My War - Installment 32

I was to fly alone that day, we had an odd number of helicopters and every other Scout would be flying in a team trying to keep pressure on the NVA. I didn't have a first light that morning so I lounged around the mess tent stuffing myself with eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee until it was time to go. I made a pass by the hut, dropped off my writing materials and grabbed my flight helmet and camera. The day would be an interesting one. At least I was convinced that it would be.

When I approached the helicopter Beau was there waiting and when he saw me coming he began to untie the rotor blades.

"Morning, Beau. Where's your cowboy hat?"

"What's that, Sir?"

"I just asked where your cowboy hat was. You know we are to be herding cattle today, don't you?"

"Come to think of it, I guess that I did hear something to that effect. How did you rate that duty?"

We took off and flew into the sunrise on our way to the round-up. It didn't take us long to locate the cows among the grassy, abandoned, valleys of the free fire zone. It was a pretty sight to see the cows lazily grazing, scattered across one of the little cove-like valleys. I didn't know how many cows there were supposed to be. I thought that some could have fallen, an easy prey, to the tigers which inhabited these mountains. Beau and I assumed that the majority were there together in the one herd.

We flew in behind the cows and began to drive them ahead of us, toward the main valley where we would turn them east and drive them to safety. As luck would have it, with our being a lone ship, we started to receive some sporadic machine gun fire; there must have been a small NVA force at the far end of the valley, behind us. I increased the pace of the round-up and got the cows bunched up and moving steadily ahead of us. Again I thanked the Lord that the NVA were such lousy shots.

We came to the junction with the main, east running valley and a few cows tried to stray back up the valley, some skittish ones tried to move west. I quickly hovered backward and turned them toward the others in the herd. Caught up in the spirit of the drive I pulled my pistol from its holster and shot a few rounds behind some strays to try and bring them up with the others. I really doubt that they heard the shots above the loud noise of the engine and rotor.

I called in the position of the NVA, from which we had received fire, to Granite Rock and for some reason they accepted my coordinates without comment or question. They must have relayed the message to another team in the area to check it out. Beau and I had our priority assignment and they were moving along nicely then toward the east, where we would be rid of our charges. We continued to move the herd along at a slow, but steady pace. Only occasionally did we have to break away to head off a stray. We were really enjoying ourselves and the respite that this little cattle operation afforded us.

We frequently heard radio messages from the other Scout teams, which were working to our north. None seemed to be having much luck in keeping definite tabs on our enemy. One team had taken up the coordinates that we had given to Granite Rock and were directing artillery in, pounding that position with some success. If nothing else we were continuing to harass the enemy and keep them disgruntled, moving and broken into smaller groups.

We left the herd in a quiet pasture-like area in the free fire zone, while we went to Pony for fuel. There was little chance that anything would happen for the few minutes that we would be absent.

We returned to our round-up detail as quickly as possible and gathered up the few cows that had straggled away from the herd. Anxious to finish our task we started to push the cows a biut faster when we reached the more open areas of the valley. We had not been told to do anything other than move the cattle out of the free fire zone and as far as we knew no one would assume the task on the ground when ever we finished. There was only one problem. Usually it is said that when you assume too much you make an ass out of you and me (ass-u-me). I decided to go ahead and at least move the herd, which numbered thirty-five or so, to the closest village and let the natives worry about them. This little mission had .taken more of our time than we expected and our finish time was being pushed well into the afternoon. With no other team member to fly with we went back home and called it a day.

We were greeted with: "Howdy pardner and how are the Rawhide Rangers this evening. How are things on the Ponderosa," and other stupid quips. A mediocre attempt to get us riled. We had enjoyed the day immensely, although it would have been a lot more fun on horseback.

The Scouts had no real good fortune that day other than to lay in some artillery in the cul-de-sac where Beau and I had drawn fire. It was their consensus though that the enemy seemed to generally be moving west to northwest, into the rugged highland mountains. I was anxious to see what we would be doing in the next few days.

The OPs meeting that evening confirmed or supported the findings of the Scouts. I surmised that all the information that OPs had, must have come from the Scouts, surely there could hardly be agents on the ground in an, evacuated, free fire zone. The Scouts would continue working the areas where they had left off that day. What did that mean for me since I had not been a part of the day's reconnaissance missions? Would another ship be ready or what? My question was no sooner thought than it was answered directly. I would be flying wing on Dave and we would go over to the big mountains further to the west and scout around. Perhaps we would be able to determine if the N.V.A. had penetrated that apparently uninhabited region. I personally couldn't see what advantage the enemy would have in separating themselves from the more populated coastal region…that is other than to regroup and access the damage done to them over the past few weeks. They couldn't win a war in isolation. In any case I was sure that it would be an interesting day, flying in the mountains.

