The Wrong Side of Honor

by Marshall Ginevan

  With that General Speaker picked up his hat and briefcase and walked out the door. Colonel Waldrop followed him out.

  “He’s going to be trouble, Colonel,” Ray said.

  Colonel Suwit shrugged. “That is next year’s problem. We still have Trang to contend with right now.”

  UBON RTAFB

  CHRISTMAS EVE

  For weeks, base personnel watched and waited for any signs and listened for any rumor of an attack on Ubon. But everything remained quiet.

  There was normal security all over the base during Christmas and there was a big Christmas party going on at the Thai Restaurant on base. Eddie attended the party for a while, but grew bored around 11:00 p.m. and took one of the U-10’s up for some night flying. Just before midnight near the Laotian border he contacted Hank Renwick on the radio and invited him over to Ubon for the Christmas party.

  The two Thai Security Policemen stood at the Main Gate signing in a large number of guests, mostly for the party. Things slowed down just at midnight and the two SP’s stood at the gate shack complaining about the heavy work load.

  “Now what?” one said as the large two-and-a-half ton canvas covered diesel truck pulled up to the gate.

  The truck stopped just short of the gate and the passenger got out. The two SP’s stood at the doorway waiting. The passenger stepped around to the front of the truck with an AK-47 and sprayed both SP’s with a short burst of automatic fire.

  About fifty yards behind the Main Gate sat the GI checkpoint. The two American security policemen who manned that post immediately ducked behind their plywood gate shack. One pulled up his M-16 rifle while the other pulled his walkie-talkie.

  The M-60 machine gun mounted behind the canvas fired within seconds. The 7.62 mm rounds punched through the plywood and two-by-fours and killed both GI’s with a single burst. But one SP got his radio call in first. “ATTACK, MAIN GATE. ATTACK, MAIN GA–-” The sound of the M-60 was heard, as it cut off the radio transmission.

  “Tiger Control, all posts and patrols. We are under attack at the Main Gate. Repeat, we are under attack at the Main Gate. This is for real.”

  Several things began to happen at once as a result of the radio call.

  Central Security Control (CSC) was a windowless room where telephones, radios, alarms, keys, maps, and plans were maintained. It was the security nerve center for the base. Staff Sergeant Ackerman and Sergeant Frazier, two experienced security policemen, were working CSC. While Ackerman broadcast word of the attack over the police radio net, Frazier was placing an urgent phone call to Udorn Command Post to report the attack. It would be Udorn’s Command Post that would call in all the outside air support and make the up-channel notifications. Ackerman activated the base wide attack siren, so the entire base would be immediately notified that they were under attack.

  Technical Sergeant Eugene Moss was assigned to the police administration office as Ray Metson’s Air Force supervisor. His normal work hours were 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This night, however, he and his clerk, Airman First Class Charles Tipton, volunteered to take the M-113 armored personnel carrier (APC) out to the off-base bomb dump and bring the one out there back to the base to be refueled and serviced.

  Moss and Tipton were inspecting the APC out behind the Security Police building when they heard the small arms fire from the main gate and the radio traffic over their walkie-talkie.

  “Let’s go,” Moss yelled to Tipton, as he climbed onto the APC.

  “What’re we doing, Sarge?”

  “Get on that M-60. We need to get over there.”

  Moss dropped into the driver’s hatch and started the engine. Tipton climbed onto the top and stepped into the gunner’s hatch where the M-60 machine gun was mounted behind a steel guard plate.

  “What do I do?” Tipton yelled over the roar of the diesel engine. He was a clerk, not an SP, and did not know how to operate the machine gun.

  Moss climbed up, pulled the bolt back, and clipped the ammo belt into place. “Flip the safety up, line up the sights, and pull the trigger when you get a target. Short bursts only.”

  Moss did not wait for a reply. He dropped back into the driver’s hatch and pulled across the parking lot, out the driveway, and turned right onto the street in front of the Security Police building.

