Chapter 26

Friday morning, it was late before we got up and took Lesia to breakfast. Tweed, Phesila, and Dang were having breakfast when we arrived at the small restaurant near the hotel. We didn’t see anything of the Starlings until that afternoon.

This morning there had been a notice on the bulletin board that there would be a formation at 1400 for both A-Teams. We didn’t have any shopping or touring to do, and just stayed in our rooms. Our daughters played together some and after lunch both took a nap.

Tweed, Starling, and I went down for the formation at 1400. Everyone was called to attention, and MSG Sorenson reported ‘All Present’ to the Major who then gave ‘At ease’.

“This is the end of our mission in the Shan States, and I believe it has gone very well. Tomorrow we will be flying back to Lop Buri. We’ll finish cleaning up the equipment, and turn it in to S-4 for disposition. Following that there will be records checks and you will receive orders for your next assignment.

“Let me say that it has been a pleasure to serve with each of you, and I wish each of you the best for the remainder of your careers.

“Tomorrow we are scheduled to depart on the aircraft at 1300 hrs. I want everyone here with their gear by 1100. We’ll have a quick check of the vehicle loads, and then draw our weapons and the remaining ammunition. We should be on the way to the Airbase by 1200 hrs. Are there any questions?” Major Del Vecchio finished.

“Sir, I’ll need to sign out the Radio, and we’ll need to move it and the unit safe,” I reminded him.

“Yes, you and Sergeant Tweed can take care of that with your people,” the Major acknowledged. “Anything else?”

“Sir, we have a number of full 5 gallon cans of gasoline. Do we need to carry them back with us?” Lieutenant Wesley asked.

“I think we can leave them with Captain Richardson’s people. You can see to that, Lieutenant,” the Major told him. “Anything else?” There were no replies.

We were called to attention and dismissed until the next morning. Captain Tamusarit was also having his formation on the other side of the courtyard at this time, and Major Del Vecchio joined him to speak to his people also.

Later that afternoon, Suenee talked to the three of us about the train.

“The train from Lampang arrived earlier this afternoon. It will leave tomorrow morning at 8:30, and we will be in Lampang in time to catch the train from Chiang Mai in the afternoon. We will be in Lop Buri by early in the afternoon on Sunday the 3rd,” Suenee told us.

“Where will Rick and Noon be staying in Lop Buri?” I asked Suenee.

“Sawyer will have a place for them to stay at the Guest Quarters until we can find them a house,” Suenee told us.

There wasn’t time to go touring that afternoon, but we guys did visit several shops to pick up souvenirs to take back with us. We went out for dinner together again that evening, but chose a different open air restaurant to try the food there.

The Rangers had returned from the camps today, and had apparently been paid, as there were a number of them in town celebrating. We ran into several of them who recognized us and they were very respectful.

We returned to our rooms at the hotel by 2000, and were soon in bed. Suenee and I cuddled most of the night, but she was very close to delivery by her own estimate, and we didn’t get into anything serious, as she had really gotten quite large for such a small woman.

“Will you be all right on the train again?” I asked her before we went to sleep.

“Yes, I will be able to lie down, and the baby isn’t causing much trouble, but I will need to go to the Wat shortly after returning to Lop Buri. I will take Noon with me to see Wat Tai Yacum, and to receive some additional instruction. She will be able to watch Leck (Lesia) while I am in the clinic,” Suenee assured me.

Saturday morning, the 2nd, we were all up early and had breakfast before bringing all of our wives’ luggage downstairs. Phesila had again organized the tuk tuks to take us all to the train station. Lesia and Dang were all excited when we got there, and Lesia kept saying “Rot Fai ... Rot Fai“ in excitement. Even Dang said it a few times, but it sounded more like a question than excitement.

The station grew more crowded as 0830 approached, and soon the train appeared. It was not the finely painted train that had stopped in Lop Buri, but one that appeared to have seen a lot of service, and I suspected that Thai Railways had shipped its older equipment up here to the mountains.

We carried our wives’ luggage onto the train car for them and got them seated. We were given plenty of room by the other passengers, who recognized us as American soldiers. There were a number of Buddhist monks who got on the same car, as we were leaving, and they sat near our wives, so I was sure that our women wouldn’t be disturbed on the way to Lampang.

We waited until the train had pulled out before leaving the station and returning to the hotel. It was only 0930 when we returned, but we checked our rooms for any forgotten items, and then moved our personal gear and field gear downstairs before checking out. I had the hand truck here, and we loaded most of our gear on it before heading for the Team House. On the way, Tweed stopped and got us some colas at one of the small restaurants and we carried them with us to the Team House.

