Chapter 11

During the formation, MSG Sorenson checked everyone’s uniform and medals before the Major appeared, and he reported to him that everyone was present. The Major had a few words for us before we prepared to leave for the Airbase.

“Nawng-awn should be a peaceful place. However, we will carry our weapons and six magazines of ammunition each just in case it isn’t as peaceful as it is supposed to be. We’ll be leaving for the Team House to draw weapons right after the formation.” He then turned the formation back over to MSG Sorenson.

We moved to the Team House and drew weapons, ammunition, and rations immediately following that. Broyles and I also drew radios. The Thai A-Team also drew weapons and ammunition. We all left for the Airbase following that.

The Major and Captain Tamusarit went to talk to the Aviation people while the rest of us waited in the parking area. They weren’t long, and soon returned.

“We’ll be traveling on a CH-47 so there won’t be a space problem,” the Major informed us. Captain Pengdith arrived with his NCOs as the Major was speaking, and they were also carrying weapons.

A short time later an Aviation unit NCO arrived to escort us to one of the waiting helicopters. There were several Officers and NCOs from both of the Aviation units on the helicopter already. Since it was a CH-47 there was more than adequate room for all of us. We were in the air by 0900 for the flight that took just under an hour to complete.

We circled the town of Nawng-awn several times before picking a location near the river to land the ship. Nawng-awn was a small town. Its most distinctive features were the bridge that crossed the Salween and a small Wat or temple at one end of the town. There was a main street with stores and several other streets with houses and a few more small stores. There were farms surrounding the town.

As the noise of the engines died after they were switched off, I could hear the pilots talking to each other from my seat.

“Damn, Ed! This place is just over a thousand feet higher than the field at Chiang Rai is.”

“Yeah, and did you see some of those peaks, as we approached here?” the co-pilot asked.

“Yes, some of them are really high. This altitude is going to affect the weight that we can carry,” the pilot answered.

Later, I got a look at the Major’s map. Chiang Rai Airbase was shown at 400 meters or 1312 feet elevation. The average elevation around Nawng-awn was shown at 2335 feet. There were two tall peaks within 12.5 miles of the town shown on the map also with elevation of 6370 and 6650 feet. There was a third peak a little further away shown at 5300 feet elevation. All of this made for some very rugged terrain.

People from the town began arriving soon after we had disembarked, and had set up security around the aircraft. Captain Tamusarit’s two interpreters greeted them, and did the initial introductions. They brought over the town’s headman and the chief monk from the Wat to speak to the Major, and Captains Tamusarit, Pengdith and Fleming plus several Officers from the Aviation Units.

Through the interpreters, it was explained that we wished to set up a camp near the river. Also that helicopters would be kept here for our use. Since the town’s headman spoke some Northern Thai, we were able to explain things fairly quickly.

After the area that we wished to use was agreed upon, the Officers were invited to visit the town and have lunch there. I went with the Major and several other Officers as their commo man. Most of the Aviation people remained behind to check the location where they would be setting up their landing site, and the fuel storage area.

Nawng-awn was typical of small towns all over Southeast Asia. Many of the buildings and stores on the main street were masonry, or had masonry lower floors and wood upper floors. The main street itself had some gravel in it but was mainly just dirt. There were a few elevated sidewalks in front of the stores.

We were seated in the local restaurant waiting while our meal was prepared when an older man in tattered Thai Army fatigues entered the restaurant. He appeared to be in his late fifties or early sixties, had gray hair, wrinkled skin, and flip flops on his feet. He stopped on seeing us in the back of the restaurant, and was about to leave when the headman called him over.

“This is Mr. Ba. He went into the Thai Army as a young man and spent over twenty-five years in the low lands,” the interpreter told us as the headman spoke. Mr Ba Sawat Deed, waied and bowed to each of us on being introduced. That is until he came to me. His eyes registered shock on seeing me, and he bowed very low and addressed me as ‘Pee’ (pronounced with a long e) or elder, though I was considerably younger that he was.

He then launched into a very rapid discourse in the local language that wasn’t even closely related to Thai, so that I was completely lost. He continued for several minutes while looking at me, and finished looking at the interpreter questioningly. When he was finished, all of the locals were staring at me in amazement.

“What did he say?” Captain Tamusarit asked the interpreter, as he hadn’t been able to follow what was said either.

“Sir, he told the others that Sergeant Baker was a very great hero, and that they should be honored by his visit. He also explained that only great heroes received the Yodhim medal, and that for a Fa rung to receive the Yodhim medal, he would have to be a very great hero indeed. He also asked if he had received the medal from His Majesty the King?” we were told.

“Yes,” I told them, “I did receive the medal from the King, Himself. Afterward, I was invited to tell the King how I had earned it. My father-in-law and I spent several hours talking to the King,” I explained. The interpreter then passed that information on to the local people assembled there. There were quite a few more of them now than when we had arrived. They seemed to be impressed with this information, but the headman had a question.

“He wishes to know who your father-in-law is?” the interpreter told us. I told them my father-in-law’s name, and they relayed it to the headman, who stared at me in even more shock on hearing it.

The headman then addressed the other local people there, and those who had gathered outside the restaurant by now. He spoke for some time, and when he finished, the interpreters told us what he had said, but also looked at me with surprise on their faces.

