A Hunch Spoils Charlie’s Ambush

FB BRICK, - Vietnam.”Drop," Fulmer rasped, lunging to the ground, dragging his two comrades into the sand of the dried-up creek bed with him. With one hand over his mouth Fulmer motioned with his other' hand toward the cause of his alert. Two feet above him, dug into the creek bank was a two-story, hut-bunker. The three men sensed imminent danger. They knew the area could be booby-trapped. Breathlessly they examined the area for trip wires. With their backs flat against the wall under the opening, they sat still, listening for sounds of movement, Fulmer raised his head and peered into the dark hollow. When his eyes adjusted to the blackness, he could see that there was nobody inside. He crawled through the hole. A chill came over his body. He was close to the enemy - an hour behind at the most. He shivered in the clammy cave. As he studied the inside of the cave, his eyes focused on a cooking pot on a rock stove in the middle of the 8' x 6' dirt floor. He knelt and touched the ashes. They were still warm. Nearby was a basket of wet rice and red peppers, ready to be eaten. On a bamboo shelf in one corner were a pair of sandals, a rice bag, several pieces of blue silk cloth, and one AK-47 magazine. Whoever lived there hadn't been gone very long, and it looked like he might come back anytime. "Pssst", Fulmer jumped and slammed his back against the wall, "Hey, Bob, let's get back, it's almost dark." "Yeh, okay." The discovery and search of bunker complexes is an every day occurrence in the mountains of Nam Hoa and Phu Loc Districts of Thua Thien Province, NVA. In the two rural districts in the first half of January, 2d Bde troopers of the 101st Abn Div (Airmob) have "discovered more bunkers and destroyed more booby traps than during the entire month of December," according to 1st Lt. John Fowler of Atlanta, assistant brigade intelligence officer. "Usually, the bunkers are from a month to one or two years old. Almost always, they are hit with air strikes, Cobra gunships, and artillery before the infantry searches them," he added. Following the hunch of an American infantryman and the aggressiveness of a Vietnamese scout, 1st Pltn, Co A, 2d Bn (Airmob), 501st Inf, recently discovered and searched an enemy company-sized basecamp and ambush site, and, chased the enemy’s advance party out of the area before indirect firepower destroyed the bunkers and fighting positions. The platoon had just set up a defensive position for noon chow. "I noticed a freshly cut trail heading from our defensive position," said PFC Tommy Elliot of Holland, Miss. "I followed the trail for about 50 meters and found a dried-up creek bed."

Elliot returned to the platoon and told of his find. In a few seconds he was going back, this time with his buddy, PFC Robert Fulmer of Conshocken, Pa., and RTO Cpl. Kenneth Robbins of Atlanta. The trio moved cautiously down the trail and into the creek bed, where they spotted the bunker an arm's length away. "It was so well camouflaged that the sudden close sight of it was frightening," said Elliot. It looked like a man-made cave with the small opening," added Robbins. “Its presence didn't even disturb the appearance of the hillside landscape." Darkness cut the men's search short. The following day one squad, led by a Viet scout, Nguyen Hung found, attacked and searched 10 more enemy bunkers nearby, including a large 10’x10’ foot mess hall bunker and numerous interconnecting tunnels. "Hung searched the bunker we found the first day," said Fulmer. "About 25 meters beyond that bunker was a tunnel leading to the first of a 10-bunker complex. Hung said the first bunker was an observation post. Since the first bunker was unmanned, he thought we could catch the enemy off-guard, so we attacked. “Only one or two of the bunkers were visible from the air. Finding them was a lengthy process. Hung crawled through the dense undergrowth until be spotted one. He then alerted the search squad, jumped up and fired a burst of automatic fire with his rifle, then hit the dirt and crawled again. After two or three times repeating this alternating firing and crawling, he reached the bunker, threw a hand-grenade inside, ducked as it blew up, then stood up and sprayed the inside with a burst from his rifle. "Twice when Hung threw a grenade in a bunker, smoke came out of the ground a few meters away, which marked another bunker connected by a tunnel. The rest of the bunkers we found by crawling and looking." "HUNG said the area was a company-sized basecamp that until recently had not been used for one or two years," said Fulmer. "When we found the complex there had been enemy soldiers there within the last few minutes. Hung could tell by looking at the bunkers that the enemy was rebuilding and reinforcing them for reoccupation in the future." The next day, a few hundred meters away from the basecamp and connected by trails, the unit found platoon-sized LZ. Around the LZ were at least 10 fighting positions. 1st. Lt. STEPHEN ATKINSON Army Times, March 71