Once there, Tweed fired up the jeep, and drove it over to the building while Starling and I loaded all of the gear on one of the trucks before joining Tweed. Sergeant Daniels was waiting for us, and had the paperwork all filled out to turn ‘the Radio’ back over to me. It was obvious that he was glad to be rid of it. He even gave us a hand getting it into the jeep’s trailer. Tweed and Starling had brought the Unit safe out, and it also went into the jeep’s trailer along with a box of things that Suenee had given me to take back to Lop Buri.

We pulled over to the arms room and waited in the shade for the Armorer to open it, so we could draw our weapons. Several other members of the two Teams had also drifted in early and joined us. We sat there and drank our colas while we waited. Someone must have alerted the Armorer, as he soon showed up, and we drew our individual weapons and ammunition, and I drew the sniper rifle and its ammunition. We stayed there in the shade until just before 1100, then headed over to where the other vehicles were parked for the formation.

After the nose count, the few late arrivals drew their weapons while the rest of us checked the vehicles. We were ready to leave for the Airbase well before the time scheduled. The young Captain from the Team House had a jeep and a 5/4 truck for extra transportation, and by 1130 both teams were on the way to the Airbase.

We had a long wait there, as the planes were late, but not terribly late, only about 15 minutes or so. Since we had arrived early a number of our people went over to the Aviation mess hall for lunch, but we were all back in plenty of time to catch the planes.

Once they landed, the Loadmasters did a quick check of our vehicles before loading them and then us on the planes. We took off not too far behind schedule, and were landing in Lop Buri by 1430. We were met by a reception committee with extra transportation, and our Team drove directly to the warehouse that we had departed from some six plus months ago. The Thai A-Team drove to their side of the base.

The S-4 people immediately collected all of our ammunition and any explosives that we had. They would have taken the ammunition for the sniper rifle also, but Sawyer was there and took possession of it and the sniper rifle to return them to the Headquarters Company’s arms room.

We unloaded the trailers, and I checked all of the radios to be sure that the batteries had been removed, while Broyles checked the other radios and Starling checked the truck batteries that we had used for back up. The others on the Team checked the items they were responsible for. It was 1700 before the S-4 people ran us out of the warehouse and locked it up. We would continue on Monday.

Most of the Team headed for the rooms assigned them in the NCO barracks, or the BOQ. Sawyer was there with his jeep and a trailer to pick up Tweed, Starling, me, and our gear, before he drove us out to our houses. We needed to stop at our landlord’s house to pick up our keys, and then opened up our houses.

“Rick, you can stay at my place tonight,” I told him.

“We’ll pick up our wives tomorrow, and the Sergeant Major will give you a lift out to the Guest Quarters,” I added.

“Okay, Sarge, if you don’t mind,” he replied.

“No, come on, bring your gear in, and then we’ll go get something to eat, as there is nothing in the house to eat,” I told him. Tweed went with us after we had all changed clothes.

In the morning, Sophie stopped by with three Baht buses, and we all went to the train station after I introduced Starling to her. She had not only Nit and Noy with her, but also her son, Udorn. It was amazing how much he had grown in the last six months.

“Udorn be big boy, like he daddy,” Sophie told us proudly.

The train pulled into the station at 1145, and our wives got off. We retrieved all of their luggage for them, but Suenee looked very tired.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

“I will be all right, my Bill. The train ride did not agree with me this time,” she told me.

Lesia was very glad to see Nit and Noy again, and was soon jabbering to them about the train ride. Dang was still very shy, as she hadn’t played with them much previously, but Lesia pulled her over to them, and soon all four girls were laughing and giggling happily.

Sophie and Phesila got everything organized, and had us guys move all of the luggage and load it on one of the Baht buses. We all loaded on the other two, and our procession was soon headed for our houses.

All of the luggage was unloaded at our houses before we took a couple of the Baht buses to a local restaurant to have lunch. The women then went shopping for food before we returned to our houses.

Rick and Noon stayed with us for a short time until Sawyer came that afternoon to take them to the Guest Quarters for the night. Sawyer was definitely a shock to Noon. She had never seen a man that large before, and was unfamiliar with black people. Suenee soothed her worries, and assured her that he really wasn’t as gruff as he seemed to be, and was really just a big loud shaggy puppy, and not something to be feared. I’m sure that Sawyer would have been shocked to be referred to like that, but Suenee wasn’t in the Army, or under his command.

