Memories of Oct 17, 1967

Craig Watson has shared these memories with us:
Here are some of my recollections of Oct 17, 1967. At the time of initial contact, I was on a listing post (LP) outside the NDP. We could hear the increase of firepower until it almost sounded as one loud roar. We were called in from LP as there was a concern we would be attacked, also and there was confusion on what exactly was happening in the battle. I remember we were deployed with mortar platoon to occupy bunkers around the NDP to give better security and the illusion of strenght. We were also on lookout for our troops returning from battle. Some time many hours later after contact had subsided we were to get ready to move out to assist our fellow soldiers and I believe that other elements from other companies were reenforcing us. I remember moving out with recon and seeing wounded being moved by us and the look of shock and terror in their eyes. I believe this was around 3 o'clock. As we came into the area of heaviest contact you could see that the jungle had been cleared out just from all the firepower that had been dispursed by both sides. We were to check the bodies for signs of life but that was not to be. One thing that really struck me was that a lot of dead had been shot in head by the enemies to insure their death. I do not remember seeing many vc bodies. It was then starting to get late and we moved bodies to a area that was being cleared of jungle to get choppers in. We had to move back to the NDP as darkness was closing in, so we left the dead in place along with many of their weapons. The night brought anger for what happened that day, as well as concern for what could happen that night. I remember the relief when morning came. In the morning we returned to remove bodies and then we were airlifted out of NDP on Oct. 18th. This memory has stayed with me I believe because I had only been in the field for 5 days when this happened and thought if this is what it is like, I would never survive a year.
Craig M. Watson
3rd Platoon, Bravo 2/28th

Don Koch's Memories of this October, 1967 Operation:

October 9, 1967
Our company was out on a search and destroy. At this time I was in my tenth month in the field. There was a lot of small things I saw early on in the operation that, in my heart, I knew we were in a bad operation. On this day, we were on the latter part of our patrol for the day. We heard someone getting hit half way up the hill beside us. The fire ceased a little bit and they pulled back. One of my men said to me, "Watch them call our squad!" Sure enough, when I answered the radio, my message was - "Sgt. Koch, bring your men over!" My squad started up the hill. We were taking short leaps in our leap frog movement. Andy and my RTO (whose name I cannot remember, I am sorry) and I went first. Then the rest of the squad bridged the gap. As we were moving, I was leading the way with Andy [William Anderson]. Andy said, "What are you doing?" I told him I was taking point. He said, " That is not your job, that is mine!" To me squad leader or not - once a pointman always a point man. After our disagreement, we decided to move to the point together. Andy and I were like brothers and we were both from Pennsylvania. From the sounds of the shots I heard before we started up, I told Andy that we must be getting close. The worst part is we knew Charlie was dug in there. After we realized that we were getting close, I told Andy that we should get down here. My RTO and I were about to get down on the ground. I looked and Andy decided to move up about 15 feet to another tree. Right before he reached the tree, all hell started and Andy went down. I yelled to him but there was no response. There was a lot of noise from all the weapon fire. I returned fire and my weapon jammed. I threw a granade and moved up quickly to retrieve Andy. I drug him back by his right leg. He did not make a move. I did not have time to check him. I then grabbed my RTO's weapon. He started to give me a hard time about that (I think he was relatively new). I said, "You keep the radio going!" His weapon jammed too. At the same time Lt. Fortenberry was calling motar in and I was adjusting them. I saw Andy's rifle where he had been laying. I crawled back up and got his weapon. I fired and his jammed too. That was strange because Andy kept the cleanest rifle in the whole company (That's a fact! Every chance he had he was cleaning his rifle.) I threw what granades I had and finally got one of the rifles working again. What kept my RTO and me from being shot is beyond me. I thought about it over the years and the only two things I came up with was either the VC did not worry about us and placed their fire trying to hit the men coming behind us or we were just a little out of their sight. I really cannot remember how long before the rest of my men made it up to us. I could see another squad to my left flank. We pulled back as quick as possible. When we got far enough away from the machine gun nest, I think it was German [or Gurman] that put Andy over his shoulder and we all got out as fast as possible. That evening in the NDP, when I was collecting my thoughts, I remember thinking "boy, we are in big trouble in this operation".

For the next week we continued our search and destroy constantly running into all kinds of VC activities, knowing definitly we were in a bad area. The morning of Oct. 17th I remember only too well. It was our company's turn to stay and guard the NDP. It's weird looking back. I was on my way back to the bunker I had to guard. For some reason I stood and watched the other companies' men leaving on partol. I never did that before or after. I can still close my eyes and see them walking into the wood line. The bunker I had to guard was on the opposite side from where the patrol went out. I can still remember, like it was yesterday, when we heard them making contact with the VC. It started little and got bad. Then we had snipers shooting as us in the NDP. I never felt so helpless in my life. We could not leave the bunkers we were guarding. Our men who were getting hit were not that far away but they might as well have been on the moon. There was nothing we could do for them. We did not have a radio at our bunker so it was hard to find out anything that was happening, but we knew it was bad. I remember when I got the word that one guy had made it back. He told us how bad it was. After things calmed down and a long night was over, daybreak came. I went out with the patrol that went out to retrieve the rest of the bodies. That is a sight that I can close my eyes and still see to this day....my fellow Black Lions laying there with dirt all over them from the motar rounds and artillery that was fired all night to keep the VC away from their bodies. Like the song says...."All gave some and some gave all". That is very true of the Black Lions!
Don Kock

Note: Sgt Don Koch was awarded the ARCOM with "V" device for the valor he displayed in retrieving William Anderson's body and weapon. He was also awarded the Bronae Star by Lt. Col. Menetrey for meritorious service before he rotated home. Click here to read the citations.