Description of the incident:

In the early morning we were heading up this hill following a trail. About half way up the hill we started receiving sniper fire from the rear. One of our guys was hit. As we then rushed to get to the top of the hill some NVA that were dug in on the top of the hill began AK47 firing and throwing grenades down on us. In just a matter of minutes I saw 2 more of our men go down. I return fire with my M60 but they were dug in on the hill top. As we hugged the ground in the brush and kept return fire we called for gun ships. It was at this time when I shot my first couple of enemies that I could see in closer range.

After the gun ships hit the hill top we tried again to advance but were stopped again by enemy fire. By this time we had 5 men down and it wasn’t looking good. We then called for jets with napalm. It took 15-20 minutes maybe 30 minutes for the jets to get to our location. It seemed like hours.

They dropped their napalm on the hill top. As it went up in this huge fire ball all the oxygen was sucked out of the air and then this tremendous heat. After taking out one more NVA we advanced to the top. There was 10 (or more) charred NVA bodies. We lost a couple men and had another 3 or 4 wounded.

Medals I received because of this incident: Army Commendation, Bronze Star

Additional Locations During Vietnam: Hiep Duc Valley