AMBUSH AT AP NHI – STORIES OF VALOR AND HEROISM

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The following account is of The Battle of Ap Nhi as told by Ron Leonard, crew chief of a Diamondhead gunship of B Company, 25th Aviation Battalion.  I am indebted to Mr. Leonard for his excellent research and detailed account of this battle. His account, has been edited, revised and condensed to make it more readable for those readers without a knowledge of military terminology.

Within his narrative, I have inserted my account of the battle, based on my first hand experiences in the battle, as the Senior Medic for Company C, 3/22nd, 25th Infantry Division.

As you read this story,  you may  realize that you or someone you know was in this battle.  If so, I invite you to contact me by leaving a note in the comment section. I  plan to continue adding details, and photos of those involved in the battle, to give them the honor they deserve.

The scene is the little Vietnamese village of Ap Nhi, which stretches along the south side of Main Supply Route 22, for about a mile.

It is a farming community, about half way between Go Dau Ha  and Tay Ninh.

The Ben Cui Rubber Plantation, known locally as the ‘Little Rubber,’ is near the village.

The weather and poor military planning on the part of our Commanding General,  favored the plans of our enemy, the Viet Cong, to ambush one of our supply convoys.

It was the  rainy season, with poor visibility, and a low ceiling making flying of our helicopter gunships dangerous.  Initially, there was no available artillery in range of the ambush, to support our troops.

Colonel Duquesne ‘Duke’ Wolf, Commanding Officer of the 1st Brigade, complained bitterly to  Ellis W. Williamson, 25th Infantry Division Commanding General, about the lack of resources to react to an enemy attack.  Unfortunately, his warnings to the General proved to be prophetic!

GENERAL ELLIS W. WILLIAMSON – ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D, NELSON

On the night of 24 August 1968, a reinforced Viet Cong battalion of five companies moved into the village, with the intent of ambushing the Tay Ninh supply convoy.

The convoy had 81 trucks of the 48th Transportation Company, made up of Refer Trucks in front, then supply trucks, fuel  trucks, and ammo trucks following.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

The enemy positioned four Viet Cong companies in the trench and rubber trees on the western edge of the ‘Little Rubber’ plantation.  A fifth Viet Cong company occupied fighting positions in the village of Ap Nhi.

25 August 1968
11:45 AM
As the lead convoy trucks entered Ap Nhi it was misty and raining. The convoy was met by a column of Viet Cong dressed as  ARVN (Army of the Republic of South Viet Nam) soldiers marching single file along the north side of the Main Supply Route  adjacent to the Little Rubber plantation.

As the lead trucks exited  the village,  the fuel and ammunition trucks, at the convoy’s rear were in the enemy’s ambush kill zone.  The enemy troops opened fire.

The initial shot of the ambush signaled the  beginning of  the assault.  Almost immediately at least one fuel truck at the front of the kill zone was hit and exploded.  This stalled the remainder of the convoy as the truck blocked the road and burned.

Thirty one trucks in front of the fuel tanker truck sped away and escaped, but fifty were caught in the kill zone. Seconds later an ammunition trailer at the rear of the convoy was hit and burning,  cooking off ammunition.

The initial assault, disabling the thirty first truck in the convoy and rear  vehicle, sealed the remaining 51 trucks in place.

In the initial attack, gun jeeps and vehicles with radios, were also disabled.

Almost as soon as the column came to a halt, the enemy charged from the rubber trees. They fired automatic weapons, threw grenades, and were supported by machine gun, and rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fire in an attempt to overrun our convoy drivers and take control of their trucks.

From hastily established firing positions, the truckers gallantly returned fire.

SSgt William Seay of the 62nd Transportation Company  was one of those drivers.

He had been driving a truck laden with artillery charges.

SSGT WILLAM SEAY

When the attack began, Seay immediately leaped from his truck and took cover behind the left rear dual wheel of his truck.

About 20 feet away Specialist David M. Sellman was behind the dual wheels of the ammunition trailer.

As two Viet Cong soldiers attempted to charge his truck Seay shot them with a burst from his M-16.

All along the line the convoy’s drivers held their ground until the attackers had been pushed back to behind the berm.

Within minutes the initial attack had been blunted, but the battle was just beginning. For the next nine hours the Viet Cong attempted to wipe out the small groups of drivers and convoy personnel concentrated along the roadway.

The Americans soon realized they were not only being subjected to automatic weapons fire from the berm across the road, and the rubber plantation, but from snipers in the treetops as well.

Seay spotted one of the snipers in a tree about 75 meters to his right front. Aiming around the right side of the truck tire, he fired a burst from his M-16, killing the sniper.

Minutes passed, and then a grenade thudded to the ground and rolled under the trailer within a few feet of Specialist Fourth Class David  M. Sellman, who was well aware that the trailer was loaded with 175mm artillery shells.

Seay left his position without hesitation, exposing himself to intense enemy fire in the open ground between the truck and the ammunition trailer’s wheels, picked up the grenade and hurled it back across the road. Four Viet Cong jumped from their cover and tried to run, but they were killed when the grenade exploded.

Minutes later, when another grenade landed close to Seay’s group, Sellman kicked it off the road behind them.

