BONG SON- A Helicopter Pilot from the 61st Assault Helicopter Company recently braved typhoon winds and rain to make a dramatic rescue of a 173d Airborne Brigade Long Range Patrol which was being tracked with dogs by a North Vietnamese Platoon.
    Team F of the 74th Infantry Detachment (LRP) had been searching for three reported NVA base camps in the northern An Lo Valley, an enemy stronghold 20 miles north of Bong Son when they detected enemy movement to their rear.
    "We set up in a hasty ambush," said Sergeant Peter G. Mossman of Stamford Conn, leader of the six-man combined American Vietnamese team. "My rear security man Specialist 4 Chase Riley of Wayne NJ, zapped their point man and two others fled. We searched the body, captured a Chinese bolt-action rifle and moved out about 150 meters." "We stopped and again and heard movement behind us, talking, and dogs barking," continued Mossman. "They must have been trying to track us with dogs and we couldn't get anyone on the radio, so we tried to break contact by moving as fast as possible."

Getting Closer

    During the next three hours, the NVA force kept closing with the team. The Paratroopers however finally made radio contact with elements of the Americal Division and told them their situation. The Americal passed the word on to the 173d. But, the team was told, that no helicopters could fly in the typhoon which had been building up for a week, and to continue on their escape and evasion course.
    Meanwhile, the decision was made to send four helicopters anyway in case the weather let up. A team ship piloted by Warrant Officer Sam M. Kyle of Castalion Springs Tn, a Command and Control ship piloted by Warrant Officer Dany Pennington of Crossett Ark and two Gunships were sent to the rescue. The LPR's were notified and headed for the closest suitable pick-up zone about 500 meters away while the weather and visibility got progressively worse.
    "When we got to the pick-up zone, the NVA were practically breathing down our necks," said Mossman. "They couldn't see us though because the visibility was down to about 25 meters. We couldn't see the Choppers either, but we could hear them, so we just kept signaling with a strobe light and just hoped."

No Sign of Team

    Pennington reconned the area but couldn't locate the team, so he moved out to make room for Kyle. By this time, the team had made contact with the Choppers, and were told that the Gunships were leaving because the ceiling was so low they couldn't bring suppressive ground fire.
    "I made the decision to stay and try to get them out," said Kyle, "because I'd sure hate to be in their position and have the Choppers leave me. I figured this was their only chance because the weather probably wouldn't clear up for a couple of days, so I just kept circling lower and lower until I finally spotted their light."

Shocked Me

    "I thought all the Choppers had left," recalled Mossman, "so I was really shocked when I saw that beautiful ship loom up suddenly out of the rain. It took about two seconds for us to pile onto the Helicopter in spite the trees, clumps of bushes, eight-foot elephant grass and the bouncing of the ship as it tried to keep steady in the storm."
    "They sure looked happy when they got on," remembered Kyle. "Afterwards, one of the Vietnamese who couldn't speak too much English, came up to me with a big smile on his face and motioned for me to come and have a beer with him. That sort of made it all worthwhile."

    BONG SON- "We dove in the river and swam like the dickens," said Army Paratrooper Ronald D. Foiles of Carrolton Ill, describing a dramatic underwater escape which led to the annihilation of a North Vietnamese mortar squad. Sp4 Foiles and Pfc Charles Venella of Lanton NJ, were together in a sampan with a mine detector when the episode occurred. They were probing for a mortar tube which had been reportedly seen tossed into the water following a brief attack on the 173d's Forward Command Post, LZ English.
    "We were out looking for the Mortar Squad," said Foiles, a member of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry, "Two elements were searching the river banks while we moved down the middle in the sampan." As Vanella tells it, an enemy machine gun suddenly opened up on them, and the bullets started ripping into their boat. "We just dove in and headed for shore," said Venella. "It was underwater most of the way."
    As soon as the firing started, the other elements of the Reconnaissance team linked up and pinpointed the enemy position, 1Sgt William White of Chandler Az, then called in air strikes and artillery. A search of the area the following morning turned up nine NVA killed, a large supply of ammunition and enemy documents. No one on the Recon Team was hurt. "I think we got almost all of them," said 1Sgt White. Later examination showed that more than 50 rounds had passed through the sampan.

