Phantom Leader Part 15

Gritting his teeth at the commands but thankful all the boosted same, Wolf helped his men to the helicopter and them inside. Except for a few rounds the firing had stopped.

Wolf took a good look at his rescuers. It was as he had thought when he first saw the camouflaged uniforms they wore: they were Marines- He wondered why there were so few, or where their officer was, but didn't have time to ask.

Warrant Officer Bob Berry looked out from his seat on the right side of the c.o.c.kpit and beckoned Wolf to him. Wolf climbed in and bent his head next to the pilot.

"You got to dump all your weapons or I can't take off with these extra guys," Berry yelled. Wolf relayed the message but couldn't bring himself to part with his own .45. He had to roar at the Marines before they would part with their big guns. Ten seconds later Berry lifted off the overloaded Huey slick and headed for Khe Sanh.

He flew under the weather down Route 9 toward the Marine base. The sky was overcast and dark. After a moment Berry yelled back over his shoulder, "Is Covey Four One in here?"

"Yeah," Toby Parker said. He was sandwiched in with all the other men and bodies and couldn't move, Berry said something into his boom mike, listened for a moment, then called back to Toby. "Covey One Zero says well done and he'll see you back at Da Nang," Toby nodded at this message from his boss, Colonel Charles Armillo.

Berry snaked his heavy helicopter up the road, then climbed the ridge to the Khe Sanh plateau. He radioed the Marine operations people that he was enroute and just needed a little gas, He decided not to mention his Marine pa.s.sengers. Wolf Lochert wormed his way around inside, talked to his men, and checked their condition, congratulating them for a job well done.

He slammed each Marine on the shoulder. "I owe you guys," he said.

"We may just need a job," the smallest one, a gunnery sergeant, said.

"Talk to you on the ground," Wolf said, puzzled. He turned to Lopez, who had finished tending a wound in Heaps' leg.

"Let's see that Air Force guy," he said. Toby Parker sat next to Lopez on the floor, jammed up against a bulkhead.

"Hey, Wolf," he said wearily. "You sure get around."

"Got to keep you Air Force pukes out of trouble," Wolf said, a huge grin splitting his grimy face. The two men clasped hands briefly, Five minutes later Berry put the Huey down on the ramp near the heavily sandbagged operations center at Khe Sanh and stopc.o.c.ked the big Lycoming turbine engine. In the distance the burned and twisted hulk of an Air Force C- 1 30 lay blackened and bare. Wolf Lochert jumped down.

A lance corporal ran up to him. He looked dirty and hara.s.sed. "You guys have about two minutes to get the h.e.l.l out of here. We're under constant mortar and rocket attack.

Your chopper is a magnet." He skidded to a stop and saluted when he saw he was talking to an officer and not a warrant officer. Wolf returned the salute, surprised the man was saluting in a combat zone. The corporal pointed to the north. Fog rolled just to the edge of the east-west runway.

"Sir, the NVA has heavy guns and the biggest mortars in the world looking at us. The minute that fog burns off and he sees your bird, he'll shoot. Probably already trying to zero in on the sound."

"All we need is a little fuel and some oil, Corporal," Bob Berry said as he climbed down. One by one, most of the men untangled themselves and stiffly climbed out. They walked around and stared at the holes in the machine. Three stayed inside tending the wounded. Four dead lay under the rear canvas pull-down seats. Wolf began checking the Marines.

Two were lightly wounded.

"n.o.body stays on the ground long enough to refuel anymore," the corporal said. "Our fuel facilities are all blown to h.e.l.l anyhow."

"Where is your operations officer?" Wolf asked the gunnery sergeant.

"Actually, sir, we didn't have one right now. You see, he was. .h.i.t . .."

A Marine major in battle gear leading four Marines with rifles walked up. The major nodded at Lochert, and, with the help of the riflemen, began to round up the seven Marines next to Wolf.

"Wait a minute, Major. What's going on here?" Wolf asked.

"Sir, these men are under arrest for desertion in the face of the enemy."

"THEY ARE WHATT' Wolf Lochert thundered.

"Sir, they're-" the major began.

Lochert cut him off. "WHERE IS YOUR COLONEL, YOU BLITHERING s.h.i.+THEAD?"

"Sir, the colonel is the one who sent me to arrest these men."

