Recollections

The last day I saw my friend, Timothy A. Johnson. . .

Every time I think about that night a cowardly sniper shot and killed Timmy Johnson, I swell up with emotion and anger. Obviously, I do not know whom that sniper was, or whether the sniper was eventually killed in other battles or firefights, or if that person is still walking around today. Whenever I see Vietnamese people these days that would be of age for that period, I wonder, are you the one who killed my friend.  Sounds rather ridiculous I know.  I should just let it go since it has been thirty-five years, but that was such a horrible day that I simply cannot forget.

I can still see Tim lying lifeless on poncho there on the dirt floor of that old grass hooch.  My friend Tim was gone.  He was lying there in full battle gear with his steel helmet still on his head. The sniper's bullet had pierced through his helmet and Tim never had time to suffer as he was killed instantly. Tim, as usual was doing his job as a leader and as a diligent soldier.  A superb soldier, he was always on guard and that is how his life ended - peering out a window, looking for any sign of enemy movement out there in the darkness. The battle, that 19^th day of June 1967, had raged all day long and the shot down med-evac chopper still laid in a tangled heap upside down on the battlefield with Forrest Ramos and other dead troopers trapped inside.  I suppose that is why Ramos' death is recorded officially as June 20, 1967, but I know that chopper went down on the 19th because I aided Ramos onto the chopper telling him that everything was going to be all right, "you have a million dollar wound".  Then those VC bastards shot it down shortly after it was airborne.  I still have a lot of hate in me from that war and I guess that's why I remember it so well.  I had just walked back into that hooch from my guard post on a make shift perimeter in the darkness to speak to Tim when I saw my friend and leader lying there on that poncho. I can't help but believe that just maybe if I had came back moments earlier to talk with my friend about how things were going he would not have been at that window.

Timmy Johnson is on guard forever now. Rest in peace, my friend.  There is really nothing further I can add, except that in the days and patrols following that battle of June 19^th, I did some dark things that I am not proud of, as I was not in my right frame of mind - I took no prisoners.

John Bradfield - December 28, 2002

Written By Michael A. Snider – Alpha Company

My experiences and battles of Alpha Company, 4th/47th, 2^nd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division from Jan 1967 through Aug 1967: I started out as a Senior Aid man in 1966 when the 9th was reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas.  I was the only Medic in A Company with all new recruits taking their Basic Training; I participated in every class and I was free to fire all of the weapons they trained with. I got to know most of the guys because I held sick call every morning before they went to class and I treated every sickness.  If they had something I couldn't treat then I would send them to the dispensary, this cut down on how many men missed training.  I believe this helped everyone get as much training as possible.  After Basic, everyone went through Advanced Infantry Training while the medics were sent to medical training at Fort Sam Houston.

Upon completion of AIT and Medical training, we all trained for South Viet Nam's Mekong Delta. At that time I received my new Medics and they were assigned to their respective platoons. After 6 months of hard training we were ready for combat in Viet Nam. Right after New Year's 1967, the 2^nd Brigade packed up and traveled by troop train to Oakland, California where we boarded the USS General John Pope and sailed to South Viet Nam. We landed at Vung Tau in late January 1967 and they put us on a truck convoy to Camp Bearcat.  We spent half the time building our base camp there with new tents, mortar trenches, latrines, a mess hall, the whole works. The rest of the time we went on patrols around Camp Bearcat. The few weeks that we were there we didn't find the enemy except for their boobie traps, which wounded a number of our guys. This made us all angry because we weren't actually fighting the enemy but we were losing men anyway. This went on until we had Bearcat all set up into a nice area to return to after each mission - then they shipped us down to Dong Tam in the Mekong Delta.

We did the same thing building our base camp, just like at Bearcat.  We started patrolling the Delta via Huey choppers until we joined the Mobile Riverine Force, whereby the Navy took us to our patrol areas on Navy landing craft called Tango's.  During this time we finally made contact with the enemy.  I don't remember the date of our first battle with Alpha Company but we were a blocking force for a battalion operation. I think one of the other companies was being shot up pretty bad and they brought us in behind the enemy and we moved towards the battle.  Our lead squad was about one hundred meters in front of us and a VC with an automatic machine gun pinned them down in an open rice paddy. The CO Captain Brazee wanted to go rescue them but we decided he was too valuable to do that, so me and a couple of other guys moved around to the side of the enemy, we were in a ditch.  I jumped out of the ditch and was going to shoot the VC with the automatic but my M-16 wouldn't fire. He saw me but I jumped back in the ditch before he got me. One of the other guys jumped up and blew him away. We found out later that some of our ammunition wasn't any good - a big help that was in a firefight.

