Russell M. Barber:  

ved up a small hill when they encountered some North Vietnamese soldiers guarding an Ammo Dump and Field hospital. They made quick work of the NVA soldiers and move down the left fork of a trail that was at the top of the hill. The point came to a field that was at the bottom of this trail. Crossing the field a couple of our Marines were killed attempting to cross the field. Helicopter gun ships were call and made several passes in the area the NVA were. The point again tried to cross the field and were met with more hostile gun fire from the NVA. It was getting late and the decision was made to form a perimeter around the small hill where the Ammo and Hospital were found. The first night on this hill was something to behold. It was probably the first time for any Marine in the company had experienced this kind of combat. Just after the sun went down and the night had set in the NVA let us know that they wanted their Ammo and Hospital back in their hands. They racked the hill with machine gun fire and then the assault troops came up the hill on all of the trails that crossed the hill. They were met with Marine machine gun fire and the NVA suffered numerous killed and wounded. Marine wounded and killed were light. The fire fight lasted most of the night and at some point a C-130 showed up and dropped flares all night. We also had Artillery support that was not very effective as the artillery rounds were not landing close to our positions. A Marine from my squad had a fifty caliber round hit his helmet during the gun battle with the NVA. Put quite a dent in the helmet. The Marine was not hurt from the round hitting his helmet. The next day SSGT McGinty took his platoon on a patrol to see if a way to the company objective could be found. The patrol moved down a one of the trails leading off the hill. The patrol had gone a short distance and one could hear the NVA talking. We kept very quiet and after SSGT McGinty consulted with the Company Commander we returned to the hill without incident. Air Strikes and Artillery was called in on the NVA positions. After the sun had gone down and night had set in the NVA were at it again. We could hear wheel mounted guns being wheeled into position at the bottom of the hill. Lots of NVA voiced including female voices. If the first night had been combat the second night was real combat. The NVA wanted their stuff back real badly. They machine gunned the hill for a long period of time. Red Green Yellow tracers were flying every ware. You wondered if we would ever leave this hill alive. Then the NVA assault began. They were met with machine gun fire artillery and small arms from the Marines on the hill. A few NVA penetrated our positions and were quickly killed. A Machine gun team that was covering a trail to the right had their machine fail and had to repair the gun while all of this activity was going on. The artillery was again not very helpful. Again a C-130 was over head dropping flares which helped identify NVA for Marines to kill or wound. One of the things that we learned was only to fire at the flashes from NVA guns being fired at us. At one point the Marines in a hole to our right heard NVA in front of their position. A burst of M-14 fire killed two NVA to the right of our position. Those same Marines ran out of grenades and asked us for some. When we threw them some grenades they jumped out of their fighting hole thinking the NVA had tossed the grenades into their hole. It took some coaching for those Marines to get back in their holes. The next day as I remember no patrols left the hill. At some point later in the afternoon a platoon from Lima Company moved into position behind our positions. Before dark I spoke with Lt Richwine and asked him to coordinate the Artillery in the field at the bottom of the hill we were on. This he did and for the first time the artillery was very effective. The fire was adjusted a few times and at one point a large piece of an artillery shell hit me in the leg. When that happened Geis and Lee jumped out of the foxhole. It took some coaching to convince them that what they heard was not a NVA grenade being tossed into our fox hole. At one point I tried to pickup the piece of artillery but it was still to hot to pickup. Geis and Lee got back into the foxhole a short time later. As the night went on we were firing at NVA muzzle flashes when the flash suppressor on Geis M-14 was hit by a NVA bullet rendering his rifle useless. The Puff ship was again on station dropping flares. The next day the 2nd squad from the first platoon was ordered to find a path to the company objective. We departed the hill on a different trail than pervious patrols. We didn't get very far when we came across numerous NVA that had been killed attacking the hill on this trail. Getting to the bottom of the trail we discovered numerous hand grenades that had been taped with the pins pulled. We picked them up and I had one of the Marines bring them