When the siege of Plei Me was lifted five weeks ago, the mauled Communist attackers faded westward into the uninhabited valleys of elephant grass and scrub-covered hills that for a long time have been their sanctuary. But this time a sanctuary it was not to be. The U.S. undertook what had rarely been attempted before in Viet Nam—a hunting expedition to seek out and destroy the retreating Reds rather than let them escape to fight again on their own terms. For a fortnight, the troopers of the 1st Air Cavalry got lots of blistered feet, fought some brief skirmishes and took some prisoners, but made no real contact with the enemy. The chance of real battle seemed lost until last week, when the U.S. abruptly found its foe in the shadow of Chu Pong Mountain (see map). The result was the first major encounter between U.S. and North Vietnamese regular troops—and the biggest, bloodiest and most brutal losses for both sides in the war.
A Hi & a Smile. The longest week began on a sun-drenched Sunday morning in a small clearing, designated Landing Zone X Ray, in the Chu Pong foothills. Intelligence had long suspected the Chu Pong massif of harboring a large Communist base fed from the Cambodian side of the border. X Ray seemed a likely spot to find the enemy, and so it was. No sooner had the 1st Battalion of the Air Cav's 7th Regiment rushed from its choppers in the landing zone than the shooting began.
Struggling to set up a perimeter near the base of a hill, the 2nd Platoon of B Company found itself under such severe shelling from mortars that it was soon forced up a fingerlike slope—apart from the rest of the battalion and in the very midst of the enemy. Finally taking refuge on a narrow ledge, the isolated platoon fired at the khaki-clad North Vietnamese attackers from as close as five to ten feet. Sergeant Clyde Savage stood up to blast down three of them, found to his horror that his automatic rifle was empty. "I didn't know what to do," he recalls, "so I just said 'Hi' and smiled. All three of them stood looking at me, sort of confused. Then they began fumbling, but I had slipped in a fresh magazine by then and sprayed."
For 26 hours the fight raged on as Communist crossfire kept the little band pinned down. "Anyone who moved was hit," said Savage, as he described the bitter struggle in which first the platoon leader and then the platoon sergeant were mowed down. But the rest fought on as wave after wave of attacks was beaten back by the platoon's guns and pinpoint Air Cav artillery support. When the remnants of the 2nd Platoon were finally rescued and brought back to safety, they were dazed and jabbering, but still had discipline, pride and—most amazing of all—ammunition to spare.