  There was a lot of traffic on the radio, but no one was near enough to the main gate to report anything. Someone called that a truck was coming from the main gate into the base, but Phantom Road was nearly a mile long at the point where it passed the Security Police building.

  The APC reached the intersection at the same time the truck did. It was in the middle of the street turning left onto Phantom Road when the truck turned right onto the street. The truck’s lights lit up the APC and the driver slammed on the brakes. Moss reacted to the sudden appearance of the truck headlights by slamming his foot on the brake pedal that was not there.

  The truck crashed into the front left corner of the APC bringing both vehicles to an abrupt halt. The corner of the APC bent the truck bumper and shoved the radiator back into the engine.

  Tipton was slammed against the machine gun and the guard plate and Moss was knocked off his seat onto the floor. The truck driver hit the steering wheel and was unhurt, but his two front seat passengers hit the windshield face first and were knocked unconscious. The men in the back of the truck ended up in a pile in the front end of the bed.

  It took Moss several seconds to get oriented and get his head outside to see what had happened. When he saw the machine gun mounted above the truck cab he realized that this was the attacker. “Shoot the truck,” he yelled to Tipton. He then tried to move the APC, but the collision had thrown a track, and it would not move.

  Tipton did not seem to understand, so Moss scrambled to the top, shoved Tipton inside, and dropped into the gunner’s hatch. But by the time Moss got the gun ready to fire, the men in the back of the truck were getting out.

  Someone jumped up behind the M-60, and Moss fired a burst into the gun and the man, knocking both from the top of the truck. The driver saw the muzzle flash of the machine gun and jerked the door open, but the machine gun rounds splattered him against the back of the truck cab.

  Moss turned the machine gun toward the men on the right side of the truck and fired a burst. Two men fell, but others dived under the truck. Men on the left side of the truck ran up to the side of the APC before Moss could swing the machine gun around to fire. Still, the metal shield caught the burst of AK-47 rounds, allowing Moss to drop inside before they could get around the shield. The protection of the APC was short lived. A hand grenade dropped in through the front hatch and exploded, leaving both men burned, bleeding, and unconscious.

  The fire fight next to the Security Police building drew one law enforcement patrol in a pickup truck and two security patrols in jeeps.

  Police Two raced past the Thai Restaurant on Phantom Road and started around the bend toward the intersection when AK-47 fire hit his windshield, front tires, and engine. The truck slid to a halt in the middle of the road. The driver was unhurt and immediately returned fire with his M-16, forcing the attackers back around to the right side of their truck.

  The two jeeps approached from the flight line and took up positions in the ditch in front of the Security Police building, roughly behind the APC on the right side of the truck.

  “Tiger, how many hostiles do we have out there?” CSC radioed.

  “Security Five, unknown number. They just knocked out the track.”

  “Police Two, my vehicle’s hit. I’m under fire, but holding them at the intersection.”

  While several of the attackers ran into the ditch for cover on the right side of the truck, one climbed up the front of the APC to get the M-60 into action. He was hit with several M-16 rounds fired by Police Two, Security Five, and Security Six, and fell dead from the top onto the street.

 
; For several minutes there was no shooting. The two forces just waited for the other to make a move.

  The lull in fighting ended when Security Six fired his grenade launcher against the side of the APC. It was not close enough to injure any of the attackers in the ditch, but it was all they needed to force them to move. Approximately a dozen men sprinted into the power station, which sat on the corner across the street from the Security Police building. Their cover fire kept the security team’s heads down and one of the jeeps took a round in the radiator.

  “Security Six, they just moved into the power station.”

  “Tiger to QRT. We need you at the northeast corner of the power station on the flight line. You need to keep them from moving to the transit terminal and the LOX plant.”

  “Ten-four. One minute.”

  Seconds later the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) in a 706 rubber tired commando car rolled up onto the transit ramp.

  “QRT deploying.”

