Hand-To-Hand Combat During the Tet Offensive JJ

And we got to this barrier that machine was behind when I went over it. There was one of them where was one of them the gunners in the ditch he was badly wounded. And he wasn’t dead and he started pulling the gun around and I I put my gun on full automatic I expected it to still get a ripping you know and I bang one single shot came out and I go what the hell and of course I missed him.

 I looked down and the bolt was back and it was ready for another magazine. And as he’s pulling his gun around I didn’t feel I had time to uh do the whole empty spin so I pulled my bayonet and I just jumped on him. And uh I stabbed him in the chest. And what was weird is that when I first stabbed him I hit a brisket bone and it didn’t go in and I go wow what the hell you know this guy ain’t going to die or what.

So I finished him off you know and uh That was a heavy experience to to be that close to him and he blew his last breath in my face you know I could taste his guts you know. Recruit boot camp is recruit boot camp but and they try to break you down and they do break you down. Um You learn a certain amount of discipline and responding the fit the physical fitness I I didn’t have a hard time with it I had been athletic in high school and good upper body strength to do all the obstacle courses I could swim so the water training was not a challenge uh

I did all right in boot camp um I was glad to get out of it but uh Infantry training um you know the running with a full pack and and rifle up mountains in Camp Pendleton on the fire breaks they have there the coastal mountains are steep. And uh you know it was tough to keep up sometimes but uh I was able to to stay with with a unit.

Um I hated uh guard duty in Camp Pendleton. I didn’t like that. That was being out in some boondock place guarding something. Yeah, and cold and uh But I knew that it was uh what I what I had to do, what I did, and um And so I accepted it. >> And when did you when did you go over to Vietnam? >> I went in um I just I think January or early 1967.

And I was there till um uh the end of May 1968. >> And when you first landed there, what were your impressions? >> Well, when I first landed there, um I I wasn’t sure of what my my station my orders, so I they initially put me in uh at Chu Lai Air Base. It’s a kind of in the central southern area. And um I was on a a guard unit to to uh security for the air base.

 We had bunkers. We built bunkers actually out towards the sand dunes of South China Sea area. And um You know, it it it it it took some acclimating. Um I didn’t feel the immediate threat of face-to-face combat there. We were behind wire that somebody else had strung. Uh we did have bunkers. We were taken out and picked up.

 There was incoming mortars and fire sometimes, but it didn’t seem so close, you know, uh until then shortly after that when I transitioned into my infantry unit. Then the war was on. And uh then I was wondering, well, what am I going to do now? >> What were you guys doing? What was your assignment? >> Well, we would um patrol, uh get out into the bush and uh I think we were just looking for Vietnamese or put ourselves out there to be hit so that they could call in artillery or or jet plane bombers.

Uh we went out on ambush at night to set up ambushes and to try to catch the columns of uh Viet Cong or the Vietnamese moving through. Um we did uh sweeps, lying on sweeps, and swept through large areas uh and we would get hit or hit to clear it. Um and that was mostly initially in the in the more central southern region.

 Um and when we moved north to um an area called Phu Loc vicinity, with the more mountain jungles, and uh I think we were there to break up their activities, to intercept, to um to wear them down. And uh and then it escalated when the Tet Offensive started, uh when they literally uh attacked us constantly and we couldn’t even break I mean, couldn’t break contact.

 We just had like fight it out. And uh so it was kind of evolved like that. >> And to you were assigned a rocket launcher, is that correct? >> Yeah, I had uh well, they’re shoulder rockets. Uh when I first got there, they hadn’t issued the the new armament yet. In fact, I initially got an M14, which I qualified on, I trained on.

 I love the M14 rifles. It’s a strong 7.62 mm round rifle. You could drop it in the mud, pick it up, it would fire. The rounds were like 300 3 uh 306 306 like deer hunting rounds, big slugs. They had strong hitting power. Uh if you hit, you know, your enemy, they would go down. The trouble is the ammo was heavy and a lot of you couldn’t carry a lot of ammo.

And then I carried I carried a a rocket rocket launcher that you had to assemble into from a tube. So, you had to carry it either disassembled or risk expose yourself to assemble it and you had to put it on your shoulder and have a eight gunner load it a a rocket round the back. So, it’s cumbersome uh for jungle fighting.

And then we surveyed those rocket launchers and they issued us what they called laws, lightweight anti-tank weapons. And those were expendables. You they carried they had little um clasps on the end, you popped those off, you expanded the rocket, had a 2.75, a smaller round, but still lethal. And then the sights popped up.

