1 May 1970:Into Cambodia part II

At 0945 1 May 1970, the men of C Company,2nd Bn (Mech),47th Inf. Reg.,3rd Bde.(Separate),9th Inf. Division, and the two attached tank crews from A Co.,2nd Bn.,34th Armor,25th Division,became the first ground troops accross the border.When their column of APCs passed through the first Cambodian hamlet,they were recieved as few soldiers in this war were:as liberators.Villagers along the road laughed and waved, and some tossed pineapples or stalks of bananas to the GIs on the moveing vehicles.Others placed their hands together before their foreheads,as if in prayer, in the traditional Buddhist gesture of greeting.Some soldiers returned the gesture.The Cambodians were simply playing it safe.Nevertheless, it was a fun moment,especially since this battalion had been expecting an NVA regiment,not smiles.

The boys in 2nd-11th Armored Cav.-advanceing on the 2-47th's right flank-weren't haveing near as much fun.Clusters of hooches were spotted and a platoon each from E and G Troops peeled off from the main column to recon them.A narrow strip of jungle separated the two columns as they rolled in on the village which turned out to be deserted.From invisible spiderholes within the brier,rocket-propelled grenades and white and green tracers suddenly sprayed out at ground level.Rushing on at thirty miles an hour,with claymore shrapnel clanging off the tracks and bullets snapping past,the Cav. machine gunners returned fire in such numbers that the streams of red tracers burst through the narrow jungle strip, E Troop fireing on G Troop, and vice versa, until they had outrun the ambush and platoon leaders shouted to cease fire.All the RPGs had missed.Lt. Cambria of G Troop had taken minor shrapnel wounds in his right arm,which Doc Dailey,the new platoon medic riding on his track, bandaged.The E Troop platoon reported that one of their men had a large hole in his thigh where an NVA .51 Cal. round had blown through-or had it been a .50 Cal. round from G Troop?

Continueing on,2-11 Cav. encountered some minor resistence and then found themselves in an NVA basecamp.There were hammocks strung between trees and NVA uniforms drying on clotheslines.Lieutenant Col. Brookshire noticed an SKS lying on the ground with a cleaning rod jammed in the barrel.The cleaning rod was bent nearly double from the previous owners' efforts to remove it.2-11 Cav. advanced a short distance and all hell broke loose.