"Do you know where they went or what they did?" Wolf rasped. Without waiting for an answer, he called the gunnery sergeant to him. "Tell me, why did You come to Lang Tri?"

The man, whipcord muscled and thin, looked embarra.s.sed. He licked his lips and glanced at the major. "Ah . . . well, you see, sir, we, ah, were part of the original team, and when we heard you were in deep s.h.i.+t, but we couldn't go, weren't permitted, you know, so, ah, a few of us decided to, ah, you know, sort Of Mount a patrol . . ."

" Were you or your men on any a.s.signed duty at the time?" Wolf asked.

"No, sir."

"Did you desert any post or miss any duty because of the patrol."

"No, sir, we did not."

Wolf Lochert turned and leaned toward the major, fists on hips. "Then why is the charge desertion in the face of the enemy?"

The major licked his lips. "Because we could have been attacked at any time, and they would have failed to meet an all-hands muster."

"Were you attacked?" Wolf asked.

"No, sir,"

"Then how do you know they would have failed to make the muster?"

"Sir, they were absent without leave."

The major was fl.u.s.tered. "Sir, I'm only doing what my colonel told me to do."

"I want to see this colonel." Wolf knew he was violating all protocol by subjecting a fellow officer to abuse in front of junior officers and enlisted men. Yet he felt it only right.

Americans had rescued Americans, by G.o.d, and no one was going to get in trouble over that. A mortar crumped on the runway, then another.

Warrant Officer Bob Berry stepped forward. "Sir, we've just enough fuel to make Quang Tri. The oil we can do without. We are ready to launch.

In fact, we've got to launch if you want to get the WIAs to Quang Tri today. There are no hospital facilities here."

The gunnery sergeant from the rescue team stepped forward. The name sewn on his blouse was Woods. "Sir, we'll be okay."

Wolf clasped the man's hand. "You're right, you'll be okay. I'll be on the horn to COMUSMACV tonight." He turned to the major. "These men just saved our lives. I'm putting each one in for a Distinguished Service Cross, and it will be approved-outside of Marine channels. Tell that to your colonel." He spun toward Berry. "Okay, let's get out of here."

For the first part of the forty-minute run to Quang Tri, Major Wolf Lochert talked to his men and wrote into a green field notebook. Then he sat next to Toby Parker and gave him a bear hug that bulged Parker's eyes.

"You dummy air jockey, you stupid zoomie. Don't you ever learn? You're supposed to run around the sky, not the ground See, look at your feet.

Just look at them." Wolfs simian face looked concerned. He and Toby Parker had become close two years previously during Toby's time at Bien Hoa. Lochert and a few members of the III Corps Mike Force had been cut off and trapped. Toby had been overhead in the backseat of a tiny O-1 with a pilot who found the team. Then the pilot had been killed, and Toby, who had been an administrative courier, not a pilot, at the time, had kept the plane aloft long enough to call in a rescue team.

Then the plane had crashed. Toby had been extracted with Lochert and his men.

Toby pounded Wolf's knee. "Wolf, these guys rescued me. I was captured and they rescued me."

"Of course they did, young mister captain. That's what they get paid to do. Lopez said you've earned the CIB."

"What's the CIBT' Toby asked.

"The Combat Infantryman's Badge. Now shut up and sleep." He punched Parker lightly on the arm. Toby blinked once, unfocused, and went out.

Berry eased the helicopter to the ground on the Quang Tri dispensary pad twenty minutes later. Though there was a light drizzle, the ceiling had lifted to 300 feet. Medics with stretchers ran to the craft even before Berry shut off the engine fuel. He had radioed ahead he was coming in with two KIAs and three WIAs. In minutes the helicopter was empty. A crowd of helicopter crews gathered. Wolf, Lopez, Toby, Berry, and his copilot stood by the tail boom of the UH-113, counting holes, when an Army jeep driven by a major pulled up.

A colonel-Wolf recognized him as the G-3--climbed out and walked over to them. He was a flinty-looking man, erect and spa.r.s.e. The black name tag on his jungle fatigues said Rennagel. Wolf and the others saluted.

While they remained at attention, the colonel inspected the shot-up Huey helicopter. He fingered the bullet holes and looked at the blood on the cargo deck, He walked back to face Wolf. Although his mouth was compressed to a thin line, there was respect in his eyes. He spoke in a crisp voice.

