The Angel of
Vietnam
A Tetsuwan Atom fan fiction
By Dan Rush
Original story by Osamu Tezuka
Tetsuwan Atom © 1954 Osamu Tezuka. All rights deeply respected. For fandom only, no profit sought or desired.
The United States, the Russians and the Chinese have chosen to rampage over the land of Vietnam like a herd of mad elephants.
Osamu Tezuka
Summer of 1969
Forewords
Many American anime fans today never knew Osamu Tezuka to be overtly political in his cartoons and manga. He usually kept an equal and neutral stand on the everyday politics of the modern world.
As the Vietnam War grew more and more destructive however, Tezuka boldly broke from his political neutrality. In a 1967 news article he declared that the United States, Russia, China and South Korea were running through Vietnam like a heard of wild elephants on a rage of unchecked destruction.
In 1969, Tezuka drew a story in the Tetsuwan Atom "Once upon a time" series in the Sankei newspaper. Atom traveled back in time before he was built to the late 1960's. After escaping from a gang of arms dealers, Atom finds himself in the middle of the Vietnam War and comes to the aid of a Vietnamese village caught in the middle of the fighting between the Vietcong and the United States. With his energy running out, Atom uses what little he has left in a desperate attempt to save the village from the hell around it.
The manga story was one of unusual boldness for Tezuka and at first glance seems to be a slap against Americans alone. It's not surprising for some people to be offended by it. As the son of a Vietnam Veteran, my first reaction to seeing the un-translated work was one of anger. There was so much I would have asked Tezuka, had he not died in 1989, about his placing of blame. Especially in light of what universal Communism did to Southeast Asia after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. The Cambodian Massacres by Pol Pot and the Communist Kumer Rouge, The slaughters of Laotian mountain tribesmen by the Communist Patet Lao, The Communist concentration camps in Vietnam, the plight of the Vietnamese boat people. What would Tezuka think of his "angel" then?
Only with time, with the internet and with new abilities to track down historical documents could I have appreciated and respected what Tezuka was trying to do. With the release of this work in 2002 by Dark Horse Comics, we now see that Tezuka's blame for the carnage of Vietnam wasn't confined to America alone nor did he see America as the only wager of destruction in what was a disastrous result of the entrenched political wills of the Cold War super powers.
And so I decided to write a fiction based on Tezuka's original story. The fictional Battle of the Yin Bai Valley in January 1969 is told by Master Sergeant Dale Garry, a Marine Corps veteran returning to the battlefield to write a book about the mythical Angel of Vietnam and who hopes to put to rest the haunting ghosts of a long ago war.
This fan fiction is dedicated to the thousands of innocents who awoke to their simple daily lives only to die in the maelstrom of the Vietnam War. May they someday find peace.
Caution
This fan fiction is laced with period speak to retain the authenticity of the era. Any and all swearing, racial epithets, slurs and offensive remarks are not meant by this author to offend any person, race or group. The content of this fan fiction's does not reflect upon the memory of Osamu Tezuka or the values of tolerance for all peoples he aspired to during his lifetime.
Note: The original file of this fan fiction contains battle maps of the Battle of Yin Bai. If you wish to see these files just e-mail me at and I will send them.
Chapter One
Hallowed Ground
Ho Chi Minh International Airport
People's Republic of Vietnam
March 21st, 2003
The heat and the humidity hadn't changed at all. Dale walked out into the tropical sunlight of mid-day and it all rushed around him like a blast furnace. He gladly bought a bottle of water from a girl who was selling them at the door to the terminal building and stood wiping his brow as he waited in the customs line and looked around the old building. If it had been changed since what, 50 years ago? He might have not noticed.
Only one of the customs agents inquired about the hat, just a brief general question if he was still in the military and something about doing any work for the American C.I.A.. Guess that would be an expected question even after such a long time. He finished the process, grabbed his old color faded duffle bag and walked through a door and into the reception hall where he spotted several people milling about with signs in their hands.
One of them was a slender short man dressed in black plants, a white satin short sleeve shirt and an old boonie style hat, the one once worn by "bush rabbits" or "Lurps" back in the day.
*"Lurps" aka LRRP, Long Range Rifled Patrols.
The man bowed courteously and extended a hand. "Mister Garry, I am Tran Ko Phan, Welcome to the People's Republic of Vietnam."
"Thank you. I was expecting Mister Gin, is he ok?" Dale allowed the man to take his bag and lead him out of the terminal and into the parking area.
"Mister Gin sends his deepest apology. He is not feeling well and he hopes you will not be disappointed. He asked me to be your guide and to help you."
Dale was silent for the first few minutes as Tran drove them through the southern districts of Hanoi and onto Highway One towards the old South. Had anything changed at all? The car they were driving in was a sputtering old French Perjoit that smelled as bad as it looked. "Forgive me for saying this Mister Phan…"
"Oh please Sir…call me Tran. May I call you Dale?"
"Of course." Dale said nodding. "Tran? Forgive me but…I don't see that much of anything has changed here at all. After so much time…"
Tran laughed. "Maybe not on the outside Dale." Tran turned on the radio he had jury rigged into the Perjoit and turned the dial to a Vietnamese station that played nothing but old American music. "To be honest? The government's only now allowed us to have satellite television. There's only one in the whole village and it's still rarely watched."
Dale shook his head. "I'd kill for a McDonalds."
"Five miles down the highway in Son Tien City." Tran replied smiling. "They also have a Subway…a Wendy's….and a Starbucks. Well, a Starbucks on each side of the Wendy's."
Dale scratched his head. "Did Mister Gin explain to you why I'm here?"
"No explanation needed to be said. You're here to do research for a book on the Battle of Yin Bai and the Angel. The whole village is excited about it."
"Actually I didn't think it would generate much interest." Dale said as he looked out the window.
"The story is of deep interest to us. Have you noticed the government sent no official minder to follow you? They won't dare."
Dale tiled his head. "Minder?"
"The central government is still very suspicious of Americans, it comes with the history. But in your case they won't dare try following you. The Angel scares them. You won't find a government official, a government police officer or any military officials in the village."
"The Angel…I'm not even sure of what I saw. My "meeting" was a little brief you understand."
Tran nodded. "I myself don't know much of this Angel. I was born during the battle. My mother was killed in the bombing. Please be patient with many of our elders Dale? Time hasn't healed all the wounds."
Two hours later, the pair passed through Da Nang City and turned off highway 1 towards the "highlands", the vast, sparse expanse of rolling hills, mountain ranges and jungle patches occupied mostly by mountain tribes and small villages or "hamlets". Along the way, the road turned from paved, to patchy, to sometimes dirt to almost un-drivable. Somehow…Dale fell asleep.
It was late afternoon when Tran shook him awake. "Dale? We're entering Yin Bai valley."
Dale moaned and wiped the moistness from his hair as Tran handed him a bottle of water and slowed the car to a stop. As they coasted to a stop atop a roll on the mountain range top, Dale gazed reflectively ahead at the broad, almost clear expanse of the valley below.
From where they sat on the Doc Tien mountain range, the Yin Bai Valley sloped into a deeply set bowl some 8 miles across from the South West to the North East. The Imyun River cut through most of the valley floor that was dotted with jungle patches, clearings of scruff elephant grasses and bunches of tropical palms. Beyond them sat the solitary high bluff known as the Chu Shun Massif and at its base, the village which gave the valley its name.
The only road through the valley was the Min Lai Provincial, more a dirt trail that crossed the Imyun and forked to the West and North. The North fork went on for ten miles into Cambodia and onto the notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail.
"Dale?" Tran interrupted. "We should make the village before nightfall. You should have a chance to rest." Tran stood back a moment and chose to let the man wander about. Thoughts were obviously passing through his mind. For a brief moment, Dale stooped down and came walking back with something in his hand…
"A piece of steel." Dale said as he waved the object. "Artillery round or bomb fragment."
He pocketed the find and went back to the car. "I should warn you that the ground around here isn't very safe. We find explosives all the time." Tran said moanfully. "Sometimes we find them in the worst ways. Old Vietcong traps. Unexploded American hand grenades, artillery shells, bombs. The war continues to kill every year."
Dale looked as if he'd start crying but he took a deep breath and wiped an eye. "I'm just tired right now Tran."
Both men remained silent as they drove down into the valley and back into another time, whos advance was marked by the occasional water filled bomb craters that they passed on the way to the village…
January 1969
It is January 1969. A year since the bloody Tet Offensive. Richard Nixon is President of the United States. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King have been assassinated the previous year.
It will be another six months before President Nixon announces the "Vietnamazation" of the war and the beginning of the end of America's combat involvement. To date, over 56,000 Americans have died in Southeast Asia since 1957. An estimated 700,000 Vietnamese, from those in combat to civilians, have died.
The Tet Offensive was a disaster to the North Vietnamese and their supporters in South Vietnam. General Nyugen Giap resigns as North Vietnamese military commander, turning the post over to General Minh Tu Han. Minh spends the rest of 1968 re-constituting the North Vietnamese offensive in the South under a new command, the People's Liberation Dong Nai Division under Commisar Commander Vin Kay Ko.
In December of 1968, Ko meets with the People's Central Committee of North Vietnam to present a bold plan to draw the imperialist forces of the United States and her puppet army of criminals in the South into a trap where a decisive shedding of blood will boost anti-war efforts in the United States. He has called his operation "Viet Minh Snake" after Leader Ho Che Minh's successful defeat of the hated Japanese in World War II.
Laying out a map, General Vin points to the ground on which he will fight this decisive great battle, The Valley of Yin Bai north of Da Nang, South Vietnam.
Meanwhile in Saigon, The South Vietnamese capital, a North Vietnamese agent has made contact with the United States Military Assistance Group (Mac V) and provided them both true and false information regarding the movements of the Dong Nai Division. It is of course a lure designed to sucker the Americans into the awaiting trap.
January 17th, 1969
Da Nang Airfield, South Vietnam
Arrival Center, U.S. Marine Corps Command
Private First Class infantryman Dale Garry stepped one foot off the back ramp of the C141 Star-lifter and soon found himself running like mad along with the rest of the Marines as rocket and mortar shells screamed over their heads and slammed into the concrete around them!
Dale gave his duffle bag a good chuck and followed it over a sandbag wall just missing getting hit by a rocket that exploded where he leaped from. That's where the Staff Sergeant found him.
"I guess this is where you chose to spend the next year in "Coochville" new meat?"
Dale looked up as the Staff Sergeant pointed to a nearby hanger. "You're shit out of luck Private! Grab your duffle and get in there before I kick your sorry ass high enough for the Cong to get a bead on your puss!"
Dale threw his bag over his shoulders and walked into the hanger where other arriving Marines were finding metal chairs or sitting on their duffles.
Dale got slapped on the arm. "Yo man…got a cig?"
Dale pulled out a pack and passed a cigarette to the tall black Marine next to him. "Names Doltree…Doltree Memphis from Idaho." The man said as he lit up.
"Dale Garry. California. Do you know where you're going yet?"
Doltree shook his head. "Hell if I know. If we're lucky it'll be Embassy duty. But I don't see us getting that lucky."
Another Marine siting in front of them turned around. "I hear Nixon might start bringing us back stateside soon. Says so in Stars & Stripes."
"Man? Since when do you trust that crap?" Doltree snorted. "All this stuff about "Vietnamizing the war? Just a cover so they can send us out of the cities on a jungle bunny romp."
Another Marine leaned in on the conversation. "I have it all fixed. My cousin? She's a clerk in depot supply. You guys pay like a hundred each and she'll write you a 6 month ticket to easy street."
Garry smirked. "So why ain't you there yet?"
"I hate my cousin. She's a real bitch."
The group laughed as the man stretched his hand. "Martine Haliendez, Texas. Real inside scoop? Most of us are going to the 2/3 (Second Battalion, 3rd Marine Infantry Division) out of Doc Chu. It's been dead like six months now, no Vietcong."
"Another good B.S. story." Said another Marine. "Charlie's been laying low since the Tet offensive. He came up with a better plan. I hear he's spiking the local beer with the pill so he turns us all into limp dick suicidal prone alcoholics."
"Looks like it's workin fine." Doltree said smirking. "Where you from?"
"Marion, Arkansas." The red headed Marine stopped chewing his gum and looked at the others. "What?"
"The glasses?" Garry asked Haliendez.
"No man…he's a stupid hick. I give em no more than a week."
Jasper Cole slapped Haliendez off the head. "Screw you, you Texas bastard!"
Garry snorted. "Texas? Isn't that deep hick South?"
"No! My great great Grandfather fought in the Alamo man! I am true Texan, the real Mexican cowboy."
"Boy yes…." Doltree snorted. "Cows I bet you like."
Haliendez jumped over Jasper Cole and soon the brawl was on! But not long before they got pulled apart by a pair of burley Sergeants.
"Save your manly crap for the Cong!" One of the sergeants snarled. It was then that the arrivals were called to attention as a one star general, whos face looked as old as a thousand year old spoiled cheese, walked into the hanger and stood at the front of the group…
"Welcome to Vietnam Marines!"
"Thank you Sir!" The group replied.
"God damn it, they sent me a sack of twinkle toed faggots! WELCOME TO GOD DAMNED VIETNAM MARINES!"
"THANK YOU SIR!" Came the reply.
"Much better! Welcome to the 2/3 and 12 months of glorious vacation here in the back water paradise known as South Vietnam! If…you want to leave Vietnam with your head, toes, fingers and dicks in good order, you will learn quickly, act quickly and kill quickly!"
Haliendez smiled. "I told you man…the 2/3…absolute nothing!"
As if he had radar, the General pinged in on Haliendez. "Did I hear some weasel dick interrupt my welcome? Marine you better identify yourself to me or God help you I will seek you out and kill you with my burning blood shot eyes!"
