What a day. The idea was to just visit the Nhi Ha battle site and the under-construction monument to the NVA killed in the May 6 engagement, then get my butt out of there. Well, within minutes of stepping from the car at my old bunker position, a man approached and engaged in conversation. Through my interpreter, it was learned that the man was Mr. Ba, who was the commander of all VC/Liberation Army troops in the region. And, he and his men fought shoulder to shoulder with the NVA against my unit. I firmly believe that he had prior knowledge of my intended arrival at Nhi Ha. His knowledge of the many May 1-May 16 engagements with my unit was riveting and, at the same time, material for overload. He escorted Danny and I to the monument, which is at the May 6 battle site where just two platoons from my company locked horns with his VC element and Captain Tha's unit. The name of each NVA/VC soldier killed that day is etched into the monument, which states that they died fighting against 3/21 Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. After visiting Mr. Ba at his house, I spent an hour walking the small hamlet distributing candy to children and supplying hard-working construction workers with water. Oh, Mr. Ba treated us to multiple shots of rice liquor & snake wine, then topped it off with bees soaked in some sort of alcohol…whew.
OK, I will toss in a few photos, then call it a night. I really wasn't prepared to meet another foe…this is a lot to absorb. More details tomorrow…
No comments:
Post a Comment