“I’ll stop by the Guest Quarters in the morning to pick you up, since you aren’t familiar with the camp,” I told Starling before they left.

Suenee went to bed after putting Lesia in bed for a nap. I worked on getting the house back into the shape it had been before we left for Chiang Rai.

Tweed and I picked up Starling at 0715 the next morning, Monday.

“Noon, Phesila will be here later this morning to take you shopping and show you around,” Tweed told her before we left. Noon had looked a little bemused this morning. I was sure that it was the strange location and not knowing anyone that was the problem.

One of the S-1 (Personnel) people showed up at our formation that morning looking for Starling so they could process him in. They were unhappy that he had been assigned to the Group for over a month, and hadn’t processed in yet.

The majority of the rest of us spent the day working on our equipment and getting it ready to turn in, while Tweed, Lee, Sorenson, and Major Del Vecchio were in S-3 with Major Carlson going over the End of Tour report.

I moved the shipping container back to the Commo Section that morning. Everyone there was glad to see me, and I had plenty of help getting the shipping container out of the jeep trailer, and back in the secure room where it stayed while here. I then went to S-2 to have them re-sign for the radio while it was here and to turn in our copy of the Chinese code book, as they are both classified items after all. Coming out of S-2, I was called into the S-3 to join the others there going over the End of Tour report, but we all soon adjourned to the conference room near LTC Hawkins office with the door closed. There was another report on the table there along with the pictures that we had seen of the crash site, and the destruction in China at the storage facilities.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions in this report,” Major Carlson stated, waving a copy of our End of Tour report, after we had all been seated.

“There are many questions that we will never know the answers to,” Major Del Vecchio agreed. “The Chinese certainly aren’t going to volunteer to supply the answers.”

“No, they aren’t,” LTC Hawkins, who had been in there when we entered, agreed. “But ... there are other questions besides those concerning the Chinese. For instance:

a. How is it that all of those supplies blew up at the same time?

b. What happened to the first Chinese expedition on their way down the Salween?

c. Why did the mortars used to attack both camps blow up?

d. What killed that column of Chinese soldiers attacking your camp? Need I go on, Major?” LTC Hawkins demanded.

“We don’t know, sir,” Major Del Vecchio answered, and looked tired.

“WE?” Major Carlson asked, sarcastically.

“I don’t know,” Major Del Vecchio countered.

“Yes, but I believe two of the others here have a good idea of just what was the cause of all of those things, and the many others that I haven’t mention,” LTC Hawkins said, looking directly at Tweed and me.

“Well sir, we could make a guess,” I said after a few seconds, “But it wasn’t something that could be put in our report.”

“Go ahead and say it, Baker. Get it out in the open,” LTC Hawkins told me, but looked very unhappy.

“The ANSWER to most of the questions that you asked, sir, and to the ones that you haven’t asked, can be summed up in two words - THE AMULETS. Suenee told Major Del Vecchio in Chiang Rai that the Amulets were only waiting for us to go operational before they began acting. She told me that even before we left for Chiang Rai,” I told them.

“What do you mean by ‘Suenee told Major Del Vecchio in Chiang Rai’? Was she in Chiang Rai?” Major Carlson demanded in an unhappy voice.

“Yes, sir. Suenee and Phesila both took the train to Chiang Rai. But they stayed there, and didn’t come out to the camps,” Major Del Vecchio admitted. LTC Hawkins exhaled loudly.

“Well, they are Thai citizens, and we could hardly tell them not to visit the scenic north,” the XO said after a few seconds.

“As to exactly how the Amulets did the things that they did, I haven’t a clue, sir,” I said to get things back on track. “How do you kill a column of nearly a hundred men in an instant and leave few, if any, marks to indicate how it was done? How do you sink a flotilla going down a river, or blow up all of those supplies, all at the same time? What caused the ‘Ammunition Malfunction” with the mortars? Neither Tweed nor I have any idea. I don’t believe that Suenee does either. She just knows, somehow, that the Amulets can and will do these things,” I finished. They were all staring at me.

“Yes, I know, but we were ... hoping ... that there might be some concrete answers this time. All that we can do in OUR report is exactly what you have done in YOUR report - state the facts as we know them, and state that we have no answers to the questions that they raise, just like all of the previous reports where the Amulets were involved,” a very unhappy XO stated.