“Around December 1967 as the new guy on the block, I was looking for a steady job and a steady shift, so I talked with the NCOIC of the night convoys who was getting short and he described the night convoy work as a piece of cake. He also said that there were times when he fell asleep in the jeep on the way up and back. This sounded like my kind of job, so I went out with him one night and it was OK. I told 1SG Shields that I would like to take over the night escort detail. I forgot what my father, a WWII Army vet told me, “Do not volunteer for anything,” well I got the job!
The escort make up of the convoy was, one V-100 usually as lead vehicle with the convoy commander the rank of Lieutenant. About four or five gun-jeeps spaced through out the convoy. The last vehicle was a gun-jeep with the NCOIC. Everything went well until the week before Tet 1968.
As we went north through Ho Nai [Widows] Village I saw two Vietnamese men standing in an alleyway, one with a radio and the other with a pair of binoculars. It appeared that they were counting the vehicles in the convoy and reporting the information. I radioed ahead to the lieutenant, explained what I observed, and asked him to be alert because we would probably get hit this night.
A little farther up the road, a 3/4-ton Quan Canh vehicle pulled up to the back of my jeep. They wanted to tag along with us to Xuan Loc. I told them it was OK, and to stay close behind us.
Just south of Xuan Loc the main body of the convoy was hit by a command detonated Claymore mine. I was about 30 minutes behind the main body with a broken down APC doing about five miles an hour, and an empty ambulance on the tow truck. The next problem we have is a flat bed with a broken rear axle. We chained the rear axle up off the surface of the road and were ready to proceed when we were ambushed. They were throwing grenades and small arms fire at us. We continued north on Highway-1 toward Xuan Loc. As we approach the village there was a sign on the east side of the road that said in Vietnamese, something like...”Welcome to Xuan Loc.” It was plastered with stickers of the VC and NVA flags. Standing next to it were two Vietnamese in black pajamas with ammo pouches on their chests. I stopped my little section of the convoy on the side of the road inside Xuan Loc. Rather than go back and engage the Viet Cong I decide to get the crippled vehicles to Long Gaio.
I was about one hour behind the main body. I put the crippled APC as the lead vehicle. Now I have an APC, a flat bed, two tanker trucks, an ambulance on a tow truck, one other MP gun-jeep and my jeep. We continued north on Highway-1 to the Long Gaio cut off and proceed through the Michelin Rubber Plantation. Part way down the road I received a call on the radio from MACV in Xuan Loc wanting to know if I can turn around and proceed back south to rescue the Quan Canh’s in the 3/4-ton truck who joined us. Apparently they were also ambushed. There was no way I could go back and help them. Right after that the APC hit a land mine.
Needless to say, I was not having a good night. All I could think about is that lying NCO "buddy" of mine who told me this would be a piece of cake. I called in a Dust-Off, evacuated the wounded from the now burning APC, and called ahead to the lieutenant for assistance. While all of this is going on I find out he is sitting in the mess hall at the base camp having coffee. I finally got the rear element of the convoy to Long Gaio, and went to sleep in the back seat of my jeep.
