|
I’m always haunted by the fact that it should have been me. You
see, it was December 1968 and I was back in my base camp at Cu Chi for
the third time that month. It was the third time I had been
wounded in the month of December and I was getting ready to go back out
to the field to be with my troops.
While I was in camp recovering, we had two new lieutenants arrive as
replacements. They were very likable young men. Both were
graduates of West Point. I liked them immediately and had great
hopes for them.
I was supposed to go out to the field with both of them the next day on
our usual convoy. It was a convoy that took out our mail, some
hot food, a re-supply of ammunition and it was something that the
people in the field looked forward to every day.
It was toward the end of the month and all of a sudden, I received a
visit from the Major who had been our Battalion Executive Officer but
was recently assigned to Division as the G-2…. That’s the Intelligence
Officer for those of you who don’t know. He told me that he
wanted me to participate in a security force the next day for the Bob
Hope show.
He said that me and my men would get to sit in the third row behind the
wounded soldiers that they invited from the hospital (they would get
the first two rows). Our job would be to cordon off the stage in
the event of a hostile act.
I asked him what that meant and he said, “Don’t worry, it means that
you get to watch the show right up front”. I was certainly cool
with that so I agreed. It seems that the producers of the show
wanted some soldiers near the front in combat uniforms for their
camera. All we had to do was dress in our normal gear and sit in
front so the cameras could film us occasionally. We did have
loaded weapons but that was the extent of the seriousness of our
mission.
Anyway, the night before the show, our unit in the field came under
heavy attack. We received an emergency message to deploy all the spare
reserves that were ready to return to the field by helicopter.
Mostly, these consisted of new troops who were just assigned to our
unit and had just finished our “war college” (all new troops had an
opportunity to get their uniforms, zero their weapons, and learn about
various booby traps they might encounter when they got out to the
field). I put the two lieutenants on a helicopter and gave them
instructions. One of them would be taking over my unit until I
returned the day after tomorrow.
I stayed behind to command the “protection” platoon for Bob’s
show. And I have to tell you, seeing Ann Margaret on stage was
awesome. We hooted and hollered as loud as anyone there. I
made sure I got some “up-close” pictures.
Anyway, the next morning, the C.O. called me on the radio and said that
it had been a brutal night but that nobody died. They were,
however, taking fire again and needed the rest of us out there right
away. We jumped on a helicopter before sunup and were on our
way. We had extra ammunition and even managed to scrape up some
scrambled eggs and bacon to take with us.
When we got there, it was still dark. There were “tracers” flying
everywhere. From the air, it looked like “grazing fire”.. Bullets
flying about 2 or 3 ft. from the ground. Bullets flying
everywhere. The pilot said, “we’re going to drop you in an LZ to
the south and you’ll have to hike it in from there. We can’t set
down in the middle of all that.”
As we neared the ground, I remember taking a last minute check of the
direction I was supposed to lead my men and then jumped… right into a
rice paddy up to my neck in water.
My head actually went underwater and I lost my helmet. When I
finally popped my head up, I remember searching for the helmet for a
second before deciding that I needed to hurry up and reinforce the
company. I was a bit disoriented but I pulled my compass out and
figured out which way to go.
Without my helmet, I waded into the “no man’s land” between the good
guys and the bad guys.
On the ground, I realized that the bullets were actually flying much
higher over our heads than it looked from the air. I sent a radio
message to the perimeter that we were coming in and gave them our
coordinates. By the time we reached the perimeter, things had
actually calmed down a bit and the sun was coming up.
Once inside the perimeter, the shooting had stopped. I guess the
bad guys had had enough. We still called in some more artillery
and (I’d like to think) that our reinforcements scared them away.
Once things calmed down a bit, I went over to chat with the Company
Commander. That’s when I learned of the bad news. As the
two lieutenants were leaving a briefing early this morning, an RPG
rocket hit right in front of them. Both were killed
instantly. One of them was to be my replacement. I was
supposed to go to the base camp and become the company executive
officer. You know, the guy who gets to ride on the convoy every
day so the troops could get their mail and a hot meal.
That never happened. Although I stayed in the field the rest of
my time in VietNam and never got to live the “good life” back in base
camp, I still believe that if I hadn’t stayed to provide “security” for
Bob Hope, I’d be dead now.
Bob Hope saved my life!
Humbly,
Pat Kiggins, The Veteran’s Mentor |