“The headman explained to the people who your father-in-law is. He then said that it was understandable that a great man would have a hero for a son-in-law!

“Are you really married to his daughter?” they asked in surprise.

“Yes,” I answered. “Suenee is his youngest daughter.”

“And she is dedicated to the Amulets?” they asked, obviously remembering the briefing yesterday.

“Yes, Suenee is consecrated to the Amulets” I admitted, which information the interpreters transmitted to the headman and those gathered there. The headman spoke again after that.

“He said that it was all understandable now. The three go together: a great man, a hero for a son-in-law, and the Amulets. It all fits.

“He also said that it was a good sign that you have selected their town to station your soldiers, and that you are sure to be successful in your fight against the enemy that you seek,” the interpreters finished.

By now everyone was staring at me and not just the local people, but all of the Officers and the interpreters also. I didn’t know what to say or do, but apparently the Amulets did, and my gold necklace and amulet rose from inside my uniform until they sat on the outside of it, and were visible to everyone. All of the local people bowed and waied immediately on seeing it. There were smiles on their faces now, and we were all wished good luck and a safe return journey.

Our meal was ready by now, and I was the first one served and was treated like a king by the restaurant’s employees. The food was quite spicy, but not as hot as Bua Gal’s first meal had been. Even the Thais were sweating by the time we were half way through.

After eating, the arrangements for the use of the land that we had chosen by the river were completed, and Captain Tamusarit assured the headman that payment from the government for the use of the land would be delivered to them in a short time. After everything was arranged and the goodbyes were completed, we returned to the area by the river. The Aviation people had the helicopter ready to leave.

The return trip was made mostly in silence. The Officers didn’t look any too happy with me. The two interpreters were huddled on one side of the helicopter with the rest of the Thai A-Team. By the time we sat down in Chiang Rai, all of them were staring at me also. The Aviation people left us after we landed, and I rode back in the Major’s jeep. There was little said until we had turned in our weapons, ammunition, and the unused rations. Broyles and I were putting away our radios when Tweed came to get me.

“The Major wants to see you!” he told me, and then asked, “What went on in town? The Major seemed spooked.” I explained what had happened to Tweed. Broyles also heard it.

“Damn, man! That’s all hard to believe,” Tweed said.

“Yes, but it left a very good impression of us with the people there,” I told him before hurrying off to see the Major.

“You sent for me, sir?” I asked entering the room.

“Have a seat. Sergeant Baker,” the Major said. There were only the two of us in the conference room, and the Major sat there for a few seconds as if gathering his thoughts while I grabbed a chair. I wasn’t sure just what was coming.

“Did you really have an in person interview with the King after receiving your medal?” he asked me first.

“Yes sir. The King requested that we wait for him on the side of the hall. When the ceremony was over, one of his assistants, a Thai Army Colonel, showed us into a room, and we had an audience with the King for several hours,” I told him.

“We?” the Major asked.

“My father-in-law and me, sir. We were alone in that room with the King. There weren’t any attendants or assistants in there,” I told him.

“And your father-in-law is really the man who forced the former Prime Minister to resign?” the Major asked next.

“Yes sir. They wanted him to take the post of Prime Minister, but he deferred and retired. He is also a Colonel in the Thai Army, but not an active member of the military,” I explained.

“So a ‘Great Man’ would have a daughter dedicated to the Amulets, and a hero for a son-in-law?” he asked next somewhat skeptically.

“Humm ... I guess that’s the way it is, sir,” I replied somewhat unsure where this was going.

“I never asked or wanted to be a hero. It just sort of happened. All of it just sort of happened. First I got saddled with the radio. Then I got transferred to Sawyer and Cambodia. When I met Suenee there, I had no idea who her father was, and didn’t learn about who he was until we were married in Bangkok.

“Then Sawyer wangled me onto his Team for Luang Phrabang, and well, you know what happened there, sir,” I finished.

“Yes, only too well, Baker!” the Major answered, and seemed tired. “When I received that assignment for Luang Phrabang, I thought it would be just a routine advisory assignment - dull, but it would get me out of running the Team House in Bangkok, which wasn’t a very exciting job. I was never expecting anything like what it turned out to be. It got me noticed and promoted, so I guess that I can’t complain,” the Major finished with a smile for a second.

“But, I agree with you,” he continued, “Something has obviously engineered all of this. When I was called in to receive this assignment, you were the first person that I thought of to have on the Team, and I must wonder now if that thought was placed in my mind by the Amulets?” He sat there for a short time without saying anything further.

“You’ve put me in a bit of a pickle, Baker!” he said next.

“How is that, sir?” I asked.

“In Nawng-awn, the local people were all looking at and talking about you. But Captain Tamusarit is going to be the one in charge there. He is going to have to deal with those people, and he will need their respect. That may be a lot more difficult to get now,” he told me.

“I think that is fairly easily fixed, sir,” I told him. “If the people there see him with me, and see that he is my good friend, which he really is, they will be inclined to respect him and listen to him. All it would take is me being there when they are setting up the camp and being seen with him,” I told the Major.

“What about when we set up the other camp and you leave?” the Major asked.

“A ‘great hero’ would naturally be where the most danger and fighting were,” I said. “And the other camp will be closer to China and therefore considered more dangerous,” I pointed out.

“You’re a lot like your wife with an answer for everything, but that just might work,” the Major agreed with a smile, and seemed very relieved.