Haliendez replied. "It was me Sir! Private Haliendez from Texas! I was just talking about the rumors that…."
"That we're doing nothing?" The General replied. "You festering Texas boil, how dare you accuse my command of malingery! Just for that you will be doing nothing…but cleaning shitters and serving that fine field chow our Corps is famous for! To let you know twinkle toes, we're doing more than nothing…we're killing the hell out of those little Dink maggots!"
The Marines erupted in cheers again.
"We're the hell raising 23, widow makers, life takers and Charlie's worst God damned nightmare! Forget all the bull shit you've been hearing about the President wanting to Vietnamize the war, until that happens we are going to be hard in the bush and hard in the pants till every NVA and Cong Dink is happily singing "It's a Small World" to their ancestors in Communist Dink fucken hell!"
The Marines erupted in cheers again.
"Here's the real Americans. John Wayne, momma's apple pie and rock n roll. You are the only one's standing between the blood thirsty rape raptured sickos of Godless Communism and the free world…"
Doltree snorted. "Hmph….all we're here for man is 21 bucks a day, coca cola and the rich Rockefellers. Swing lo the bull shit man."
"Last time I checked, the Vietnamese didn't bomb Pearl Harbor." Haliendez snorted.
"Yeah but they bombed your sister didn't they?" Doltree said with a smirk. And once again the fight was on!
Evening
March 21st 2003
Dale stood for a moment on the dirt trail heading for Yin Bai and gazed towards the Chu Shun Massif and the thick jungle that separated the battlefield from the Ho Chi Minh trail and the Cambodian boarder. "Our commanders in Saigon thought at best we were dealing with half a battalion of North Vietnamese regulars and some under strength hold outs from the remaining Viet Cong units that survived the Tet offensive. That's the worst thing about arm chair squatting jerks sucking down beers and fat pills in some air conditioned hotel in Saigon. Blind bastards missed all the signs."
Tran nodded. "I hope you will be enthused. I was able to contact some veterans from the Dong nai who will meet you tonight in the village. I'm sure their version of the battle will be equal to your own experience."
Evening
January 17th, 1969
American Arms Dealing Submarine
75 Miles off Vietnam
Atom sat alone in the small confined room kicking his feet and moaning over his energy gauge. He'd been fretting over it since they started out a week ago from San Francisco and after constantly looking at it, he finally noted a tick on the dial.
"Sigh" He noised as he shut the panel and lay back on the small bed. "It's been a week already, shouldn't we be in Japan by now?"
Atom had good reason to be concerned. His current energy charge was the last one and there was nothing in existence and nothing he needed would be in existence for the next 30 years!
He didn't have 30 years. At this moment in time both Doctor Ochinomizu and Tenma were still struggling college students in Tokyo. None of Atom's friends were alive…yet and the technological know how of Japan and the world were still Neolithic to him.
Oh he could easily provide everything some one would need to build the things he so desperately wished for but Atom had to resist the temptation to think for himself. The people he'd hitched a ride with were not completely trustworthy individuals at all and not the types you'd so easily hand over advanced technologies to.
Then again there was wise old Daddy Walrus who brought up the theories of time travel once in school and how history might have been different had machine guns been sent to the Confederacy during the American Civil War or if the Hydrogen Bomb was suddenly dropped into the lap of Adolf Hitler. There would always be that terrible chance that any one with the information Atom possessed could instantly turn evil, it was the constant variant of humans.
So to safeguard the future, Atom erased everything but the most important and dearest memories. When thoughts of his Brother Colbalt, Uran, his parents or his new baby sister came up? Atom teared. He wanted to go home and he was getting sick of the claustrophobic loss of time aboard the submarine.
It truly showed when that short and thin man with the funny string-like moustache poked his head in with a can of oil. "How you holding up there boy?"
Atom frowned back. "I'm not happy. You promised me we'd be in Japan by now. I can tell we've been going in big circles for three days. Will we be there soon?"
Hamegg, as he was called, waved a hand in front of him. "Not to worry your little head kid, it won't be long I promise. Let me go talk to the captain and get an update for you ok?"
Atom sighed and nodded back. "Fine."
Hamegg shut the door and locked the securing handles around it then made his way to the submarine's control room where the Captain and four other men were milling around the helm station. Arsene Lamp was the boss amoung Hamegg and the other two, all of them American born international arms dealers who were making a killing in killing no matter who the clients were. The American military, the East Block, the Communist Chinese, The Palestinians, The Egyptians. If you could pay their bill, these men could supply your thrills.
At the moment. The submarine's little passenger was making Lamp salivate with dollar signs flashing through his psychosis. "The CIA just radioed with a new offer. We'll wait and see what the KGB and Chinese say."
Hamegg lit a cigarette and shook the match out. "Our guest is starting to get upset."
Lamp pursed his lips back. "So what? Keep him happy, we'll turn the sub north and cruise a little fast to keep his hopes up. By that time we should get an offer we can live with. After that? We can dismantle it and get it off our hands."
Hamegg smirked. "Like that thing will just pleasantly sit and let you take it apart?"
Lamp replied smiling. "You think I'll just let it "pleasantly sit"?"
Evening
March 21st 2003
Yin Bai village
Dale walked around with Tran holding a few faded photo shots. "Nothing's similar. I take it the village was completely flattened by the last B-52 strike as we retreated?"
"Yes." Tran replied as he took Dale over the obviously mis-shapened ground to a short splintered stump. "Our family hut was here as I'm told. The B-52's dropped a wall of bombs that went half way up the Massif and half way up the Doc Tien range. All through the valley there were bombs. It's amazing that anything lived through that."
Tran brought Dale into a larger brick and concrete building, obviously the center of life for "The Vil" where three other men were sitting around a bamboo and vine table. "These are the three men I told you about." Tran said as he pointed his hand to each as they stood up.
The first was a short, well aged man with a thin moustache and round glasses. "This is Mister Nyugen Shu Van, Former aide de camp to General Van Ko."
Shu Van bowed and spoke in Vietnamese. "He says he is glad to meet you. He has always hoped to talk to Americans and hear their side of the war from their view."
The second man bowed and shook Dale's hand. "I am Win Chu Shi, it is an honor to meet you."
Dale was surprised. "Your English is very good."
"It should be. I went to CSU Long Beach for three years in the 60's." Shi replied. "I came back to Vietnam because my family lived in the North. My paternal Grandfather and several other relatives were killed in the first American bombing in 1965. I was a translator for our brigade's political comisar."
Dale nodded. "That could be an understandable reaction. I'd probably have done the same thing if our roles were reversed."
Tan introduced the last man. "Nygen To Chen. Infantryman and scout. He spent the whole battle on the valley floor. He had the most experience with the angel."
Chen signed with his fingers. "The last B-52 strike left me deaf…blew out my ear drums."
Dale nodded a reply. "So where do we start?"
"Mister Van has suggested we begin at the Command Post or what you Americans called a "C..P" on the Massif." Tran spoke to Van and rolled out a map on the table. "Mister Van would like to recount the arrival of the Dong Nai from the Ho Che Minh trail on the afternoon of January 17th in 1969…."
January 17th, 1969 1700 hours
The Chu Shun Massif, South Vietnam
They remained pressed against the surrounding trees, hidden under improvised branch cover or just wrapped under an improvised bed roll or torn up blanket until the sounds of low flying jets were gone. The long human and cart column resumed its march once again down the rugged sometimes haste fully cleared trail. They were a mix of colors and clothes from the butternut brown of North Vietnamese regular infantry to the common "black PJ", cone hat and straw sandal footed Viet Cong regulars to Western blue jean and white short sleeve wearing Viet Cong who looked like they had ditched a regular day job for an AK-47, a rice ball and an un-cooled hate streak of passionate resistance.
At the head of the column, Commander Ko and his staff talked among themselves as they rounded the crest of Chu Shun and took their first wide look at the valley below it.
Shu Van described the short session to Dale…
"Commander Ko inquired about the village, Yin Bai, and asked if any of our scouts had made contact with the local elders about giving us help. We had sent four advanced scouts and two political officers over two weeks and they reported how they'd been chased out by the men of the village."….
"What do you mean, "Chased out?" "Commander Ko demanded.
"The village elders said they wanted nothing to do with the struggle." Shu Van replied. "They were explicit."
"So they have been influence by the Imperialists and their puppets." Vin said scornfully.
"No Sir." Van said holding a hand out. "Actually our scouts found no evidence of the American war criminals anywhere. The elders have refused them, said they want nothing of our or their war."
Ko snorted. "No matter. We shall see how they feel after Imperialist bombs start killing them or when their huts are set on fire or their women are raped."
Shu Van sat rubbing his face. "Normally, American influence or not, our policy would never allow a village to remain neutral. There was always suspicion regardless that they were helping the Americans and the South so we would remove their leaders and "educate" the population."
Dale bit his lip. "Educate…meaning to murder." He thought to himself. Then again it was just as bad on the American side. They thought the same thing and did the same thing to village elders and men they suspected of being Viet Cong, that's what the South Vietnamese police were for.
"This time." Van remarked. "The Commander chose not to tip off the Americans so quickly to the presence of the Dong Nai. We would bide our time and wait patiently, use the village to our advantage."
Van scribbled on the map before them. "The division separated into four battalions. One battalion into four companies consisting of a rifle company, a motor company, a heavy machine gun company and a company of RPG's.
Dale tapped a finger on the map. "Headquarters Saigon was going to send a MAC-V representative to the village the next morning to check reports of VC activity to the north. In the meantime…I was enjoying my first night in country. We were loaded with beer and having a lively discussion on current events.
January 17th 1969
Camp Bassalone
Doc Chu
2nd Battalion 3rd US Marines
Delta Company hooch
Doltree, Dale, Haliendez and another newcomer, Corporal Israel Thatch, sat around Doltree's bunk listening to arm forces radio Saigon and Doltree's rant about them all being "dumped in the shit" by "The man."
"Why am I hear?" Doltree said snorted. "Had a choice man, jail or the Marines. When you have your mother and two sisters and the only one bringing in the daily bread is you? I had no choice."
Thatch snorted. "You don't believe we should be here?"
"What are you man? Ate up and stupid?" Doltree snapped. "You think these people want us here man? I bet half of them don't even know what a hamburger is let alone give a big flying crock of bull about anything else but planting rice and ripping off your pocket!"
Doltree shook the beer bottle in his hand. "Like I said before man, not one of us is rich. You got some big money inheritance waiting for you? Take those college hippies protesting back home man, every one of them is hooked and connected to some big fat cat industrial money sucker so there ain't no way they'll end up here. We ain't in Vietnam to save Democracy man, we're here so that Goodyear Tires and Mister Rockerfeller can keep making their dime on our blood."
Doltree turned to Dale. "Let's hear your story man. What brought you here to paradise?"
"I had nothing else out of high school. I actually thought about acting. Bummed around L.A. and Hollywood for a year. My father was in the Marines in World War II, Korea. I decided to try it."
Haliendez chuckled a bit. "Admit it…you were ate up. Probably ran around the house in diapers with his dad's helmet singing Semper Fi. Me? Same as Doltree. Not much choice in the matter."
Doltree looked at Thatch. "So you think we're here for a good reason man?"
Thatch nodded a little. "The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong are fond of killing those who don't agree with them. I read stories in the news about Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos? The Communists slaughtering villages, executing people like the Nazis did. You don't think they won't kill a whole mess of people if they win?"
Doltree snorted. "Man, these people have been killing each other for centuries! The Vietnamese have killed Chinese, Frenchmen, Japs and each other over a hundred year old dead cow! We're not gonna change that. When we leave? They'll go back to killing each other again."
"This war my man is the plot of the big man to clean America of the unwanted. Black people, Brown people, poor ass white people. It's just time to thin the herd. If we're lucky and we all stay together? We'll miss the chute to the slaughter house."
Night
March 21st 2003
Yin Bai village
Dale was sitting alone in a hut provided by the villagers doing the same thing he did the first night in Vietnam. He swirled the beer in the bottle and marveled that it hadn't changed a bit in flavor, like most of the things he saw today. It was then that Win Chu Shi showed up.
"Mind if I come in?" The man asked in English.
"I'm not tired yet." Dale replied as he offered a wood and reed chair. "So you were an interpreter? What did you do after the war?"
"Became an English teacher in a one room school house in a small village in the Mekong region. And you?"
Dale took a sip of beer. "I stayed a Marine till 1995. Retired as a Master Sergeant. Went to work for a building contractor for a while, Gym coach, then a Walmart door greeter while I was writing books."
"I must say your thoughts on Asia's World War I experiences Mister Garry were… unique. I've known few Americans with such a deep consideration for how global politics brought our two sides here in 1969."
Dale put his beer on the table near his cot. "I think my take on Ho Chi Minh being at the 1919 Paris peace talks was based more on speculation. He never confirmed that himself."
"No." Chu Shi replied. "But the Vietnamese delegation did present a list of grievances to President Wilson, that's fact. The whole history that brought you and I to this place in 1969 is a combination of political blundering, miscommunication and outright racism. That's how we Vietnamese have viewed it, Communist propaganda aside."
Chu sipped his own beer and sat back. "Before the end of World War II, Ho Chi Minh greatly admired the American revolution, your Constitution. Our wish to become a free nation was driven by that desire. When President Truman broke President Roosevelt's promise to us however…that died a painful death. American politicians had backstabbed us twice. We wouldn't allow a third. That's when Che Minh turned to the Soviets for help. The rest is well…painfully obvious."
Dale pursed his lips. "That's politicians for you. Same as anywhere else, they start the wars and we the grunts fight em."
Chu raised his bottle. "The one common thing that binds all warriors."
Both men were quiet for a moment…"Did you see this Angel?" Dale asked.
