Within seconds, automatic weapons fire could be heard outside the terminal on the street side. None of the Americans knew who was shooting or at what out there. But as the attackers came around the corner, two Thai security policemen guarding a warehouse on the other side of the road caught the attackers in the open and fired on them with old M-14 carbines. It took the attackers, who were now pinned down against the outside wall of the terminal building, a few minutes to kill the two Thai defenders.
In an instant, several men in camouflage fatigues darted in the flight line door spraying the room with M-16 rounds. The response was quick and deadly accurate. Security policemen, few who had ever seen combat before, returned fire from behind the ticket counters and the concrete pillars. The distance between the attackers and police was never more than twenty-five feet. When the short, but withering fire ended, eight attackers lay cut to pieces on the floor just inside the doors. Only two security policemen received any wounds, and both insisted on standing and walking around to show their wounds weren’t serious.
The elation over the defense of the flight line door was short lived. A burst of weapons fire through the street side door sent everyone scrambling for cover. Those without M-16’s were frantically crawling across the floor to retrieve one from the bodies of the attackers.
Mack was crouched over running across the open floor when a hand grenade came bouncing in the door in front of him. This one was a smooth skinned M-59 fragmentation grenade, not the dummy pineapple grenade that his investigator used to play with. Almost without thinking he scooped it up in his hand and tossed it sidearm back out the door as he continued running across the floor. The grenade was still in the air, but was outside the door when it exploded. Mack was hit with three pieces of the hot fragmentation. He stumbled and rolled behind the counter, then squirmed in pain as the hot fragments continued to burn under his flesh.
Outside screams could be heard from those who faced the full impact of the grenade’s explosion.
A young black sergeant sprinted from behind his pillar when he heard the screams from outside. As he sprinted out the door he sprayed the outside wall with automatic weapons fire. Seven attackers waited there to rush through the doors, but three had been hit with the grenade fragments. His long burst of fire from his M-16 hit all but one of the attackers. While changing magazines, the last attacker fired a short burst from his M-16 into the sergeant’s chest.
Watching blood spray from the young sergeant’s back as he fell dead outside the door kept the other security police from going out. But the lone attacker retreated around the building, back over the fence, and back to the plane. As he approached the plane, he saw two attackers from the flight line door retreating to the plane.
For several minutes things fell silent. Everyone inside waited for the next attack. Then they heard the engines on the plane roar to life.
Eddie lay on the floor through the entire attack, bleeding from a chest and upper leg wound. He did not feel any pain and felt whatever wound he had was probably not serious. The sound of the aircraft engines brought him off the floor. He ran over the bodies in the doorway and out onto the ramp.
As he ran onto the ramp, one of the attackers stood at the open door of the plane and fired a short burst at him. The rounds ricocheted off the concrete very close to his feet. Eddie stopped and turned back toward the door so quickly that his feet went out from under him. As he half crawled and half ran back to the door another burst of fire narrowly missed his legs. Eddie tripped and fell among the bodies of the attackers.
“Just what the FUCK do you think you’re do’en?” Ray screamed at him from the edge of the counter.
Eddie had a look of fear on his face now, knowing how close he had come to getting shot for his stupid act.
“Stupid motherfucker,” Ray chided him.
The plane could be heard moving outside. As it moved off the ramp toward the runway, a burst of M-60 machine gun fire was heard. Colonel Suwit, got up off the floor and calmly walked over to the flight line door and looked out. He saw one of his trucks with an M-60 machine gun mounted on top coming across the runway. From the back of the plane three men jumped out the door and ran off.
“Come on, guys,” he called, then he started running.
Eddie scrambled up, grabbed an M-16, and followed Colonel Suwit. Ray and several of the security policemen also followed.
The plane was stopped on the ramp and Ray ran to the plane. Eddie, Colonel Suwit, and the others chased after the three fleeing down the base fence line.