No sooner had the dust cleared from that explosion than another grenade rolled under the truck and Seay again retrieved it and threw it back across the road at the attackers.

Just as Seay returned to his cover he and Sellman killed two more Viet Cong trying to crawl through a fence. A few seconds later, an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) enemy bullet tore through the back of Seay’s right hand, shattering a bone in his wrist. Yelling that he was hit and for Sellman to cover him, Seay  ran back to his rear looking for someone to help him with his wound.

Positioned in a ditch on the west side of the road, Seay found a group of six truckers who helped him with his wound. Unable to use his weapon with his right hand, Seay lay down to rest in the roadside ditch while the others moved to better firing positions 15 meters away.

After half an hour Specialist Fourth Class William Hinote brought water to the wounded man and remained with him in the three-foot wide ditch, while both men occasionally fired at enemy positions and awaited the next assault.

Suddenly while Hinote’s back was turned,  Seay fired another burst with his M-16, even though he was in mild shock from a loss of blood.

Seay had risen to a half-crouch and was firing his rifle with his left hand at some Viet Cong trying to cross the road. Hinote turned just in time to see  three of the Viet Cong fall backward over the berm.

No more than five seconds later he turned again and saw Seay himself fall backward, struck in the head by a sniper’s bullet.

The man who had saved the lives of his fellow soldiers at least three times that day died instantly without making a sound.

Some of the trucks were being looted by the enemy. At one point when the Viet Cong were crawling all over the trucks, the truckers requested permission to call in artillery strikes and blow the enemy troops off the road. The 25th Division Commander, General Ellis W. Williamson, denied the request.  There was no artillery in range of the battle.

Prior to arriving at the scene of the ambush, Specialist Fourth Class David M. Sellman recalls being delayed leaving Cu Chi with the convoy, due to a flat tire.  Since the convoy had left without him,   he had to convince his superiors that he could catch up to the convoy.  Finally, he was given permission to leave Cu Chi and catch up to the convoy, soon to be ambushed entering the small village of Ap Nhi.

As Sellman approached the convoy, on the outskirts of Ap Nhi, the ambush began.

He recalls fighting along with Seay and the others, eventually taking a fighting position behind an Armored Personnel Carrier from the 9th Infantry.

As the battle progressed Sellman was wounded by shrapnel.  Later Sellman  awoke in a bunker surrounded by dead bodies, and eventually was evacuated with other wounded to  Long Binh.

Specialist Fourth Class David M. Sellman was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Clusters, and  the Army Commendation Medal with V device for valor for his actions that day.  Soon after the battle, he was promoted to Specialist Fifth Class.

12:00 Noon
The 1st Brigade learned of the ambush about noon from Company C of the 4th Battalion 23rd Infantry (4/23rd, Mechanized – armor unit).  This unit had positioned a platoon one kilometer south of the “Little Rubber” plantation, to protect the Main Supply Route .

This under strength mechanized infantry platoon of one officer and ten men with two Armored Personnel Carriers sped north as soon as it heard of the ambush.

The platoon charged into the southern end of the ambush site, and was immediately attacked by a company of enemy fighters , along the length of a  trench.

They also began receiving rifle fire from an enemy position near a farmhouse, now 200 meters to their rear.

Another platoon of Company C 4/23rd located some five kilometers north of the ambush site, sped south and came under heavy rocket and small arms fire from the enemy strong point in the Buddhist temple at the northern end of the ambush.

This under strength force, one officer and fifteen men in four Armored Personnel Carriers lacked sufficient combat power to overcome the enemy force firing from the Buddhist temple, so they kept the enemy fixed in position by firing on them.

12:20 PM
At approximately 1220 hours, the 1st Brigade Commander, Colonel ‘Duke’ Wolf,  arrived at the ambush site in his  Huey helicopter, “Little Bear.”

Immediately Colonel ‘Duke’ Wolf flew to the aid of  Company C 4/23rd platoon, who was being surrounded by the enemy. With the additional firepower of the M-60 door mounted machine guns on his helicopter, and the dropping of several cases of tear gas, the enemy fell back and retreated  from their attack on the platoon’s two Armored Personnel Carriers.

12:30 PM
Lacking any immediate standby reaction forces, Colonel ‘Duke’ Wolf, ordered Company C  3rd Battalion 22nd Infantry (3/22nd), 25th Infantry Division, to fly by helicopter as quickly as possible to the northern end of the ambush.

12:35 PM
Ten Huey helicopters  of the 25th Divisions 116th Aviation Hornets scramble for an emergency Combat Assault.

An Infantry Company (C 3/22nd) is  picked up by Huey Helicopters, 5 Kilometers north of Fire Support Base Buell II and inserted just north of the Buddhist temple at Ap Nhi.

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Charlie Company Assaults the Enemy

The following narrative is inserted based on my (Specialist 4th Class Ivan Katzenmeier) experiences as the Sr Medic for Company C, 3/22nd.

25    August 68

1:00 PM

My infantry unit, Company C 3/22nd, is ordered to join other assault units engaged in the battle at Ap Nhi.

