LAST UPDATED 13 February, 2012
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By Tom Skiens Nov. 2005 The name Monumental Moments is a reflection of my experience with C 4/3 in 1968. One moment everything is fine and the next moment you need a monument. I present the following Charlie Company moments because they stand out in terms of causalities by volume. These events helped shape Charlie Company’s legacy. 68 thru 71, They need not be forgotten. January 13, 1968 Charlie Company was in the third day of what would become a 28 day patrol. This would be the first Bouncing Betty “C” 4/3 would encounter in Vietnam. At 1243 PM Co C. have hit mine at coord. 588833 We have 6 casualties, 1 serious, need medivac. At 1300 dustoff over Co. C now. Unable to land At wounded person’s position. Picking LZ at this Time. (Dustoff completed 1315) At 1328, Co. C: spot report. Ref. mines, 2 KHA- Lt. Scully, PFC Hall, 2 serious wounded- SSG Conroy, SGT Montgomery, Not seriously wounded, SGT. Walker. SP4 Thrasher, PFC Garner, SP4 Elston, PFC Henderson, PFC Howes. At 1329, Ref Co C mine report. Plat penetrated old defensive Wire 300 meters. Point man stepped on mine. 2 KHA, 3 WHA serious, 5 WHA not serious. April 19-25 1968 The events of this week are noteworthy. They are well documented in a paper titled, Seven Days in April. The mission was to cordon off an area we called, “Sniper Alley”. The plan said, put a ring around the area, drop CS gas in the middle and shoot whatever runs out of the smoke. Three days to move into position, one day to drop gas and 3 days to hump out of the area. We hit 7 mines, suffered 6 dead and 13 wounded . April 19 1968, at 0856, Co C request dustoff for 3 US WHA due to detonation of booby trapped AP mine Vic. BS533853, dustoff completed 0902. 1 other US KHA. Pers concerned: SP4 Pennamon, R. (KHA); 2LT O’Neill, J. (WHA); PFC Hargrove, L.(KHA); Finn. WHA April 22, 1968. At 0715 Co. C. request dustoff coord. BS504875: 1 US litter, gunshot stomach wound. Dustoff completed 0724, 1 US WHA Sgt. Fox Donald. At 0920 Co. C. requested Dustoff. 1 USA WHA Sgt Jeffrety, Richard, 1 USA KHA Pfc. Price Michael, G. cause, antipersonnel mine April 23, 1968. At1405 Co. C. req Dustoff for 2 US WHA from detonating Bouncing Betty AP mine. Dustoff completed 1420. At 1511 Co. C. requested a Dustoff for 2 US KHA Vic BS 527853, resulting from detonation of M16 AP mine. Lewis Harmon, KHA, Russel lee Mathney,KHA April 24, 1968 At 1836 Co. C. requested a Dustoff coord. BS535801. Tripped booby trap resulting in 3 US WHA; Pfc. John Pollte, Pvt. Thomas Brzoska, Pvt. Peyton Leslie, Dustoff completed 1850. April 25, 1968 At 1520 Co. C. requested Dustoff vic. BS533798. Result of M16A1 AP mine. Pfc. Eric Ficklin, KHA. SP4 George Jacobs, WHA. Pfc. George Daise, WHA. At 1627 Co. C. requested a Dustoff for 2 psychological casualties February 28, 1969 This Battle took place approx. 7 clicks South Southwest of LZ BUF. Charlie Co. 4/3, mounted on APC’s, is sweeping the Horseshoe on the north side of the SONG TRA KHUC river. The Journal log summary tells the story; 4/3 Inf. Continues offensive search and sweep operations in the BUF AO. At 0915H Company D received AW fire from BS556825 w/1 US WHA and evacuated by C&C at 0924H. At 1030H Company C apprehended 20 VCS(Viet cong suspect) , MAM’s (military age males) and the VCS were brought to LZ BUF. At 1305h Co C requested DUSTOFF for 1 US WHA by SA fire in the head and the DUSTOFF was completed at 1335H. Later the US died of wounds. At 1345H Company C made contact with a platoon size VC/NVA element at BS510765. The enemy was using AW and RPG’s against the APC’s. 4 US were WHA from the APC’s by the RPG fire. Company C then spotted Bunkers and Concertina wire so they called in fast movers to suppress enemy