4 Field Regiment (SVN) 'Old Boys' Newsletter - February 2011 Edition

"ptl comd initiated ambush using claymore mines. A 6 man search grp move onto track and observed 1 male and 2 female VC dead" . It does not mention what it feels like to see the movement on the track, not knowing if it is Four VC or the leading element of forty or more VC. It does not mention what it is like to be miles and a long way from any backup. The only communication back to base is by morse code on a HF radio which had a long wire aerial that had to be strung out. Your nerves are on knife edge after you have already seen and heard other armed VC in the area. It does not mention the explosion, noise and smell of the claymores. Moving onto the track seeing a beautiful young Vietnamese woman lying dead, her blouse forced up by the explosion exposing her homemade bra. You pick up an unexploded claymore, that has short blown off lengths of det cord out of each det well. You think it may come in handy so you shove it down your shirt. After the bodies are searched you pick up the pack from the young woman and hurriedly move off. A short distance from the track you confer with the Patrol commander that it would be best to destroy the rice in the packs. The rest of the patrol move off and you throw a CS gas grenade into the food from the packs making it uneatable. The CS moves through the jungle and it catches up with you as tail end charlie and then the rest of the patrol. Soon the entire patrol has to move very quickly through the jungle to escape the gas. "ptl comd initiated ambush with SA fire" It does not mention you are coming back from cutting an escape route with secateurs for the flank protection man, You see movement on the track less than 10 metres away from you, you freeze , and you are standing there unable to move as the VC walk past you. The rifle firing starts, Candy the sig fires the claymore you recovered yesterday and had set up as rear protection for the ambush. All VC go down dead on the track except one who is wounded and sitting down firing his AK from the hip. Everyone in the patrol seems to be shooting at this one guy remaining and chunks of meat are flying off him. He is sitting in a puddle on the track and water is being splashed up around him by the many rounds fired. You hear a strange noise and you realise it is Chick firing off his Silenced .45 Grease gun M3 SMG and you can hear it’s bolt clacking. You move onto the track and search the bodies, you check with Candy he has sent off a morse coded message that the ambush has been sprung. He gives the thumbs up you hope help is on the way because the VC in the area would really be stirred up now. Nearly 3 hours later we get air support, the Patrol Commander tells me to control the air support on the VHF 25 set whilst he directs the troops on the ground. "1040 ptl received air sp from hvy, med, lt fire teams" It does not mention that I get the FAC (Forward Air Controller) on VHF voice radio and he tells me he has some Black Ponies which turnout to be 2 x US Airforce OV10 Bronco's with Zuni Rockets. I yell to everyone to keep their head down. Next we had 2 x South Vietnamese Skyraiders dropping 500 lb bombs and firing 20mm cannon. Ray B and Ray M receive shrapnel wounds to their heads as the shrapnel from the bombs flies through the jungle. I have gathered everyone's smoke grenades to mark our position to the FAC and other aircraft but we start to run out, I tell the FAC to get us more smoke, a RAAF HUEY chopper drops a bag of smoke grenades about 150 metres down the track. I tell the FAC they are too far away for me to go and get and another bag is dropped by chopper about 30 metres down the track. I tell Dennis to come with me and we go running down the track and get the smoke grenades. With all the noise from all the aircraft, bombs and shooting "old" Jacko (he was probably 28 and myself 22) calls out "Hey Bagzar what did you tell them your name was Westmoreland". The Chopper Gunships come in and brass up the area with rockets and Miniguns, because the choppers can't land we are extracted by attaching ourselves to ropes dangling under the choppers. We are pulled up through the trees and our vacated position is napalmed by 2 x USAF F100 Super Sabres. The choppers carry us dangling exposed for a couple of kilometres then they drop us in a paddie field. The Choppers land and we get into the choppers and fly back to the Task Force. What I am trying to say the Generals of today went through Officer College reading books and sterile patrol reports such as this, but the patrol reports don't tell half of what went on. It is also worth noting also we took along an Officer on this patrol but he was treated as a Rifleman with no rank. I still think about those unarmed people 40