Chu nodded. "Once…and I think that was the only time I cared to."
January 18th, 1969
3pm
Knife Point Ridge (Nicknamed by the Americans)
The Russian made 78MM artillery pieces barked nearby as Chu Shi and his political officer dove for the ground to escape the crash of nearby counter shelling from the Americans beyond the river.
"Comrade! We must be insane to be this close!" Chu Shi screamed as the political officer stood up waving a pistol and extolled charging troops past him.
"Nonsense!" The man screamed back. "FORWARD! FORWARD COMRADES!"
Suddenly Chu Shi saw one of the artillery pieces launch into the air and almost hit the political officer in the head as it soared over and crashed through the jungle trees beyond them! He jumped up, snatched the officer by his shirt and threw him back onto the ground as the other artillery gun lunched itself skywards and exploded over their heads!
"I was trying to bury my face in the dirt. I thought the American fighter planes had found their mark and were carpet bombing our position. I rolled on my back to get up when I saw it hovering over me."
Chu Shi shook his head. "I saw bullets smacking into it. An RPG blew up right behind it and it didn't make a dent! But the eyes….the eyes have been burned into my mind. I was looking not at an angel but a messenger from hell."
Dale bit his lip. "I only saw it once myself."
January 18th, 1969
10:30 am
Ivy Mike Bridge, Yin Bai Valley
Doltree dropped to the ground to the right of the Ivy Mike bridge and flipped the cover open on his M-60 Machine gun. "Load me!" He snarled as Dale pulled a band of sixty rounds off Doltree's upper body, clipped them to his breech and slapped the cover shut.
"Hot!" Dale yelled as he drew his own M-16 and began rocking magazine after magazine of bullets into the tall grass on the far side of the Imyun River.
"LOOK OUT! FAST MOVERS INBOUND!" Dale yelled as he pointed down the valley and skywards as a pair of F-4 Phantoms came screaming in for a napalm run down the valley floor…
One of them suddenly broke in two! The pilot and back seat radar officer ejecting just before the nose slammed into the earth on the other side of the river!
"At first…all I saw was this blur. Damn thing chased the other Phantom down and ripped an engine right out of the cowling. It snapped that jet in two like a popsicle stick. We had an M-60 tank right behind us on the road…it swooped down and ripped the turret clean off! Left the driver sitting there like a dumb ass, I'll never forget the look on his face. He must have shit himself."
Chu Shi smirked. "I think we have had too much to drink tonight. With that? I am going to bed. You should do the same. We have a lot of ground to cover in the morning."
March 22, 2003
8am
Knife Point Ridge
The five men were gathered around the shattered remains of one of the Russian artillery pieces "The Angel" had wrecked during the 1969 battle. Tran described what he knew of that first light on January 19th from what the villagers saw…
"It was 7am when the first American helicopters arrived in Yin Bai. They were from the Military Assistance Corps-Vietnam headquarters in Saigon. This was the 5th time they came to question Mister Gin's father, who was then the village chief and elder, if the Viet Cong were active in the area…
January 19th 1969
Yin Bai Village
Gin stood beside his father with a hateful look on his face. How many times did they have to explain themselves in the last hour to these morons? There were two Americans, the larger and fatter of the two obviously thought he was in charge, the other was just a lackie scribbling things on a clipboard. The two Republic soldiers with them (aka ARVN aka "Arvain" aka Army of the Republic of South Vietnam) looked equally clueless, just there to prop up the superiority of the fat idiot trying to talk to Gin's father.
"Ask him again." The big American groaned. "We have information of Viet Cong activity in this area, has he seen any?"
One of the Vietnamese soldiers pointed his finger rudely. "Ah kaka dau VC?"
The elderly man replied. "I have answered your questions truthfully for the last time! There are no Viet Cong here, there have been no Viet Cong ever! We wish to be left to ourselves."
One of the Vietnamese soldiers pushed the old man rudefully. "We have information! We think you are hiding them! Tell us now!"
Gin suddenly jumped in front of his father. "Are you stupid?! We told you the truth! Get out of our village before we push you out!"
Gin started a shoving match with the Vietnamese soldier before the big American broke it up. "Alright! Cut it out, we're leaving! But we'll be keeping an eye on this place you little shit!" The big man growled at Gin. "We find out you're lying your ass off? We'll be back to fuck you up."
Gin turned back to his father and spat as the other men walked away. "Filthy bastards."
"You shouldn't have antagonized them." Gin's father said moanfully.
"Father, they are idiots! We don't tolerate the Viet Cong and their stupidity, why should these Americans be any different?"
"Because of their greater capacity to destroy." The old man said quietly. "They are on edge. After fighting here for so long, all Vietnamese are Viet Cong to them. It would only take one mistake to set them off. My son….our little peace here is fragile, please….trust my judgment?"
Gin nodded. "Yes father."
The Americans and their ARVN escorts were walking back to their helicopters. "Little Dink mother fuckers." The larger officer snarled. "They're fucken VC I know it."
His smaller lackie waved a pencil in the air. "But Sir. I can't see any evidence of Viet Cong influence anywhere…maybe the old man is telling the truth?"
The officer stopped. "Where do they pick up little sniveling desk humping shits like you? He snorted. "How long have you been here?"
"Well…three months Sir."
"I mean….in the bush?" The big man snapped.
"About….a month Sir."
The big officer slapped the man off the head. "That's why you're a lowly pencil pushing weasel dick kick bag you little fuck! You don't know shit about this country. These little monkeys can lie and sell you a rusty nail and say it was a 24 carrot solid gold spoon!"
The big man turned around. "We're coming back. And next time I want that mouthy little piece of shit Dink in custody….we'll…."
"KABOOM!" Suddenly a distant explosion filled the air.
Dale turned to Nygen To Chen. "You know the source of that explosion?"
To Chen signed back. "Yes. We will walk into the valley and I will show you.
March 22, 2003
9:30am
To Chen's 1969 patrol site
Nygen To Chen and the others stood around a curiously mangled object in the middle of the jungle. Dale was beside himself with confusion. "A submarine sail-fin?" He wondered as he looked over the object. "How the hell did a submarine end up in the middle of Vietnam?"
To Chen signed to Tran. "There were the two of us, Private Lo Hun and myself. We were scouting the land around the village when out of no where this thing sails over our heads and crashes into the jungle. My jaw hung open like a donkey. I watched something pop out from behind this….boat? It pounded it, it put dents all over it. There were men inside the boat and they were screaming for it to stop."
January 19th 1969
Five miles south of
Yin Bai Village
7am
Private To Chen stood dumb founded and confused. He saw the strange flying thing grab up the strange boat by its tail and shake it violently in the air and against the trees. "OK! YOU WANT TO LEAVE?! GET OUT AND RUN!" The small thing snarled as it shook the screaming men free of their boat before tossing it in the air and hitting it so hard that the boat exploded to pieces in a shocking fireball!"
"I saw it come flying out of the fireball." To Chen signed. "It landed about here. By this time myself and my companion were hiding in some bushes and grass. It slid to a stop right in front of us. It sniffed the air around it then took off towards the village."
March 22, 2003
9:49 am
To Chen's 1969 patrol site
"It was then that the American's got in their helicopters and left the village." Tran said as he pointed north. "The larger American took a radio from one of the Republic soldiers and called for support from his headquarters."
January 19th 1969
Yin Bai Village
7am
Captain Bodicker jumped into the Huey behind his smaller aide de camp and radioed back to MAC-V Headquarters in Saigon. "We just had an explosion near the village of Yin Bai. We're going to do a recon to see what's going on but I request a stand-by call for immediate response support…over?"
Gin watched as the helicopters rose from the ground, floated over the village and flew South. At that moment, To Chen and his fellow scout were walking around the wreckage of the submarine…
"Here! We both captured several men stumbling around the jungle. One of them had an almost perfectly flat top to his head, as if the skull suddenly flattened out. The other was a very thin man with a thin moustache. He seemed incapable of stopping this ridiculous smile on his face."
Dale pointed to the submarine sail. "Did they come from the sub?"
"Yes." Chen replied. "We had a small field radio with us and we radioed our command on the Massif. By now they had heard the explosion in the valley below and were a little upset. They thought we had set off something ourselves. We tried to explain what we saw but they called us idiots and said we were being affected by the heat."
"What happened to the two men?" Dale asked.
"Command said they were American spies and ordered us both to shoot them."
January 19th 1969
Five miles south of
Yin Bai Village
7: 15 am
To Chen poked at the bodies of the two men to make sure they were dead. "You believe what we saw don't you?" He asked his companion.
"It's right there!" The man replied. "What reason would we have to lie?"
"We decided to go North and try to find the strange…person or thing we saw near us after the boat had exploded. It was then that we heard the sounds of the approaching Huey helicopters from the North."
January 19th 1969
MAC-V "Chalk Stick 2"
Five miles south of
Yin Bai Village
7: 15 am
"Sir! Looks like some smoke down there. Could it be one of our aircraft?" The aide asked Bodicker.
"There's no report of any of our planes being down." The Captain replied as he scanned the ground with his binoculars. "Looks like something crashed through here though. You better call HQ and tell them to send a recon crew."
To Chen pointed upwards. "It was then that we saw the helicopters above us. They had slowed their speed and had drifted past us. I looked at my comrade and it was like a slow motion movie…he drew a hand up to the charging handle of his AK-47, racked his breech closed and brought the rifle up into a sweeping motion at the closest helicopter."
The aid de camp was on his radio and looking at Captain Bodicker when the Captain's head simply….exploded in gore.
"AHHHHHH! FIRE! WE'RE TAKING FIRE FROM THE VIL!" The man screamed as he all but danced to avoid being hit.
"I grabbed the rifle." To Chen said with an angry look. "What are you doing?!" I chewed him out because I knew from that moment that the Americans were going to be coming on us like hornets."
"Both the helicopters flew around with their door gunners shooting those 30 caliber heavy machine guns and the M-60 door guns but not towards us. Obviously they thought the gunfire that hit hem came from Yin Bai village."
The aid screamed into a radio as the sounds of the machine guns around him all but drowned his attempts to scream…"HEADQUARTERS! HEADQUARTERS CHALK TWO, WE'RE TAKING HEAVY FIRE! VIET CONG ACTIVITY HEAVY FROM YIN BAI VILLAGE! SEND HELP! ENEMY IS HEAVILY ARMED!"
January 19th 1969
Yin Bai Village
7: 25am
Mister Gin had just left his father and was walking around the village carrying out his everyday tasks when he heard the helicopters coming back towards him…
"They started raking the village." Tran said as he swept his hand around. "They didn't bother to see if anyone was really shooting at them, they just swooped over the village pouring bullets down on the people below. Now that I've read their radio transcripts, I can understand that in the midst of this situation, with the Captain's head blown off, panic took over reason."
At that moment, Tetsuwan Atom was himself a little lost if not a little more upset. Flying back to Japan was out of the question, he'd run out of power before reaching Okinawa. At best he could hope to find a village that could help him get home. He opened his chest panel to look at the power gauge then suddenly felt something slam into his back like a sledgehammer! It drove him into the ground and as he rolled on his back to get up, he saw one of the Chalk Two helicopters sail over his head dumping spent shell casings all over him…
"What the?" Atom snarled as he stood up. His sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of screaming people in the distance. Of course his reaction was automatic, he ran as fast as he could through the growth as the sounds of the helicopters lessened, only to be replaced by the mournful cries of distraught people.
March 22, 2003
10:20 am
Atom's capture site
The men now stood just 800 yards from Yin Bai, Tran stood drawing a picture of what Mister Gin said he had seen after the helicopter attack…
Dale chuckled. "Art wasn't you best class in school was it?"
Tran smiled. "Obviously. This was what Mister Gin said he saw coming out of the jungle towards the village though. He described it as a child, about 4 or 5 feet tall, wearing red boots, black underwear….just really strange. Of course his first reaction was one of surprise. Our village had just been machine gunned and Mister Gin was a little if not a whole lot….you'd say….pissed off?"
January 19th 1969
Yin Bai Village
7: 34am
Atom emerged from the jungle and surprised three men who raised their ancient bolt action rifles at him…
"Wo! Wo! Atom said in Japanese at first. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot ok, I'm not a threat!"
One of the men shot his rifle and jumped backwards in shock as the bullet smacked Atom off the head. "CUT THAT OUT!" He snapped as he ran forwards, pulled the rifle from the man's hands and threw it into the jungle. He then turned to get a snoot full of barrel from the very angry Gin.
"You die American piece of shit!" Gin snarled in Vietnamese.
Atom's computer brain quickly shifted his language. "Wait! I'm not American…I'm Japanese." He said in fluent Vietnamese. "Really! I don't want any trouble." Atom reached up and slowly pushed the rifle away from his face. "I guess I'm in Vietnam huh?"
Gin looked puzzled at the small intruder. "You guess? You must be completely lost or a total idiot. You are in Vietnam, the village of Yin Bai."
Atom looked past Gin towards the village. "I hear people crying, what happened?"
Atom overlooked the three men and walked towards the village gate. The walk soon became a run as the crying grew more disturbing. When Atom walked through the gate itself…he was met by people lying among the huts. Women and men crying over the bodies of children, young and old people, animals, dogs. Some cursing, others crying to a spirit, an ancestor, a God.
Gin and the other men followed Atom around. He stopped at one child, slowly wiping the still face free of dirt while saying nothing till he stood up. "What happened?" He asked.
Gin angrily stomped up to him. "What happened?! They attacked us! We haven't done a thing to them and look what they did!"
Atom thought and brought up the information he had stored about the Vietnam War. "Was this a Viet Cong village?"
"Viet Cong?" Gin replied bitterly. "There are no Viet Cong here! We don't care about the Viet Cong! We've done nothing…"
Gin's father, the elder, came walking up supported by a walking stick in his hand. "Gin? Calm yourself. What will our little guest think?"
