One of those rare times when everything goes right, the bad guys die, the good guys walk away unscathed and get a case of beer delivered by CH46.
Here's the original entry in the 2nd Combined Action Group Command Chronologies (from the Texas Tech Archives, thanks to @Freefalling) for 2 February 1971. As an exercise I'm going to break it down into component parts and relate the actual events underneath. There are some discrepancies in the numbers in the entry.
...CAP 2-7-10 patrol...
Sunny, hot and humid, about 1300hrs. 10th Platoon, 7th Co, 2nd Combined Action Group, receives intel from its Kit Carson Scout (VC defector), that a small enemy force has been seen in the open just west of the Song Vinh Dien river. Six Marines and their Navy Corpsman, led by Sgt Elmer Thomas, accompanied by six South Vietnamese Regional Force counterparts, gear up and go mobile toward the suspected enemy position. Using cover and concealment, they maneuver into a position in a treeline where they observe seven enemy personnel, with weapons, sitting in a clearing near what appears to be a tunnel entrance, eating rice. Sgt Thomas orders a machine gun team and two RFs to hook right in a flanking/blocking move to cover the river bank to the east.
...initiated OWF on (3) VC in a treeline at grid BT 045645...
The remaining Marines and their Counterparts open fire with rifles at seven VC at a range of approximately 40 yards.
...The VC return SAF and fled E across river...
Four VC are immediately shot dead, two grab their weapons and return fire while a third VC dives into the tunnel entrance. One of the defending Viet Cong is shot dead; the other, wounded, disappears down the tunnel entrance. The machine gun team and its Counterparts, having moved into a position to observe the river, see two individuals swimming. After ascertaining that no friendlies are in the river, the MG team opens fire, killing the swimmers.
...A sweep of the area disclosed (5) VC KIA, (2) VC POWs, (2) AK-47 rifles, (1) M-16 rifle, (6) M-26 grenades, and (1) tunnel complex which was blown...
Five VC are dead in front of the tunnel entrance. Two more are dead in the river. After a sweep, two badly wounded VC are discovered in the treeline between the tunnel entrance and the river and are taken prisoner. The WIA POWs are removed to a safe area where they can be attended to by the CAP Corpsman.
The MG team and Counterparts sweep the riverbank and discover a tunnel exit dug into the riverbank two feet underwater. Purple smoke grenades are then thrown into the tunnel entrance which is then covered by a poncho. After a time the smoke drifts up the tunnel air-vents in the treeline deliniating the extent of the complex. C4 charges are place down each air vent and the complex is blown.
...A further search of the blown complex revealed (2) VC KIA, (1) M-16 rifle, and (1) NVA flag. Two CAP RFs were WIA minor during the contact...
The RFs were treated by the CAP Corpsman.
_______________________________________
This was a great day. I was there that day. Nobody got hurt bad. We got bods, we got POWs and we got beer. Sometimes, things go the way they're supposed to, sometimes Murphy stays home.
Here's the original entry in the 2nd Combined Action Group Command Chronologies (from the Texas Tech Archives, thanks to @Freefalling) for 2 February 1971. As an exercise I'm going to break it down into component parts and relate the actual events underneath. There are some discrepancies in the numbers in the entry.
...CAP 2-7-10 patrol...
Sunny, hot and humid, about 1300hrs. 10th Platoon, 7th Co, 2nd Combined Action Group, receives intel from its Kit Carson Scout (VC defector), that a small enemy force has been seen in the open just west of the Song Vinh Dien river. Six Marines and their Navy Corpsman, led by Sgt Elmer Thomas, accompanied by six South Vietnamese Regional Force counterparts, gear up and go mobile toward the suspected enemy position. Using cover and concealment, they maneuver into a position in a treeline where they observe seven enemy personnel, with weapons, sitting in a clearing near what appears to be a tunnel entrance, eating rice. Sgt Thomas orders a machine gun team and two RFs to hook right in a flanking/blocking move to cover the river bank to the east.
...initiated OWF on (3) VC in a treeline at grid BT 045645...
The remaining Marines and their Counterparts open fire with rifles at seven VC at a range of approximately 40 yards.
...The VC return SAF and fled E across river...
Four VC are immediately shot dead, two grab their weapons and return fire while a third VC dives into the tunnel entrance. One of the defending Viet Cong is shot dead; the other, wounded, disappears down the tunnel entrance. The machine gun team and its Counterparts, having moved into a position to observe the river, see two individuals swimming. After ascertaining that no friendlies are in the river, the MG team opens fire, killing the swimmers.
...A sweep of the area disclosed (5) VC KIA, (2) VC POWs, (2) AK-47 rifles, (1) M-16 rifle, (6) M-26 grenades, and (1) tunnel complex which was blown...
Five VC are dead in front of the tunnel entrance. Two more are dead in the river. After a sweep, two badly wounded VC are discovered in the treeline between the tunnel entrance and the river and are taken prisoner. The WIA POWs are removed to a safe area where they can be attended to by the CAP Corpsman.
The MG team and Counterparts sweep the riverbank and discover a tunnel exit dug into the riverbank two feet underwater. Purple smoke grenades are then thrown into the tunnel entrance which is then covered by a poncho. After a time the smoke drifts up the tunnel air-vents in the treeline deliniating the extent of the complex. C4 charges are place down each air vent and the complex is blown.
...A further search of the blown complex revealed (2) VC KIA, (1) M-16 rifle, and (1) NVA flag. Two CAP RFs were WIA minor during the contact...
The RFs were treated by the CAP Corpsman.
_______________________________________
This was a great day. I was there that day. Nobody got hurt bad. We got bods, we got POWs and we got beer. Sometimes, things go the way they're supposed to, sometimes Murphy stays home.
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