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The account of Alpha Company's trial came from Photographer Faas and a fellow A.P. man, Reporter Peter Arnett, who were in the area, as Photographer Noonan had been, to cover the battle of Song Chang. Faas was with Lieut. Colonel Bacon when Shurtz's call came in, and he took down the excited dialogue. He picked up the rest of the narrative when Sgt. Blankenship and Bacon's exec returned from their visit to the company, then passed the details on to Arnett, who put the story on the wire. Neither man saw or spoke to anyone at Alpha firsthand; no reporters did until week's end. Their basic account held up, but their report that "nearly all the soldiers of A Company broke" was plainly exaggerated.
So Senseless. It is true that examples of balking on the battlefield are plentiful in any war. In last May's battle for Hamburger Hill, a series of futile attempts to take the summit brought one badly bloodied company to the point of refusing to move again because, as one G.I. said, "we felt it was all so senseless." It is doubtful that such incidents are more common in Viet Nam than they have been in other wars. What does seem clear is that, given the war-weariness on the home front as well as the fatigue in the field, they strike a more sympathetic chord.