"Our guest?" Gin replied angrily. "Our guest father?! The Americans just slaughtered us and you worry about our guest? We had nothing to do with the explosion they heard and they just machine gun us! Father….see reason!"
Atom thought. "Explosion? The submarine." He turned away from Gin and the old man. "This was my fault." He said to himself as he heard the two men argue back and forth.
"And for this Father, the Americans will now come back with everything they can throw at us! And you talk about restraint?"
Atom turned to the old man and tugged at his Buddhist wrappings. "Sir? I'm afraid the explosion that caused this….was my fault."
Gin pursed his lips. "Your fault?"
Atom nodded. "Yes…what I did has probably given the Americans a false impression."
The old man sighed. "That will hardly help us now my dear child."
"But help you I will." Atom replied. "I'll stop the Americans and show them what happened. I'm sure they'll stop any attack."
Gin snorted. "And if they don't?"
Atom nodded with a sigh. "Then I will defend this village. It's the right thing to do."
Gin scoffed. "You? You are going to defend us against a power like America? You are not only a stupid fool, you're a crazy fool!"
Atom looked around and tightened his fists. "You can say whatever makes you feel better. I must and will defend this village…it's what I'm programmed to do."
Atom walked away to try and help the wounded while Gin stood gripping his rifle till his hand fell asleep. "We'll all be dead by days end…no matter what we do now."
March 22, 2003
10:32 am
Atom's capture site
Dale and the others sat on downed tree trunks or in the grass, eating rice balls or sandwiches and drinking bottles of water…
"So this….little kid said he would defend the village?" Dale asked Tran.
"Yes." Tran replied. "He kept insisting that it was part of his programming. He considered everything to be his responsibility and that protecting the village was all he thought about. Of course he only knew at that moment that the Americans might be coming back. He probably didn't know that the Dong Nai was up on the Massif."
Nyugen Shu Van rasied a finger. "By this time, our scouts returned with this wild story about the exploding boat, the mysterious being and the American helicopters. Our time table for attack had been disrupted and we knew the Americans would be coming into the valley in pieces, which is what we didn't want….however…."
North Vietnamese/Viet Cong CP
Chu Shun Massif, Yin Bai Valley
7:35am January 19th, 1969
Commisar Commander of the People's Socialist Republic Army of North Vietnam (aka the NVA) Vin Kay Ko paced around a map table before his assembled officers. "No matter what wild tales our scouts have reported to us comrades, we face the inescapable fact that the Americans are on their way. The time of the battle has changed but not the momentous advantage fate has placed within our hands."
Ko pointed to the map with a pen. "The American gangsters and their Southern lackies will no doubt attack first by helicopter. With the river before us we can expect them to send patrol boats against us and finally by land, their Marines. We will allow their helicopters to land then attack them swiftly to destroy their ability to re-supply or use their advantages of aircraft and artillery. We will center our efforts around the village, force the Americans to carry out bombardments on it for our propaganda. The scenes of civilians being massacred will favor us well with sympathetic Western media."
March 22, 2003
10:45 am
Valley floor near the Min Lai Provincial road
Shu Van continued to draw on the map in his hands. "The division separated into four battalions. We knew you would send in the army helicopters first, perhaps expecting only local resistance from the village. We would draw the army in with small arms fire then strike with everything we had. Commander Ko wanted us to be ready to hit the Marines when they came overland from your base at Doc Chu."
Dale pointed over his shoulder towards Doc Tien range. "We got the call out at 8:15 that morning but MAC-V in Saigon called the 2nd Air Cavalry regiment at Lon Bin around 7:40. They radioed that Chalk Two had run into a heavily armed Viet Cong encampment near Yin Bai."
Headquarters US Army 2nd Air Cavalry regiment
Lon Bin, Vietnam
Colonel John Buford Commanding
7:43am January 19th, 1969
The noise of thirty Huey helicopters rotating all at once was defining. Colonel Buford emerged from his sheet metal Quonset hut, replacing the American cavalry hat of old days with a pot steel battle helmet as he joined up with his radioman and message runner on one side and his executive officer on the other. He had to all but scream to be heard as he all but ran to the lead helicopter.
"Headquarters says to expect heavy VC resistance Sir!" The radioman said as he passed the colonel a map. "Chalk Two reported sounds of heavy weapons, artillery or tank fire near Yin Bai village."
The Colonel took the map and wrote several marks on it. "We'll call for a "Prep and burn" of this co-ordinate box! Notify HQ that we request air support in advance of our arrival! And we'll need support as fast as they can provide it. Ground pounders, artillery, anything they can send us!"
The Colonel pulled his Executive officer, Major Evan Caffrey, close to his face. "I don't like the looks of where we're going. You better handle the call for air support when we get there. I don't think I'm going to have time to worry about it!"
Colonel Buford climbed into the cabin of the lead Huey just as the others behind him were starting to lift off with their loads of troops and supplies. He crossed himself and shook his fist as he felt the helicopter lift swiftly off the ground, the last in a long train that headed Northwards towards the Yin Bai valley.
Chapter 2
Universe of hell
March 22, 2003
11:32 am
2nd Air Cav Helicopter crash site
Not much remained of the destroyed helicopter. The locals had long since picked it apart, taking everything of value or use and leaving behind the smallest of fragments. Win Chu Shi and Shu Van nodded in agreement. "This was the first helicopter we shot down, though not intentionally." Chu Shi said. "It never fails that when you make the best plans? Something will always be there to turn them upside down."
North Vietnamese 20mm gun crew
Chu Shun Massif, Yin Bai Valley
8:05am January 19th, 1969
Ku Lee Kim was born in 1947 in Puchon, North Korea. He was three years old when his parents and three brothers fled North to escape the advancing barbarians led by the maniac American general MacArthur. Only he and his older brother Wan survived the cruel winter huddled with those who had fled to the Manchurian boarder with the Great Leader Kim Ill Sung.
Since then, Kim had a serious ax to grind. With his increasing frustrations at being denied a place with the Korean People's Revolutionary Spy Service and what he saw as the ever growing vacillation and reluctance of the Great Leader to take the glorious fight for universal Socialist peace to the American barbarians, Kim escaped his homeland through Manchuria and joined his brothers in arms in Vietnam.
Despite the problems of language, and the fact that Kim could be a loose cannon, the North Vietnamese obliged the angry Korean's request to join their struggle against the Imperialists. He proved himself a capable gunner so they parked him at the trigger of a 20 millimeter cannon. A cannon now sweeping its angry barrel around the sky above the valley searching for something to throw its anti-aircraft shells at.
Yin Bai Village
8:05am January 19th, 1969
Atom walked rather than flew the 100 yards from the bamboo fencing that marked the village to a clearing where he thought the first helicopters would land. His sensitive electronics picked them up even if those who watched him walk away couldn't. As he kicked at the dirt and tall grass under his boots, his computer brain was scrolling information over his eyes. He thought about each step he would take for each scenario he came up with, so far two of them with all the information he had processed in the last few hours.
Scenario one was the more pleasantly hoped for. He'd find the helicopter with the American Commander on it. A little charm, some pleading, a bit of razzle dazzle then if he had successfully won the man over, he would show him the bashed up submarine and everything would be just fine. No mess, no fuss, no fight, perhaps a free ride back home and everyone would live happily ever after.
Scenario two would suck. The Americans always had two types of Huey helicopters in Vietnam, those that carried troops and those that carried guns. If the "Gun Ships" started to separate from the incoming group, Atom would have to knock them out. Then things would get stupid real quick because Atom would have to become a bullet sponge to coax the Americans away from the village. Atom didn't like being shot at, he would have to break things, make a whole lot of people angry, waste a lot of precious fuel and probably end up a lifeless doll in the middle of the jungle. No happy ending, which made him hope for scenario one.
Scenario three?...well that was Ku Lee Kim's choice and at that moment he had already made up his mind.
2nd Air Cav "Comanche Flight" closing on Yin Bai Village
8:08am January 19th, 1969
As the lead flight of Huey helicopters cleared a slight rise in the ground ahead, Colonel Buford spied the village of Yin Bai in the distance. He keyed the switch on his head set and stuck his head out through the open side door.
"Mitchner? Pull your "Gun Ships" back on our flanks and cover the main force landing! All birds stand by to go in fast and drop quick!"
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
8:11am January 19th, 1969
Commander Ko brought his field glasses up to his eyes as the whooping sounds of the approaching American helicopters got louder and louder. He sited the first line of Hueys as they cleared the distant rise at the mouth of the valley and began their slow decent towards where he believed the landing zone would be. He turned to his radioman and pointed with the binoculars…"Send word once again. No one fires a shot until I give the order to do so. I want to catch them when most of them are on the ground."
North Vietnamese 20mm gun crew
Chu Shun Massif, Yin Bai Valley
8:12 am January 19th, 1969
Ku Lee Kim turned his train and elevation handles as fast as he could to put a lead on one of the helicopters in the first group as it traveled down the valley and entered his vision from the left. Whatever the Vietnamese officer was trying to tell him, it wasn't getting through and it didn't matter to him any way. A building pleasure radiated from his face in the form of a confident smirk as his finger tightened on the firing trigger.
Yin Bai Valley floor north of the Village
March 22nd 2003
11:40am
Nygen To Chen walked ahead with Tran explaining his sign language. "I had joined my infantry platoon about 30 minutes before the arrival of the helicopters. We were low in the grass and bushes waiting for the signal to attack and we saw the first helicopters approach us from the North east. There was a line of them, seven in all. They were about 200 feet off the ground as I saw them when all of a sudden there came this heavy banging sound! We saw the tracers fly from the massif and one of the helicopters just disintegrated!"
Yin Bai Valley
8:14 am January 19th, 1969
Atom was starting to walk towards the descending helicopters when one of them exploded into a mid-air flower of flame and flying parts! He turned towards the mountain to his left and saw a stream of tracer bullets cutting into the sky!
"The Viet Cong!" He said in shock. All his hopes for a peaceful resolution fell to nothing as another Huey was sent cart-wheeling into the ground in front of him.
2nd Air Cav "Comanche Flight" closing on Yin Bai Village
8:14 am January 19th, 1969
Colonel Buford rolled himself back into the Huey as pieces of hot shrapnel flew through the open door and wounded the door gunner next to him. He grabbed his head set and called out to his executive officer. "HOT EL-ZEE! HOT EL-ZEE! HEAVY VIET CONG RESISTANCE! Mitchner! Split the Gun-ships up, half of them take out those bastards on the mountain, the others cut us off from that fucken village! Shoot anything that tries to fucken move!"
Yin Bai Valley floor north of the Village
March 22nd 2003
11:44am
Nyugen Shu Van pointed to the Massif. "Commander Ko was stunned. I saw his mouth hanging open like a cavern and then he threw his hat on the ground and swore so hard he was spitting blood. "What foolish bastard just started shooting?! I want him dead! We've lost our advantage!" He screamed. He threw his map table over and jerked a messenger by his shirt. "Send orders! Attack all along the line now!"
Yin Bai Valley
8:17 am January 19th, 1969
Atom watched as the "Gun Ships" separated into two groups and flew around the main American landing force. The one to his left was obviously going after the barking gun on the hill. The one on the right was coming right at him, right for the village behind him. He shook his head sadly…the rest of the day was gonna suck. He crouched low, waited for the right moment then blasted off in a cloud of dust!
Yin Bai Valley floor north of the Village
March 22nd 2003
12:00pm
Dale opened his backpack and took out a brown accordion folder full of letters and notes. After a bit of shuffling, he opened one of the letters before the others…
"We flew along the river looking to get behind the village and cover the Min Lai road. Suddenly…I saw what looked like a cloud of dust and something rising on us from below. I think I screamed "RPG!" (Rocket Propelled Grenade) it all happened so quick. We rose up sharply then fell like a rock to the river bank under us! The skids broke, I watched them cartwheel across our windscreen. Then this, I think it was light, this red beam flashed from someplace out of view. I watched it smack another Huey above us and that chopper was forced to crash land right next to us! Then I saw this little kid wearing underwear and these stupid red boots run past my window and fly off like Superman…
That's when I took the little flask of whiskey from my flight coveralls and chucked it into the river. I wasn't going to drink that shit ever again."
Captain Ezreah Styles
2nd ABCAV Vietnam
Yin Bai Valley
8:20 am January 19th, 1969
Atom ran out from behind the downed "Gun Ship" blasted into the air and caught another Huey by its tail! He pushed it into the ground below, twisted the tail like a Twizzler stick and broke it off to the terrified faces of the crew as they stumbled out! He snatched the Co-pilot as he tried to run by and snarled into his face…"Who's your Commander!?"
"Ugh! Colonel Buford! Don't kill me man!" The man screamed. Atom threw him aside and ran for the main force of the 2nd Cav as it started to touch down amid the growing volume of gunfire from the Massif.
2nd Air Cav Landing Zone Albany
8:23 am January 19th, 1969
They were coming down in waves of five, their door gunners hammering the foot of the Massif with 30 caliber and M-60 Machine gun bullets as the troops spilled out through the side doors and onto the mud and sharp elephant grass at their feet. One man was running between the ARVN and Cavalry troopers, pushing some, smacking others with the butt of his Colt 45 to get them into a defensive arc in front of the chaotic landing zone. He turned around to see Colonel Buford running from his chopper with the "XO" and his radioman hot on his heels…
"We've come right into the shit Colonel!" Sergeant Major Max Blunt snarled as he pointed to the Massif. "This isn't a bunch of VC fuck-ups Sir, they're full NVA!"
Buford pulled out his field glasses and looked towards the base of the Massif. Sure enough he could see groups of "butternut and dunce cap" uniformed North Vietnamese emerging from the growth and charging forth towards the landing zone.