"Lochert, I could charge you for conspiracy to steal helicopters.

Additionally, I was just a moment ago advised by landline from Khe Sanh to charge you with unauthorized landings at a Marine base and insulting a fellow officer while there."

The others glanced out of the corners of their eyes at Wolf, who stood rigidly at attention, his dark eyes focused on a faraway spot.

"But," Colonel Rennagel said, "I am not pursuing any of those options until I hear your side of the story. I want you to come and brief me."

He motioned to the major. "Take care of these men. See they have quarters, showers, food, and sleep. They've been through a lot." The major saluted.

Rennagel took Wolf into his jeep and drove off.

An hour later Colonel Harry Rennagel heard the last of Wolf's story. He stood up and looked out the window at the low clouds and shadows of the approaching night. He clasped his hands behind his back.

"I hate to hear that about Clifton and his crew. He was as brilliant a man as they make them. A genuine leader. General-officer material.

I'll put him in for the Medal of Honor, of course. Small consolation for his widow and children. But I know he earned it. He could have saved himself." Rermagel was silent for a moment. "He didn't have to go on that mission," he said with a trace of bitterness in his voice. "He really didn't have to go." He turned to Wolf and regarded his red-rimmed eyes, his filthy and b.l.o.o.d.y fatigues, his mudcaked boots. "How do you get people to forget all their training and do things like that for you?"

Wolf remained impa.s.sive. He had never Considered the question before.

It had never been put to him, and it never occurred to him to wonder why men did what he wanted them to do when he wanted them to do it.

"No," Rennagel said, "don't try to answer. Not that you would," he added dryly. "Well, I'm not putting you in for anything. Consider yourself fortunate to come out of this without at least a reprimand, if not an Article Fifteen," He escorted Wolf to his office door. "But Lopez and the other men- I'll put them in for something. Give me your supporting statements by tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir. I will also have the write-ups for those Marines who came down to rescue us. Each man deserves the DSC.

Will ou endorse my recommendations y look Most likely, Lochert, most likely. But right now you and we'll make arrangebeat. Come see me in the morning ments for you and your people to get out of here." He clasped Wolf on his shoulder, "Don't worry about anything.

I'll call Bull Dall and tell him you're alive and well."

After he showered and ate, Wolf found Toby in a tent for transient company-grade officers. There were ten GI metal cots with thin mattresses. Three were occupied by sleeping lieutenants from the field, their gear shoved underneath their cots.

A drowsy Toby Parker came fully awake when Wolf sat on the edge of his bed.

"Wolf, what happened? Are you in trouble?"

"Not at all," he said in a low voice. "Just want to get out of here in the morning. See you in the mess tent out and silently walked out. at six sharp." He slapped Toby's foot.

it was past midnight before Lochert finished the awards write-ups for the Marines and Army men who had performed so well at Lang Tri.

0630 HOURS LOCAL, THURSDAY 1 FEBRUARY 1968.

QUANG TRI ARM AIRrm IM, NORTHERN I CORps REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM By six-thirty that morning Toby and Wolf had finished breakfast of reconst.i.tuted eggs and 13-ration ham. They went out and stood in the cool dawn air, with Lopez and the others of Wolf's Dakota team , by a helicopter that would take them to Da Nang, if it was still open to landings. They spoke of the battle and the mounting frenzy of the Tet offensive.

Colonel Harry Rennagel drove up in a jeep and skidded to a stop. He motioned impatiently for Wolf to come over. At the same time a warrant officer leaped out and ran to the operations shack. Wolf walked over and saluted the colonel.

"Lochert," he said without preamble, "I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that good. Some State Department people are trapped at a house or a villa in the old city in Hue, and somebody at MACV thinks you are the only one who can save them. Or at least you are the closest person to give them a hand. Bull Dall agrees," He nodded at the operations shack. "Mister McClanahan will get you down there. He's in getting the weather and LOCAL battle information in the Hue area." He handed Wolf a brown envelope. "Here is what I have from MACV to pa.s.s on to YOU."

Lopez heard the exchange. He called the men and they started a.s.sembling and checking their gear and put together a kit for Wolf. In short minutes they had a clean M 16, ammo, grenades, knife, and canteens on a harness to present to him.

