(EDITOR’S NOTE: Enquirer
military writer Charles Black is carrying out his assignment in Viet
Nam,
moving with the troops, sharing their hardships and writing about the
combat
soldier. Following are excerpts from a
personal note he wrote Ben Walburn, managing editor of The Enquirer,
after
accompanying American troops into battle east of An Khe.)
By CHARLES BLACK
Enquirer Military Writer
“I was out on that operation
15 miles east of here. Pure old brutal
hell. I got on the wrong end.
I walked four days and am proud of doing it.
. .We killed a lot of VC. I got shot
at. . . wet and tired, just like the rest of them. . .
“Your letters are heartening
as the devil. Thanks, I’m putting all
words I can into stories as it is very hard to work here.
GIs have a work hut. I have a box
and a piece of a tent here with
a bunch of radio, TV, and etc. reporters trying to read my notes to
each other.
. .
“I could beat all of them if
I was cabling, Ben. They wait like
buzzards for set-ups. I had that big
battle taped for sure. Only other guys
near it were photographers. Two guys
covering the thing on each end with the troops could tear this country
up for
stories. You put one with the assault,
one in the blocking force. If they had
guts they’d have one every time! You
can see what I mean in the enclosed copy, the last columns. . .
(One of the columns referred
to by Black will be found on Page 7 of today’s Enquirer.)
“We got two people killed
last night 300 yards from here. VC
probed. Army says VC threw
grenade. I know what happened. One of our grenades hit a tree and bounced
back. Guys in next hole said that was
it.
“I saw 120 tore-up VC three
days ago. Beautiful!
“We tore them up with
artillery and air; they fought like hell man-to-man.
They put a grenade 20 feet from me and about five rounds of
automatic fire into the ground by me on a night march we made to block
a
pass. It is a poor way to spend your
mellowing middle years. . .
“I lost some good
friends on this last thing. A crew chief
on a Chinook, Harry Truendale,
was killed. Major Dexter and Capt.
Rawlings, both 101 (101st Airborne Division), drank coffee with me at
11 p.m.
at the briefing and they were zapped on the LZ.
“I just intend to stay out
in the brush, come in and write, and go back until I’m convinced the
thing is
written. . .
“Got to get busy - writing
opportunities are too hard to get now to waste on letters, Ben. It is pure luck to get a place out of the
rain to run a typewriter. The
operations take three or four days usually and it has to be written as
best I
can until they get some tents up.
Twenty-five people stayed in this one last night.
You have a tough time concentrating with
that much company. I’ll see you.”
Charlie