About ten minutes later, a Thai security police jeep with four men armed with M-16 rifles drove around the three fleeing attackers and cut them off. They were now surrounded, so threw down their weapons and surrendered.
Two were Vietnamese, but one was a westerner. As Eddie walked up to him and their eyes met, Eddie said, “Peterson!”
“Peterson?” Colonel Suwit asked.
“Yea. Ex-CIA.”
Colonel Suwit drew his pistol and pointed it at Peterson’s head, but Eddie stuck his hand out and pushed the weapon down.
“No, Colonel. I want him. This one belongs to me. You can have those two.”
Eddie then stepped up to Peterson and without warning drove his foot into Peterson’s crotch. Peterson cried out and dropped to his knees, bent over until his head nearly touched the ground.
“Peterson, don’t you ever stick a gun to my head again. Especially when I’m flying.”
The Thai’s loaded the other two prisoners into a second jeep that had driven up, then drove off with them. The security policemen stood around Peterson with Eddie and Colonel Suwit. Peterson began to recover and lifted his head. When he did, Eddie kicked him square in the face. His head snapped back and blood began to flow from his broken nose.
“Peterson,” Eddie said, “don’t you ever bloody up one of my uniforms again. I was planning on getting married in this uniform.”
Several of the guys started laughing, breaking the tension of the battle.
Peterson shook his head and wiped the blood from his face. As he looked around, he realized just how much trouble he was in. He had just attacked a Thai military base, was in the hands of those whom he had just attacked, and was along a lonely base fence line out of sight of everyone.
“We’re going to take an airplane ride,” Eddie said. There was a serious threat implied in that statement.
Peterson glanced at Colonel Suwit and saw Suwit smile.
“Let’s go,” Eddie said, motioning to the others.
Two of the security policemen quickly grabbed Peterson by the arms to drag him to his feet. When he showed some initial resistance, a third offered a sharp kick to his behind. That got him moving.
Back at the plane, they found Ray sitting at the back door relaxing. Inside were the two pilots. The Thai security police had tied their hands and feet together behind them and left them lying in the back of the plane like so much useless cargo. As Colonel Suwit looked them over, Ray said, “Claim to be Chinese.”
Colonel Suwit grunted. “They aren’t Thai. Just dump them off somewhere on the other side of the border.”
The American security police shoved Peterson into the back of the plane and tied him up like the two pilots.
“Same thing with this one?” Ray asked.
“Yes,” Colonel Suwit answered. “Other side of the border, unless the young captain here has a better suggestion.”
“I really don’t want him inside the plane. Can we tie him to the tail wheel and drag him up and down the runway a few times?” Eddie asked.
Colonel Suwit laughed. “Use my truck if you want.”
Ray announced, “Colonel Waldrop took a pretty good piece of something in the gut. Ambulance took him downtown to the hospital. Mack has shrapnel wounds, but is staying with the troops. You look bad, Eddie. Need to go to the hospital?”
Eddie
looked under his shirt and said, “Bleeding has stopped and it still doesn’t hurt much. It’ll wait, I guess.”
“Feel up to flying?”
Eddie looked the plane over and asked, “In this?”
“Yea.”
“Hell, yea. I’m ready.”
“Okay. Let’s get this trash back to where it came from. Does the colonel have any preference where we take this bird when we’re finished with it?”
“I think it’s a CIA bird. Probably need to leave it at NKP,” Colonel Suwit answered.
“Okay, sir. NKP via some trash pile in Laos. I’ll call you when I get back.”
Colonel Suwit nodded and pushed the door of the plane shut.
The old C-47 lumbered north out of Ubon with Ray in the left seat. Eddie rode in the right seat, but was little more than a passenger. The adrenaline had worn off and Eddie was very tired. The wounds to his chest and leg were beginning to throb and they did not even have a first aid kit on the plane.
“This plane hasn’t been maintained, but it still performs reasonably well,” Ray said. Eddie just nodded. “You know, this is what I took my multi-engine check ride in.”
