Attack on FSB Russell

Hotel 3/12

The  story below was taken from an article written by Janie Blankenship for the "Veterans of Foreign War" (VFW) Magazine. It was part of a series named "Deadliest Vietnam Battles" The article was titled...

"Hell Rains Down"

on

FSB Russell and Neville

In the early morning of February 25, 1969, Marines on two remote fire support bases near the Laotian border came under heavy NVA attack, suffering 145 casualties. The following is the written story within the combined article; this section covers "LZ Russell"

By Janie Blankenship

Introduction

During the post-1969 Tet Offensive, Marines at Fire Support Base Neville and Russell were attacked nearly simultaneously in the early morning hours of February 25, 1969; North Vietnamese Army (NVA) sapper units numbering about 200 at each site, located just five miles apart, penetrated the bases, killing a total of 39 Americans. The NVA's goal was to destroy the artillery pieces and the gun pits.

Pre-emptive air strikes on enemy positions in this region were not permitted because there was a no-bombing policy in effect due to the ongoing peace talks in Paris. When the bloodshed was over that day, neither firefight was given any publicity. Nor has it been the subject of much attention in the past 39 years.

These are the stories of the men who fought at FSB Russell and FSB Neville on that fateful day...

"FSB Russell: 'Disturbing and Unsettling"

Having served with 3rd Platoon, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, Dennis Gardner remembers the first time he saw FSB Russell. "It was strange to view this cleared-off spot in the otherwise dense jungle," Gardner said. "It had its own disturbing and unsettling appearance to me."

Just 10 miles from Laos, FSB Russell was situated on a rugged mountaintop within range of the Demilitarized Zone, which made it a frequent target for enemy mortar and ground attacks. It existed for just one year with its six-gun artillery battery continuously protected by about 300 Marines.

Russell was defended by platoons from Echo, Foxtrot, and Kilo companies of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, as well as Hotel and Mortar Batteries of the 12th Marines including a detachment from 1st Searchlight Battery, when it was hit by heavy mortar fire around 4:00AM. That was quickly followed by a 200-man attack by elements of the 27th NVA Regiment, which had breeched the base's northeast perimeter. Within minutes, the command post was decimated.

Assigned to 3rd platoon of Echo Company, Rich Woy, a navy corpsman, recalls that he had just returned to his hooch when the base was attacked. "It was pitch black, but I could hear Lieutenant Hunt whisper to us from the opening. 'Be quiet, there's gooks right outside the front door.' We could hear them speaking Vietnamese."

Before Woy could act, a deafening explosion rocked the hooch. He pulled wounded corpsman Bill Collins through a window and hid him in a concealed opening of another bunker. He then made multiple trips up and down the hill, tending to the wounded.  "I was able to salvage only a few battle dressings, cravats, and a small amount morphine syringes," Woy said." "After taking that up to the top, I remained there to help triage and load the casualties on the arriving medevac choppers." (Woy earned a Silver Star for his unrelenting service that morning.)

Gardner recalls hearing the NVA coming up through the trash dump on the other side of the hill. "We fought them off until someone on the other side decided we weren't worth the cost," Gardner said. They broke off and moved away.

He moved from the listening post because friendly fire was hitting all around, putting him and others in danger. "The ground shook and the night sky became brilliant with light from exploding rounds," Gardner recalled. "The noise was deafening, the battle was raging and the whole experience was both exhilarating and scary as hell. All we could do was hug the high ground and ride it out."

Charles Davis was in a dark bunker when a satchel charge hit the door and blew up. He heard the NVA  digging under the back wall, so he moved before they blew that wall too.

Meanwhile, Sam Young, a section chief on Gun 3 base piece, was immediately pinned down by enemy small-arms fire. A satchel charge hit a bunker wall near him, blasting Young up the hill and over the parapet wall. "When I came to, I remember letting out a scream, he recalled. "I remember a loud ping as the satchel charge went off and what sounded like a thousand canaries chirping at the same time. My sight was gone except for a dim glow."

