept yelling amongst one another and fanned out along either
side of the trail for a distance of about 50 meters but they did not
advance. Jones and I remained in position as more of the NVA filed
down the hill to join their comrades that were less than 30 meters in
front of where we were laying. I looked at my watch and the grenade I
held in my left hand. It was getting dark and the patrol had been gone
about 10 minutes. I turned towards Jones and said "Run and join the
patrol." He responded, "No, I am staying with you." I reached across
the trail and pulled him towards me. "Get out of here and I will be
right behind you. Now." Jones spun around on his stomach and alligator
crawled down the trail as fast as he could move. I followed him with
the grenade still in my hand and the pin left behind. I dropped my
ranger patrol cap with its 'merit' badges along the trail but could
not pick it up without stopping. The cap was left behind. The trail
was steeper as we neared the stream and Jones jumped to his feet and
ran and then jumped into the stream. I followed him and we both ran up
the stream from the direction we had come earlier.
It was now dark enough to make our being followed difficult and we did
not hear the NVA in pursuit. After about five minutes we came to the
junction of the stream drainage that I had intended Matsuoka to follow
uphill. I was concerned that he may have taken another route but
continued to run up the shallow stream for about five minutes where we
found the other members of the patrol forming a line perpendicular to
the stream flow. I spoke as loud as appropriate, "Follow me!" and
continued up the stream for another half an hour. We were exhausted
from days without sleep, walking the long patrol distance, running
from the NVA and the anxiety of the recent contact with the enemy. We
had approached a steep section of the stream where numerous small
waterfalls had formed. The rain was still falling lightly.
Still holding the grenade, I directed the men to form a line in the
deep-water pockets amongst the rocks. As the men filed by I told them
we would rest and "Sleep if you want to." Once we were secure in what
seemed to be a safe hiding place, I intended to dedicate my best
thoughts to getting the patrol out of harms way and quickly decided to
rest a few hours and then move up hill during darkness to link up with
the friendly forces at first light. I wanted to sleep but could not
with the grenade in my hand. I loosened some C-ration wire from my LBE
harness and fashioned a pin that I twisted into the pin holes of the
grenade. I snapped my LBE to Jones's who was bobbing in the water next
to me and fell asleep. I awoke some time later to the sounds of the
NVA searching for us. Their voices and the beams of their flashlights
came near enough to be heard and seen but they did not approach the
stream in which we were hiding but continued downhill. I fell back
asleep thinking that we could only rest a few more minutes before
resuming our movement up the hill. The sky was lighting when I awoke
again.
I briefed the men who formed a circle around me near the stream where
we had been resting and warned them of the dangers of approaching an
American combat unit that was not expecting our arrival.
Jones led us up the mountain. When we neared the ridgeline and where I
expected our troops to be located. I yelled, "American troops
approaching, hold your fire." Before I could make another request SSG
Grimes yelled back, "This is Chinese Bandit 11, stay put and I will be
down to lead you through." In a few minutes, I saw him approaching. He
said, "They believe you were missing in action and had 'bought the
farm. I told them 'no way'." I shoved him and said, "Never." The rain
had stopped. As we walked up the hill and down into the valley to join
the rest of the unit I watched the sun come up over the other hill and
I told Grimes, "I thought I would never see the sun again." He just
stared at me.
I watched as the men filed by in their jungle fatigues and patrol
caps. They were full of 'piss and vinegar' and the tired faces that I
had seen the night before were gone. They were celebrating being
alive.
Note: This article was originally posted on the Jumping Mustang home
page by Col Mertel, USA Retired in 2000.