Chapter 7

There was no mortar attack that night either, and I made the regular 2100 hrs. report on the new radio. Lt Sykes was there to ask about the chopper. It turned out that all of the aviation assets were busy up north in the Louang Phrabang area, and we would have to wait. Again I went to bed early, as no one had assigned me anything else to do.

In the morning at breakfast, Sawyer announced that Sgt Morris would lead a patrol out to one of the nearby villages with Doc Walls along for a medical assistance visit. They would also be doing a little intelligence gathering while he treated the people there. Sawyer told me later that they always sent the platoon with people from that village or one close to it. The leaders would drink fermented rice liquor with the chief to see what they could learn, and the men would spread out and talk to the villagers to do the same.

I told Meadows after breakfast that I was going to run two new antennas for the radio to see if I could get better reception and range. It was hot that morning and I was working in just my OD T-shirt and pants on stringing the antennas. It hadn't rained in several days and the heat had really built up as a result. About 1000 hrs, I took a break and took off my T-shirt to wipe my face and cool down some. Several of the troops passed by and saw me sitting there. They seemed very surprised and hurried off. A short time later, two of the local Platoon Leaders approached me with one of the interpreters.

"Sergeant," the interpreter started, "several of the men saw your amulet and came to report to their chiefs. May they see your amulet?"

"Sure," I replied, and went to remove it from around my neck.

"It's not necessary to take it off, Sergeant," the interpreter told me. "They can look at it where it is." The two men came over and scrutinized the amulet for a short time. They seemed quite surprised on seeing it and were soon talking rapidly in their own language. Of course I didn't understand what they were saying as it wasn't Thai and didn't sound like the Kammer I had heard in Ban Lung.

"Is something wrong?" I asked

"No, Sergeant," the interpreter replied, "they are just impressed with your amulet and wondering where you got it."

"My girlfriend, Suenee, gave it to me in Ban Lung," I explained.

"Ah" was all he said to me, but then launched into a long explanation to the two local men. They smiled and held up a thumb. "Dee - dee," they said in what sounded like Thai to me.

A short time later, the other Thai Special Forces Sergeant, Mom, came over to see me. He too was interested in looking at my amulet but didn't say anything after looking at it, only smiling.

It was after lunch when LT Tamusarit came to see me in my bunker. He knocked at the entrance before coming in.

"May I speak with you, Sergeant?" he asked on entering.

"Yes, what can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

"It's about the curiosity of the local people. They are all very superstitious and still believe in magic, demons and evil spirits. They have all been very impressed with your amulet, and are claiming that it is the reason that the mortar attacks have stopped and also why you are such a good shot. Even my own two men believe this. Can you tell me how you acquired this amulet?"

"Yes, sir. I received it in Ban Lung from my new girlfriend, Suenee. She is apparently the niece of Major Kung," I told him.

"May I see the amulet?" he asked next. I pulled the amulet out from under my T-shirt and handed it to him by the bootlace.

"No, you should keep it on," the Lieutenant said, but looked at it suspended there by the bootlace.

"You received this in Ban Lung?" he asked somewhat surprised. "This isn't the usual kind of amulet worn in this area."

"Yes, Suenee is from another part of Thailand. She said something about a Wat near Bangkok and other Amulets," I told him. A smile crossed the Lieutenant's face then.

"Yes, now I remember where I have seen similar amulets. There is a... ," he seemed to be at a loss for the correct word in English, " ... superstition isn't the correct word, but may come close. Legend may be a better word in your language," he told me, and then continued, "that certain Amulets were responsible for saving the Kingdom back in the time of King Rama 1, and there is a Wat near Bangkok that venerates them, but it is attended mainly by women.

"Again there is a superstition, and that is the correct word this time, that these women after dedicating themselves to these Amulets are protected from attack and may only be touched by a male that is their father or husband without the threat of a quick death for the one touching them. It is a widely held belief," he finished.

"I don't know anything about that, Lieutenant. Suenee only said to wear it for luck."

"Yes, and so far you appear to have been very lucky," he answered with a smile before departing.

By dinnertime that evening, it appeared that my luck had run out. Just before 1700 hrs., it started to rain. This was not the kind of rain that people in the States usually see. This was a torrential downpour that went on and on for hours. There were numerous lightning strikes and rolling thunder down in the valleys. At times the lightning was very severe. So severe in fact that we were unable to send out our daily report that night for fear of being hit by lightning. The rain continued on into and through the next day, my fifth day here.

Everything was wet and soggy, yet when men passed me the next day in the rain they were smiling. I didn't understand it until a very soggy Tweed came into our bunker that evening.

"Boy, you really are popular," he said to me, as he stripped off his soggy clothes.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not understanding.

"The men all think that it's your amulet that brought the rain back."

"Really?" I asked, startled.

"Yes, they were afraid that the drought had returned, as it hadn't rained much lately. They're just as happy as can be now. Wet but happy," Tweed finisher.

That evening at dinner, Sawyer had an announcement as usual.