Passing between the trees at a slow roll,Lt. Cambria's platoon could see NVA sprinting away from them.There were glimpses of khaki in the deep vegetation, and Lt.Cambria radioed Cpt.Menzel that he was going to open fire.Concered that G Troop might end up fireing into H Co.,Cpt. Menzel shouted into his mike:"Negative!Not unless you're fired upon.I'm bringing the rest of the troop on line."
The NVA were running,not shooting.
Lt. Cambria was frantic, and his grunts were screaming from behind their gun shields,"We gotta fire!We can see 'em,we gotta fire!"
White-knuckled as he gripped the handles of his .50-Cal. in the track commander's cupola, thumbs on the butterfly trigger,Lt.Cambria looked into the dense underbrush that was now only fifty meters in front of them.His heart was pounding!To hell with the captain!Lt. Cambria was about to order his platoon to commence fireing when the wall of jungle suddenly erupted with RPGs and RPDs and AK47s.There was a hellish explosion to Cambia's right and something slammed into his face like a fist as he instinctively pulled back on his .50-cal and saw everything blur at the vibrating recoil.
They rolled another twenty meters before the driver could respond by stopping.Cambria frantically reached for his face and peeled something off.It was a hunk of flesh.It was not his.
The brush was obscured by the gray smoke from the RPG launchers, and Cambria glanced back quickly at the Sheridan immediately to his right.It was stopped between the trees and belching smoke.An RPG from the first volley had slammed into the .50-cal gun shield,almost blowing off Sgt. Tanner's arm as it did blow the head off Spc/4 Arneson, who'd been sitting in the loaders's hatch of the turret in steel pot and flack jacket.
Several NVA clambered from their slit trench at the edge of the dense underbrush and made a rush for the disabled Sheridan,whose only unscathed crew member,the driver, had dropped down in his hatch and buttoned up.Cambria screamed at him over the CVC radio mike without response as Doc Dailey,manning the M60 on the right side of the track,let loose a long burst.Cambria saw one of the NVA spin and fall as he came out of the trench, then saw another one rise up with an RPG over his shoulder.Cambria tried to spin his .50-cal toward the man but it would only revolve thirty degrees to the right before the cupola shield became wedged on a loose can of fifty ammo.He leaned partially out of his cupola to knock the ammo can away,yelling at Doc Dailey to shift his M60 fire,just as the RPG explosion slammed Cambria to one side of the cupola.He was suddenly deaf, and the hair on his face and arms was instantly burned and curled.A shard of red-hot shrapnel ripped a six-inch gash along his backbone and another penetrated his side,brushing against his right kidney.Blood spurted everywhere,but he was so intensely focused on the enemy,so primed and alert with adrenaline,that it didn't register how badly he was hurt.
Doc Dailey had been hurled backward through the open cargo hatch to the floor of the ACAV,disintegrated from the chest up by the direct hit of a weapon designed to penetrate eleven inches of solid steel.The other M60 gunner was wounded.
The driver brought his M16 up and opened fire from his hatch as Cambria realized another NVA was lining up their ACAV in the sights of his AK47.
Two or three rounds smached into the emergency radio strapped to the outside of the cupola,and one slug hit Cambria in the shoulder,severing part of his triceps so that it hung down to his elbow.He could see the NVA standing up in his spiderhole thirty meters ahead,and he tried to fire the .50-cal,but a nerve in his right arm had been cut and his hand jerked too violently to grasp the operating handle to jack a round into the breech.With his left hand, he grabbed an M16 hanging inside the cupola and shoved it over the the gun shield.He squeezed the trigger on full automatic and lost control of the weapon as the whole magazine emptied in eighteen diferent directions.Frantically he pulled up an M79 grenade launcher from its place behind the hatch cover,and couldn't believe it as the stock came off.It had been shattered by the RPG hit.The NVA was still standing in his hole,completely absorbed as he tossed aside his empty magazine and inserted a fresh one.Cambria shoved his spastic right arm into his waist band,then reached over to his right hip with his left hand and yanked the .45 from its holster.He laid his arm across the gun shield,trying to aim.
Cambria had blood in his eyes and dust on his glasses,and he squinted at the bare head and drab fatigues of the NVA as he squeezed the trigger,missing,missing,missing,until the sixth round hit the NVA.The slide locked back on the seventh and last shot that finally dropped the man.
Cambria couldn't even hear himself as he screamed,but he was in a killing rage and he bellowed at his driver to get moving again.Cambria had fifteen fragmentation grenades inside his cupola,and he wanted to get in among the spiderholes.But the driver was in shock.Out of ammunition,he had his arms crossed on the edge of his hatch,chin resting on them,watching the fight like it was a movie.Cambria's radios were dead, and he had no idea what was going on.He grabbed a spare barrel and reached out to smack his driver's helmet.The kid looked back at him.Cambia was screaming and waving forward:go,go,go!The kid stared with utter incredulity, but the ACAV did lurch forward,only to have the edge of the woods abruptly explode with smoke again.A blizzard of claymore shrapnel clanged off the gun shield and the front of the track.The driver stopped and dropped down in his hole, and Cambria flung a grenade into the trees.It didn't explode, and he realized he hadn't pulled the pin.His right arm was beginning to throb painfully by then,and working awkwardly with his left arm he grabbed a second grenade and tried to pull the pin out with his teeth.It didn't budge,and now his teeth ached too.He finally looped the pin over the sight of his .50-cal and jerked it out.He threw all his fragmentation grenades,then found a few smoke grenades and threw them too.Through ears beginning to uncloud,he realized that the NVA had ceased fire on his vehicle.
Cambria picked his .45 back up and managed to fumble another mag. into the pistol handle.Needing to get to a track with working radios,he tore off his CVC helmet, and climbed down from his ACAV,and started walking to his left.As his mind began to slow down, he felt as if he were lumbering in slow motion.The smell of his own blood hit him.He was on the verge of vomiting.He heard the snap of rounds passing overhead.The GIs aboard the ACAV he was stumbling toward shouted and waved at him to hurry,and he finally fell against the side of their track.Two men reached down to haul him aboard.Cambria looked at them.They were covered with his blood,and only then did he realize how badly he was hit. In addition to his mangled arm and shoulder and back, he was splattered across the back with three dozen small pieces of shrapnel,and a chip of his medic's skull was lodged-permanently-in the back of his neck.
Cambria took the radio handset and called each TC for a casualty report.Two of his seven track commanders did not answer.Fearing two whole crews were casualties, he switched to troop net and in one breath screamed for reinforcements,gunships, and two medevacs.Through the pain fogging his mind,Cambia could barely hear Cpt. Menzel's response:"I'll be right there.Stay where you are."He then lost consciousness.
Some little while later USAF Phantoms put an end to the firefight.
Fifty NVA bodies were recovered.
Lt. Frank Cambria would talk his way out of the hospital and back to the field 30 days later.