Young managed to find cover inside a bunker with two members of his crew who insisted on leaving to get a corpsman to treat him. the bunker was soon engulfed in flames after more satchel charges went off. He crawled out, calling for help along the way; "as I made my way across the parapet, I remember crawling over bodies, not sure if they were someone I knew or NVA," he said.

He later found out that his two buddies who went for help were killed outside his bunker door.  Young was medevaced and spent ten months in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital before being medically discharged.

When the battle was over, Gardner spent the day digging dead Marines out of collapsed bunkers, including the man whom Gardner had filled in for that night at the listening post.

"The Marines who were left were as stoned-faced and somber as human beings could look," Gardner said. "One of the corpsman watched us come in, and he thought we were ghosts walking because no one could live through the hell that rained down upon us."

According token Heins of Hotel Battery, eight of the sixty men in his unit were killed and another 25-30 wounded. "As I remember, there were only about 12 of us left to operate the three upper guns," he said. "I remember going up to the top of the LZ in a daze, helping the wounded and loading dead on to the helicopters.

Captain Albert Hill, commanding officer of Echo Company, has been described by the men who served under him as a "Marine's Marine," in part foe his actions at FSB Russell. For his "skillfully and proficient command" during the firefight, Hill was awarded a Silver Star. He died from cancer in 1992.

In all, 24 Americans were killed on the barren hilltop--- 15 infantrymen from 2/4 and 9 artillerymen of H 3/12. Some 77 were wounded. The bodies of 25 NVA were found after the battle within the FSB Russell perimeter...

A Personal Account

Ken Heins-Hotel 3/12

To the best of my recollection, on February 24, 1969, at approximately 2330 hours, we got a fire mission to fire support for Golf Battery, on LZ Neville, who had NVA in the wire.  We fired until approximately 0300 on February 25, 1969 and got a temporary end of mission.  At that time, some of the guys went back to their bunkers to rest.  I don't know when, but at around this time someone had a radio playing.  I don't know if it was live or a tape, but the song, Crimson and Clover, by Tommy James and the Shondells, was playing.  This is the last song I remember before the shit hit the fan.  To this day when I hear this song, I always wonder if I will get to hear the end of it.

I was on phone watch or restocking the ammo bunker on Gun 6, I'm not sure which, when we started getting mortared (approximately 0330, or 0400).  At first, I thought the grunts were shooting off their 81 mortars.

The NVA had their tubes set up so close to the hill that you could see the flash when the rounds came out of their mortars; they were either shooting in the wire or we were getting short rounds.  The rounds started hitting between the gun pits and the wire on the east side of the hill somewhere between guns 4 and 6.  There was a lot of confusion for the first few minutes.  Some people were running around yelling "short rounds"; others were yelling "incoming".   It took a while for the word to come down we were being mortared by NVA units. 

I was in charge of the M60; I ran for the  machine gun position.  At this time, mortars were coming in quite heavily; people were yelling to get into our bunkers.  When I reached the M60 position, two mortars hit close by; shrapnel went whizzing around me.  I could still hear people screaming "get into the bunkers," so I turned around and ran to our location, which was already occupied by three other guys.  About the same time I arrived in the bunker we could hear NVA soldiers screaming and yelling (they were attacking under their own mortar fire!)  Believing we didn't have any rifles in the bunker with us we felt helpless (I knew mine was inside the ammo bunker).  

About this time one of the guys decided to get out of the bunker so he ran out the door.  He had no more got out and North Vietnamese soldiers blew the door right off of the side of the bunker.  What I believe to be an NVA officer was standing on top of our bunker; because he could be heard very clearly, shouting what seemed to be orders.  I remember numerous loud explosions and powder flashes from exploding munitions at the doorway.  I climbed under one of the bunks for more protection from satchel charges, or fragmentation grenades, whatever they were throwing in on us.  That's the last thing I remember.  I was knocked unconscious because of the explosions. 

