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On 26 February 1971, a five ton military truck,
bumper number 39 A 22, was ambushed while on the way from Quang Ngai to Chu
Lai, Vietnam. The driver, PFC Robert Macklan, and a passenger, PFC Donald
Tittle, had left Cramer Compound at1800 hours and headed north on highway QL1.
Because of the impending darkness, they should have remained in Quang Ngai.
Instead, they opted to head for Chu Lai to get back to their unit.
Unfortunately, they were ambushed by the Viet Cong at BS 586 948, approximately
one mile north of the bridge over the Song Tra Bong outside of Binh Son. The
truck windshield was struck by three bullets, while the truck body was
perforated by numerous rounds. The truck ran off the road, hit a ditch, and
then overturned.
At 2015 hours, the Binh Son District officer reported
to the Tactical Operations Center at LZ Dottie that Poplar Force soldiers at
Binh Son had heard the sounds of small arms fire and what sounded like an
exploding B40 rocket from the ambush. They sent a patrol to investigate. At
2030 hours, the forces at Binh Son fired 81mm mortar illumination rounds for
their relief force. Fifteen minutes later, they reported that one U.S. soldier
had been wounded in the ambush, while the other soldier was missing in action!
It turned out that the other soldier had escaped from the vehicle before the
Viet Cong arrived. He hid in the rice fields alongside the road. At 2050 hours
he was discovered by the Popular Force soldiers and was no longer accounted for
as missing. The Popular Force soldiers from PF 03 remained in the area, secured
the truck, and set up an ambush for any remaining Viet Cong.
At 2055
hours, Sabre 40 arrived on station and checked out the area. He reported that
he could not see where the truck had hit a mine. To him, it looked like the
truck had run off the road and then hit a ditch, tearing out the front axle.
The truck was upside down, but did not appear to have been damaged from
explosives.
The driver of the vehicle had suffered major cuts and
abrasions in the crash and was given morphine at the scene to ease his pain.
The other soldier had only minor abrasions. Dustoff 53 completed the medical
evacuation of the two soldiers at 2135 hours and took them to the 27th Surgical
Hospital in Chu Lai.
CPT Geoffrey Love, the Deputy District Advisor at
Binh Son, later notified the LZ Dottie Tactical Operations Center that ten Viet
Cong soldiers had ambushed the truck on QL1 from several hundred meters away.
Before they were able to leave their ambush positions to search the vehicle,
however, a Vietnamese man, woman, and child came along and dragged PFC Macklan
from the truck to their house. With total disregard for their personal safety,
they hid him from the Viet Cong. CPT Love reported that MACV was trying to get
the names of the man and woman in hopes that the Americal Division would
reciprocate with some kind of reward. Any reward would have to be presented
covertly to protect the Vietnamese man and woman from reprisal by the Viet
Cong.
[This article was based on the S2/S3/S5 Daily Staff Journal
prepared in the 1st Battalion 6th Infantry TOC at LZ Dottie on 26 Feb 71. The
original is now located in the National Archives II, College Park, MD. The
author was the Duty Officer at the TOC when the incident occurred.]
Anyone with additional information about the incident, please contact
wr9r@aol.com.
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