Our unit is flown by helicopter to Tay Ninh, waits an hour and then flies to the sight of the ambushed convoy.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

We land on a road outside of the village, not knowing what to expect.

A mechanized armored unit leads our assault troops towards the village as we follow on foot.

ARTWORK BY JIM D. NELSON

It quickly becomes obvious, there are wounded soldiers needing medical help for their wounds.  The medics are busy treating the casualties.

Our Captain, James B.Hansard, walks in the center of the road with his RTO (radio telephone operator) at his side.

Our Captain, James B. Hansard

A model of courage, he shows no sign of fear.  He is intent on doing his job and taking care of his men in Charlie Company. As Sr Medic for his company, I walk with him, but near the ditch trying to keep a low profile.

Death and Destruction

To my horror, as we approach the village, we see bodies of civilians lying along the road. Parts of their bodies blown away. Civilians, caught in the crossfire, while trying to flee their village.

The ambushed convoy’s trucks sit on the road, their drivers dead in the cabs, they appear to be sleeping, no longer aware of the battle raging around them.

My eyes focus on the bullet holes in the thick metal rims of the trucks, which bear witness to the fact that my fragile body is no match for the penetrating power of a machine gun bullet.

It ll seems so unreal. But it is real. Death and destruction. No one is safe. The deadly bullets have no respect for who you are, medic or infantryman, officer or private, soldier or civilian.

The reality of the situation slowly soaks into my mind.  I am in a life and death situation.  I might be the next dead medic!

‘Doc’ Katzenmeier, Sr Medic – Company C

The tragedy of the situation intensifies as I see terrified villagers, walking and running towards us, screaming and crying in anguish, with children in tow along with a few meager possessions in their hands.  It is the most awful scene I have ever seen. I feel their terror, and know I can not help them.

A lieutenant and an infantryman come toward me and for treatment their head wounds.  Flying shrapnel hit them in the face.  I examine their wounds, which are not life threatening and continue on towards the village.

As I gaze down the village street, I see a man on a motorcycle race out of the Buddhist temple onto the street, trying to escape. I am not sure if he is a civilian or the enemy.

Someone calls, ‘Doc over here.’  I am at the edge of the village, and a soldier leads me to his buddy, with a bullet wound in the neck.

There is little I can do to save him from bleeding to death.  ‘Am I going to be O.K. Doc?’  ‘Yes,’ I reply, but know deep in my heart, his chances of survival are not good without a surgeon.

He is bleeding and spitting blood.  I start an IV and hope he can be evacuated soon.

Next a man is hit by a falling limb,  shot off a tree by an enemy rocket propelled grenade (RPG).

Four more wounded come to me for help, I treat them and send them on their way to be evacuated to a med-evac (air ambulance) helicopter.

An armored vehicle roars up next to me with another wounded soldier. He has bullet holes through his leg and hand.

I climb aboard the armored vehicle, and start treating his wounds.

Dan Orozco, a new medic, is with me now.

DANIEL OROZCO CHARLIE COMPANY PLATOON MEDIC

I ask the armored vehicle driver to head down the road toward the evacuation area where the wounded can be picked up by helicopter.

We arrive at an ARVN (Army of the Republic of South Viet Nam) compound where I jump off the vehicle and begin treating wounded lying in a ditch.  My supplies of bandages are running out.

A soldier runs to me and asks for help.  A soldier is on the ground.  It is obvious from his pale face and shallow breathing he is going into shock. I begin CPR.

The enemy begins firing mortars at us from the tree line.

We move the man into a shallow ditch to provide a little more protection and continue CPR.  Our goal is to keep him alive until  a helicopter can transport him to a hospital.  Even though we thought he had died several times we keep up the CPR.

Evacuating  Wounded Under Fire

In an instant, I feel red hot metal shrapnel hit my back, head and elbow, and then several loud bangs.

The shrapnel travels faster than the sound waves! This isn’t like the movies, where you here the gun fire, and then the bullet hits the victim. In real life it is the bullet that hits you first before sound of the gun firing reaches your ears!

Several enemy mortar rounds have found their targets – us!  The enemy is trying to kill me and my wounded soldiers!

I assess my wounds.  Am I OK? Am I mortally wounded?

My right elbow feels as if something slammed into my ‘funny bone’ with a hammer.  I have pain in my right forearm.  I am not sure if I need to be bandaged, or how bad I am losing blood.

The wounds seem to be not life threatening.  The tissue around the shrapnel in my elbow is swollen, causing pressure on the ulnar nerve, and numbness and pain, making my right hand and arm impossible to use.

In a panic, my mind races, I must move these wounded to safety.  They are wounded, not able to fight.  Frantically, I look around for help.

Parked near us is an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC).  “Get on the APC.  No one can help you, you have to get off the ground and climb up to the top of the APC.’ I yell at the wounded, lying around me.   ‘We have to get out of here before more mortar rounds find us.’

Regretfully, we leave the dying man in the ditch. We are unable to help him due to our own wounds. I climb on the Armored Personnel Carrier with difficulty, as do the others.

‘Take us to the med-evac.’ That is all driver needs to hear, and he begins driving us away from the battle, to an area where helicopters are transporting the wounded to the hospital.