to the top of the hill. In the heat of battle Marines were pulling the pins without removing the tape. The grenades would not explode until the tape had been removed. With that accomplished the patrol moved on avoiding crossing the field that was in front of us. We went around the field and it was not very long we could hear numerous NVA talking. A short time latter a shot rang out and SSGT McGinty was on the radio wanting to know what was going on. Told him that we didn't fire any rounds and that we had numerous NVA in front of us as we could hear them talking. SSGT McGinty told me to hold up and don't go any further. A short time later we were ordered back to the hill. After returning to the hill we were ordered to fill in out fighting holes and get ready to move back to the landing zone Crow. Before we departed Cpl Figureo was firing his M-79 at NVA who were crossing the field in front of us using bushes as camouflage. As Cpl Figueroa fired the bushes stopped in their tracks. These we part of the NVA unit we would meet in battle later in the day. We started back to the landing zone without any trouble. K Company had been tasked to provide rear security for a Battalion March Column. We entered the landing zone and took up positions in the hills surrounding the landing zone. There was this eerie feeling as we took up our positions. It felt that someone was watching us and they were. The NVA all of a sudden opened up with mortars and small arms fire on all the personnel that were in the landing zone. A camera crew who had been filming in the landing zone took off like a cheetah on the hunt. The first squad took up their secondary positions in a field that was facing the landing zone. The second and third squads took up positions at the edge of the stream bed creating a perimeter. As the battle raged on it was not long When I had run out of M-79 rounds. NVA bullets were flying every where wounding several Marines in my squad. I could hear SSGT McGinty on the radio calling for air support and or artillery. At one point I went to SSGT McGinty and asked him if he wanted me to check on the first squad which I did. They had been in the field but the NVA fire had been so bad they had moved into some cover next to the field. As I crossed the field the NVA were firing and rounds were hitting all around me. Getting across the field there were several Marines who had been shot or had suffered shrapnel wounds. Doc Porterfield had done his best to patch up the wounded and as I crossed back across the field an A-4 Sky hawk was making a bombing run into the landing zone dropping napalm. If only I had a couple of eggs I would have been able to fry them. The Napalm was that close. Told SSGT McGinty that the first squad had numerous wounded and that SGT Hole was unaccounted for. A short time later I crossed the field again and found PFC Butts assisting Doc Porterfield putting a tourniquet on Doc Porterfield who had a shrapnel wounds in one of his legs. Crossing back across the field I observed an NVA soldier crawling across the field and shot him in the head. That soldier did not know what had hit him. Reporting the situation to SSGT McGinty, SGGT McGinty informed me that a relief column was coming to assist us. I asked SSGT McGinty if he wanted me to go and find them and bring them to our position. This battle had been going on for about five hours. Everyone was wondering if we would ever make it out of this situation. SSGT McGinty agree and I hot footed it down this river bed and ran into the Third platoon Lt McCart. The third platoon had also been shot up real bad and informed Lt McCart what was going on with McGinty's platoon. Moving a little further down the river bed I ran into K Company headquarters. Asked Captain Ski if he had seen the relief column. He had not and I continued down the river bed. At some point I ran into the relief column and guided them back to the first platoon positions. Taking one of the squads across the field they secured the area and we started to evacuate our wounded. At this point I observed that Doc Porterfield had died of his wounds that he had suffered earlier in the day. At this point I gave SSGT McGinty a casualty report Two Killed, Twenty-two Wounded and Ten Marines that were Ok. All of the wounded Marines were evacuated to a safe area and were flown out on H-34 helicopters. All of the gear from these evacuated Marines was put into a pile and destroyed by burning. After all of the wounded were evacuated what was left of K Company marched to the position of the 2nd battalion 4th Marines. The company spent a very quite night within the perimeter of 2nd Bn 4th Marines. The next morning Generals Walt and Westmoreland appeared and spoke with several Marines who had been involved in the battle the day before. At some point we learned that Kilo Company would be returning to Phu Bai. We were flown to Dong Ha via CH-34 helicopters then to Phu Bai via C-130. We were tired and had that long lost stare.