"XO! Get on the radio and tell Headquarters to send what they can, I need ground support from the nearest base! We need air support! Contact the nearest artillery fire base, I want that mound of shit pounded flat!"
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
8:21 am January 19th, 1969
Commander Ko looked through his field glasses at the growing madness below then pointed to the map in his hand as his staff looked intently…
"I want Colonel Thon to capture the village! Use his mortars to goad the criminals into bombing and shelling it! Tell Colonel Wu to flank around the Americans and take them from behind, get as close to them as possible! We must nullify their air power and artillery before they can use it on us!"
NVA 1st Battalion under Colonel Thon
South of Yin Bai Village
8:25 am January 19th, 1969
Colonel Thon slapped the receiver back into its clip on the radio and patted his radioman's head before waving signals to the rest of his battalion. "Mortars up!" He screamed and within a minute four teams of mortars came running up to where he stood. "Set yourselves here and prepare to cover our advance into the village. Once we have achieved control, you will join us inside and continue to fire on the Americans."
As the men set to work erecting their shooting tubes, Thon pulled his saber and waved the rest of the Battalion behind him. "ADVANCE COMRADES!" He screamed.
Yin Bai Valley floor along the Imyun River
March 22nd 2003
12:30 pm
Dale turned to Nyugen Shu Van. "So from where you were, this plan should have been easy right?"
"There was no opposition South of the village yet. The plan was to drive and goad the 2nd cavalry towards Yin Bai to deal with this immediate threat of mortars, the old "anvil and hammer" tactic we learned had worked so well for the Soviets when they fought the Germans during the Great Patriotic War. So you can imagine what it was like when we started getting messages back that the 1st was getting wiped out and there wasn't a single American plane or artillery barrage present yet."
Yin Bai Valley
8:37 am January 19th, 1969
Atom didn't give the first Americans he ran into a second thought and just as surely they were equally confused if not stunned to see this little kid in boots running past them towards the LZ. He almost made it to the American CP when the first shockwave of a distant mortar shell bounced off the pointy tuffs on his head. Atom turned about, jumped up and flew back low over the ground towards the village.
Yin Bai Valley
8:37 am January 19th, 1969
Gin ducked low on the run as a mortar shell ripped a nearby hut to shreds around him! He snatched up a fallen boy, ripped the club from his hands and sent him running in the other direction. "Join your parents and get down, what good is this stupid thing going to do you!" He screamed.
Other men of the village were already pushing over carts, trash, anything they could find that would provide some sort of cover from the barrage of gunfire coming at them from the grasses and bushes beyond the village fence. Gin pulled a handful of bullets from his pocket, stuffed them into the breech of the beat up old Mauser in his hands, cranked the bolt home and started shooting towards what he couldn't see.
"Are they Americans?!" One man asked.
"They're shooting this way, does it really matter who the hell they are?!" Gin snapped back.
Suddenly..something flew over their heads from behind and almost sucked them up from behind their flimsy barrier.
Yin Bai Village, South Gate
March 22nd 2003
1:17 pm
"It wasn't a plane was it?" Dale asked Tran as they all stood around the gate.
"No. It was the angel. Mister Gin said he saw these Viet Cong soldiers fly up over the grass and bushes like someone just crashed into them! Guns, uniforms, hats, people all thrown about like they were caught up in a grain combine…"
NVA 1st Battalion under Colonel Thon
South of Yin Bai Village
8:39 am January 19th, 1969
Colonel Thon's letter to Dale Gerry…
"The advance of our battalion, three full platoons, was about 70 meters from Yin Bai Village. I was waving my sword, extolling my comrades in their charge, when this blur flew over my head! Suddenly I found myself in the air with this "thing" whipping about and around myself and my equally stunned comrades! We lost our rifles, our pistols, our ammunition, our grenades, our uniforms!"
"Then suddenly I was slammed to the mud by this pressure, this wind over my head. When I stood back up, I found I only had my pants left on me. Everything was sucked out of my pockets! I looked around and my other comrades were equally unfortunate."
"You can imagine the shock, the embarrassment of being left totally defenseless and you can't even see who the enemy was that attacked you!"
Atom flew on, snatched the first mortar tube he ran into and snapped it in half like a stick! One of the Viet Cong soldiers manning it tried to swing his AK-47 around to shoot but Atom caught it, ripped it from the man's hands and gave him a chop to the neck! Not enough to kill him but just enough to make him remember what he saw.
Atom jumped on the next three, ripping the weapons to pieces and frightening their crews with the meanest looking face he could give them. Seeing the shoulder markings of one that identified him as an officer, Atom snatched the man by his shirt and yanked him nose to nose…
"I am the God of Death defending this village! Warn your people to retreat or hell will be visited on all of you! NOW GO!" Atom threw the screaming officer through the air and flew back towards the American lines.
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
8:43 am January 19th, 1969
"Who are you again? Speak up! Where is Colonel Thon?!" Commander Ko snarled as he struggled to understand the blathering words shooting from the terrified voice on the radio…
"Captain Po comrade Commander! I don't know where the Colonel is right now! We've lost our mortars to the God of Death! He's warning us to leave or we'll all die!"
"Have you lost your damned senses?!" Ko screamed into the radio. "Tell Colonel Thon to continue his attack or I'll have all you idiots shot on site for treason!"
"But Comrade Commander…the…the God of Death!"
"I'll be your God if you fail my orders you idiot!" Commander Ko snarled as he threw the radio receiver at his radioman. "You find someone in that battalion who will follow my damned orders! And tell Colonel Minh he's to goad the Americans towards the village if Colonel Thon is too damn stupid to understand!"
2nd Air Cav Landing Zone Albany
8:44 am January 19th, 1969
The helicopters were still coming down and spilling their troops and loads off around Colonel Buford's Command Post. His radioman tugged on his flack jacket amidst the turmoil and noise of fighting around them…
"Colonel! Radio call from "Match Sticks", four of our "Gun Ships" are down along the river bed and I can't get a strait answer out of anyone!"
"What did they tell you?!" The Colonel barked.
"Some said it was RPG fire, others said they didn't know what the hell they saw….Match Stick Three said it was a little kid!"
The Colonel looked back dumbstruck. "What the fuck did they call it?"
"A little kid in red boots sir!"
Buford shook his head. "Get a hold of Captain Brice and tell him to take his unit to the river and find out the fucken truth! Some one's smoking some seriously good shit today!"
Sergent Major Blunt came running up and slapped Buford on the shoulder. "Colonel! We've taken some mortar fire from the "Vil" or close too it! The NVA might have a regiment or a battalion coming up our flank!"
Buford grabbed his radio man. "Find out who the closest artillery fire base is and call down some fire on and around that Vil! Flush the bastards out!"
The radioman pulled on Buford's flack jacket. "Colonel! Captain Heth's two platoons are closing in on the Vil! He's requesting mortar or artillery support!"
"When you get a hold of the fire base, have Heth relay the co-ordinates! And ask HQ where our air support is?! I asked for a prep and burn before we got here and we didn't get shit!"
Yin Bai Village, North Gate
March 22nd 2003
1:40 pm
"We were just leaving Camp Bassalone about quarter to nine that morning. Our 2nd Battalion and the 4th were packed into a line of two ton trucks with our artillery platoon behind that and two platoons of M-60 tanks behind that." Dale Gerry said as he ran a pen around the map. "We had a radioman in the bed with us so we heard all the crazy confusion coming from the 2nd Cav's CP. Everybody back there had their heads leaning over when we heard Henry Heth's platoons were wiped out. Doltree looks at me and says. "Maaaaannnn…we are going into the drive in dinner of ultimate shit."
Nygen To Chen signed with his fingers. "You were confused? I was 200 meters from making contact with Heth's men when I saw them fly into the air and get thrown all over the place! One of the comrades next to me had this U.S. Army shirt land over his head! No explosions, no gunfire, no shelling and yet these Americans are running away with no guns, no helmets, in some cases no clothes at all. We didn't know if we should keep attacking or keep laughing!"
100 yards from Yin Bai Village
8:54 am January 19th, 1969
Captain Henry Heth's platoons
After action briefing in Saigon recorded January 21st 1969
Military intelligence briefer (MIB) : Captain? Your two platoons were about eighty yards from Yin Bai Village correct?
Heth: Yes Sir. We were laying down suppressive fire because we were getting opposing fire from the Vil.
MIB: And what happened then?
Heth: I saw this "thing" coming at us. It flew over the vil, low over the ground then flew around my platoons so fast…I couldn't get a good view of it.
MIB: And according to your accounts here…it picked you and your men up off the ground, threw you around like scrambled eggs, stripped you of your weapons and materials…
Heth: that's clothes Sir…not Materials.
MIB: Please Captain.
Heth: Well…I was left in my skivvies in the middle of a fire fight, why not call it what it is?
MIB: Now this thing? It stopped flying around and snatched you up by your ankle?
Heth: Yeah. It had a pointy head, red boots….it's all there.
MIB: And it said…"I am the God of Death defending this village. If you don't leave now, I'll kill you all." Is that right?
Heth: Yeah.
MIB: And you….
Heth: I ran my ass off!
MIB: Can I ask you one question Captain?
Heth: Yes Sir?
MIB: What kind of illegal substance were you indulging in Son?
2nd CAV CP
8:59 am January 19th, 1969
"Heth?! Heth report! What the hell is going on with you?!" Colonel Buford screamed into his radio receiver. One minute Heth said he was closing on the village, the next came confusion and screaming about…
"What did he say?" Buford snarled to his radioman.
"Something about a kid Sir!" The Radioman replied. Just then a soldier came running into the CP with no shirt, no pants, no weapon, no helmet…
"What the hell are you doing soldier?!" Buford screamed as he snatched the man by his arm. The poor guy looked like he'd seen a ghost. "Well say something!"
"It's…..it told us to run or we'd all die Sir! We're all gonna die!" The soldier broke from the grip and kept on running, leaving Buford stunned…if not totally pissed.
"Colonel! I got a fire base on the hook! What are your orders!" The radioman barked.
"Give em the coordinates and put it on the fucken Vil! The Colonel snapped. "Where's my damned air cover?!"
"On the way Sir! I'll let you know when they start coming overhead!"
NVA 1st Battalion under Colonel Thon
South of Yin Bai Village
9:02 am January 19th, 1969
Thon and his men scrambled around to recover what they could, at least enough weapons to cover another charge against the Village. One of his scared subordinates tugged on his shirt as he stood loading a pistol…
"Comrade Colonel! We're not….we're not going to try another attack? That thing!"
"Would you rather face a firing squad?" Thon snorted back. "Maybe they're right? It's just the heat and we're all damn tired from marching all night from Hanoi. Damn it…this time no retreat no matter what! It's a mirage, a stupid trick of the eyes! We will take the village or we'll all die trying!"
Yin Bai Village
9:02 am January 19th, 1969
Atom landed in the middle of the village and found Gin as he was running from the North to South gate. "Was that you throwing those soldiers into the air?"
Atom smirked. "They'll have second thoughts about attacking next time." He said he kept ducking his head to the sounds of wizzing bullets. "Where's all the villagers?"
"In holes and ditches we've dug. It's the best we have." Gin replied.
Suddenly Atom's head whipped about and he ran towards one of the huts. He ran inside to find a young woman screaming on a thatch bed, obviously in the pains of labor.
"You kinda missed a few!" Atom said as he walked up and knelt next to her. "She's in labor! What a crazy time to have a baby."
He quickly looked her over and frowned. "She can't be moved. You have to get anything you can to shield her."
Gin turned around to tell some men to grab what they could and the hut across from them blew apart! Atom could hear the sounds of screaming shells flying through the air above him. "Grrrr….artillery! Get her on the floor, I'll put a stop to that!"
Atom blasted through the thatched roof and started connecting his fists against the incoming shells, exploding them in mid-air much to the amazement of the Americans and Vietnamese fighting below.
Firebase Dakota
1st inf div 3rd artillery
5 miles from Yin Bai
9:04am January 19, 1969
"FIRE!" The crew captain brought down his flag and the four 105mm guns barked in anger towards Yin Bai. "UP FOUR, RIGHT 250, FIRE FOR EFFECT!"
As the crews re-worked the direction wheels on their pieces, the crew captain talked into his radio receiver to the spotter at the other end of the battery's business. "What do you mean we're not impacting? What? Speak louder! Exploding in mid-air? You gotta be shitting me?!
"What's up Sir!" The battery sergeant major asked.
"The guys at the other end are saying the rounds are exploding short, now they're telling me they're exploding way outside the impact zone!"
The sergeant major ran back to the guns. "Check your fuses! The shells are bursting too early."
As the captain waited for more word out of his radio, the far right gun suddenly flew threw the air and broke apart! "Holy shit!"
2nd CAV Forward artillery spotter
Yin Bai Valley
9:06 am January 19, 1969
"Say again firebase! Say again!" The Corporal snarled. "Firebase reply!"
"We're under attack! We're under attack! It's ripping the pieces apart! Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
The Corporal looked at his receiver and shook his head. "CP! CP! We've lost Firebase Dakota! They've been over run!"
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
2:00 pm
"We had no one near that fire base." Win Chu Shi said waving his hands. "Everything we had in the South was committed to the fight here. The Americans claimed it was a VC sapper crew. There's this old woman who lived near the fire base who had an artillery piece land in her rice patty. She said a little boy walked up, pulled it out, said he was sorry then flew away like a bird."
Dale shook his head. He didn't know if he should laugh or remain quiet. He reached into his accordion folder and pulled out a letter…
"This is from Private Brad Nemeth. He was the radioman there. He stayed in the sandbag bunker for most of the attack but when he came out, he saw the battery gun crew tied up together with one of those 105mm guns. The thing had been twisted like a taffy stick and tied in a knot."