My right arm is useless, but with my left arm, I am able fire repeated short bursts from my M-16 rifle at the the tree line.

The tree line is far enough away, it is impossible to see the enemy mortar crew.

My rifle jams and from inside the APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) a crew man hands me another rifle.

The APC’s 50 caliber machine gun mounted on top, is useless.  All the wounded soldiers on top of the vehicle are blocking it’s use.

At the helicopter landing area, we wait for a helicopter to evacuate the wounded.  Although I am wounded I am undecided whether I should evacuate myself or stay and assist the other medics.

I am wounded, in pain and nearly out of supplies.  I also have a new medic with me, and that makes the choice even more difficult.

In a few hours it will be night, the clouds are heavy with rain.  The battle is not over, it will go on through the night.

Do I stay and face the terror of battle, certain death for many, wounds for others, lack of supplies, and a cold lonely night in this hell of a battle, or do I leave for the safety of the hospital?

Those not wounded, have no options but to stay and fight.  I have an option, but with a price!

I leave a new medic on his own, to face the terrors of battle. The terrors I no longer want to face.

I think of my family, and my wife.  I recall being told by a seasoned warrior, ‘it is better being a live coward than a dead hero.  A hero’s medal won’t buy a cup of coffee in the States.’

I rationalize, I am wounded, I need medical treatment, but should I leave with the other wounded?

There is no one in authority to ask permission to leave, except myself.  Sometimes we are harder on ourselves, than others are on us.

I make my decision and climb aboard the helicopter, with intense mixed emotions of condemning guilt, and selfish relief.

A few days later, pon my return to Charlie Company, I am welcomed by several soldiers from my unit.

‘We put you in for a Silver Star, Doc.’

I am at a loss for words!  My deepest fear is that they would label me a coward for leaving the battle.   Instead, they tell me I am a hero!

I was not awarded the Silver Star, but was awarded a Purple Heart for my wounds and a Bronze Star for heroism in the Battle of Ap Nhi.

As most medal recipients will tell you, we don’t consider our actions in combat heroic.  Circumstances dictate what you do.

But it meant a lot to me that day to have the respect of my combat unit.   Their kind words were better than any medal!

Long after my physical wounds have healed, I will be haunted by ‘survivor’s guilt,’ that only another who has survived the trauma of intense combat can understand.

25 August 1968  has been the worst day of my life!

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The following narrative is a continuation of my edited version of Ron Leonard’s story of the battle. These guys are real heroes!

12:40 PM
The 1st Brigade commander, Colonel ‘Duke’ Wolf,  receives a radio message from the squadron commander of the 3d Squadron, 4th Armored Cavalry offering to send his Troop B to assist the brigade. The offer is gratefully accepted and Troop B was ordered to speed north along Main Supply Route  22 to reach the southern end of the ambush.

1:05 PM
The Combat Assault troops (Company C, 3/22nd, 25th Infantry Division) is inserted north of the Buddhist temple without incident, but have to fly in at 200-300  feet elevation to be under the cloud cover.

While supervising the Combat Assault troop’s  insertion ‘Little Bear’s crew chief is wounded in the lower leg by small arms ground fire and flown to the 12th Evacuation Hospital in Cu Chi.

1:10 PM
Troop B of 3rd Squadron 4th Cavalry arrive and are ordered to attack and destroy an enemy position in the farmhouse,  200 meters south of the Little Rubber Plantation.

Troop B charges the farmhouse.  The enemy directs heavy rifle and RPG
(Rocket Propelled Grenade)  fire at them.

After a 20-minute intense fire fight the lead platoon and  company commander, reaches the enemy occupied farm house. The company commander and four of his men are killed and eleven others wounded during the assault.

Approximately fifty enemy soldiers run from around the farmhouse and retreat north into the Little Rubber Plantation.

1:30 PM
The 1st Brigade Commander gives orders to the new acting Troop B Commander, who had just replaced his  commanding officer because he had just been killed.  He is to leave the farmhouse’s assault platoon in place, since they had suffered heavy casualties.  The remainder of his troop is to pursue the retreating enemy.

Troop B (less one platoon) pursues the Viet Cong through the Little Rubber Plantation.
After 15 minutes the enemy disappears among the rubber trees.

Next, the 1st Brigade Commander directs this force through the center of  The Little Rubber Plantation to a position approximately 100 meters to the rear (east) of the Buddhist temple.  They prepare to assault the temple.

In the meantime, the platoon of Company C, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry (Mechanized)
(consisting of eleven men and two Armored Personnel Carriers), which had been trapped in the extreme southern end of the Little rubber Plantation, has taken advantage of Troop B’s successful route of the enemy and joins up with the assault platoon of Troop B.

2:30 PM
A 155-mm howitzer battery (big cannons) is repositioned from Trang Bang and begins firing in direct support of 1st Brigade units. With this added fire power, the tide of battle begins to turn in our favor.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

CWO Robert Spitler remembers the flying difficulty.

He couldn’t climb up and roll in on a target, due to the low cloud cover.
Flying low and firing flat at a low angle with very little forward air speed is not a good fire angle.  Rockets easily go over the head of the enemy or fall short.