I do not remember anything until the CO, or XO, whatever his title was that morning, was shouting inside the bunker, asking if anyone was in there.  I yelled back, climbing out to find the front wall completely blown out and one side entirely gone.  The roof was caved in and I had a small crawl space to get out; it was already daylight by this time. 

The degree of damage to the bottom three-gun positions was catastrophic.  Two of the guns were so badly damaged they had to be removed from the hill.  Most of the bunkers were completely demolished; I remember going up to the top of the LZ in a daze, helping the wounded and loading dead on to the helicopters.  Lance Corporal Lewis, who was the A-Chief on Gun 6 (the one I was assigned to), was lying on the LZ with massive wounds, screaming in pain. I was helping the corpsman with him when Lewis died.  He had been in the bunker below the M60 (the bunker I was trying to get to). Maybe if I could have stayed with the M60 and tried to hold off the attack long enough to get him out of that bunker he might still have been alive or, on the other hand, I may have been as dead as he was.  Out of approximately 60 men that were in Hotel Battery, we had eight KIA and approximately 25-30 wounded.  As I remember there were only about 12 of us left to operate the three upper guns. 

At this time, I was reassigned to Gun 3.  I'm not sure how many guys there were left in our fire directional control center and our command.  I have documentation that there was approximately 200 NVA from the 27th NVA Regiment that overran us.  At some time around 0415 all communications with LZ Russell were lost and the order was given to fire direct fire on our position because of fear that our guns would be used against the Rockpile and Vandergrift Combat Base (other Marine Corp installations.)  From unclassified combat action reports, I have discovered there were approximately 714 high explosive rounds from four different battery's (105mm and 155mm Howitzers and 8-inch guns) fired in support of LZ Russell in the early morning hours of February 25, 1969.  Most of the bunkers on the lower part of the hill (Gun positions 4, 5 and 6) were destroyed including the Fire Directional Control bunker on the top of the hill.  It is my belief that some of these bunkers were hit by friendly fire, because of the extensive damage they sustained.  The rest of the day, we mostly had helicopters bringing in troops, reinforcement personnel for the Battery, for the grunt units and ammunition for us and the mortar companies.   At 2000 hours on February 25, 1969, we again had incoming mortar rounds and movement on the lines and another 92 rounds were fired in direct support of our position. 

After February 25, 1969, we began the long process of rebuilding the hill by building more personnel bunkers, new larger main ammo bunkers, rebuilding all the gun pits, new FDC, etc.  During the spring and summer of 1969, we were called upon to fire support for grunt units operating near the DMZ and LZ Russell; during this time, most of us were exhausted beyond belief.  Not only were we staying up all hours of the night firing rounds, but also restocking ammo bunkers during the day along with trying to rebuild the position after we were overrun.

Ken Heins, Hotel 3/12

A Second Account

Bobby Daniels-Hotel 3/12

Around 0100, or 0200 on the morning of 25 February, 1969 we received a fire mission that LZ Neville was being overrun and all the guns were being fired in their support. I assisted in Gun one’s parapet during the fire mission. The firing went on and on… I don’t know how long it lasted. My recollection is that there was a pause in the firing and we were just waiting for a period of time. My next memory is we started getting incoming. From then on, my memory is bits and pieces. I know I tried to crawl back to the hooch and find a helmet, flack jacket, or another weapon as I was only carrying a .45. Explosions were all around us and my eardrums were ringing constantly. Later, I was crawling with someone else (I believe it was Newman) and trying to find cover.  There was an extremely loud explosion, which I later learned was a mortar that hit close by.  I remember rolling along the ground; I guess it was from the concussion of the incoming mortar.  After that I couldn't hear anything for awhile.  Then people were screaming and yelling and crying.  I remember hearing the gooks talking and I had the sense that they were all around me, everywhere.