Eddie’s eyebrows raised. “In one of these?”
“Yea. It was the only twin we had.”
They flew north, passing just west of Savannakhet on the Thai side of the Mekong, then a few minutes later turned east and crossed over into the mountains of Laos. A few miles into Laos, they turned north again over a river valley. Ray engaged the auto pilot, climbed out of his seat, and motioned Eddie to follow.
They walked to the rear of the plane where Ray pulled the door off and set it against the rear bulkhead.
“Hey, man. The circulation in my hands and feet has been cut off. Can you loosen these ropes?” Peterson called out.
“Why?” Ray asked. “You plan on crawling off somewhere?”
Without waiting for an answer, Ray reached down and grabbed one of the pilots by the arm and leg and dragged him to the door. He immediately started speaking English.
“Whoa, whoa. What are you doing, man?”
“Thought you were Chinese?” Ray asked.
“No, man. We’re all Americans here.”
“Yea, so was Jane Fonda,” Ray answered, and heaved him out the door.
Watching the first pilot disappear out the door caused screams from Peterson and the other pilot.
“You want that one, Eddie?” Ray said, pointing to the other pilot.
Eddie shook his head no.
Amid pleading, screaming, and frantic wiggling, Ray dragged the second pilot to the door and rolled him out.
“Are you watching those mountains?” Eddie asked.
Ray stuck his head out the door for a second, then said, “No problem so far.”
Peterson was screaming and crying, “You can’t do this to me.” When Eddie reached out and grabbed him by the arm and leg a large wet spot began to grow in the crotch of his pants. Ray grabbed the other arm and leg and they slid Peterson to the door. Peterson was now screaming, “I’ll pay you anything. I’ll do anything. Please, don’t throw me out.”
“You’re too noisy to keep inside,” Eddie yelled at him. With that Eddie and Ray lifted him off the floor, rocked him back a forth twice, and then released him out the door. Peterson had tears flowing down his face and was screaming, “No!” when he disappeared out the door of the plane.
Ray looked at Eddie and asked, “How do you feel?”
“Just tired, Ray. No emotions. No feelings. Just tired and sore.”
“Yea. And you’re bleeding again, too. Come on, let’s get this thing on the ground.”
HEADQUARTERS BUILDING
UDORN RTAFB
4 July 1975
Eddie walked into the Commander’s office with Mack Klevenger and found Brass Balls Bellford leaning against the front edge of the commander’s desk. He had a cigar in his mouth, a can of beer in one hand and a can of Mountain Dew in the other. As soon as they closed the door he gave them a big grin.
“You two sons-of-bitches are all-fuck’en-right,” he boomed. He held out the beer to Mack and the Mountain Dew to Eddie. They took their drinks and thanked him politely.
“Son, when are you going to get yourself a real drink? That looks like piss.”
Eddie shrugged and smiled.
“Sit down, sit down,” he said, then he sat down behind the large oak desk.
He pulled the cigar from his mouth and said, “Eddie, old limp dick Waldrop has made a formal recommendation to me that I court-martial you over the Ubon attack.”
Eddie shook his head, but said nothing. Mack’s lower jaw dropped in surprise.
“He’s claiming you went AWOL, stole a plane, and murdered an American civilian who took part in the attack.” He held his hand up before Eddie could reply. “Colonel Suwit and Mack here both backed you to the hilt. So, just between us, I’m retiring that stupid bastard as a permanent lieutenant colonel. I’m blaming the attack on him, so he’s behind the eight ball.”
Mack said, “Excellent move, sir.”
“Of course, I still have to answer a question. What happened to the ex-CIA man you and Ray hauled away?”
Eddie squirmed in his seat, hesitated, then explained, “We, ah, dropped him off in Laos on our way to NKP.”
“Was he alive and unharmed when you last saw him?”
“Ah, yes, sir. He was free as a bird, in fact.”