The events of the past few weeks had dampened everyone's spirits to a certain degree. Gatherings seemed to be a little more somber in some way. LZ Bird would not be manned again and, in fact, everything that showed signs of our having been there had already been removed. I spent the late evening hours playing guitar or attempting to, I was improving, with Jack's instruction. Occasionally I would take a break to rest my fingers and then I would try and write some short letters.

A NEW A.O.

I was delighted to see a clear sky with stars shining when I got up the next morning. We had not even had many mortar attacks in the recent past, which were usually compliments of the friendly local Viet Cong. With all my morning chores finished I sat in the mess tent and stuffed my face with a hearty breakfast while waiting for mission time. We would fly directly to the big mountains do a short recon and then refuel at Pony and continue.

We passed Granite Rock and then banked to the right and headed west northwest into the mountains. The sky had remained mostly clear with some rolling cumulus clouds, which assumed varying odd shapes as they moved eastward. The jungle below us was very dense and gave the feeling of impenetrability, of never having been touched by mankind. Even in areas where the vegetation looked close to the ground, it was impossible to know how tall it really was. That's how totally covered the terrain was. At the head of every little junction of ridges or mountains there was a beautiful waterfall cascading, sometimes for several hundred feet, before they and their streams were totally lost from sight in the jungle.

In some areas mist hung over the tree tops in a heavy curtain of undisturbed, tranquil beauty, reinforcing the feeling that nothing had passed that way in eons; there had been no bombs, napalm, bullets or feet. Once in a while, in a high tree and brush covered valley, the top of an ancient ruin protruded through the greenery. It was really a neat place, the whole area was fantastic. It was not feasible to even speculate where the large stone building blocks had come from. The vegetation had grown for hundreds of years perhaps, unchecked by man's presence, covering more than it left revealed. I thought that it would be great fun to explore these mountains at ground level.

I was disappointed when we had to leave to refuel. We had been flying at tree top level as usual and were working an unfamiliar area away from all friendly units. We had to be sure of our position, at all times, in the intricate maze of mountains and valleys, plus, I definitely wanted to, immediately, return to continue my personal adventure. It seemed that at any moment we might burst through into a hidden valley and be in Shangri-la, that's how beautiful and enchanting the area was in my eyes.

We refueled and returned to the spot where we had left off. The only signs of movement or life, which we had seen in these mountains, had been those of animals, monkeys and birds, in the tops of the trees. However not knowing the terrain beneath or what it was hiding, we continued searching.

I had a new observer this day, better described as a volunteer or observer tryout, with me that day. It was felt that there was little chance of contact, so it would be a good day to start breaking him in. This young fellow was really enthusiastic about being an observer; maybe he was tired of walking. He only had one fault that I could detect thus far, that being that he couldn't see anything below us, even when I pointed it out to him.

"Ted."

No answer, but his lips were moving. There was a glimmer of hope.

I yelled at him. "Ted. You have to push the intercom button before you talk and hold it down while talking. When you’re finished talking you release the button."

"Yes Sir," he yelled back.

"Did you see that large group of monkeys back there in the trees?"

"What monkeys, Sir?"

"The ones we just flew over."

"No Sir."

And so it went. Maybe he was just too thrilled with the act of flying. I was anxious for signs of improvement, but I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. I'd hate to have him as an observer if I were in a tight situation.

"Did you see that flock of birds over beside those temple ruins? Did you see them?"

"No Sir."

"Patience, patience," I said to myself; "at least he's honest." We continued to scout the mountains moving further and further into the wilderness.

There weren't even any Montagnard villages in these mountains. They could have lived there and been left alone by everybody. It would take too long for any one to get there by foot to make it worth while to harass anyone who would live there.

Every now and again I would ask Ted if he saw an animal, or bird, or waterfall, or ruin and he seemed to be settling down. At least he was beginning to take notice of a few things below him.

By late afternoon we had pretty well worked the area that had been assigned to us. We were flying in the eastern region of the mountains again, in a brushy looking area near some ruins, when I noticed some definite movement, in the brush and trees. The movement appeared to radiate upward from ground level, indicating that it was some mammal on the ground making the foliage move.

"Ho, Ho."

"Apache one-zero. Apache one-six."

"Go one-six."

"I have some movement on the ground over here, we are going to double back and check it out…over."

"Roger one-six…One-zero standing by."

"Did you see that Ted?"

"What!"

"Here we go again," I thought to myself.

"What I've just been talking to one-zero about."

"Oh, that. No Sir."

By that time I had come back around and was hovering over the trees where I had seen the movement.

"We are hovering over the spot where I saw some movement Ted. The spot is directly below you, out of the door."

"Yes Sir…So what?"

Talk about thick. I thought he had been improving.

"I want you to take one of the CS canisters, pull the pin and drop it straight down into those small trees. OK?"

"Yes Sir! What CS canister Sir?"