"Because of the lightning last night our daily report didn't go out. We'll try to get it out tonight. There have been reports by some of the guards that the lightning appeared to be severe in certain areas and was followed by some loud 'thunder'. We'll have a couple of patrols going out tomorrow to check on these reports.

"Morris and Ingles will take one patrol and Barlow and Hadley will take another. The rest of you can expect to be pulling extra security here while they're gone. Let's hope this rain will wear itself out shortly."

By 2100 hrs. that evening the rain had slacked off considerably and I was able to contact the B Detachment. They, of course, asked about our missing report, and I had to explain the storm and the lightning. It seems that the other camps hadn't had that problem, at least not as severely as we had. I thought that strange until I felt the amulet grow warm against my chest, and this gave me the chills.

I was also informed at the end of the transmission that a chopper would be here tomorrow with supplies and to pick up LT Sykes report. I informed the Duty NCO in Operations about all of this, and then went to bed, as I still wasn't on the guard roster.

The next morning the patrols went out and made regular commo checks through out the morning.

Just after 1300 hrs. that afternoon, we received a call from an approaching chopper.

"Golden Badger, Golden Badger, this is Black Eagle 42, over."

"Black Eagle 42, this is Golden Badger 3 Zulu, over."

"Badger 3 Zulu this is Eagle 42. I'm about zero five out from your location with a delivery. I'm also supposed to make a pickup, over."

"Eagle 42, this is Badger 3 Zulu, roger. Are you familiar with our Landing Zone, over?"

"Negative, Badger 3 Zulu. I will need you to pop smoke and guide us in, over."

"Roger, Eagle 42. It may take us longer than zero five to get ready, over."

"Roger, Badger 3 Zulu. We have plenty of fuel and can circle. Will you still be on this push, over?"

"Roger, Eagle 42. I'll be the one guiding you in, over."

"Roger, Badger 3 Zulu. Understood. Will stand by. This is Black Eagle 42 out."

I hurried over to Operations and alerted them to the approaching chopper and then went to my bunker to retrieve my ruck and weapon. I had already configured the ruck to carry a radio and had flags in the ruck.

There was much shouting and rushing around as I returned to commo. I could see the two 5/4 trucks had been brought out of their revetments and were at the front gate already. In the bunker, I attached the PRC-25 to my ruck and grabbed two of the smoke grenades there. On my way to the front gate I noticed a number of the men smiling as I passed them.

"You ready?" LT Sykes asked, as I approached the gate.

"Yes."

"Let's get this show on the road then," the LT said, and the first platoon started out the gate at his words. It didn't take long to reach the bottom of the saddle where the landing zone was. Everything was still wet so there should be less dust and debris flying around than usual when the chopper landed. We could hear him circling a good ways out from us and soon could make them out over the mountains.

"Black Eagle 42, this is Golden Badger 3 Zulu, over."

"Golden Badger 3 Zulu, this is Black Eagle 42, go."

"Eagle 42, we're in the saddle between the camp and the ridge. Do you have a visual, over?"

"Roger, Badger 3 Zulu, we have a visual on the camp, over."

"I'll have smoke popped in zero one and will guide you in with the prevailing wind, over."

"Roger, Badger 3 Zulu. Pop smoke. I'll identify, over."

I signaled Tweed, who I had given the smoke grenades to, on the other side of the LZ (Landing Zone) and he popped one and threw it out on the wet grass.

"I identify goofy grape," came over the radio.

"Roger. I'm down wind of the smoke with flags to guide you in Eagle 42," I transmitted.

We were all surprised as the helicopter drew closer to see that not only was it not our regular supply chopper, but that it was a CH-47 instead of a Huey. Of course their identification had been different over the radio, but I had assumed that they were just from a different Aviation Unit, but still a Huey. Well, they certainly were from a different Aviation Unit.

As soon as they landed and the ramp came down several Americans from the chopper started unloading the cargo with the help of our people. There was quite a bit of it and the 5/4s made three trips each back to camp to unload.

There were many bags of rice and lots of fresh vegetables. There were cases of 'C' rations and the new freeze-dried rations as well as cases of rifles and new machine guns and extra barrels. We received many boxes of various types of ammunition. There were five-gallon cans of gas and kerosene plus cases of oil as well. I saw Johnson, the medic, loading a number of boxes into the front seats of the 5/4s. Many had red crosses on them and I recognized a few with labels from a particular brand of Bourbon.

LT Sykes was talking with the pilot, who was a Captain, so I headed over there.

"Baker, this is Captain Jenkins," Lt Sykes informed me, as I approached. "He's out of Ubon."

"You're the radio man?" Capt. Jenkins said, noting the radio on my back. "That was a good job of guiding us in, young man."

"We're getting a heavy resupply because higher headquarters thinks the NVA are going to push to over run the border camps so they can move supplies easier through this whole area and directly into the South," LT Sykes told me. "The border camps in Vietnam are also being heavily resupplied and reinforced in anticipation of such an attack," LT Sykes added. It certainly looked that way from the amount of supplies that I was seeing unloaded. In fact one of the 5/4s had to make a fourth trip to carry the last of the supplies to camp.