fire. At 1420H Co C had 5 US WHA and DUSTED off at 1445H from the contact. At 1630H Company C moved to a Ville East of OP #1. At this point Co C observed persons moving around positioning themselves in the vile and some were moving out of the western portion of the vile. Company B (which had CA’d into BS524774) moved to the contact area and received heavy AW fire resulting in 6 US WHA and 4 KHA. Company B then linked up with company C and they conducted a coordinated attack. Company C then received 1 US KHA and 3 US WHA. An air strike was placed on the suspected enemy location and at 1700H 4/3 Inf. Request reinforcements from the 198th LIB. The last air strike drew heavy AW fire from BS532769. At 1930H Company B 5/36 CA’d into reinforce 4/3 Inf. Elements. At 1927H Recon platoon CA’d from LZ BUF to contact area. At 1945H SPOOKY came on station and worked over the enemy location. At 2015H contact with the enemy had ceased. Result of the days contact were: 1 US WHA from Co D. 11 US WHA, 1 US KHA, 3 US MHA from Company C. 4 KHA from Co B 4/3. Charlie Company Casualties Pfc Fernando Garcia, WHA Pfc George Harnish, WHA Pfc Danial Webster, WHA Pvt. George McDonald, WHA Sgt. Austin Lawther, WHA Pfc. Gary Vergason, WHA Pfc. John Hamilton, WHA 1lt. Richard Keithline, KHA Pfc. Dennis Groff, MIA Pfc. Freund Carter, KHA Eugene Couturiaux, KHA April 15, 1970 There is a great deal of confusion about what started this chain of events. This much is known. Charlie Company 4/3 was under the operational control, (OPCON), of the 4/21. On April 15, 1970 Co. C 4/3 was leaving Hill 238 for assigned mission. Something happened while crossing the wire. Booby traps in the wire, Claymore mines being carried by grunts and nearby 81 mm HE and Illum. Rounds all began exploding. No one knows which explosion was first. The result was predictable. Charlie Company Casualties John F Brooks, WIA Kennith Gibbs, WIA Jim Alexander, WIA Jack Bearden, WIA Clinton Deacon, WIA Frank Esteves, WIA Lorendo Herrera, WIA Larry Machart, WIA John McCall, WIA Jose Rivras, WIA Danny Snider, WIA Harold Titus, WIA Russel Meyers, WIA Michael Haynes, KIA Charles Merril, KIA Clarence Templeton, KIA Randall Simmons, KIA "The Rice Bowl". By Harold Titus, member of Charlie 4/3 1970, Survivor ( On According to official documents there was no "crater" to suggest where the chain reaction began, or where the booby trap was set. It was suggested at the time that it could have been "command detonated" or that someone wandered from the trail setting it off. One witness insisted that it went off when a guy in the mortar pit pulled a bamboo stalk from the ground that had been standing there all day. Whatever the case was, the results were catastrophic. I was there. I was one of the wounded. My whole squad was either KIA or WIA. Here's how I remember it: The morning of the event we were in the bush somewhere. We had run out of rations the night before and everyone was pretty hungry. Tempers were pretty frayed. When the orders came down that we were to be CA'd to hill 238 they included a stop at Duc Pho for chow. We were also issued the new 1 gallon soft canteens at that time. When we arrived at 238 there was a great deal of confusion. When I got off the slick I noticed several "bomb dogs" tied up near the LZ. We were immediately told that the entire area was booby trapped and because of that we needed to stay on the trails. My squad had been split up, being in two slicks, and by the time I arrived most of my squad had "fallen out" further up the hill. When the word came to form up and move out I found myself considerably back from my squad in the line of march and had to hustle to catch up. As I recall my squad had "point" for the company and
Monumental Moments
Finder, Foxtrot, Preacher and The Cross
