Very Crazy, G.I. Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War

DEAD RECKONING Perhaps one of the deadliest threats to anyone sta-tioned in Vietnam during the war came from Viet Cong or North Vietnamese Army mortar or Katyusha 122mm-rocket artillery fire. At any moment and, seem-ingly, any facility, the "incoming" (as it was better known) could rain down and wound or kill anyone within its deadly radius. In this story, you'll come to bet-ter understand another aspect of that frightening reality and, too, the terror of getting hit. In war, you will die like a dog for no good reason. --ERNEST HEMINGWAY Dong Ha, Vietnam The North Vietnamese Army's Van An Rocket Ar-tillery Regiment had it in for the Marine 3d Recon Bat-talion. At least, at times, it felt that way. The base camp at Dong Ha seemed to be one of their favorite target areas and, too, maybe one of their easiest. Dong Ha was located on Highway 9, less than ten miles from the DMZ in the I Corps Military Region, the northernmost of the four corps tactical zones into which Vietnam was divided. The DMZ was the infamous and misnamed Demilitarized Zone that separated North Vietnam from South Vietnam, and it was anything but demilitarized. The North Vietnamese Army used it as a springboard for attacks in I Corps, and since their rocket artillery rounds could easily cover the distance, Dong Ha was not only a target of choice for the NVA artillery gunners but a target of opportunity as well. This time, they were walking the Russian 122mm rockets into the base with such precision that even the uninitiated could see it wasn't a random attack. The deafening explosions of the forty-pound warheads erupted in an evident pattern as specific sites were being targeted. With their vast spy network throughout the re-gion, the Communist gunners knew the Marine facility well and took full advantage of the knowledge. However, even before the first rocket slammed into the tents or tin-roofed barracks hootches, and split sec-onds before the base camp's warning siren began build-ing into a screaming wail, Sgt. James P. Henderson recognized their distinctive whoosh, like a truck's tires at high speed on a wet road, for what it was and yelled at his people to get to the protective sandbagged bunkers outside. "Incoming!" the wiry noncommissioned officer yelled, pulling Marines out of the barracks and shoving them toward the nearest bunker, just around the corner of the hootch. "Go! Go! Go!" The rockets were falling in rapid succession, dancing across the base in deadly, macabre steps. Whoomphs fol-lowed the screaming whooshes and the thundering roars of secondary explosions that told of direct hits. Hot shrapnel rained across the camp, ripping and tearing through anything and anyone in its way. Rising black plumes and the acrid, oily odor of burn-ing fuel confirmed the NVA gunners' accuracy. Since the bases and camps were stationary, the ranges had long been defined and plotted by the Viet Cong and NVA. Be-sides, they'd had years of practice. Another 122mm rocket slammed into the next hootch over, tearing through the sheet-metal roofing and gutting the wood-frame building. Someone was screaming for a corpsman, then the call was drowned out by still another series of whoomphs and explosions. The impacts and detonations sent tremors across the base. His rifle in hand, Henderson grabbed his flak jacket and steel-pot helmet and took off in a dead run, follow-ing the others. If a ground attack followed, he would damn well be ready. The North Vietnamese Army some-times attempted a ground assault after a shelling, hoping that the Americans' defenses had been weakened or were inadequately manned. Henderson had just turned the corner of his hootch and was within a few feet of the bunker's openingJorgenson, Kregg P. J. is the author of 'Very Crazy, G.I. Strange but True Stories of the Vietnam War', published 2001 under ISBN 9780804115988 and ISBN 0804115982.