Post by Anonymous Vet on Dec 23, 2002 14:08:28 GMT -5
CHU LAI- Vietnam (Special) - Thousands, possibly millions of enemy dive bombers with fixed bayonets attacked an 11th Inf. Brigade recon platoon 15 miles southwest of Quang Ngai.
The recon platoon, from the Americal Div.'s 1st Bn., 20th Inf. had spotted about 20 VC suspects in a village. "We had just started after them when our two Vietnamese point men stumbled into a thicket of bumble bees," said Spec. 4 Richard A. Rodriguez, of Tuscon, Ariz. "They immediately tried to warn us, but the bees were all around us. Everyone was swatting them while we ran for cover."
"There was a cloud of bees in battalion formation coming toward us," Spec. 4 Rolando De Leon, also of Tuscon, recalled. "The bees were all over our flesh. I kept wiping them off my face, but as fast as I did they were back. They flew up my nose and I could hardly catch my breath."
De Leon darted for the river at the bottom of the hill. "As soon as I jumped in the water with all my equipment, they stopped stinging," he said, "I know I swallowed two of them and it took me 15 minutes to pull the fifty or sixty 1/8 inch stingers out of my face and arms."
As the men were putting up a losing battle, 1st Lt. Donald Hopper, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the platoon leader, called in a dustoff for his men.
"The side of the hill was covered with bamboo shoots where the bees had their hives," Pfc. Robert Voss, of St. Louis, Mo., said. "They seemed to attack on command."
Some of the men in the rear used ponchos to cover themselves. Even though they had cover only two men were not stung. Four needed hospitalization.
The recon platoon, from the Americal Div.'s 1st Bn., 20th Inf. had spotted about 20 VC suspects in a village. "We had just started after them when our two Vietnamese point men stumbled into a thicket of bumble bees," said Spec. 4 Richard A. Rodriguez, of Tuscon, Ariz. "They immediately tried to warn us, but the bees were all around us. Everyone was swatting them while we ran for cover."
"There was a cloud of bees in battalion formation coming toward us," Spec. 4 Rolando De Leon, also of Tuscon, recalled. "The bees were all over our flesh. I kept wiping them off my face, but as fast as I did they were back. They flew up my nose and I could hardly catch my breath."
De Leon darted for the river at the bottom of the hill. "As soon as I jumped in the water with all my equipment, they stopped stinging," he said, "I know I swallowed two of them and it took me 15 minutes to pull the fifty or sixty 1/8 inch stingers out of my face and arms."
As the men were putting up a losing battle, 1st Lt. Donald Hopper, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the platoon leader, called in a dustoff for his men.
"The side of the hill was covered with bamboo shoots where the bees had their hives," Pfc. Robert Voss, of St. Louis, Mo., said. "They seemed to attack on command."
Some of the men in the rear used ponchos to cover themselves. Even though they had cover only two men were not stung. Four needed hospitalization.