After we eliminated the VC we moved up to a tree line – we knew the Viet Cong were in there so four or five men with M-79's lined up and fired into the tree line and wiped out the whole area.  We then moved up and found 3 or 4 dead VC and then, after we sat there for a few minutes, we found a hidden foxhole – we decided to investigate and there was a VC with an AK-47 inside. Our CO saw him and instantly shot him dead. The VC's AK-47 jammed or he would have got us all. We captured one other VC and sent him out by chopper.  The other companies had already stopped the main force. This was our first battle and I was proud of our troops as they were plenty mad and ready to fight when we finally made contact.  We had no casualties that day in our company. We had many skirmishes like that and we usually came back without too many injuries.  Periodically, the Navy Tango's took us to the Rung Sat Special Zone where the NVA and VC had been setting up for quite awhile without being bothered by us.  We were now officially River Raiders. We had many fights in the months to come and lost men here and there. Usually, when we had Battalion size operations we ran into many NVA & VC elements and usually kicked their butts. The 4th/47th had more battles than any unit in Viet Nam during 1967.

The worst battle for Alpha Company was on Fathers Day, 19 June 1967 while on a battalion size operation near Ap Bac Village. Alpha Company moved in and unloaded in some rice paddies and our boats moved back out on the river as fire support. We had moved across several rice paddies and were nearing a tree line in front and to the right of our unit. To our left was the river we landed on.  Our company commander radioed and asked for artillery into the tree line because it looked suspicious, but the request was denied because no enemy had been sighted and there were civilians in the area. So at this point we moved on, the lead squad was almost to the tree line and the rest of us were in open rice paddies spread out across two or three rice paddies. All at once all hell broke loose.  The NVA and VC had permanent bunkers set up made of cement.  The tree line was in an L shape covering the front and right side of us. They had 50 calibers and AK-47's shooting at us in crossfire; our men in the middle of the rice paddies didn't have a chance and 75 % of Alpha Company was wiped out in the first 5 minutes of the battle. The ones who were not hit initially were trying to find cover but couldn't.  I was in the middle and I was shot in the flak jacket - I was hit with an AK-47 in the back and it knocked me about 5 feet. I lay there wondering how bad I was hit, so I felt around and couldn't find any wounds. The bullets went through the first layer of flak and went out the side of my flak jacket.  Before the operation started my CO made me put on my flak jacket - I was not going to wear it because it was so hot.  Believe me, I always wore one after that day. The longer we laid there the VC began zeroing in on each one of us.  Bullets kept getting closer and closer to each of us. I decided that I was just as safe running around trying to patch people up, so I did. I don't know why but I cannot remember how many men I patched up that day, but I kept moving from soldier to soldier. For some reason I wasn't worried about getting killed, all I could think about was how the hell was I going to get all of these wounded men out of here. All of my medics were killed within a short time - they did patch up some men before they were shot. By the time I got to them they were already dead.  I patched up one soldier and a chopper landed at that time so I picked him up and carried him to the chopper. But they were receiving too much fire so they lifted off hitting us with the tail of the chopper. The rotor barely missed us and we went flying into the mud. A few of the wounded did make it on that chopper; our 1^st Sergeant was one of them.  That was the only chopper that made it in and out that day.  After I helped as many as I could find still alive we started trying to move our wounded down a little ravine to the Tangos.  There were not enough of us left to do too much, but we called in artillery and air strikes, which kept the enemy from getting the few of us that were left.  Cobras came in behind us shooting rockets over our heads; they were so close you couldn't stand up without being hit.  This went on all night, finally one of the other companies either B or C Company moved up to cover for us for the night. It's been a long time but I only remember me, two RTO's and the CO were still standing that night. I had all of my equipment shot off of me in that battle but was never wounded. The good Lord decided it wasn't my turn to go so I didn't.  We lost 40 some men that day with at least 140 more wounded.  The next morning I think the rest of the Battalion moved in and cleared the area.  At least 250 enemy soldiers were killed that day. Twice, people who had made it out by chopper reported me killed in action.  The few of us that made it were sent back to Bearcat to receive new troops for the company. I lost many friends who I had doctored for practically two years - after the battle we sat and cried for quite awhile.  The medics that were under me were the best guys in the world and they were dear friends of mine. I have always felt bad about me making through that battle when none of my friends did. There were more battles after that but not with the buddies I spent almost two years taking care of. This was just one incident where a lot of good soldiers were lost. I also lost my brother to the communists two months later. I feel I (and my family) gave a lot for our country but still not as much as they did. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country and no one should ever forget them.
May God Bless them all.

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