  “Negative. Stand-by, QRT,” CSC replied.

  The 706 pulled to a stop with one man on the top mounted M-60 machine gun. The six man QRT remained inside.

  Suddenly there was a large explosion, and the cab of the truck erupted into a ball of fire. A Thai guard working in the armory had pulled up a LAWs rocket, ran around to the front corner of the building, and fired on the truck over the heads of the two security patrols.

  “You stupid son-of-a-bitch,” the sergeant from Security Five yelled. “Get the fuck outta here with that thing.”

  As the Thai guard disappeared around the corner, explosions could be heard in the power station. Following each of the explosions, lights began going off around the base. Within seconds the whole base was blacked out.

  Hank Renwick was on final approach crossing the threshold at the east end of the runway when the lights suddenly went out. Eddie Donevant was on short final behind him. Hank was prepared to continue his landing until he saw the truck fire and then tracers from an M-60 firing into the power station.

  Eddie saw the base black out and was looking at the truck fire when he heard Hank call over the GUARD frequency, “Go around. Go around. They’re under attack.”

  Ahead Eddie saw Hank’s lights go out, and he disappeared in the darkness. Eddie switched off his landing and nav lights and then slowly over-flew the transit ramp and the Security Police building. He could see the tracer rounds hitting the power plant and the muzzle flashes of returning fire at the windows. The APC and truck both appeared to be on fire.

  “Lost sight of you, Hank,” Eddie radioed.

  “Turning on downwind,” he answered. “Go to 3,000, turn on your lights, and orbit north of the runway. I need to know where you’re at.”

  “Rog. What can we do for them down there?”

  “I’ve called in some Cobras and a Jolly Green. And those fast movers will be here soon, too.”

  The QRT leader deployed his men two minutes after the lights went out and moved them between the power plant and the transit terminal building. He hoped to keep the attackers from reaching the liquid oxygen (LOX) plant on the east side of the terminal. The QRT’s 706 had a Starlite scope, so they could use their M-60 to cover his flank and to keep the attackers off the flight line.

  But the attackers did not move east against the LOX plant or north onto the open flight line. To the south, on the opposite side of the road, was a concertina wire fence line. They left the south side of the power plant, turned west on Phantom Road, and moved behind the truck and APC. Those vehicles provided cover from the security patrols’ headlights. They continued west, around to the south end of the Security Police building, then north along the back side of the Security Police building.

  The Thai guard from the armory, now armed with a pump shotgun, was standing outside the back door of the Security Police building to identify any Thai guards or security policemen who showed up for weapons. In the darkness he could see a group of men coming around the south side of the building. One ran across the parking lot to the antenna tower, while the others crept along the back of the building on the grass. He was undecided how to challenge these men and unsure how many there were.

  The answer came seconds later when one of the attackers fired a burst from an AK-47 into a bush he mistook for a man standing in the darkness. In a fierce fire fight that lasted only seconds, the Thai guard emptied the five 00-buck shot rounds into the darkness, where he knew the group must be. At less than twenty feet the attackers’ reactive fire cut him to pieces. But they suffered three dead and five wounded. Two of those were serious.

  Seven attackers rushed into the back door of the Security Police building, as SSgt Ackerman calmly but urgently broadcast over the portable radio, “Tiger, all posts and patrols. CSC is under attack. CSC is under attack. Hostiles are now in the back door.”

  Mack Klevenger called over the radio, “Police One, all police units. Hold your position. Hold your position. QRT to direct the counter-attack on CSC.”

  “QRT, ten-four. 706, deploy to the back door. QRT is coming in the front door.”

  As the QRT sprinted toward the front door of the Security Police building, the attackers ran through the building trying to find the CIA office. They suddenly realized that they had no idea what the CIA office looked like. And the building had emergency lighting only in the hallway.

