In the Shadow of Nui Ba Den

NUI BA DEN (Black Virgin Mountain) looked like the state of Virginia in the background. This one lonely mountain was in the middle of nowhere. There was flat land all around it. The mountain was mostly rock. There was a radio communication station and a Special Forces camp at the top of the mountain.

Delta Troop in the Shadow of Nui Ba Den
from the John Dungan Collection

Charlie was inside of this mountain. At night, as the scout chopper (LOCH) flew around the mountain, you could watch green tracers coming out of the side of the mountain, firing at the scouts. The scout chopper would fire back at Charlie, and you would see red tracers being returned. What a sight. The grace and beauty of a deadly force from a plane called Puff the Magic Dragon. This plane was loaded with mini guns. When it fired, it looked like the red tracers were holding the plane in the air. It looked like a solid red line touching the ground when Puff brought hell upon Charlie.

ONE DAY: Our mission was to search for enemy activity after a firefight at an artillery base camp just north of us. Reaching the battle site with great care, we found a shocking sight. No Americans were alive when we got there.

We had to secure the area after the search. After digging in for the night, we just sat there and looked around for some enemy movement. In the corner of my eye, I saw a boot with dried blood lying next to me. That just sent cold chills down my spine. My mouth was dry and sweat was running down my face. I reached down to get a drink of water, only to find my water was almost gone. Just a couple of drinks left and I still had the rest of the day to go. I tried to make it through the night without drinking any more water. I did not know when we were going to get any more water. By noon the next day, water was flown into us. By that evening, the infantry unit arrived to take over. We packed up and made our way back to our base camp.

ANOTHER DAY: We didn't made contact this day. But it wasn't one our best days, either. We flew into a possible enemy camp - a search and destroy mission. We had to cross several streams and cut our way through dense jungle. First, we ran into the red army ants. These ants would attack you. They would jump out of the trees in waves. When they got on you, they would bite. They would break the skin and cause welts. The bites were so bad that we would strip off all our clothes and beat them off our bodies.

There were streams and rivers to cross. Some had currents so swift we had to cross them with ropes. One of our better swimmers would swim to the other side with a rope. After he tied the rope down, we would cross holding onto the rope. Things just didn't go right on this mission. Half way across one stream, I started to sink and couldn't move anymore. It was like quick sand - it just kept sucking me down under the water. I slung my rifle over my head and grabbed the rope with both hands. Still sinking, I yelled to the others "I'm sinking." I ripped off my ammo belts and backpack. I was up to my armpits and still going down. I yelled again "I can't break loose." I couldn't pull myself up. I wrapped the rope around my wrist. Then someone yelled "Go under and try to swim. Lay down and try to float." I had pulled so hard on the rope that I had rope burns and my hands were bleeding. This was my last hope. I went under, holding my breath, and lay down. I started coming back up slowly. I would stick my head up for more air and go back under again. I was getting weaker by the minute, from the struggle. Then I felt the rope cut loose on one end. I could feel my buddies pulling me out of the muck. After they pulled me ashore and I got myself together again, we moved up river. We did not have any more problems that day. Boy, was I glad we didn't make contact with the enemy that day.

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