Is this going to be big enough, Dan? Looks a bit small for a squad of men to me.”
“I’m hoping so, Ed. I like the taller sidewalls and there being less chance of Charlie being able to drop a mortar round in on top of us.”
“Well? Is it finished?” Chief Thomas asked as he walked around from the front of the hooch where he had parked his jeep.
‘Hey Ed. Bring the Chief a coke too.”
“Okay, Dan.”
“Hell yes. Finest bunker in Alpha Company. Actually in the whole battalion.” Dave answered as Thomas stepped up and looked into the newly rebuilt bunker.
“Looks kind of small to me even though I’m sure you filled more bags. Where did you get the sand to fill them, Dan?”
“That’s what I asked him Chief.” Kramer said as he looked at and pointed with his chin to the now diminished sandpile by the officer’s shower building.
“Just wait you guys. If we have to use it there will be more than enough room for my whole squad in it.
You going to get those Cokes, Boot?”
“I’m on my way. I always know it’s time to do what he asked when he calls me Boot.” Kramer said as he jumped off of the wall of the bunker he was standing on and headed in the direction of the EM Club.
“If you say so, Dan. You guys be ready to go back on the road tomorrow?” Chief Thomas asked.
“For sure. You can only have so much fun building bunkers. Even when the sun is shining, Tom.”
“By the way, security asked for another load of sand to finish sandbagging the officer’s shower room. They can’t figure where all the sand they had for it went to.” Tom said in passing with a smile.
EIGHT
On Thursday morning Dan and Chief Thomas traveled out the gate together in the chief’s jeep leaving Dan’s grader inside the wire behind the gate’s guard shack.
“This end of the road is starting to look really good. Monday morning the engineers will be out to put in some grade stakes and Tuesday you can start blue topping getting it ready so we can start laying rock on it. I’d say that we maybe a sukoshi high and we can use the extra on the shoulders.” Thomas commented
“Will I have the rubber tired roller also? Two would be nice.” Dan asked.
“You’re kidding of course. I talked them out of one which you can keep for the duration as long as you’re grading fill.
Don’t let the operator break it down. If it has to go in the shop I may not be able to get it back for you.”
“Nothing saying we couldn’t fix it ourselves is there? We can use the empty shop at the old RMK rock crusher site and Smitty will let me use his tools. After all a first class mechanic never uses his tools anyway.”
“Christ! Is that how you replaced the cutting edge on your grader?
Don’t let Chief Marks know or you, Smitty and I will all be a target of the mechanics dictator’s revenge. In case nobody told you, Marks has his own rules and number one is ‘NEVER let an operator repair a piece of his equipment.’ Meaning Marks’ equipment. He thinks he owns every piece of battalion equipment if it has wheels, an engine or wheels/engine driven, personally.”
“I’ll remember that and not let him catch me. Besides, he never leaves the Alpha Company compound and main shop anyway. Right?”
“That’s true.”
As they approached the Army’s Brigade headquarters gate Dan looked at the group of girls standing by the guard shack flirting with the dozen or so of soldiers who were still on the inside of the fence.
I don’t see Linh. She’s been out here every day that I went by, but she hasn’t come down to our end of the road. Ryder made a remark yesterday about seeing her at the bridge and hinted that it was too bad I wasn’t there since she seemed to be looking for somebody.
“Today, as you can see, they started to walk the Northwest 6 crane back to Chu Lai so the operators and mechanics can put the shovel front back on it over the next couple of days. Then we’ll walk it back out to the laterite pit to load fill. Some of the fill will be for you to finish the approaches on each end of the bridge. That by the way is the excuse to get the rubber tired roller out here. For the bridge approaches. Then on Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll have Windy take out the bypass with his scraper and Casey can help with the D-8 Cat.”
He saw her standing next to the sandbag bunker on the bridge site with Honcho. They were both relaxed and smiling about something. Honcho looked up at the sound of the approaching jeep. His whole face lit up in a smile when he turned to Linh and said something.
She looked towards the jeep quickly and from several feet away Dan could see her soft smile spread across her face as she recognized him. Her right hand came away from her basket just a few inches and she gave her almost invisible small wave.
The Chief parked the jeep on the left shoulder of the bridge approach a few feet from the sandbag bunker. Dan started to follow him when he walked towards the group of builders standing and talking on the bridge, but hesitated when Linh stepped away from the bunker’s wall and took several steps towards him.
“I’ll be right back Dan, then we can look over the bypass and approaches to see where we stand as to being able to accomplish what we want over the next couple of days.
I think somebody wants to talk to you.” Chief Thomas said and looked at Linh who was hesitantly walking towards them.
With his usual huge smile Honcho waved at Dan then hurried to catch Chief Thomas who seemed to be his hero of the week. “Linh has been waiting for you. She wants you to buy Coke from her.” He hollered as he went out of sight around the bunker.
“Is that so?” Dan asked Linh who was only a couple of steps away and had not only stopped coming closer, but had turned red in embarrassment.
“No, I did not say that. Excuse me, I must leave.”
“Linh where are you going?” He asked her as she turned and started to follow Honcho and the Chief across the completed bridge.