I crawled behind a parapet wall and rolled over on my back.  My butt started burning and I realized I was wounded.  I lay on my stomach with my .45 in my hand, hearing the gooks talking.  When I looked in the sky, I saw "Puff the Magic Dragon" dropping illumination rounds.  Snoopy was firing in our support and after each loud roaring noise, I could see wavy red lines from the chopper to the ground.  I remember thinking Snoopy would fix everything.  I could see the gooks running around everywhere, talking and shouting.  As I was looking around trying to figure out what to do next, I saw a gook aiming at me with his rifle; it seemed like he was aiming at me for hours.  It was almost like slow motion as I brought my .45 around and fired… I don't know what happened next.  I'm sure I must have hit him, I just don't know.

It started getting daylight and I saw a 50 Caliber Machine Gun on the top of a hooch below us.  I remember thinking I needed to get to it, but every time I tried to climb over the wall, someone started shooting.  Some came up to me, maybe a corpsman, and said I had "all kind of meat coming out of my ass".  He dressed the wound and when I told him I was trying to get to the machine gun, he said, "I'll get the sonofabitch for you"…. And he did!  Another guy asked me if I knew how to shoot a 105.  I told him I did, but we could not get it to work properly.   Then he told me he was going to put the 50-Cal on top of a bunker and wanted me to shoot from here, to here, until he told me to stop.  And I did.  I was carried to the machine gun and someone brought me boxes of ammo.  I kept shooting the gun exactly where he told me to.  It was hard to see anything as it was still dark and smoke was everywhere.  He eventually came back and told me to stop firing.  I remember the gun was so hot, it fired four or five rounds even after I stopped.

The next thing I remember is being put on a medivac chopper and going to Da Nang.  As we left the hill, I remember the chopper was full of pain;  people were crying and screaming.  I was only eighteen years old and I didn't understand why all this was happening… it seemed like a bad dream.  When I got to Da Nang, a chaplain came and asked if there was anything he could do.  I gave him a headspace gauge for a 50-Caliber Machine Gun and told him to be sure to get it back to my unit.  He said, "Son, you've got a lot more to worry about now, other than getting this tool back to your unit".  I started crying and told him he didn't understand how important this was.  It was the only gauge my unit had and he said he would take care of it.

The chaplain went around talking to other wounded Marines, while poncho liners were being pulled over heads of those who had died.  The doctor told me I was being sent to Japan and I was glad to be leaving such a God-Forsaken place.  I was carried onto a C-141 Medivac bird and flown to Japan, where I was put on a helicopter and flown to the hospital.  The pilot asked me if I wanted to see a little bit of Japan from the air and I told him I did.  He banked the chopper so that I could see out of the window.  The snow on the mountains was beautiful… quite a contrast to a few days before where all I could see was blood and smoke and death.

At the hospital in Japan, as I was being pushed to the operating room, a doctor bent over me and told me he was also from Georgia and I was going home.  I heard someone say, "He's got blood in his urine," and someone else say, "He has shrapnel close to his kidney.  Take him back to X-ray".  One nurse told me she was "from Georgia and everything was going to be okay".  I was in the hospital for three months; I visited Newman, (I think that was who he was), who had lost both his legs.  We talked and cried over why all this was happening.  I remember lying in the hospital bed on my stomach at night with silent tears coming down my face, as I did not want to wake the others in the ward.  During the time I was in the hospital, someone called my Mother and told her I had been killed.  She thought I was dead until she got a letter from me.  There were some good times in the hospital, mainly getting to know some of the staff.  I got to be friends with two corpsmen and went on liberty with them when I got better.

After my recuperation, I was sent back to Vietnam to Golf Battery, 3/12.  I raised hell because I wanted to go back to Hotel Battery and within a few hours, I was there.  I returned to LZ Russell where things looked very different because the Seabees were concreting the parapets.  After a short time, I contracted Malaria and had to go to Da Nang for treatment.  I stayed there approximately a month then, I returned to LZ Russell, where I worked in the XO pit at night.  My job was to wake the XO officer when a fire mission came in.

These are the main things I can remember.  Everything may not be in the exact order, but this is my best recollection.

Bobby Daniels, Hotel 3/12