 And then you like I carried um sometimes four of those myself plus my rifle plus my pack plus my ammunition food, canteen, e-tool. I got rid of the gas mask right away. That thing was a pain. But um And then we were uh we had some of the we call them butt plates, which were infantry my riflemen. They would have to carry some rockets for us cuz we would like shoot up then when you you rocket, they’d give us a rocket and then I would resupply myself.

I have an eight gunner sometimes who’d carry some rockets and I would shoot them. And so, I would just uh blow up stuff. That’s my job. >> Sounds like it was a pretty physical >> It was physical. Especially in the mountains and in the jungles, uh, because those rockets had a back blast, too. So, they cuz they recoil is.

So, um, you had to be careful where you shot because if you shot in front of your people, they get in back blasted. And plus when they go off, they give your position away. So, you don’t want to stay in one place. You want to fire and move because if you don’t move, the enemy will shoot where you were. So, uh, but you could really support a line infantry with it.

 And and I did uh, when we were on, uh, I think mostly I remember the Tet Offensive after the North Vietnamese had seized all those towns and communities and we began to retake them. And we’re going against fixed positions and bunkers and places. And we went in short columns and just assaulted from the open. And we could see the muscle flashes and then they were shooting.

 You could hear the rounds go by and they go by like that. You just got to see them. And some guys would get hit, some guys would go down, some guys were shot, some guys died and you had to keep moving. And I would fire the rocket. So, if I saw a muscle flash, I’d fire rocket there, fire rocket there, fire rocket there to try to give, uh, support to the assault.

 So, we didn’t lose our momentum. We didn’t want to get pinned down. We want to maintain fire’s priority. And so, that was my job. >> Can you tell me a little bit about the Tet Offensive and your experience of that? >> Yeah, the Tet, you know, uh, we knew something was happening. Uh, we’d taken a new hill and we had to fight for the hill.

 I mean, we just like 1 5 just came on this hill and we started setting up a compound, stringing concertina wire, stringing angle iron wire for the ankle feet. Uh building positions, digging of course trenches and holes. May putting up tents and then we started running patrols out of there. And uh we were getting uh mortared and rocketed uh periodically and we ran into a lot of moving troops and had pretty serious firefights.

But not sustained. Um when the Tet hit, it was uh it was non-stop. I mean they they they were positioned for me the opening of the Tet I was at the fire base in Phu Loc. And uh a squad had gone out that night on a patrol. And they didn’t come back. We got hit that night. We hit with a lot of rockets and mortars.

And uh some some assaults, there was some bodies in the wire. We were with South Vietnamese troops with us at the compound. It was their compound. We went to support it. We we thought they might do an overrun. I think we we prevented that. To hold that it was important uh base to keep the whole the highway open, highway one.

 We were trying to keep moving north uh to support the assault in Hue City that was also going on at the same time. And uh so that next morning we went out on a rescue mission to find out what happened to that squad. And we found them and they were just all dead. Just laying like strewn wood in the street.

 A pa- like a cobblestone type street in this community Phu Loc. And I remember the blood. Their blood was running in the gut like a gutter like it was water and uh and their bodies were not mutilated. I don’t think they had time to come up and do anything. But uh it was like “Oh, man, you know, they’re all dead, you know.

” And so, uh They They’d already pulled back, so nobody for us to to fight. So, we were on kind of mop-up, which was was hard. It was hard to pick up all our friends’ bodies, and and there was no chopper. There was no air support that time and because of the weather. So, we commandeered this uh like a farm cart with a squeaky wheels, and we started loading these bodies of our guys in there and taking their weapons and holding them and getting their ammo and sprinting out to us.

And it was a gruesome a gruesome scene, and uh And then it was like, “On. It was on.” We got We got those guys loaded up out choppered out somehow. I can’t remember exactly what happened. I think we had spent one night with the bodies. And then uh then we pulled in then we had to retake these villages. And this was just constant.

 I mean, I remember we’d be on the tree line kind of like down or be dropped off, and we start spreading out and go, “Shit, I know what’s going to happen. They’re going to going to assault that.” Nobody ever gave us a lot of instructions. It was like, you know, they would say, “This is what we’re going to do.

” No, it’s like, you should start doing it. You got to figure out yourself what’s going on. So, I knew it was going to be a sweep. But I I could see across this wide-open area the North Vietnamese flag flying. And well, okay, so we’re going to take that. And then we would move in and then it’s just fight it out, take that ville, and just kill them.