When she didn’t answer him, Dan spoke louder but to no avail trying to reassure her that he understood and knew Honcho was just being a boy and was not speaking for her, but had unintentionally draw attention to her.
“Ready, Dan?” Thomas asked a couple minutes later as he slid behind the wheel of the jeep. “We can drive across the bridge. Not officially yet.. We’re privileged.”
‘What’s going on on the bypass, Tom?” He asked just as Tom slammed on the brakes and the jeep slide to a stop in the soft fill on the south bridge approach.
Going south and already several 6 X 6 lengths onto the bypass was a US Marine convoy of about 8 trucks and two jeeps. In the lead jeep a Marine Captain was standing in the passenger side and waving and hollering at an ARVN convoy of six trucks that was just entering the bypass fast from the south. The Marine PFC driving the lead jeep started to slow down but the Captain waved him on with his left hand and without turning to him, spoke to him.
The ARVN trucks kept coming fast only stopping when the first truck was barely a jeep’s length from the front bumper of the Captain’s jeep. All the while the Marine was waving for the ARVNs to back down without results.
At the same time the Marine jeep had skidded to a stop on the compacted laterite surface of the bypass and the Captain jumped out of the jeep giving orders to the Marines in the jeep and drawing his .45 from his shoulder holster.
“Heads up. Everybody grab your weapons!” Chief Thomas hollered as he and Dan jumped from their jeep and put the jeep between themselves and the ARVN convoy.
Dan pulled back the slide of his M14 and chambered a round as he laid across the engine hood and aimed at the lead Vietnamese truck. On second thought he reached up to the side of the rifle and turned the selector switch to full auto before pushing off the safety. He didn’t have time to think about his flak jacket still sitting on his grader’s seat.
Thomas had drawn his .45 and as he came around the rear of
the jeep, checked to see what the other Seabees were doing. His order had been unnecessary. Most of the Seabees had already established a defensive perimeter and an M-60 machine gun was sticking out of the bunker’s gunport where its field of fire could sweep the ARVN convoy. The rest of the Seabee crew had armed themselves and were hurrying to their defensive posts on both ends of the bridge.
In the lead Marine jeep the gunner had already swung his M-60 machine gun to point at the front ARVN truck’s windshield. All the Marines in the 6X6s pointed their weapons at the column of ARVN trucks.
An ARVN officer jumped from the lead Vietnamese truck and was screaming loudly as he waved and motioned at the Marine Captain.
The Vietnamese officer reached for his sidearm but before his weapon cleared its holster the Marine had pointed his .45 at his head and was hollering into the Vietnamese’s face from just a couple feet away.
The Vietnamese’s face drained of color. His eyes changed from arrogance and rage to fear. He threw both hands up and away from his weapon with his palms out as he stepped back three steps nodding rapidly in half bows as he retreated and became mute. He continued to stare at the ground in front of him.
“Watch that ARVN with the US carbine on the left front of the first truck. He’s getting really antsy, Dan.”
“Got him, Tom. He had better put that carbine down quick.
Looks like the officer has found his voice again.”
The Vietnamese officer turned towards his troops and spoke rapidly and not without some nervousness that could be heard in his high pitched voice. Dan could hear it clearly though he didn’t understand more than a word or two.
He motioned with his arms and hands and after a few seconds the half raised weapons on the ARVN soldiers started to be lowered. Reluctantly the soldier in the front truck that Dan and Chief Thomas were both watching closely also lowered his carbine.
Neither of them relaxed, nor did any of the other Seabees on the bridge or the Marines in the convoy.
Slowly and reluctantly the ARVN trucks started to back off the bypass and retreat to the right side of the road leaving enough room for the Marine convoy to pass them. As his jeep came alongside the lead Vietnamese truck the Marine Captain with a smile, threw a mocking salute at the Vietnamese officer who at that moment was angrily mounting the running board of his truck.
“The antsy ARVN soldier in the lead truck was getting antsy again moving his American made carbine around half raising it only to again lower it.
“That sucker is a VC for sure and just asking for it.” Dan said as he leaned back across the jeep’s hood and watched him. “Can’t say as that Vietnamese officer was very happy either. The Captain really made him lose face in front of his troops. Though it was his own doing trying to bluff a US Marine.”
“I think you’re probably right. We’ll just keep an eye on him until they get away from the bridge.” Thomas agreed with him as he slid his .45 back into its holster.
“Let’s make a run on the bypass and I think we should make sure the dump trucks can still turn around in that wide spot you built just this side of the burned out hooches.
It also might be a good idea to follow these guys to Chu Lai.”
“You want me to make one more pass on the highway all the way to the bridge before I get tied up close in to Chu Lai on Tuesday?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you do that. I’ll take you back to the Chu Lai gate and drop you at your grader then you can take the rest of the day doing that. Why don’t you start at the Brigade’s gate. No sense in grading along the fence since you’ll be working there for the foreseeable future.”