    BONG SON- Outside the wooden gates of the Bong Son Refugee Center, motor scooters and trucks kick up a billow of choking red dust. But, it doesn't seem to bother the Vietnamese carpenters and masons enthusiastically working inside and seemingly unaware of the turmoil beyond the huge wooden gate.
    The reason for the activity inside the refugee center is the result of some high-spirited Artillerymen from the 319th Artillery who are giving new steam to a rebuilding project started over a year ago by a group of European missionaries. The missionaries had started to build a school for the refugee camp nestled in this rural provincial capital along South Vietnam's north central coast, but work on the project waned to a stand still because of a lack of funds and a sharp increase in enemy activity in the area. More than 150 school age children could no longer look forward to going to classes in the building that had been promised so long.

Top Priority

    Several months ago, however, the Paratroopers heard about the situation and decided to help. Completion of the project was given top priority, and a plan was formulated where all the labor on the school would be done by the inhabitants of the camp while the Artillerymen would supply the structural materials and tools as needed.
    "Schooling is uppermost in the minds of Vietnamese parents," noted Captain Robert Stryjewski of Uniondale NY, who coordinates the project in his off time. "As in many oriental countries," the Captain pointed out "the people may live in rubble but they will devoted a lot of time and effort to building a new schoolhouse for their children."

One of Many

    The school project is only one of many, in an ambitous new 'self-help' approach to civic actions problems by the 173d Airborne Brigade. In addition to building the school, the project is also aimed at helping the Vietnamese learn new job skills.
    "It is difficult to give the assistance you would like to in a civic action program," explained Captain Stryjewski. "Our jobs tie us up most of the time." "But, with our new approach," the Captain noted, "we should at least be able to get the Vietnamese started so they can carry the ball from there. The important thing is that they are beginning to cope with their own problems."

    AN KHE- Reaching over the slumped body of an injured Pilot, a Helicopter Gunner with no flight training grabbed the controls of a light observation helicopter and averted a crash during a recent mission with the 173d Airborne Brigade.
    Sp4 Gary R. Poland of Sayreville NJ, was the Gunner on a Reconnaissance Mission 20 miles north of Qui Nhon when his Chopper began receiving fire. Poland quickly began returning fire, but his M-60 machine gun jammed. Turning around, he saw that the Pilot had just been hit.
    "We started into a dive," said Poland, "and the Pilot blacked out." Moving into the seat beside the Pilot, Poland then began manipulating the controls with both hands and one foot. When the Pilot regained consciousness, he took over control of the Chopper, which was heading into a valley, and guided it into a forced landing. The Pilot was evacuated while Sp4 Poland remained with the Helicopter until a relief Pilot from D Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment was brought in to fly it back.
    Asked how he did it, Poland grinned, "It really wasn't that hard, I'm just glad I watched him fly before."

    LZ UPLIFT- Words of wisdom phrased by a famed Indian fighter more than two centuries ago are still paying off today in Vietnam. The words, labeled Roger's Rangers' Standing Orders and composed in 1759 by Major Robert Rogers of French & Indian War fame, currently serve as the code of survival for Paratroopers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion.
    "Our men know all 19 of the orders by heart," said 1Lt Kenneth P. Berquist, a Platoon Leader with Charlie Company. "We live by those orders here in Charlie Company," asserted Berquist. "They've gotten us out of a lot of tight jams." Berquist cited his Company Commander, Captain Robert J. Powell of Columbus Ga, as the man who made us believe in the wisdom of the 19 declarations.
    "Everyone who comes into Vietnam gets a copy of the orders," noted one Paratrooper. "I don't know what the other troops do with their's, but here Captain Powell drilled them into our heads."
    The orders which range from such stark phrases as: "DON'T NEVER TAKE A CHANCE YOU DON'T HAVE TO (Order # 5) to "IF WE TAKE PRISONERS WE KEEP 'EM SEPARATE 'TILL WE HAVE HAD TIME TO EXAMINE THEM SO THEY CAN'T COOK UP A STORY BETWEEN 'EM," cover the entire gamut of combat techniques against a guerilla force.
    Sgt Robert G. Obidzinski of Warren Mi, heartily agreed with his Platoon Leader and pointed out a recent incident where his unit used the 3rd Standing Orders to catch a small group of NVA by surprise.

