Chapter 37

The Rest of March

On March 17 we were sent out again to an area out near the DMZ to help get 2/3 out of trouble. We were dropped off in the mountains and hiked northeast down toward the flatter terrain to the east. While still in the mountains, the sun went down, and we dug in for the night. I was located on a hillside that had been hit by artillery sometime in the past, and the ground was snarled with roots making digging difficult. I started digging my fighting hole, which was only deep enough to keep me out of the line of fire if I lay flat on my belly. When I had completed the hole, it had gotten dark, so I wrapped up in my poncho and fell immediately to sleep. I woke from my dreamless sleep by stinging sensations on my arms and chest. It was then I realized that when I was digging my hole, I disturbed an ant colony in the ground, and some of the ants had gotten into my poncho while I was sleeping. I stood up and brushed the ants off and shook out my poncho. I moved away from my hole and wrapped up in my poncho for some more shut-eye.

The next day, the sun came out, and the clouds had disappeared. It got hot early. As we were continuing our way down the hillside, some of the Marines carrying heavy loads of mortars started fainting from heat exhaustion. We tried cooling and hydrating them with water and salt tablets to get them back in condition to march again, but they were pretty bad off. Not wanting to be considered a slacker, they waited until they collapsed before saying anything, as was the way of most Marines. A medevac was called in to take them back to the rear for treatment. We continued on to the flatlands northwest of Cam Lo.

Once we hit the level land, we went on a forced march. Second Battalion Third Marines was being hit again. We walked as fast as we could. Some of the Marines were complaining that they couldn’t keep up. I was moving up and down the line encouraging them to keep moving. One Marine was having a particularly hard time, so I began needling him by pointing out that I—a “squid”—was keeping up and not having any trouble. He replied that I was not as encumbered as he because I didn’t have to carry a rifle. I told him to give me his rifle. He was in the process of handing it to me when I reminded him that without his rifle, a Marine was nothing. I must have hit a nerve exposed in his boot camp experience because he immediately took back his rifle and seemed to find his second wind. He quit complaining and kept up.

We finally broke through the NVA lines and met up with 2/3. The NVA retreated, and we went into an area near the DMZ that had the ruins of a Catholic church. There were some civilian farmers nearby in the area who were advised to leave the area. After they left and headed toward the refugee center at Cam Lo, we searched and then burned their grass-thatched hooches. In the process of joining up with 2/3, we sustained the following casualties who we were able to medevac out:

03/23/67 Wounded

LCpl. Beardsley, Gordon E. 0311

PFC Beck, Martin L. 0311

SSgt. Chancey, Eugene 0369