NINE
Dan Lee Davis started the week off on Monday by making a pass along the shoulder of Highway 1 from the Army’s Brigade headquarters south to Bridge #1 since he was going to the bridge to finish its approaches. Less than a half mile south of the Army’s gate rice paddies opened up on both sides of the road with several culverts running under the highway to allow the Vietnamese rice farmers to move water from one paddy to another on both sides of the highway. As Dan passed over the first culvert he noticed from high up on the grader’s seat that the normally dark paddy water was cloudy with fresh mud especially thick close to the mouth of the culvert. The cloud of mud was lighter colored than the dark brown almost black mud in a normal paddy. It was almost beige which was what drew his attention to it.
Huh? That’s strange. I don’t remember ever seeing water that color in a rice paddy.
Is that a piece of comm wire in that cloud of mud?
I’ll stop a bit down the road and walk back rather than park the grader on top of the culvert if there is something in there that shouldn’t be. The road is all right. I graded that whole shoulder Saturday and there aren’t any signs of anybody screwing with it since. I’m damn sure the mud wasn’t stirred up then either.
He had lifted the blade slightly and pulled the throttle to about half and gradually brought the grader to a halt. He threw the grader’s transmission into neutral and set the hand brake before he put of his flak jacket then reached behind him for his M14 and cartridge belt. He pulled back the M14’s slide to chamber a round. He was about a hundred yards from the culvert and looked across the road towards the village sitting in a clump of trees back up the road from where he had parked the grader. Several villagers were working around their hooches. Three women were walking along a paddy dike carrying the Vietnamese version of a hoe and headed for a paddy where there were already several more men and women working.
Looks secure enough. Since the villagers are working here, Charlie probably isn’t close by. Looks like the same villagers I’ve seen here before.
Okay! Here goes nothing.
He slung his M14 loosely on the front of his right shoulder upside down with its sling to the back. Just a quick swing and it would be ready to fire. Then he dropped on to the roadbed from the grader’s bottom step.
Carefully walking in the grader’s tire tracks he back tracked to the culvert. When he could see the mouth of the culvert he stopped and looked all around the adjoining paddies and again checked the villagers around the paddies. All seemed quiet. The same as a few minutes ago.
From where he stood and with the sun at a different angle from what he saw from higher up on the grader he could see into the cloud of muddy water. The comm wire was in plain view running underwater across the paddy from the west and into the culvert. The culvert was only about half full of water and it was not flowing in either direction.
That’s why the mud is still stirred up. The water in the paddies on both sides of the road are equal. It isn’t moving.
Wonder what’s in there?
Moving carefully towards the mouth of the culvert with his rifle now in both hands and his finger pushing against the trigger guard safety, Dave watched where each foot went to be sure he stayed where the grader blade had been.
Here goes! One foot on the top of the culvert pipe, then step down in the water next to the pipe so I can see into the pipe.
Oh--shit! Olive drab with yellow strips and lettering. Definitely American.
He had no doubt that he was looking at a US made bomb without fins. Even in the dim light afforded by the reflection off the water in the 24 inch culvert pipe he could see a series of deep scrapes and shiny bare metal in the paint on the side of the bomb.
I’ve seen enough. Best get the Hell out of here before some stray VC decides that I’m screwing up their ambush.
Dan sauntered back to his grader again being careful to stay in the tire marks feeling the paddy water squishing around in his left jump boot. He left his rifle draped on his shoulder even as he stepped up the two step ladder to the grader’s deck. Trying to be casual he put the transmission in gear and pushed the throttle up and as he eased out the clutch,then hit the blade lift control to reset it.
Best and quickest place to go is Brigade headquarters or keep going to the bridge?
> The bridge it is. Thomas is there and has a radio in his jeep.
He didn’t bother to blade any further believing that disposal of the bomb more important than road grading. He pulled the grader blade up and after shifting into high gear he tucked the blade under the chassis and at full throttle and about twenty-five miles an hour headed for the bridge.
Thomas contacted the Marines of the 3RD MAR DIV who were in charge of that part of Chu Lai and made arrangements to meet their EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team and a detachment of Marines at the south end of the Chu Lai cantonment fence ASAP.
“Let’s go Dan.” The Chief hollered and waited for him to break off his conversation with one of the corpsman and Honcho.
As soon as he had arrived at the bridge and filled in Chief Thomas to what he had found, Dan went looking for Honcho since he did not see Linh in the group of Vietnamese girls hanging about the north bridge approach nor earlier at the Brigade Headquarter’s Gate. He found Honcho hanging out with a young third class corpsman. Pete Reynolds who Dan knew and knew would keep his mouth shut and not spread a rumor about him asking questions about Linh.
Honcho told Dan that he hadn’t seen her since Saturday when he, Dan, and the Chief had arrived before the Marine/ARVN confrontation. “She left then. When the Marines left and I tried to find her, she was not here. She’s a relative, maybe a cousin to me. I will ask my mother if she knows where she is. You can come back later?”
The corpsman also said that he saw her walk away from Dan and Honcho then and didn’t see her again or since as Honcho had told him.
“Thanks guys. If you see her tell her I asked about her. All right?”
“Sure Dan. I like her too. But I know she was looking for you for several days when you hadn’t been out here.”
“Honcho, where does she live? With your family?”
“No, with my mother’s sister in Chu Lai. She walks out here early in the morning or if she has money, rides a bus.”