Here is another story of B Company 1/8th from Charles (Mother Gook) Michaeli.

Fire Base Dog Bone

We arrived at Dragon Mountain by helicopter on October 25th 1967. We had showers with hot water and hot chow. GREAT! Trips to the PX for writing supplies and Tabasco hot sauce. We all received a set of new green army clothes. We did a few recon patrols around the inside of Dragon Mountain. Our men came back from the patrols with five axes and four D handled spade shovels.

October 29th 1967, Sunday

We were put on trucks, Deuce and a Half's to be convoyed to Dak To, where ever that was. We started the convoy early in the morning. About noon we passed through a village called Kontum. This day was a Sunday. Around 15:00, we were going through the village of Dak To. There were many South Vietnamese women who were in full length dresses. These dresses were of many colors, Yellow, blue, red, white, light green and pink. I found out later that 1/4 of the Vietnamese people were Catholic and this was Sunday. All these women were going to mass. All the colored dresses on those little women was a sight to behold in this jungle setting.

THE ROAD TO DAK TO

At 15:30 we were entering the compound at Dak To. We were standing up in the backs of these trucks as we entered the southeast gate. I saw that everyone in that end of the perimeter was running to bunkers and foxholes and thought that was odd. About three trucks back a mortar round went off between the trucks. If you could have seen it. All the heads, with steel pots on them, were now gone from the sides of the trucks. Everyone was hunkered down. More mortar rounds started exploding along side the trucks about 40 meters away. We drove quickly to the northwest side of the perimeter and were assigned bunkers for the night.

WALKING TO THE PLACE CALLED DOG BONE

October 30th. 1967

We boarded slicks (helicopters) and were choppered out to a LZ southwest of the mountain range that runs north to south on the west side of Dak To. When we landed we were on the ground many clicks west of Hill 1338. Once B Company 1/8th INF was on the ground, we moved to the west toward the Cambodian Border. The first thing I noticed was that we were following wide hard packed trails. These trails had steps cut up the sides of the mountains. We moved at a slow alert pace. We went about 2500 meters on the first day. Captain Christie said we were looking for a hill to build a fire support base. We dug in for the night.

October 31st 1967

We moved about 2000 meters this day. The trails we were following were going up and down mountains. The hard packed red clay had many tire tracks on them. The NVA use cut up tires to make sandals, which leave tire track marks on the trails. We found many abandoned bunkers as we moved west. This was real spooky. We were on a ridge that had a sister ridge to the south of us. Several times we saw lone NVA soldiers standing on the sister ridge watching us. They would duck or disappear before one of us could get a bead on them. We set up for the night on a high hump on the ridge. We set out claymores mines and trip flares and alert wires. We only had two starlight scopes with us, one being in our platoon. Captain Crunch told everyone that the smoking lamp was out for the night and we were on a 50 percent alert.

THE FIRE BASE CALLED DOG BONE

November 1st 1967

The next morning we moved toward the west at first, then started going to the north. We got off the ridge that we were on. The next ridge had a wide road about 5 feet wide across the top of it. This road was going east to west. We stopped for a break. Myself (Mother gook) and SP/4 Smith (Smitty) and PFC Grace went to the south side of the ridge to watch the area. We saw three NVA on the other ridge about 300 meters to our south. We ducked down so they could not see us. SP/4 Smith went and informed Captain Crunch, who with Spc4 Smith. Captain Crunch had a pair of binoculars and he scanned he south ridge and saw the NVA. They disappeared when they saw Captain Crunch watching them. Thank you God. Captain Crunch did not send any us to that ridge after them. He got hold of the FO and called in an artillery strike from Dak To. Man, was that man good with a map. We moved to the north about 300 meters and dug in for the night.

November 2cd 1967

We came to a large grassy field with a hill that was 150 meters high in the center of the field. The hill was in the shape of a Dog Bone. It had two high ends with a little saddle in the middle. On the south side of the saddle was a bamboo tube that had water running out of it. The water ran into a small pond about twice the size of a bathtub. About 3/4 of a mile to the west was a hill that was twice as tall as Dog Bone. We could see where the trees had been removed to where the NVA could watch Dog Bone. About a 1/4 mile to the north was another hill that was twice as tall a Dog Bone. This hill had a grassy clearing on the top of it.
My squad was put on the northeast end of Dog Bone and we dug in for the night. Our Lieutenant, Price, came over to my foxhole. He told me that Captain Crunch wanted me to go back to ridge with the wide trail on it and set up a night ambush. The Lieutenant said that SP/4 Leniox and PFC Garaca and a soldier from another squad would be going on this ambush.

THE TIGER STALKS US

We got our gear ready and reported to Captain Crunch. The CO gave SP/4 Leniox the Prick 25. Our call sign would be 6 Zero Alpha. The CO said when he called for 6 zero alpha, he wanted us to click the mike twice. If we don't click the mike he he would assume we were dead and he would put a artillery strike on the spot we should be at. That was good incentive to stay awake on the ambush. We had about one hour of day light left when we arrived at the road. I picked out the best site for a ambush. We set up a trip flare by running a wire across the road about 30 yards in front of us. The wire was placed where it was only 6 inches above the road. We put one claymore mine behind at large tree. The claymore covered the road to the west. We put another claymore out to cover the trail to the east. We had picked a spot where we had several large trees for cover. There was a clearing in front of us that was about 1/2 the size of a football field. The road went down the middle of that clearing. SP/4 Leniox had the first watch. The watches would be two hours each. I had the second watch, PFC Garaca had the third watch and the man from the other squad had the last watch. We had a full moon which made easy to watch the trails to the west of us. SP/4 Leniox woke me up to start my watch. I was setting with by back up against a large tree looking down the trail to the west. The moon made it almost like daylight out. I had the firing devices to the claymore mines setting next to me with my M16 laying across my lap. I had the mike to the Prick 25 in my hand. The radio went off. ( 6 zero alpha ). I clicked the mike twice to let them know that I was awake. I was listing to the Fuck You lizard off in the trees some where, when I saw movement down the trail to the west about 70 yards out. I sat the mike down and picked up the clicker to the claymore mine and picked up the M16 rifle. It looked like khaki moving down the trail. PFC Garaca was lying about a foot away from me. I kept watching the movement coming closer and closer. All I could think about was NVA are coming down the trail. Now the object was 50 meters out and came into focus. It was a tiger, a REALLY BIG TIGER! I have seen many tigers in zoos, but none like this one. It had a huge head on it and was coming closer with every second. The tiger was walking right down the middle of the road. It walked past the trip flare wire. All I was thinking about was, that a tiger in Viet Nam eats PEOPLE. I set the clicker down and tapped PFC Garaca on the arm. He sat up and I pointed at the tiger. PFC Garaca screamed so loud you could have heard that scream in Detroit. The tiger spun around and ran back to the west down the road. POP! This time he set off our trip flare. The whole jungle was lit up around us. Captain Crunch got on the Prick 25,demanding to know what was going on with us. I told him, that a tiger had set off our trip flare. The four of up stayed awake the rest of the night. NVA are one thing we can deal with, because they don't eat you.

November 3rd 1967

We returned to Dog Bone. We could sleep for the rest of the day. YAH. Chinook helicopters started arriving at Done Bone with 155 MM artillery pieces and mortar squads and sand bags and two water trailers and a machine that dug trenches. Fire base Dog Bone was starting to take shape. 100 support soldiers were also dropped off. These are some of the things that the men of B company 1/8th INF went through. They are a special bunch of men who will always be in my mind.

Charles Michaeli
(Mother Gook)

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