ART WORK BY SSG JULIO C. DIAZ

A steep dive angle from 1500′ is much more accurate. Eventually, they depleted enough fuel and ordinance to hang low over the convoy and fire at point blank range into the tree line.

He was  nearly hovering at some points, as couldn’t afford to lose the time it took to go out and make a full run back in again. They were everywhere.

The helicopter gunships fired  door guns, rockets and miniguns from all sides at the same time, until the ammo ran out.

CWO Robert Spitler remembers the flying difficulty.

He couldn’t climb up and roll in on a target, due to the low cloud cover.
Flying low and firing flat at a low angle with very little forward air speed is not a good fire angle.  Rockets easily go over the head of the enemy or fall short.

A steep dive angle from 1500′ is much more accurate. Eventually, they depleted enough fuel and ordinance to hang low over the convoy and fire at point blank range into the tree line.

He was  nearly hovering at some points, as couldn’t afford to lose the time it took to go out and make a full run back in again. They were everywhere.

The helicopter gunships fired  door guns, rockets and miniguns from all sides at the same time, until the ammo ran out.

3:00 PM
After Company C, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, had been moved by helicopter into the northern end of the ambush site to reinforce the two platoons of Company C, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry (Mechanized), the platoons of Troop B, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry advanced to a position 200 meters to the rear of the Buddhist temple.

The 1st Brigade Commander (from his Huey helicopter)  directed the infantry unit’s fire against the front of the Buddhist temple as Troop B assaulted the rear.

The Troop B platoons advanced in a line, firing all its weapons. When the assault reached the Buddhist temple, over 100 Viet Cong evacuated the temple and retreated southward through the trench in the Little Rubber Plantation.

3:30 PM
At 1530 the 1st Brigade Commander directed a “roll-up” attack operation down the axis of the enemy ambush positions in the village and the Little Rubber Plantation.

Company C, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry moved along the edge of the village, and Troop B platoons moved just inside the Little Rubber Plantation but parallel to the trench.

The enemy began moving southward through the trench in the Little Rubber Plantation while the enemy along the edge of the village also retreated southward through the village.

After advancing approximately 800 meters, the Troop B platoons receive rifle and  and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) fire from approximately three hundred Viet Cong in a very large trench located 200 meters to their front.

This trench, approximately ten meters wide and two meters deep, ran perpendicular from Main Supply Route  22 in an east-west direction through the center of the Little Rubber Plantation.

4:20 PM
Troop B forces begin to assault the enemy-held trench, but after ten minutes reported that enemy resistance is very strong and that they are unable to move forward without more infantry support.

To bolster the assault on the trench the 1st Brigade Commander directed Company C, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, to move across Main Supply Route  22 and proceed into the Little Rubber Plantation to join Troop B in an assault on the enemy-held trench.

Unfortunately, Company C was almost out of ammunition.  It had only enough for two platoons; thus it left one platoon in the village, and joined Troop B with two platoons.

Troop B reduced to about 50 armored cavalrymen, and Company C, reduced to about forty infantrymen, with the assistance of helicopter gun ships from Company B, 25th Aviation Battalion’s “Diamondhead’s” attempted a valiant assault against this naturally defensible position held by many times their number.

ARTWORK BY SSG JULIO C. DIAZ

After twenty minutes of intense fighting, both company commanders report the enemy is in great strength in the trench to their front, and in ever increasing strength on their flanks;  enemy firepower is too strong to permit them to close in and destroy them; and that both units are almost out of ammunition.

5:00 PM
Permission is requested to withdraw, regroup, resupply ammunition, and attack.

Due to darkness approaching and the impending monsoon rains adding to the enemy’s advantages permission is granted to withdraw and move to a defensive position astride Main Supply Route  22 just north of the Little Rubber Plantation.

They will attack again as soon as ammunition is resupplied.

5:15 PM
Back at Cu Chi, an additional light fire team from B Company 25th Aviation Battalion “Diamondheads” was scrambled to assist the withdrawal.

An A Company “Little Bear” helicopter is scrambled to the resupply point for the needed munitions, and an additional “Little Bear” helicopter is put on 3 minute strip alert loaded with CS gas.

5:30 PM
Our troops withdraw  as a very heavy monsoon storm hits the area., bringing total darkness and heavy rains which force all helicopters from the sky, preventing the evacuation of the wounded and resupply of ammunition for several hours.

5:40 PM
Both “Diamondhead” Light Fire Teams and the “Little Bear”, and resupply helicopters return to Cu Chi because of poor visibility and to wait out the storm. Diamondhead 174 is grounded after suffering several bullet holes in the rotor blades and had some structural damage in the forward cabin. CWO Spitler and his crew have to change ships to get back into the fight.

As we wait for the storm to subside in the scramble shack, we discuss strategy the enemy’s battle field strategy.  The enemy doesn’t want to blow up the convoy or they would have They wanted to steal the ammunition.

The drivers, some still pinned down at the north end of the convoy with little ammunition is a real concern. The large Viet Cong force in the Little Rubber Plantation is another.

