The Chaos of Combat

An personal anecdote from my past.

A firefight in a crowded marketplace:

In late October or early November of 1968, I had the day off work (which didn't happen often) and went off base into Phan Rang City. I was carrying a .357 Magnum that I'd bought from a G.I. who had gone back to the states a few weeks earlier. The revolver held 6 rounds and I had an additional 2 loads in my pocket (18 rounds total).

A little after noon, about 12 - 15 (my estimate) Viet Cong attacked the marketplace and started shooting the place up. I think it was mostly a harassment attack because some of them were firing upwards. I drew my weapon and dived into an open storefront. The papa-san who's store it was was dragging out an old WW2 vintage carbine from under the counter and I damn near shot him right there. He looked at me, dropped the weapon, shook his head "no", then pointed out at the square. I nodded and he pick the rifle back up and we both crouched behind the counter watching what was happening outside.

After about 15 minutes of sporadic firing the Vietnamese Police, called Quan Com (we called them "white mice" because of their white helmets) showed up, took one look at the situation and split (mice aren't known for their bravery). A very short while later, maybe 5 minutes, a ROK (Korean Army) 2-1/2 ton truck with quad .50's mounted on the bed drove into the square and opened fire.

The papa-san and I hugged the earth as bullets went whistling over our heads everywhere. In another 5 or 6 seconds it was all over. I never fired a shot, but that's probably good 'cause even using both hands I'm not sure I could have hit anything I was shaking so bad. Even though I was in uniform, I holstered my weapon and came out of the shop slowly holding my arms up and out from my body, my HANDS clearly visible. After the ROK sargent nodded at me, I let my hands down and we started gathering the dead.

I counted about 150 bodies, more than half of them were women. About 30 or so had some sort of weapon, many of them appeared to be WW2 vintage. 15 had AK-47s and were almost certainly Viet Cong, the rest were probably just shopkeepers like the papa-san I'd survived with. The V.C. killed about 6 or 7 people before the ROKs showed up.

The "official" report?
30+ V.C. attacked Phan Rang City market and killed over 100 innocent civilians before they were neutralized by ROK troops.

I shit you not.
That was my first inkling that things were not what they seemed in Vietnam.
Our government was lying out it's ass to us. (to cover said ass)

My point?
During the firefight, things were so chaotic I couldn't tell who was who.
Since everyone else was in "civilian clothes" (including the VC) there was no way to tell friend from foe. And I had so much adrenaline rushing through my body, my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't have aimed the pistol with any accuracy if my life had depended on it (which I thought it DID).

I qualified as an expert marksman three times while I was in the USAF.
Twice with M-16, once with M-1 carbine.
Before going to Vietnam, I was a member of the Kingsley Field Pistol Team (.45 auto) so I'm a pretty damn good shot with a pistol too. I also spent 3 days in "combat training" before shipping out to Vietnam (with live ammunition).

I was college age back then, but better trained than most civilians outside of maybe the police.

Untill you've experienced combat, most people have no idea what it is like.
Armed students or teachers at VT would almost certainly have resulted in a higher body count with many of them being shot "by accident".

But that's just the opinion of someone who has "been there, done that".


Mac