"The Angel was a busy little fellow wasn't he?" Nyugen Shu Van said rubbing his chin. "No one was safe. Colonel Thon had re-organized his battalion and began another charge against the village's south gate."
NVA 1st Battalion under Colonel Thon
South of Yin Bai Village
9:10 am January 19th, 1969
Colonel Thon dropped his sword and once again his battalion went forwards on the charge, this time backed up by two old Soviet made 50 mm cannons. Gin and his men came running back to the makeshift wall at that South gate just as the first small artillery shells crashed and splintered it to shreds before them.
Gin drew a bead on the first NVA soldier to break through the scruff and into the clear space between the gate and the jungle and put a bullet through his chest. "They're coming too fast! Run!" He screamed as he grabbed up men and threw them into fight ahead of him.
Atom soared in from the sky once more, over the top of Gin's head with his arms outstretched. He crashed into a group of NVA, knocking them off their feet and into the air like bowling pins! He zig zagged among the shocked soldiers. He didn't have to punch them at the speed he was going, a slap to their stomachs knocked the wind from their lungs and laid them out cold.
He flew farther back, throwing the cannons and their crews through the air like rag dolls, shattering the weapons with his fists. The he flew around looking for their leader. He caught Colonel Thon trying to work the bolt of an AK-47 in desperate frustration and the man dropped it after a few futile rounds bounced harmlessly off Atom's chest.
Atom snarled as he grabbed the man by his shirt and to give a little emphasis to his angry displeasure…he changed his normally black pupils to a blazing fire red…
"I warned you!" Atom snarled. "You and your men have earned a place in hell! I hope you're prepared for your journey!"
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
9:40 am January 19th, 1969
Commander Ko was beside himself with absolute frustration. To have some fanatical North Korean idiot disrupt his strategy was one thing but to suddenly have soldiers and commanders running when there seemed no credible opposition in their face was totally unacceptable! Now it seemed Colonel Thon had been repulsed again? And by what, The paltry rabble in the village? No wonder why he was getting these crazed excuses on the radio.
He tried to contact Thon over and over for the last five minutes but all that was coming back was empty static. He was turning to a runner to find out what had happened when a figure broke into the Command Post from the thick jungle around it…
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
2:10 pm
Shu Van sat pursing his lips. "He was as white as a ghost. I mean…white as white, the hue of his Asian color was just gone."
"We all stood in shock…the object being the twisted Kalashnikov wrapped around Colonel Thon's neck. He didn't look at any of us. Commander Ko went into a torrent of spitting rage, he demanded to know what the hell was going on, where Thon's battalion was, what happened?"
"Thon looked at him and said…"All gone. I have no battalion." He looked at the Commander and said…"The God of death warns you…leave now or all of us will be dead by evening….all…of…us."
"He then fainted."
No one in the group spoke for moments till Dale cleared his throat. "What of the battalion? Did it? Did it kill them?"
Nygen To Chen shook his head. "No. Before the first B-52 attack we ran over the ground and came upon our comrades from the 1st battalion. Not one of them was dead. Some were hog tied with their rifles, others were tied to others with rifles that were twisted into curious bows. The most strange thing we saw was a ball made of some 14 soldiers…their arms and legs were locked up like a ridiculous pretzel ball. Funniest damn thing I ever saw in my whole life."
2nd CAV CP
9: 44 am January 19th, 1969
Colonel Buford pursed his lips and scowled to hide the frantic worry hanging over his position. The NVA were hard pressing en masse along the strung out wall he'd thrown up to meet their assault. The only artillery support he had was out of business and who knew how long it would take for the army to move a battery close enough to support him.
He had just sent Captain Tevarez running with two new platoons to bolster the right flank of the line to stop the NVA from making an end run around the whole unit and storm the CP from behind. He still didn't know the size of the force that had stopped Heth's platoons cold near the village.
Finally some good news blew into his ear from the XO. "We have air support inbound Colonel! Twenty miles out at five, ten and fifteen thousand feet! I got Rock One on the hook right now at 5 thousand! Phantoms and Skyhawks fully loaded! Where do you want the delivery?!"
Colonel Buford scanned about quickly with his glasses. "Our right flank…our front and hit the Vil! I bet the bastards are holding out there just waiting to throw a left hook in our face!"
ROCK ONE
Alfa strike from the USS Midway led by F-4 Phantoms from VF-161
15 miles out
9:46am January 19th, 1969
"We have your order Albany. Rock lead and "kits" armed with nine 250 pound bombs a piece, get your heads in the dirt and pucker up, we're coming in low and hot over…"
The lead pilot nosed his Phantom down, leading the other heavily armed fighters behind him. To their left and right the smaller A-4 Skyhawks pealed right and left to run their attacks along the edges of the Valley floor.
Yin Bai Village
9:46 am January 19th, 1969
Atom looked down at his power meter and gritted his teeth with a small curse. He was bleeding power faster than he wanted, the needle just passing the ¾ mark. Gin ran up behind him huffing from exhaustion and patted him on the shoulder.
"You really scared the hell out of them! I never seen men run so fast!"
Atom shook his head. "I hope I have enough left to keep it that way. I don't think just keeping them away from the village will be enough. I have to stop this stupid fighting and I just…." Atom shook his head and looked up pursing his lips as he closed his hatch. "Like I said…I'll defend this village to the last drop."
"Do you need to rest?" Gin asked.
Atom looked up at the clear sky and shook his head. "They won't let me…I think there's fighter jets coming!"
9:48 am January 19th, 1969
Right flank of the American line, North of LZ Albany
Captain Tevarez's Platoons engage Colonel Wu's Battalion
Tavarez had not thrown the smoke marker over his shoulder before the North Vietnamese broke out of the jungle brush not 50 yards ahead and unloaded on his still forming platoons. Only luck and quick thinking prevented the Skyhawks from raining their bombs all over the soldiers as they nearly came to a bodily collision with each other.
"PULL OFF! PULL OFF!" He screamed into his radioman's receiver. "Too close! We're too damn close!"
9:48 am January 19th, 1969
Right flank of the American line, North of LZ Albany
Colonel Wu's Battalion engages Captain Tevarez's Platoons
The meeting was a complete mishap now turned into a disastrous meylay. The two sides were but a gun barrel apart when they came running into each other across a dry water depression and within the first second a wide mowing swath of falling bodies was cut among the two!
Wu threw himself behind a bolder not more comforting than a sheet of paper would be to a sucker punch. He reached out, snatched a private by his belt and threw him behind him as bullets chewed chips off their precious savior…
"Comrade Colonel!" The private screamed as he was practically trying to dig himself into Wu's back. "I think we turned a little too soon!"
"Are you kidding?!" The Colonel replied. "I thought we'd have time to ask these nice Americans for their sister's home phone numbers!"
Both men started digging at the ground under them as the rock got smaller and smaller from all the bullet smacks! "I'm afraid they're not amused Comrade Colonel!"
"Obviously!" Wu snapped back.
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
2:29 pm
Tran stood with his hands waving back towards him. "Mister Gin spotted the F-4 Phantoms coming down the center of the valley. The Skyhawks to my left had just finished bombing the side of the Massif and were going off and coming around behind to strafe the jungle and the Village once the F-4's dropped whatever bombs they were carrying."
"The angel jumped into the air….about here and floated above the village like a goalie at a soccer match. Only he was about to play soccer with some fast moving, heavily armed fighter jets. I wonder what the pilots must have thought when they saw that?"
Yin Bai Village
9:48 am January 19th, 1969
Atom saw the first Phantom, the leader in the arrow like formation that screamed over the landscape towards him, as the immediate threat. The others would miss the village or race by to roll back around but this one was going to let loose on the village below!
He took off with his finger lasers shooting just as the first bombs fell from their racks under the wings and cart wheeled through the air!
ROCK ONE
Over Yin Bai
9:49am January 19th, 1969
Commander Mercedes grabbed wildly for the handle on his windscreen frame and swore as the fighter bucked around like a wild bronc! "What the hell? We can't be that damn close!"
His back seat Radar Officer craned around his tiny space to try and see what happened as the plane rolled sharply. He thought they were hit by cannon fire or that one of the falling bombs had fused early and blown up under the jet!
"Sir! They didn't hit!" He screamed. "The bombs exploded over the target!" The REO looked around to see a Skyhawk going in for its attack only to watch in horror as something flew through one of the intakes and rip the planes engine strait out the back, tail pipe and all!
"What the fuck?!" Commander Mercedes screamed as he saw one of his Phantoms stop in mid-air! Something twisted the tail of the fighter into a sickening cork screw and slapped the plane into the ground as the crew ejected!
Mercedes hit his radio mic. "This is Rock One! We have an airborne threat over Yin Bai! My formation's getting shot to hell! We need the closest MIG killers to respond over!"
SHOGUN TWO
USS Enterprise, VF-84 Jolly Rodgers
9:50 am January 19th, 1969
F-4 Wild Dragon, Lt. Commander Mitchell Hunter
F-4 Shady Fox, Lt Michel Skymon
"Rock one, we have your call. What do you have?" Commander Hunter asked as he and his wingman rolled and lit their afterburners off.
" I don't know!" Mercede's screamed into his radio. "It's not a MIG that's for sure! Fuck! It just threw one of my Skyhawks into another plane! I don't have the weapons to take it out! Get your ass down here!"
"You nail this thing Sir it'll be your tenth! You'll be the first double ace of Vietnam!"
Came the voice of Hunter's radar officer.
"Like I give a damn?" Hunter replied. "Just another day at the office. Rock One? I'm coming in with my wingman, give me an idea of where this thing is."
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
9:50 am January 19th, 1969
Commander Ko and his staff were all looking towards the same place in the sky with the same look of disbelief. "Who?....what is that?" He asked.
Some of the officers were doing two or three looks through their binoculars, each time removing them from their eyes to squint, shake their heads or just quietly curse to themselves. "I don't know Comrade Commander." One remarked. "But it surely isn't helping the gangsters."
"It's not helping us, that's obvious." Ko remarked as he pursed his lips. "Call up our reserves."
One officer begged. "Comrade Commander? To call in our reserves now? Is the situation that dire? Whatever that thing is Sir, it's not going to let us get anywhere near that village…."
Ko scorned. "I just ordered you to call up our reserves. Do you wish to be shot?"
The man shook. "No! No Comrade Commander! Call them forwards at once!"
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
2:44 pm
They were sitting down at a table of food arranged by the villagers. Every few moments, Dale stopped to entertain a curious child or two who seemed more interested in his hair than anything else.
"That's another thing that hasn't changed." Dale remarked as he scooped up a chopstick ball of rice and beef. "The food's still hot and spicy."
Dale put his bowl down and took hold of the map again. "Now…the Marines arrived at the base of the Doc Tien mountains around ten o'clock. You couldn't hear the actual battle but planes were over our heads so we kinda realized that this mess had turned into a real cluster fuck. The radios had everyone nervous, all these reports of this "thing" and people sounding like they were being scared shitless wasn't easing matters at all."
2/3 Marines column
Base of the Doc Tien mountains
9:55am
January 19th,1969
Garry, Doltree, Haliendez and Jasper Cole were still leaning close to the radio as the reports of the battle grew more numerous and more planes seemed to be dropping from the skies around the valley.
Jasper Cole snorted. "What the fuck? They've really slammed into a buzz saw. What do the gooks have, a giant fly swatter?"
"Whatever man." Doltree replied. "Sounds like they brought everything to this party. Not like we didn't ask for this shit. I told you man, this is payback for the man's exploitation of the poor of this world!"
"How about we just concentrate on staying alive?" Garry asked. "Like all this politic stuff you're spouting's gonna help us now?"
Haliendez passed cigarettes around the truck. "Better light up. I doubt we'll get a chance once we're all deep in the shit."
A Marine behind the truck cab manning a 50 caliber machine gun pulled his charging handle and brought home a round into the breech. "You guys better make sure you're locked and loaded! Don't think the "Dinks" are just gonna let us walk into this mess!"
SHOGUN TWO
USS Enterprise, VF-84 Jolly Rodgers
9:55 am January 19th, 1969
F-4 Wild Dragon, Lt. Commander Mitchell Hunter
F-4 Shady Fox, Lt Michel Skymon
Mitchell rolled his Phantom through a climb and threw his head around, trying to sight the offending "object" that had just tore the tail off an Air Force "Thunder Chief" below him. "You got it on radar?" He screamed to his Radar Officer in the back seat.
"It's so damn small and quick I can't keep a good lock on it!" The man replied.
"Sky?!" Mitchell called. "You better set your missiles to snap-shot! Let em catch the heat off that thing's exhaust, radar lock's useless!"
Skymon was roaring down the valley towards the village, switching his trigger from missiles to the 30mm gun pod slung under his phantom's belly. "Might as well try the old fashioned way! I'll goad it to run and you pop it from over the top!"
Above Yin Bai Village
9:57 am January 19th, 1969
Atom had just ripped the tail off another American fighter when he saw the Phantom screaming down the valley towards him. He zoomed in on it with his telescopic vision and saw no bombs on it but there were plenty of missiles…and a gun pod?
USS Enterprise, VF-84 Jolly Rodgers
9:57 am January 19th, 1969
F-4 Wild Dragon, Lt. Commander Mitchell Hunter
F-4 Shady Fox, Lt Michel Skymon
"Tag him!" Skymon's Radar Officer yelled into his mic. Skymon mashed the trigger on his stick and felt the plane around him shake as the 6-barrelled 30mm cannon barked a sheet of flame from the mouth of the pod!
"Wo!" Atom yelled as he cut his jets, dropped below the stream of bullets above his head and took off into a vertical climb!