Our main concern is to support the assault troops, protect the convoy from pilfering and looting, and to support the pinned down drivers. To do this successfully we needed the rain to stop and the clouds to lift some to give us room to work.

7:30 PM
Outside it is a torrential downpour.  I run back to my ship and dial the radio’s ground frequency.  The best I can tell is the fighting is continuing,  but mostly sporadic sniper fire, and the .50 Cals from the Mech Armored Personnel Carrier’s with their searchlights is keeping the looting of the convoy down.

The artillery unit from Trang Bang is doing a job on the Little Rubber Plantation, so the Viet Cong in the trench are at least frozen in place for the time being, and hopefully thinned out some.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

7:45 PM
A Little Bear Flare ship is scrambled to the convoy. The Little Bear ship got on location at about 1955. The weather was still atrocious and they could not see the ground from their elevation of 2500 feet. They dropped a few flares, but it was a lesson in futility since the ceiling on the ground was too low to be effective or accurate.

8:15 PM
Due to no visibility the Little Bear flare ship returns to the Bear Pit to wait out the storm further, as the artillery unit continues to pound the battlefield around the convoy and inside the Little Rubber Plantation.

10:05 PM
An emergency call is received an emergency resupply of ammunition. The assault units and drivers are in dire straights without it.  Since the Little Bear resupply helicopter is already loaded, they vote to take a try it. At worst they wil be forced to return.

As they approach the convoy they duck under the low cloud cover, the artillery unit fires illumination rounds and somehow they find the drop zone, illuminated by a strobe light.

The conditions are much too treacherous for the gunship helicopters to work, or any other aircraft for that matter.  Unloading quickly, they take on some of the wounded and return to Cu Chi’s 12th Evacuation Hospital to deposit the wounded and then on to the sanctity of the Bear Pit and safety to wait out the weather.

11:06 PM
At 2306, again the Little Bear flare ship is scrambled. According to the ground commander the sky is starting to clear some, and the ceiling improving. It will prove to be a very long night for the flight crews.

Jay Marion, the crew chief on the Little Bear flare ship remembers the night all to well.

‘We took turns “rotating on station” with the Diamondhead flare ship. While we were reloading, Diamondhead was dropping flares and visa versa. That way we could constantly have the battlefield lit up. It was one very very busy night.’

‘We were flying with NO LIGHTS on anywhere and we didn’t have monkey straps on, so one wrong step, or you get hung up on an out going flare and you went with it. It was not one of the better missions that I would want to repeat.’

‘We were flying quite high and worked our butts off tossing out flares… hoping like you would not believe that we would NOT get hit. I still don’t want to think about what it would have been like to get rounds into that pile of flares and see it catch on fire. Things would have been very nasty.’

‘From the elevation we were at we couldn’t see things very clearly, but I do know the action was quite intense down below. Tracers were going everywhere, red ones from the gunships going down, green and white ones going up, and all of them going sideways on the ground.’

Within minutes of the arrival of the flare ship, the 1st Brigade  “Little Bear 120″ with the 1st Brigade Commander aboard was back on station above the convoy to direct the attack and recon the battlefield.

The Viet Cong again were beginning to assault the trucks in the convoy and the supporting drivers.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

Since the weather is beginning to break up, and the ceiling lifting,  “Diamondhead” gunships are called to return on station to assist in the battle.

11:29 PM
At 2329 the phone rings in the scramble shack on the Diamondhead flight line. We are off within five minutes enroute to Ap Nhi to assist in the protection of the besieged convoy.

I remember just before we arrived on station we were monitoring the radio listening to the ground commander “Noble Corners”, situated at the south end of the convoy talking to his counter part at the north end of the convoy, “Bristol Kites”, about the developing situation.

There are pockets of drivers and other convoy personnel still engaged with the Viet Cong along the roadway, and a pocket still pinned down at the north end.

At the south end Viet Cong are unloading munitions from the trailers, but there isn’t the manpower to totally stop it.

As we arrive above the convoy.  The weather still isn’t great, the ceiling is about 900 feet with patchy clouds and a foggy mist hung in the air.

The flare ship is dropping flares, which cast an eerie almost surrealistic glow to the battlefield.

The artillery shells impacting in the Rubber Plantation create a noticeable amount of smoke drifting back towards to the convoy.   Add to this the tracers flying all over the place, green and white ones coming from the west side of the road, and red ones answering them from the east.

While our fire team leader is figuring out the location of our troops, and the bad guys, I noticed a little Lambretta scooter, one of those three wheeled jobs with a small cargo box on the back leave the south end of the convoy and disappear into an old barn or farmhouse. In a couple of minutes he returns and repeats the trip. My aircraft commanders (CWO David Stock)  and I decide to let him make one more trip before giving him a wake up call.

By now the ground commander had briefed us on the situation, and the  location of, our  troops and the bad guys.  From the 900 foot ceiling we make one rocket run at the trench across from the convoy at the south end.

As we start our run all hell break loose.  A a wall of tracers comes to greet us on the way down.  We punch off 4 sets of the 36 rockets we have with us. I covered with machine gun fire as we break west away from the roadway.

