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Dawn broke with everyone in Charlie Battery hustling into activity. We really did not know what to expect, and cautious excitement ¤lled the air. Charlie Battery’s macho Marine spirit was at a peak this morning, but I wondered just how many of the guys were actually experiencing queasy feelings beneath the con¤dent bravado that abounded. On the other hand, seeing people acting with such con¤dence bolstered everyone’s resolve. This bold attitude had evolved over a period of months and resulted from knowing we had handled everything thrown at us so far. Combat either made men and units stronger or drained their very souls. Fortunately, this battery had developed an ironminded spirit for which men were willing to die. Certainly, no one wants to die, but some concepts are stronger than death; when that mentality exists, the dynamics of a group can vastly increase. Such was the Charlie Battery that set out that day on the road to Khe Sanh. Our convoy, accompanied by a platoon of infantry, left Ca Lu on a misty, foggy morning. The jungled ridges on either side of the valley were rugged with jagged rock formations piercing upward through the trees. A stream ran along one side of the road, and recent work by the Engineer Battalion was in evidence where bridges had been rebuilt. On our departure, helicopter gunships appeared as if from nowhere and began searching the ridges for NVA. For about ¤ve miles down the road, the terrain looked much like that around the Rockpile and Ca Lu, but after that the surroundings took on a different feel, with big bomb cra14 Khe Sanh ters and shattered trees appearing more frequently as the valley widened and vegetation decreased. Eventually, we moved onto a gently rolling plain, well away from the ridges, and nothing was the same. I could not relate the panorama to anything I had ever seen and could only imagine that the surface of the moon must look like this. Our little track of a road wandered through massive bomb craters void of anything green. Occasionally, blackened tree limbs protruded grotesquely from piles of raw earth, and an awesome feeling of insigni¤cance overwhelmed me as I viewed the total destruction. This hardly imaginable wasteland resulted from one of the most massive conventional bombing assaults in history. We had watched B-52s at close range in previous actions and been duly impressed, but seeing the results of their power in the middle of the impact zone was humbling. This devastation extended in a twomile -wide band encircling the entire base of Khe Sanh. As I thought on this, it occurred to me that the entire DMZ region was really nothing more than a big impact zone. This was just the concentrated manifestation of it. The destruction around us made me wonder how the enemy could have even considered attempting a siege, much less actually accomplishing one for two and one-half months. Charlie Battery, even with its cool bravado, had always respected the NVA, but seeing how much they had endured in this incredible air assault added to that respect. Nearing the perimeter, we were in for another eye-opener as we gazed on a maze of barbed wire surrounding what seemed to be the most colossal garbage dump of all time. Everything behind the wire was jumbled and smashed, indicating that the NVA had put their licks in on us as well. In addition to rockets and mortars, powerful artillery had zeroed in on the base, creating its own zone of destruction. Their ¤repower was massed on an imposing mountain named Co Roc, across the Laotian border. Its sheer cliffs faced us broadside, and the NVA had placed their artillery in caves throughout the face of this mountain. When they were ready to ¤re, they simply rolled their guns out and pounded the base until they were ¤nished or an air strike forced them back in. No amount of bombing had diminished their ability to wreak havoc at Khe Sanh, and all normal structures had been demolished; everyone lived underground. Driving into the base, we saw nothing but 202 IMPACT ZONE wrecked guns, vehicles, military equipment, and, ¤nally at the airstrip, smashed airplanes and choppers. Everything was strewn about in complete chaos, and a musty smell of decay attacked our senses. Standing out like some giant monument to the siege, a tail section of what seemed to be a large cargo plane pointed straight up at...

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