"Get a kit for yourself, Lopez. You're coming with me," Wolf said.

"Thank you, sir," Lopez said. "I didn't think you could do it alone."

"I can. I just want someone to talk to. Get a move on.

Toby Parker grabbed Wolf's shoulder. He struggled to put his thoughts together. "You saved my a.s.s, Wolf," was the best he could manage. Wolf banged him on the arm.

"Parker, you Scheisskopf, you look terrible. Tell your boss I told you to take a week off. Then get yourself an airplane and I'll see you over the Trail someday." They shook hands.

The door of the ops shack slammed open. McClanahan gave a thumbs-up to Colonel Rennagel, then he and his copilot and two gunners dashed to a guns.h.i.+p.

"That's it, Lochert," Rennagel said. "Good luck. G.o.d, how you snake-eaters get around." He reached in back of the jeep and brought forward an old parachute bag that was lumpy and full of things that rolled and knocked together with heavy sounds. "Take this. Claymores and a few other items you might need in there."

After takeoff Lochert looked down and saw Rennagel and Toby Parker rendering perfect hand salutes at them. He and Joe Lopez returned the professional courtesy.

1015 HOURS LOCAL, THURSDAY FEBRUARY 1968 HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY.

a.s.sISTANCE COMMAND, VIETNAM (MACV) TAN SON Nhant AIR BASE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM.

COMUSMACV, General William Childs Westmoreland, sat in an aisle chair, front row, and listened as his staff briefed him on the chronology of the events of what was now being called the Tet offensive. His thick white hair was brushed back, his square face smooth, his fatigues spotless.

He watched a staff brigadier from G-2 Intelligence brief from a posterboard chart. He was finis.h.i.+ng his review of the attacks throughout South Vietnam. Waiting to brief next was the Director of Operations, 7th Air Force, Major General Milton Berzin. Next to COMUSMACV sat Commander, 7th Air Force.

"In summary, sir," the brigadier said, "some eighty thou VC and NVA troops have attacked thirty-six of the forty-four provincial capitals, five of the six major cities, sixty-four of the two hundred forty-two district capitals, and fifty hamlets. With the exception of elements in Cholon and Hue, they are being repulsed. It certainly helped when six units attacked twenty-four hours too early at Nha Trang, Qui Nhon, Ban Me Thuot, Konturn, Pleiku, and near Da Nang." He flipped to a chart depicting the action in the Hue area, Hue, with a population of 140,000, was the third-largest city in South Vietnam. The big city was split into north and south sectors by the Song Huong, the River of Perfumes, that flowed east to the South China Sea five miles away.

North of the Perfume River lay the Citadel, the fortified city built 150 years earlier by Emperor Gia Long - The Citadel was surrounded by high walls with ramparts and turrets, and water-filled moats. The walls ranged from 60 to 200 feet thick. Inside the Imperial City was the Imperial Palace, with its ornate throne room and grounds of oriental gardens, temples, and paG.o.das. Next to the palace was the Lyc&e Quoc Hoc, where Vo Nguyen Giap, the general commanding the North Vietnamese Army, had attended school. Also within the Citadel was the small Tay Loc airfield, located near the headquarters of the 1st ARVN Infantry Division.

South of the Perfume lay the new city, in which was located the stadium, the university, the Cercle Sportif, a Department of State and an AID (Aid for International Development) enclave, and a small MACV compound.

The 1st ARVN Army had responsibility for overall Hue City and LOCAL area protection. Some U.S. Marines were stationed eight miles to the southwest at Phu Bai. Although in a state of flux as they re-enforced Khe Sanh, the Marines still managed to field some troops.

"Hue is the cultural center of Vietnam," the G-2 brigadier said. "It would be of great psychological importance to the communists to capture and hold the City. Of military importance, it sits on the railroad and the main highway between Da Nang and the DMZ. One of our radio intercept stations at Phu Bai has picked up enemy transmissions indicating two Viet Cong regiments, the Fifth and Sixth, comprising seventy-five hundred VC and hard-core NVA, have gained control of most of the old city, including the Citadel, and an area south of the Perfume River. Our MACV advisory compound in the southeast section was surprised and is under siege-"