As we circled around, there was our little buddy and his Lambretta heading back to the little barn a couple hundred yards south of the convoy.

I opened up on him with the door gun and walked the rounds into him just as he cleared the door.

CWO Stock was already lined up and rolling in. He punched a set of rockets off as a barn-warming present.

ARTWORK BY SSG JULIO C. DIAZ

They went right in the door behind the Lambretta. At this point I estimate we were about 200 feet off the ground, and due to the intense ground fire we broke pretty hard and gained altitude quite quickly.

I don’t know how many trips that Lambretta had made into that barn, but now it was quite apparent what he had been hauling; it had been howitzer rounds!

The secondary explosion that went off in that barn was totally incredible!  The fireball went up into the clouds. We were back up to 900 feet and the bam parts were up there with us. We barely missed a piece of roofing tin and some other miscellaneous building materials.

ARTWORK BY SP4 JIM D. NELSON

My mind flashed to the morning headlines “Diamondhead 085 Shot Down By Exploding Barn!” That would make for a really shitty day!

After getting our composure back we use the rest of our rockets and machine gun ammunition in the trench across from the drivers, and into the edge of the Rubber Plantation.

This stops the attack on the convoy for the moment. We are out of  ammunition and head back to Cu Chi to re-arm and refuel. We were in battle  more than an hour.

26 August 1968
12:41 AM
The Little Bear also left the battle to change crews, those guys had been going since 6 A.M. yesterday and are exhausted.

At Cu Chi’s refueling point we top off the tank with twelve-hundred pounds of JP-4 and then hover over to the rearming point to begin the arduous task of loading thirty-six more rockets and re-arming the mini-guns and door guns of our ship and our wing ship.

12:55 AM
While we are refueling, our secondary team is scrambled back to the convoy. The battle continues.  They were under attack by an estimated battalion size enemy force. At least we  get a little break until the secondary team needs to re-arm and refuel.

After finishing the task at hand, and inventorying the aircraft for damage we fly back to the “Beach”, the “Diamondhead” portion of the flight line, and enter the scramble shack to await our next mission. We had acquired a couple of holes from enemy bullets, but only punctured the helicopter’s skin and hit nothing vital to our safety. A piece of duct tape will hold it for now.

01:35 AM
As we enter the scramble shack, the phone rings and we are on our way, back to the battle.

One of our helicopters is shot up pretty bad for the second time in 24 hours and will leave the fight.

The rest of the night was not real eventful, save ducking some ground fire.
Re-arm, re-fuel, return to the convoy, shoot up some ammo and a few rockets when we found proper targets.

06:30 AM
At 0630 the 1st Brigade Commander directed a “roll-up” attack operation down the axis of the enemy ambush positions in the village and the Little Rubber Plantation, a repeat of the operation the previous afternoon, while the team at the southern end of the ambush site acted as a blocking force.

Company C. 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry will moved along the edge of the village, and Troop B platoons will move just inside the Little Rubber Plantation but parallel to the trench.

Main Supply Route  22 will be both the axis of advance and the boundary between the two attacking units.

The Troop B Commanding Officer is designated team leader. During this sweep the gunships will fly overhead in case they are needed, and as a safety precaution.

During this time frame all of the wounded will be med-evaced to 12th Evacuation hospital in Cu Chi.

10:00 AM
The entire ambush area has been swept clear and the evacuation of the disabled convoy vehicles begins. The enemy left before dawn.

Five of the ambushed trucks are total losses, but the trailers with the artillery ammunition are in good shape with little loss of ammunition

About one hundred four enemy killed and twice that number wounded.   Our losses are nineteen killed and forty-nine wounded.

Seven of the dead and ten of the wounded being truckers.  The 25th Aviation Battalion sustained one wounded. There were also two MlA’s.

10:30 AM
Two helicopters are sent to pick up our nineteen dead soldiers. This is the most gruesome job any aviator could have.

Epilogue:
Two Americans taken prisoner by the Viet Cong during the ambush.

Specialist 4th Class Bobby Louis Johnson of Detroit and Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Gregory of Altus, Okla., both of the 62nd Transportation Company, were captured late in the fight. Both were held in a Viet Cong prison camp NW of Tay Ninh City.

(The following information is from: http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/j/j029.htm)

Bobby Johnson and Burt Kinzel were riding in a truck. They
stopped and went into a mud hut realizing the enemy
was approaching from all sides. 

Kinzel ran, barely escaping the grasp of a VietCong. 

Bobby Johnson was captured and not released till 1973.

The POWs were kept on the move; some held in groups,
and some held alone. 

It was a mental challenge to try to keep track of
their location, and the POWs report that they believed
they were in Cambodia some of the time, and at other
times near the Ho Chi Minh Trail. During rest periods
on the journey they were held in cages or in deep holes,
or chained to trees.
Johnson remained in captivity for five years. In February 1973
he was released with most other known POWs and sent to Ft. Knox Ky.
Nine months later (after the 25 August battle)  a 1st Cavalry Division helicopter was flying over northern Tay Ninh Province near the Cambodian border.
Twelve miles northwest of Tay Ninh the crew sighted someone  waving from a trail in the bamboo below.