The Phantom's tail kicked downwards and pushed the fighter's nose sharply upwards until Atom's retreating body crossed into the gunsight glass on Skymon's control panel.
"Shady! Fox Two!" Skymon snarled as he flipped the stick selection switch to missile and an AIM-9 Sidewinder heat seeking missile rushed past his cockpit window towards the wildly moving target ahead…
"HEAT SEEKING MISSILE!" flashed across Atom's eyes as he cranked his head around to see the fast moving blur racing towards him! "Oh great!" He snorted as he rolled and pitched wildly, trying to shake the missile off his tail.
At the last second he cut his rocket motors again and dropped just as the missile sailed over his head and triggered it's proximity fuse! The mid-air explosion sent Atom cart wheeling towards the ground, right towards the raging close combat fight on the northern end of the American line!
10 am January 19th, 1969
Right flank of the American line, North of LZ Albany
Colonel Wu's Battalion engaging Captain Tevarez's Platoons
Wu's men retreated, charged then retreated again to better cover before coming on again and this time dislodging the Americans from their perches across the dry lake bed.
"Forward damn you! Press them! Move!" Wu screamed as he extolled and threw men into a rush past where he stood. "Don't let them rest!"
The Americans turned about behind new cover and cut loose a furious volley that drove most of the charging NVA into the dirt not ten yards from their faces. It was at this point in the fight just as Colonel Wu ran past his men that something fell from the sky and slammed into the dirt right at Wu's feet!
The little dust cloud Atom kicked up startled both sides into silence. Wu stood coughing furiously and waving his hand around to dissipate the cloud around him. As his vision improved, the Vietnamese colonel looked down to see a child?
Atom looked up at the Vietnamese man standing before him and cracked a slight smile. "Uh…hi?"
"Ahhhhhh!" Wu screamed loudly, did a wild jumping dance and emptied his Russian made pistol at the demonic looking creature standing before him. "MONSTER! MONSTER! KEITAH MU LAI! KEITAH MU LAI!"
All at once, every gun from both sides cut loose on the solitary figure. "OUCH! YIKES! CUT IT OUT!" Atom screamed and danced before he jumped onto his hands and drilled into the ground!"
"What the hell was that?" Captain Tevarez yelled as he pushed his helmet back on his head.
"I don't know Sir!" A private yelled out. "But what ever it is? It's got the gooks pissing their pants!"
Tevarez couldn't pass up the chance. "Charge men! Chase down those dink bastards!"
Up the two American platoons came and into a charge they went! They bounded the dry river bed, came over the bank…and started getting their weapons slapped out of their hands?
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
3 pm
Once again, Dale reached into his accordion folder and pulled out another letter…
Dear Mister Garry,
In reply to your letter I can confirm that we did not retreat on my orders or on our own terms. We were not over run by the NVA as after action reports state. I'd call it "getting our bitches slapped" being more accurate.
In fact, both our side and the NVA opened up on this strange…don't know what to exactly call it…little alien, human, what ever it was. It scared the hell out of the Vietnamese and they ran. I ordered my platoons to chase them down and we had cleared the dry river bed when that thing came back and knocked us around like toy blocks in a play pen.
We were forced to retreat but not before it got a hold of me and slapped my face silly. It was really upset and it had these big burning red eyes. It said…"Go back to your Commander and tell him to leave this valley or you haven't seen what I'm really gonna do when I get really angry!"
That's all you need to know I think
Sincerely
Colonel Anton Tevarez USA Ret.
Dale reached into his folder again and pulled out another letter…
Mister Garry,
I'm pleased to have read the letter Colonel Tevarez sent you regarding our confrontation on 19 January 1969. My regiment did run from the strange being at first but upon seeing the Americans running I ordered my men to turn about and counter attack them. Perhaps that wasn't a wise choice for the strange little child didn't appreciate us charging him and he made his displeasure rather clear.
I ended up in a tree in a most undignified and uncomfortable manor with this child hovering in my face. He warned me to go tell our Commander that if he refused to retreat from the valley at once? Our entire army would face his great displeasure.
You don't know what this confirmation means to me, it is a vindication of myself and my men who have for years received scorn and indignation as liars, cowards and crazy men. I thank you.
Colonel Wu
NVA ret.
"By This time." Dale said as he stirred a cup of coffee in his hands. "Our unit was topping the roll on the road leading into the Valley. That's when the radio operator at LZ Albany called "Broken Arrow". They assumed that Colonel Tevarez's unit, which was running like hell through the CP after getting mauled by that thing, were running from a strong NVA assault. The opposite of course is obvious."
Nygen Shu Van poked at the map on the table. "We had called up our reserves who had been sitting on the Ho Chi Minh Trail behind us and this runner came up from the valley screaming that Colonel Wu's Battalion were in a head long mad retreat towards the Massif. We assumed the Americans had viciously counterattacked and were breaking through but others in the Command Post were saying the strange alien was the attacker. Commander Ko ordered the reserves to rush the American line and repel their assault."
10:15am 19TH January 1969
Colonel Buford calls "Broken Arrow"
Only three times before in Vietnam had "Broken Arrow" been called. It was the most dire of situations, an American unit under distress was about to be over run. It didn't matter what any plane was doing at the moment, what mission they might have been on or if the pilots were "popping their friskies" in some run down hotel joint in Cam Rah or Saigon. Every plane and every pilot was on their way. From aircraft carriers in the Tonkin Gulf to B-52's from Udorn Thailand If they had bullets and bombs, they were hauling ass and eating gas to be on target yesterday.
And between all the radio noise and confusion, one thing was made clear. There was an airborne threat over Yin Bai Valley and it was making life for pilots hell.
Above Yin Bai Village
10:16 am January 19th, 1969
Atom screwed his eyes shut as he closed the chest panel. The worrisome condition of his power was but a quick moment to the rapidly growing violence around him. American jets were coming in from all over the place, leaving him the only option of staying over the village to thwart whatever came its way.
Everywhere else the rain of American airpower was throwing down a hell storm of explosions. It pounded the Massif, rolled through the valley and up the other end in flowery balls of death and fire.
Atom couldn't hope to stop every bomb. One soared past him, slammed into the village and threw the bodies of cowering villagers through the air like rag dolls…
Then Atom went Bizzerk. It didn't matter to him if the pilots got out, he didn't have time to worry about "their" lives. He raced through the sky, through every plane he took on. The scene below from those who watched it was both awesome and terrifying.
2/3 Marines column
Top of the Doc Tien mountains
10:18am
January 19th,1969
The Marines in the back of the "Duce" (2 ½ ton truck) were silent, shocked, there were some prayers being said and a lot of "holy fuck" and "Oh shit" under stuttering breaths.
Haliendez was rubbing a cross in his hand. "Oh my God…we're all going to fucken die."
Someone was slapping the side of the truck. "Get out! Get the fuck out! Move it!, Move it!"
Dale grabbed the wooden rail and vaulted over onto the hard dirt as an M-60 tank flew by and rolled down the sloping dirt road towards the madness ahead. He looked back to see Marines swarming over the sides of their trucks and moving into platoons to begin their own decent into whatever was churning the valley down below into hell.
Dong Nai Reserve Battalions
Chu Shun Massif
10:20am 19 January, 1969
Wu Chu Shi followed the political offer over the crest and looked upon the site in the valley with astonishment. "Are we shooting down the American air pirates?"
The political officer squinted as he looked at the strange object that appeared to be doing the destruction. "Our Russian comrades have given us a weapon to be victorious over the bourgeois Capitalist criminals!"
Wu Chu Shi fell over and covered his head as an American bomb slammed into the ground and blasted stumps and bits of trees over his head. "It's not stopping all of them though, Comrade Comisar!"
The political officer grabbed Wu by the arm and pushed him forwards. "Shut up and keep going!"
Commander Ko ordered an all out assault as the American air power suddenly shifted from targeting the ground to going after the apparent object of good fortune that was now giving his troops a shield from the withering bombing.
The reserves, some 2,000 fresh NVA would charge into the valley, split in two to attack the village and the newly arriving US Marines while the main force of the Dong Nai would drop on the now weakened center of the American defense line at Landing Zone Albany.
Above Yin Bai Village
10:21am
January 19th, 1969
The American pilots seemed to be getting the hint at last! The majority of them were now falling upon where the US Army command post was farther up the valley. Perhaps the clincher was when Atom used that Thunderchief as a baseball bat and knocked a few fighter jets out of the valley, but he was paying for it.
The drop of energy was noticeable and for a brief moment his vision was cloudy. He hovered shaking his head…"Not now!"…Was that woman still giving birth he wondered? He shook his head again and as his vision cleared, he could see swarms of Viet Cong descending from the Massif towards the village on one side and another army coming down from the mountains on the other side.
Atom snarled, he knew he didn't have much time left. He had to put a stop to this stupid battle somehow. He curled up and shot like a rocket towards the advancing Viet Cong below.
January 18th, 1969
10:28am
Knife Point Ridge (Nicknamed by the Americans)
The Russian made 78MM artillery pieces barked nearby as Chu Shi and his political officer dove for the ground to escape the crash of nearby counter shelling from the Americans beyond the river.
"Comrade! We must be insane to be this close!" Chu Shi screamed as the political officer stood up waving a pistol and extolled charging troops past him.
"Nonsense!" The man screamed back. "FORWARD! FORWARD COMRADES!"
Suddenly Chu Shi saw one of the artillery pieces launch into the air and almost hit the political officer in the head as it soared over and crashed through the jungle trees beyond them! He jumped up, snatched the officer by his shirt and threw him back onto the ground as the other artillery gun lunched itself skywards and exploded over their heads!
"AHHH!" Chu Shi screamed as a box of artillery rounds catapulted skywards and exploded with a thunderous roar above him. "The Americans are bombing us!"
He scrambled to his feet to get away, to find something that would save him. He turned to see the political officer firing his pistol at something, only to be thrown through the air like a rag doll into the side of a tree! A whooshing noise blew past Shi's ear and a rocket propelled grenade slammed home into the chest of the strange being and blew Shi off his feet!
Shi sat in the dirt, shaking his head and feeling himself for shrapnel when it emerged out of the explosive smoke cloud in front of him. He could hear bullets smacking into it but the creature blew them off like annoying insects. Its eyes glowed red, its teeth gnashed like the fangs of a wild animal. It snatched Shi off his feet and shook him like a dog would shake a toy. "Go tell your Commander to retreat! Tell him I will wipe his whole Army from the face of the Earth if he doesn't retreat now!"
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
3:20 pm
For the moment, Chu Shi was silent. Earlier, with a little beer and alone with one man it was easier to talk about, Now…he shook. He pressed his lips against his clasped hands and took a moment to close his eyes and clear his unsteady breathing…
"Are you alright?" Dale asked.
Chu Shi nodded. "Yes…That was the most horrible moment of my life. Though it didn't kill any of our men, it certainly had no intention now that things are clear. At that moment, when you see people hurled through the air like that? You watch rifles and weapons being twisted and torn as if they were bread dough? All the machines of war reduced to mere toys? I would guess even the most doubtful of men would believe a God had come to bring wrath among his children for their sins."
Dale chewed his lips. "You ran?"
"Like a crying baby." Chu Shi said nodding. "I was grabbing men as I ran back up the Massif…"Don't go! You'll all die! God is down there and he's killing us all! Run! Run!"
"What I thought was going to be a glorious moment? my time to show my courage for my country and my cause? Had turned into hell."
The Ivy Mike Bridge
Yin Bai Valley
10:34am January 19, 1969
Doltree snatched Dale by his flack jacket and pulled him to the dirt as a motar round screamed earthwards and blasted up the river bank mud nearby…
"Load me man!" Doltree screamed as he ripped a bandoleer of M-60 Ammo off his body and thrust it into Dale's hands. "Hurry up!"
Haliendez rolled through the grass besides them. "Son of a bitch! They're all over the place man!" He screamed as he drew up his M-16 and banged away at the far side of the river.
Dale brought down the cover of the M-60 machine gun and slammed it hard with his fist. "You're hot!"
Doltree began to sweep around with the machine gun as two M-48 tanks pulled up behind the prostrate Marines and boomed out with their 90mm main guns. "Damn! Can't you suckers find some other place to park!"
Dale slapped another magazine into his rifle and banged a few rounds at some Viet Cong as they emerged from the brush on the other bank. "I don't think we can stop them! We need to pull back!"
Just then the sound of low flying fighter jets came screaming in above the chaos of battle. "Fast movers inbound!" Dale screamed as he pointed. The impacts were going to be super close he thought as he pulled on Doltree's flack jacket. "Pull back man!"
Suddenly the lead Phantom broke in two! Dale watched as something flew threw it and snapped it into two tumbling, flaming masses. The pilot and his backseater ejected just before the forward part hit the river bank, tumbled through the water, vaulted over Dale and Doltree and exploded behind them!
"Mother fuck!" Dale screamed as he looked to see the second Phantom in a fast but futile climb. Whatever it was that was chasing it, it rammed into the back end of one of the engines and tore it clean out of the body!
Doltree rolled onto his back and pushed his helmet off. "What the fuck is that thing?"
"I dunno…." Dale replied, then screamed in horror. "FUCK!"
Atom screamed Earthwards, slammed into the tank next to Dale and Doltree and ripped the gun turret clean off!
"Oh…hell no!" Doltree snarled. "Fuck this shit man!" He snatched Dale by his flack jacket, kicked Haliendez in the shin and they ran!
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd 2003
3:40 pm
Dale and the others were now walking out of the village towards the North. "We had two full tank platoons with us? That crazy little bastard snatched them one by one and pancaked them into a pile. You think any of us was going to stay there after we saw that?"