  They kicked open all the doors, except the CSC door (which they failed to see in the back corner of a dark office) and the metal armory door. They used their last satchel charge against the armory door and blew it into the armory. Sergeant Brown was handing out ammo through the issue window at the front of the building when the door blew in. He grabbed a teargas grenade and tossed it over the racks of rifles. It landed just inside the doorway. Two attackers ran in and began to spray the armory with AK-47 fire when the teargas grenade went off at their feet. They could not see in the darkness, so were forced to retreat.

  The attackers retreated, only to find the 706 in the parking lot with its headlights lighting up the back door. AK-47 fire put the lights out, but the M-60 fire from the 706 and flying glass injured one attacker. He was hit in the face with flying glass.

  The outside man set off the satchel charge at the base of the antenna tower, mainly as a diversion to draw fire from the 706, but the tower fell across the top of the 706, hit the M-60, and put it out of action. The two-man crew tried to use their M-16’s to keep the attackers in, but the attackers were able to get out of the building and retreat to the south in the darkness.

  The QRT rushed in the front of the building as the attackers were retreating out the back. Confusion struck at that point which allowed the attackers to slip away.

  A Thai Security Police patrol drove up the flight line and approached the rear of the Security Police building without coordinating their movement with CSC. When the outside attacker blew over the antenna and began providing cover fire against the 706, the Thai SP’s opened fire on him, killing him. In the confusion, the Americans thought the four Thai SP’s were the attackers and engaged them in a fire fight. The Thai’s did not know that all the attackers had moved south and that the Americans were now at the back door. After several minutes of shooting, the four Thai SP’s were forced to retreat. During their retreat one Thai SP was killed and two were wounded. One American SP from the QRT received a minor wound in the exchange.

  Seven attackers were loose on the base somewhere and some of those seven were known to be wounded. Three seriously wounded Vietnamese and bodies of eleven attackers were found around CSC. Sergeant Moss and Airman Tipton were found alive in the APC. Two C-9 flying hospitals were called in from Clark Air Base in the Philippines, but they would not arrive for several hours.

  Ten minutes after the attack began two Cobra helicopter gunships arrived and began to patrol the base fence line. The HH-53 Jolly Green Giant helicopter arrived a few minutes behind the Cobras.

  Thirty minutes after
the attack, while flying downwind for a landing, Eddie saw a slap flare go up on the south side of the base. That was immediately followed by tracer rounds from off base. They were firing into a guard tower on the fence line. Seconds later a million-candlepower flare went off above him, dropped by a C-130 flying overhead. The entire area was lit up brighter than daylight.

  There were explosions in the fence line and several men ran out and pulled the concertina wire apart. Eddie counted seven men, two carrying a third, running from the base toward the fence line. Then a bright red finger kicked up a dust cloud that enveloped the men. An instant later a Cobra gunship shot by under him. When the dust cleared the dismembered, mangled figures lay on the freshly plowed ground.

  The men in the fence line ran back into the tree line. There was no more action. The battle was over. The two Cobra gunships stayed in the area, but the rules of engagement would not allow them to fire at any target off base.

  At sunrise Eddie and Ray joined Colonel Suwit and Mack Klevenger outside the back door of the Security Police building. The OSI agent had just finished photographing the bodies when Eddie waved Colonel Suwit and Mack over. A body lay on its side curled in the fetal position, a large hole blown into its belly. Eddie shoved the body onto its back with the toe of his tennis shoe.

  “Look familiar?” he asked.

  Colonel Suwit bent down and looked at the man’s face. He nodded.

  “He didn’t get away with it this time, either,” Eddie said.

  “No, not this time.”

  As Colonel Suwit walked into the building, Mack asked Eddie, “Who was that?”

  “Captain Trang, NVA. Made good on his threat, I would say.”

  Eddie was asleep on the couch in the Projects Office when General Speaker walked in at 9:15. His enlisted aide called the little office to attention. Ray rolled his aching eyes and slowly stood behind his desk. The general kicked the bottom of Eddie’s foot, and he woke with a start.