ARTWORK BY SP4 RICHARD W. MCDOWELL
When the pilot descended for a closer look, he decided that the man looked like an American and brought the chopper down to pick him up.
It was Sergeant Gregory.

“When they picked me up, I was actually crying,” Gregory is quoted saying.
He escaped four days earlier and wandered in the jungle ever since - praying that a helicopter would fly over.  Gregory was taken to the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh.
The seven men known to have died in the ambush are 
  

 86th Transportation Company 
  

 SP4 William C. Lawson, Happy Camp, CA 
 SP4 Claude F. Vaughn, McRae, GA 
 PFC Paul H. Pirkola, Calumet, MI 




 10th Transportation Company 
  

 PFC Arden G. Sonnenberg, Kenosha, WI 




 62nd Transportation Company 
  

 SGT William W. Seay, Pensacola, FL (Medal of Honor) 
 SP4 Eugene Turner, Los Angeles, CA 
 PFC Danny J. Mitchell, Marmet, WV 





 

Bibliography:

Convoy Ambush At Ap Nhi-Stephen C. Tunnell, Vietnam Magazine The Infantry Brigade In Combat
******************************************************
FOLLOWING ARTICLE SOURCE:  http://www.virtualwall.org/dl/lawsonwc01a.htm
US forces in the area responded rapidly and violently, with two infantry companies and an armored troop arriving on scene. The ambush became a day-long fight that ended after night fell. Nineteen US soldiers were killed in the incident, eleven from the convoy personnel and nine from the reaction force. They were 
 Convoy personnel:  

 86th Trans Co, 6th Trans Bn, 48th Trans Group 
  

 SP4 William C. Lawson, Happy Camp, CA 
 SP4 Claude F. Vaughn, McRae, GA 
 PFC Paul H. Pirkola, Calumet, MI 




 10th Trans Co, 7th Trans Bn, 48th Trans Group 
  

 PFC Arden G. Sonnenberg, Kenosha, WI http://remembervietnam.homestead.com/guntruckspart2.html has more information about PFC Sonnenberg's actions during the battle.




 62nd Trans Co, 7th Trans Bn, 48th Trans Group 
  

 PFC Danny J. Mitchell, Marmet, WV 
 SGT William W. Seay, Pensacola, FL (Medal of Honor) 
 SP4 Eugene Turner, Los Angeles, CA 




 75th FC Co, 506th Field Depot 
  

 CPL Jerry L. Simmonds, Sacramento, CA 




 556th Trans Co, 64th QM Bn, 53rd GS Group 
  

 SFC Thomas E. Richey, Atlanta, GA 
 SSG Byron J. Mitchell, New Paris, PA 




 C Co, 720th MP Bn, 89th MP Group 
  

 SP4 Guy A. Davison, Everett, WA 


 

 Reaction force:  

 C Co, 3rd Bn, 22nd Infantry 
  

 SP4 Robert J. Dorshak, Michigan City, IN 
 SP4 Cornelius F. Murphy, Northport, NY 
 PFC Leland E. Radley, Boscobel, WI 

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE


 
 
 

 C Co, 4th Bn, 23rd Infantry 
  

 SP4 Earl S. Bazemore, Baltimore, MD 
 CPL Patrick J. Mc Cormick, Richmond Hill, NY 
 CPL Jeffrey W. Pohjola, Southfield, MI CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE




 

 

B Trp, 3rd Sqdn, 4th Cavalry 
  

 CPT James B. Westbrook, Memphis, TN 
 SSG William T. Anderson, Statesville, NC


  

 Distinguished Service Cross ~ The following article is from:

http://www.tomahawks.us/diary_16.htm 

 

Captain Henry R. Phillips commanded C  Co. ~ Tomahawks ~ 4th Battalion (Mechanized) / 23rd Infantry Regiment/25th Infantry Division, during this combat encounter and for his actions earned the  Distinguished Service Cross.



 

Quoted below are excerpts from the DSC  citation which provide additional details of the action:  

 

"...his  company and a convoy that it was supporting were ambushed by two North  Vietnamese Army battalions...Captain Phillips flew to the scene of the  battle and jumped to the ground from his hovering helicopter amid  intense enemy fire. Finding that his first platoon was in danger of  being overrun, he quickly gathered a force to assist the threatened  element and halted the advance of the communist.



 

As he was leading a counterattack  to secure a landing zone for an ambulance helicopter, he and his men  came under heavy rocket-propelled grenade and automatic weapons fire  from the flank. Grabbing four light antitank weapons, he moved through  the hostile fusillade to a point from which he was able to destroy a  rocket-propelled grenade team and an automatic weapons position. Once the casualties were safely evacuated, Captain Phillips  led a small group of volunteers into the killing zone of the ambush to  extract several remaining dead and wounded personnel. He then organized a  withdrawal as darkness set in and although wounded by an enemy  rocket-propelled grenade, succeeded in leading his men to an allied  command..."

 
 
Note: see http://www.virtualwall.org/dp/PhillipsHR01a.htm   ~ KIA September 22, 1968 ~ for the story of this brave warrior's final battle, go to: http://www.tomahawks.us/18-25_sep_68.htm