Like Clockwork

    The 3rd Standing Order reads: "WHEN ON THE MARCH ACT THE WAY YOU WOULD IF YOU WERE SNEAKING UP ON A DEER. SEE THE ENEMY FIRST."
    "There was some evidence of NVA in the area," said Sgt Obidzinski, "so we were moving real quiet through the jungle, when suddenly we came upon a Montagnard village that was supposed to be abandoned. It wasn't." Because they had been undetected, the Paratroopers took the small supply outpost completely by surprise. They swept through the area, killed four NVA soldiers, detained a Medical Officer and confiscated a sizeable amount of equipment and rice.
    Indeed, most new arrivals to Vietnam get a chuckle when they are issued the Rogers' Rangers cards and usually throw them away. But, ask the Paratroopers of Charlie Company where they carry their's, and they'll undoubtedly show you that they "DON'T FORGET NOTHING", Rogers' Rangers rule number ONE.

    BAN ME THUOT- A squad of alert Paratroopers astonished a conniving NVA officer who tried to lure them into a death trap by waving a white flag. "We had been warned to watch out for faked surrenders," said Sergeant Greg Tockl of St. Paul Mn. "We heard the NVA were using this tactic all over Vietnam."
    Tockl is a member of the six man 'Rangers' point element for Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, and his unit was on patrol near the Cambodian border when they saw an enemy soldier waving a white hankerchief at them. "The NVA Officer was about 75 meters from us," said Tockl. "He was wearing a pistol and we held our fire in case he was a legitimate Chieu Hoi."
    "Our flank element," Pfc Maurice Schneider, Tockl said, "then noticed movement that revealed a possible ambush." Sensing a trap, Schneider fired towards the movement. The shots alerted a Platoon of NVA who were in the bushes waiting to unleash an ambush and they charged the Ranger squad. The Paratroopers then cut down the Officer who was scrambling for the brush and returned fire at the advancing enemy.
    "We laid down a quick field of fire and the NVA hit the ground," said Tockl. "They outnumbered us by about five to one so we broke contact." "One thing for sure," Tockl concluded, "that NVA Officer has pulled his last trick."

    QUI NHON- A Paratrooper almost stumbles on a crudely made Viet Cong mine, a GI suspects that his vehicle has been boobytrapped.
    For the men of the 184th Ordnance Battalion (Explosive Ordnance Detachment) working for the 173d Airborne Brigade such situations are typical in a routine day.
    "EOD teams receive some of the most intensive training in the Army," said Sergeant First Class Arnold Niederhofer of Texas City Texas. "In all of Vietnam there are only 150 qualified EOD men." Qualified EOD personnel learn to be experts. Each two man team is charged with deactivating a myriad of explosive devices devised by the enemy.
    Working with an Airborne unit which is constantly on the move keeps the explosives experts busy. On the average they answer close to 200 emergency calls each month. "These emergency calls," explained Sp4 Stuart A. Steinberg of Fairfax Va, "become routine after a while. I'm not nervous when I handle explosives because I've had good training and enough experience to know what to look for."
    The 21 year-old Steinberg tells the story of a Paratrooper who walked into the EOD tent with a live grenade in each hand. Both pins were pulled and the guy brought them in looked like us eyes were ready to pop out of his head he was so nervous. All I did was put a paper clip in the slots where the pins were supposed to be and that was the end of that emergency."
    On another time, a 173d Long Lange Patrol spotted a Viet Cong squad sawing a 500 pound bomb in half. The Paratroopers wiped out the squad and called in the EOD team to deactivate the bomb. "A 500 pound bomb," said Steinberg, "is packed with 175 pounds of explosive material. with that they can make hundreds of grenades or even blow up a bridge.

They'll Use Anything

    "The enemy will use anything he can lay his hands on, canteens, bamboo, C-Ration cans, to make a mine or booby-trap," said Sfc Niederhofer holding up a plastic canteen stuffed with TNT which had ten steel spikes taped to it. "We found this on the perimeter of an evacuated enemy base camp. It is a very simple version of our claymore mine and packs just about as much wallop." "Charlie can really put together some nasty mines with artillery rounds," said Niederhofer, "and he is a master at concealing them."
    Mines are most commonly found just below a road surface, but will also often be found where allied troop movement is suspected, such as helicopter landing zones.

Charlie Knows

    "When it comes to camouflage," added Steinberg, "Charlie knows his business. He even uses green monofilament fishing line to trip some of his booby-traps. If he doesn't have that he'll use a piece of vine."
    Many of the EOD missions turn out to be false alarms. What appeared to be a dangerous bomb or booby-trap, upon examination, often turns out to be a harmless piece of plastic or metal. But, because of close calls and experience with the Viet Cong's uncanny ingenuity, the explosive experts still advise calling up the EOD team anytime there is the slightest doubt.