Mack covered his eyes with his hands, shaking his head. But old Brass Balls sat grinning from ear to ear.
“Donevant, I’ve been trying to decide what to do with you. That job you did on Foster in Cambodia earned you captain two years below the zone. So, for the job on Peterson, how will this do you?” He held out a set of orders.
Eddie read the orders. He was being assigned to a flying position with the Texas Air National Guard at Ellington Air Force Base, in Houston, Texas. “Seriously!?” Eddie asked in surprise.
“It’s not active duty and they haven’t received their F-4’s yet. May be several more months before you’re back in an F-4. But Houston has law schools. You need to get your ass back in school. It’s the best I could find for you anywhere in the country.”
“Thank you, sir. I will gladly accept this assignment.”
“Mack, you’ll be flying a desk on the IG team out of the Pentagon. Think I can get you a promotion, too, within a few months. You’ve done an outstanding job here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Sir, what about Jake and Hank Rehnwick?”
“Jake is going to Nellis as an instructor. Hank is on the RIF list. Just nothing out there for an 0-2 driver, son. Sorry.”
Eddie shrugged, but said nothing.
“You two are leaving in morning. Both are going out of here armed the whole way back to the States. That last attack has really got some folks shook up. They think it was an assassination attempt.”
“Sir, I’ve got a girl down in Kuala Lumpur and I told ––”
“States, dummy. The other side of the Pacific. Write her a letter or something, but Mack, don’t let him out of your sight until you’re on U.S. soil.”
“But, sir, I–”
“You’re dismissed. That’s military talk for shut-the-fuck-up and get-outta-my-face.”
They both stood, saluted, and left without another word.
UDORN BOQ
4:00 p.m.
Eddie called Elaine and had her leave class to answer the phone.
“Hi, dear. Listen. I’ve got some news. First, on our last day at Ubon we were attacked. I have a few minor injuries, but nothing serious.”
“Oh, Eddie. How bad is it?”
“Hey, a few stitches is all. But the big problem is that I’m being kicked out of Thailand. In fact, I’m being ordered returned to the States first thin
g in the morning. They won’t let me come down there to see you.”
“Why not? They don’t want us to be together?”
“No, Elaine. It’s not that. I can’t explain on the phone. But they are giving me a flying job, only it’s just with the National Guard in Texas.”
“What does that mean? You aren’t in the Air Force or what?”
“Well, except for weekends, I’m out of the Air Force.”
“Eddie, when you get to Texas and find a place to live, can I come see you?”
“Yea, but what about your job?”
“I’ll quit. Mom and Dad will be back in the States on furlough in September and we can make plans to get married then.”
Eddie was silent for a few seconds. “Let me find a place for us. As soon as I do, I’ll send you the fare. But, Elaine. If you come to Texas, I don’t want you to come back over here.”
“Oh, Eddie, I won’t. I promise.”
“Got to go. Love you.”
“I love you, too, Eddie. Bye.”
UDORN BOQ
9:00 p.m.
Hank leaned back on his chair and said, “Hear you’re going to Texas.”
“Yea, Houston.”
“Well, I may come down that way to try to find a job. Mind if I camp out on your couch for a few days.”
“I don’t have a couch, Hank. But come on down. I’ll find a place for you.”
Hank nodded his thanks and headed for the door. He was clearly depressed that his Air Force career was over. He stopped and looked back. “John Slaughter is assigned to Houston, you know. Let’s get together with him next month. I like talking about the good old days and what we all did during the war.”
“Houston,” Eddie answered. “We’ll get together there next month and I’m sure we’ll get into more trouble there before too long.”
GLOSSARY
ARVN: Army, Republic of Viet Nam. South Vietnamese army.
A-Team: Commando team, usually made up of five to seven men, who operate inside enemy territory.
Bingo: Bingo fuel, the amount of fuel remaining in an aircraft fuel tanks needed to get back to base.
The Wrong Side of Honor Page 24