[DMZ-LT]

Thank you Doc.

[mechatronic]

Wow. That is one of the most incredible recounts I have ever read! New to this site, and hope to read more about our soldier's and veteran's acts of courage.

Mech.-

Welcome to the site!

[Bill Farnie]

Doc,
Thank you for telling this story. In my ongoing effort to put Nam behind me, I sometimes forget the incredible acts of heroism and courage that were so common but go untold. Statements like?. "I was just concerned about my men", is often said by men who have performed seemingly super human acts like Lt.Cambria
I salute you and all of the brave men who were on this operation.

Welcome home

Bill

[exlrrp]

Thanks a lot for these accounts. Are you writing these?? These are some really good writing, you have a real talent

James

James-

Nope.No talent here.The words thus far are coming from the book "Into Cambodia"by Keith Nolan (see part I).In writting this book Mr. Nolan-rather than relying on afteraction reports,unit history,etc.-relied heavly on interviews with the people involved.At a glance it appears that he interviewed 2-3 doz. people from the 2-11 ACR alone,includeing all those named in the above example that lived.This is why it has such a first person "feel" to it.In effect Mr. Nolan allows the folks involved to tell their own stories through him.Of course not everyone remembers things exactly the same way,and in cases where there are conflicting accounts he notes this and I would pass such along.

Where was I? Prior to 1 May I had been transfered to 2-47 from the 199th LIB. At Bde. rear I was told to report to the Bn. at Tay Ninh. At Tay Ninh all I found of the Bn. was a MSC Lt. and three or four clerks.The MSC Lt. stuck me on a convoy and told me to report to the Bn. CP.Didn't know I was going to have to chase the dang thing all over hell and a goodly portion on S.E. Asia or that by the time I finally caught up with it it'd be in a whole diferent country!

Also didn't realize that I was traveling the sole ground supply line for that portion of the operation and that there were a bunch of pissed off and by-passed NVA units around.Lost my cherry and a goodly portion of my hearing in route.

Think I finally caught up to the Bn. Cp late on 3 May.

[frisco-kid]

Thanks for sharing this Hell of a story about some Hella men. Since this is the Vietnam Forum this is EXACTLY where it should be told, and nobody's gonna be offended by it. Quite the contrary. As they read this account, they should swell with pride knowing that there are Americans of Lt. Cambria's calibre walking amongst us.

Welcome Home, Doc.

[mechatronic]

Yes, this is a good example of the reason I joined this forum in the first place. Since I was 10 years old and spent my vacation allowance on a bracelet at the Wall in D.C. I have been frantically reading everything on the Vietnam War that I could get my hands on. I have never read this excerpt so I really appreciate the fact that some people can get online and re-type (or cut and paste, whichever it may be) a passage like this so I can see and be educated.

I am 29 and so was not around for any of this, but rest assured that you all are not forgotten by the next generation and are deeply appreciated.

'Becca

P.S. Thank you for the welcome, Doc! I will always be interested in what you all have to say and share.

[chilidog]

Hal,
Frisco is right; this thread is EXACTLY what this forum is for. Thanks for such a searing account. Nolan has a way of doing that to you.

Mechatronic,
Welcome aboard! Several vets recommended Nolan's books to me several years ago. I have read most of his books and they will forever be etched in me. They are definitely worth reading if you want to understand what these guys went through.


Chilidog