Shu Van shook his head over and over. "Our reserves met the same fate Colonel Thon's battalion experienced. I don't think they got within 50 meters of the village. Weapons destroyed, men tossed like match sticks. Officers were losing control, pistol whipping soldiers to stand, trying to reform for another charge. That's when the B-52's appeared."
2 ACV HQ
Landing Zone Albany
10:35am
January 19th, 1969
The radio operator shook Colonel Buford by the shoulder. "Sir! I got 5 B-52 Bombers from Udorn requesting targeting instructions!"
Buford scanned the scene around him for the moment. The line defending Albany was holding but the noises were increasing to the South, meaning that the ground relief force was under heavy attack…or so he thought.
"Pop smoke! Tell em to plaster every God damned thing South and on!"
Yin Bai Village
10:37am
January 19th, 1969
Atom almost fell out of the sky when he landed and collapsed to the dirt as Gin ran up to meet him.
"Are you hurt?" Gin asked worried.
Atom smiled softly. "No…but I'm gonna need a good nap after this." He looked towards that hut, the one with the woman inside. "Is she still in labor?"
"Almost." Gin replied. "Don't worry about her right now. Let us worry about you."
Atom pushed him away slowly. "I said I'll be fine." His ears then caught the ultrasonic vibrations of approaching planes. Not low flying fighters but larger…multi-engined…and much higher flying. He raised his head up and zoomed in one the lead plane…
"B-52's." He said softly. "I might have enough…I dunno."
Gin pulled on him. "You've done enough…"
"I told you." Atom replied smiling. "I have no choice." He took another look at the hut with the pregnant woman inside and blasted off towards the approaching bombers.
B-52G "Saturday Night Special"
Closing on Yin Bai
10:40 am
January 19th, 1969
The flight commander squawked into his mask mic…"This is Yukon Flight. Albany we have visual on your smoke, making turn to bombing run, keep your heads down. Commander to all ships, open your doors, carpet formation on my mark."
The five enormous bombers began to spread out with "Saturday Night" taking the tip of the "V" formation. In the lower part of the bomber's command compartment, the planes "Gunner" was scanning his radar screen when a blip suddenly appeared out of no where!
"SAM!" He screamed "INBOUND SAM!"
The big bomber suddenly shook! A violent upheaval that caused every warning light and siren to flash and scream all over the cockpit. "We've been hit! Formation! Formation, Surface to Air missile alert!"
The gunner turned to "Saturday's" Bombardier. "Get to the back and see how bad we got smacked!" He ordered.
"Right!" The man jumped from his seat and ran back for the access door to the mid-section but was suddenly stopped short when it was all but kicked off its hinges.
Atom stood flexing his clenched fists and scowled angrily as the two men pulled their pistols from their holsters. "You're about to kill innocent people down there! Turn these planes around…..NOW!"
The two officers gave their answer…"Son of a bitch!" The Gunner screamed as he unloaded his 45 Colt. "Intruder! Major, we have an intruder!"
Atom screamed, jumped into the air, flipped out his rear 9mm cannons and blew the control panel behind the two officers to pieces!
B-52G "Lazy Susan"
10:43am
January 19th, 1969
"Are you hearing this?" The Co-Pilot asked the pilot next to him. "Saturday's screaming something about an intruder in the cockpit."
The pilot looked ahead towards the lead bomber and hit his mic. "Saturday! I don't see any damage from that SAM you reported, what intruder are you talking about?!"
Suddenly the bomber began to wobble and roll…then it shattered in two!
"Son of a bitch!" Susan's pilot screamed as he watched "Saturday Night" fall away from the formation. "Formation! Formation! We've lost Saturday Night, we've lost the Commander! Evasive maneuvers!"
Atom flew from the falling aft section of Saturday Night and plowed into Lazy Susan's right wing, ripping it and its two engine mounts clear away from the bomber's body!
"Eject! Eject! Eject!" The Susan's pilot screamed as he pulled the emergency ring between his legs and shot through the canopy and out of the dying bomber.
Yin Bai Valley
Crash site of the Lazy Susan
March 22nd 2003
4: 16 pm
There it stood before them all, the complete right wing of Lazy Susan with its two engine pods still attached, imbedded in the ground like some Indian warning totem.
"When the five B-52's crashed here." Nygen to Chen said as he patted the wing's surface. "The explosions were indescribable. I guess that was enough to really put the fear of God into normal men."
Nygen Shu Van shook his head. "After that?...nothing could curb the flight of our men…"
North Vietnamese Command Post
Chu Shun Masiff
11:00 am January 19th, 1969
Commander Ko screamed with his arms out, his sword slashing in vengeance at the soldiers running, crying and screaming past him in uncontrolled terror. "STOP! STOP YOU FOOLS!"
Soon…Ko was carried away in the human flood of panic as the Dong Nai retreated from the field.
Yin Bai Valley
11am
January 19th, 1969
Doltree snatched Dale's arm as he ran behind the 2 ½ ton truck, his M-16 dropping to the mud as he scrambled up the side and fell into the bed. "Mother fucker! Did you see that?! It trashed those bombers!"
Doltree wiped his head of sweat. "I don't know what I saw man! It's the wrath I tell you, the wrath on us for all this killing!"
2nd Air Cav Landing Zone Albany
11am January 19th, 1969
No one had to tell Colonel Buford it was time to "bug out". He all but threw men into the Huey's as they arrived in a disorderly scramble to carry soldiers out of the hell around them.
The Executive Officer vaulted into the last one as Buford hopped on the landing skid and rotated his arm in the dust off sign. With that, the last three helicopters lifted off and left the madness below in their wake.
"Sir?" The Executive Officer asked. "What are we going to tell them back at Headquarters? How do we explain this?"
Buford looked down at the destruction below. The five enormous fires where the B-52's had crashed, the many smaller ones where aircraft had gone down, the crushed tanks…
"We tell em there is a God of death…and today he was fucken pissed."
Atom fell from the sky and slammed hard into the dirt and mud near the village. So tired…so very tired and yet the sight of streams of retreating North Vietnamese and scrambling Americans gave him a moment's peace. He struggled to get to his feet and walked slowly and awkwardly towards the village gate.
Chapter Three
Memories and Hopes
Evening
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd, 2003
Dale entered slowly and respectfully into the small candle lit hut. The old man lying in the thatched bed beckoned a shaking hand upwards and smiled when Dale warmly accepted it…
"My good friend." Gin said softly. "I'm sorry I didn't meet you…"
Dale nodded. "It's ok…how are you?"
"Better now. I am glad we can talk in person. Letters are so inhuman." Gin said as he struggled to sit up. "I am glad you saved this interview for the last. What came after the battle is by far of greater importance…
Yin Bai Valley
11:15 am
January 19th, 1969
Atom stumbled through the gate and past villagers as they emerged from their hiding places and silently watched their small protector stumble and trip towards the hut that Gin had emerged from.
He tripped and fell into Gin's arms, his hands and arms fighting to pull himself back up again as Gin tried to hold him down. "Stop it…they're leaving now…no more…"
Atom looked up with a weak yet peaceful smile…"Let me see the baby? Please?" He said softly.
Gin took him slowly through the doorway and held him near the bed where the mother and new born child lay. He could feel the boy trembling as he reached a hand out and softly stroked the baby's head.
"Isn't it?....isn't it wonderful?" Atom asked. "You couldn't make a robot that could come even close to what it takes to make a human. Why?...Why would you want to destroy something so….beautiful?"
Atom suddenly dropped to the dirt floor, his hand beckoning for something. "Pen and paper? Quick!"
Gin looked around and snatched a piece of burnt wood and a torn sheet. "Here! What can we do for you? How can we help you?" He asked as Atom haste fully scribbled away.
"Here." He said weakly. "Don't burry me? Try to get me to this address in Tokyo…Doctor Ochanomizu…please…."
Atom suddenly went limp in Gin's arms. "No! My friend? My friend!…please…please….No….."
Gin pulled Atom close and wailed as villagers entered the hut in somber silence around him.
Evening
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd, 2003
There was silence for the moment between Gin and Dale, both stopping to wipe tears from their eyes.
"We were heart broken." Gin said. "We didn't know his name. In all that madness not a single one of us stopped to ask his name but angel seemed fitting enough."
Dale pursed his lips. "Did you….do what he asked?"
"Yes." Gin replied. "We wrapped him in swaddling but we couldn't let him go until my father gave thanks to the Buddha for our salvation. We held a prayer service for him then we put him on an ox cart and sent two men to take him by boat to the Mekong and hopefully fill his wish to go home."
Yin Bai Valley
12:22 am
January 19th, 1969
"Are you sure it's safe?" The young man asked his older partner as they carefully looked about the trail before moving for the river.
"It looks so." The older man replied. "The boat should still be there."
They pushed the small handcart out and slowly walked along the dirt trail looking for traps and left over explosives from the battle hours before.
The young man patted the wrapped little stranger with a hand. "He…he can't be human. No human could do all that."
"Question not." The older man said. "God's purpose doesn't need our feeble attempts at reason."
Suddenly a sharp crack split the air around them and a bullet slammed into the older man's chest, knocking him off his feet!"
"AHHHH!" The young man screamed as he ran down the trail as fast as he could! He stumbled and fell, letting go of the cart as he hit the ground. "No! Stop!" He called out as he tried to grab for the handrail. Three more shots cracked out and the young man fell over dead but not before giving the cart a last desperate push into the river below him.
Evening
Yin Bai Village
March 22nd, 2003
"So….did they get through?" Dale asked.
"The men never returned." Gin replied moanfully. "And we never found out if they did make it. I always wished they did but…they were probably all killed in the B-52 attack that happened later in the day."
Gin paused for a moment. "I was outside the village, when the bombers came again. This time there was no angel to stop them. This whole valley was laid waste, the village flattened, so many killed…"
Tran entered the hut carrying a board with food on it. "Father found me amidst the destroyed huts." He said as he placed the food on a table. "Perhaps the Angel wasn't done yet? I shouldn't have survived."
Dale paused…."You were the baby?"
Tran nodded. "I've spent 25 years now searching every inch of the valley for him. Saying thank you to shrines and thin air just aren't enough."
Dale pulled out his stack of papers again and pointed to them. "After the battle… the C.I.A. and a hundred different agencies investigated what happened. The Air Force's Project Blue Book dismissed it as a UFO, Army Intelligence claimed it was some new Soviet weapon being tested. Some people on the internet currently say it was due to the CIA's covert testing of LSD."
Win Chu Shi walked in on the conversation and took a seat. "Just about the same reaction here too. The Soviets went crazy trying to find out about the new American terror weapon. They secretly ignored the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and wasted billions on weapons designed to counter the Angel. Of course it bankrupted the whole Communist system. As for Commander Ko? He was labeled crazy by Hanoi and locked away in an asylum. He stuck to his belief in the Angel till he died in 1982."
"Because of the Angel, Hanoi was forced to move the Ho Chi Minh trail farther north from Yin Bai and into Cambodia, which forced the Americans to invade there in 1970. Ever since…this whole valley is taboo. I guess, if his wish was peace, the angel got what he wanted."
Dale sat back for a moment in thought. "Mister Gin? What do I take from all this? How should I write the story? How do I get people to believe all this?"
"A difficult question." Gin replied. "How indeed?"
The old man thought deeply. "I would have to say…the Angel should have taught all of us about the limits of our power. That when we go too far, we bring hell upon our heads with no regards to the innocent or the guilty, the true cost and horrible price for our sin of war. War is not to be celebrated, nor glorified but hated, reviled and fought against in the defense of what the Angel called… "The most beautiful creation."
Gin reached out and held his son's hand. "Most important of all…perhaps it is time? Time for us to bring a final and lasting end to the Vietnam War. To gather together, all of us, as friends and finally do justice to the dead and at last find peace."
Gin smiled to Dale. "When you go home? Tell your friends, tell your people that they will find no bitterness here. When they come? They will be welcomed with love, affection and joy."
Dale nodded and smiled back. "Thank you." He said with a bow.
"No my friend." Gin replied. "We of Yin Bai thank you."
Ho Chi Minh Airport
March 23, 2010
Dale extended his hand to Tran after adjusting the US Marine ball cap on his head. "So…will you continue your search?" He asked.
Tran nodded back. "Of course. I owe the Angel that much at least."
"Of the address? Did your father remember it?" Dale asked.
"I'm deeply sorry." Tran replied. "The fabric he wrote it on was destroyed in the bombing and father's memory has been growing shorter every day. I wish I could have gotten it sooner, I want so much to thank whoever it was who sent him to us."
Dale sighed. "Maybe I'll get lucky. Old Doltree's the last of us still serving. He's retiring in Japan, that's where I'm going after I finish some business in the Philippines."
Dale was quiet for a moment but took Tran in an embrace. "Take care my friend. Will you tell your father I hope he gets better?"
"Of course." Tran replied. "You will always be welcome."
Tran watched as Dale walked across the tarmac and boarded his plane.
April 18th 2003
Narita International Airport
Tokyo, Japan
Dale stepped from customs, grabbed his bags and walked into the reception lobby to find Doltree when the sound of small running feet came up behind him.
"Mister! Mister!"
Dale turned to see a small boy dressed in a Japanese school outfit come up to him with something in his hand. "Excuse me Mister, you dropped your wallet."
Dale reached for the wallet but suddenly stopped. The face? The eyes? The hair? He must have stood like a stone for a minute trying to make the connection when suddenly the boy got pulled away.
"Come Tobio! What did I tell you about talking to strangers?" The man with the wild looking chin beard snorted as he pulled the boy behind him.
"Bye Mister! Enjoy your time in Tokyo!" The boy cheerfully said as he waved. Dale looked down at his wallet then up as the boy became lost in the crowd…
"Tobio?" Dale said to himself. It soon became a fleeting brief memory as he found Doltree and followed him out to his car.
The end
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