Some got away. Most didn’t. They stood and fought. Uh they wasn’t They weren’t like like the Cong had been hit-and-run guerrillas. These guys came to fight. And then uh then I look back and I see our bodies. And then corpsman going to guys to guys trying to cut the clothes off, try to stop the bleeding on some guys and we’d set up a perimeter to bring in a chopper and then we went to the next ville.

Like, okay, we’re going again. And uh it just went like that. Uh until we did a final sweep in a just north of Phu Bai called Troy Troy Bridge area T R U Y. And in the interval we got some replacements and one of my best friends my my one of the best friend I ever had had been gone on R&R when this hit. And then he was able to rejoin us.

I tell you, dude, man, it’s not like this is different, you know, it’s it’s hot. Every day it’s hot, man. And he was like, I think his mind was still at the beach and somewhere. I don’t know where he was, but man, he didn’t seem like he was himself. And uh we went out for another assault and we was through this village and I and it was it deserted.

 We knew it was going to be and then they were waiting for us and then they start firing. And then I remember we got to a cane field. And I looked across and I told him I told my aid gunner, “Go with Swanson cuz he’s he needs rockets on his side and I’ll stay on this side and I got rockets. There’s a machine gunner over here. And Swanson’s machine gunner.

 So, I looked at Swanson and we kind of went, “Okay, buddy, you know, all right, man.” We started working this sugarcane field and as we came out of the field it just blow opened up machine guns and they killed Swanson, they killed my aid gunner, they killed quite a few guys there. And I I was just like, “Oh my god, you know, just I was down.

I tried to throw a hand grenade. It didn’t go out far enough. I got, “Oh, I’m going to blow my eyes out.” It like a crazy battle scene. And then I realized that we were shooting too far that these guys were right there in front of us and I seen their helmets. North Vietnamese helmets. At first I thought those are our guys.

No, cuz I used to think about the Cong would wear the Vietnamese hats, but these guys were military dressed. I right there. So I pulled out my rockets, man. I had point blank. Pow! And so I hit and uh I did good. I killed one machine gunner and uh I killed the guy that killed Swanson. And then uh I saw Swanson laying there and uh I couldn’t go to him, man.

 It’s like I >> [sighs] [snorts] >> I like frozen. Some of the guys start pulling the bodies back. Um And America said, “Hey, watch his head.” Don’t hit it on the rock. Of course he was dead and uh So some kind of a rage came over me at that time and uh I’m going to get those sons of [ __ ] I was saying to myself and so My my ammo I looked down at my my M-16.

I started loading up some magazines. I pulled this uh ammo belt off my chest. It was like digging in my neck. And I put those rounds in the in my magazines. But I didn’t load my rifle. That was a mistake cuz it was so I and we got to this barrier that machine was behind when I went over it. There was one of them where was one of them the gunners in the ditch.

 He was badly wounded. And he wasn’t dead and he started pulling the gun around. And I said I put my gun on full automatic. I expected it still get a ripping, you, and I bam! one single shot came out and I go, “What the hell?” Of course I missed him. I looked down and the bolt was back and it was ready for another magazine.

And as he’s pulling his gun around, I didn’t feel I had time to uh do the whole empty spin, so I pulled my bayonet and I just jumped on him. And uh I stabbed him in the chest. And what’s weird is that when I first stabbed him, I hit a brisket bone and it didn’t go anywhere. I go, “Bam, what the hell? You know, is this guy ain’t going to die or what?” So I finished him off, you know, and uh that was a heavy experience to be that close to him and he blew his last breath in my face, you know, I could taste his guts, you know.

>> [sighs] >> And uh I knew what he ate and uh and then I looked at the field and I said, “That’s it, man.” So I loaded up and I was started chasing after them to kill them. And I didn’t realize I got far in front of where we were cuz we we were pulling us back because we were so combat deficient that we were no longer effective.

 They were pulling us back to trucks and I sat there by myself, man. I go, “What the hell, man? I got to get out of here. I’m going to get captured.” So I started pulling back. I I kind of came to. Uh this rage is kind of like ah ah ah it’s gone. So I worked my way back and I I could hear their voices. I go, “Thank God they didn’t leave me out here, you know.

” Yeah, so then uh Hey, hey, they call me, “Where you been?” They call me uh Luigi. I had a nickname in Vietnam. My middle name’s Lewis and so the an Italian-American sergeant started calling me Luigi and it stuck. Hey Luigi, where you been, man? I get in the truck. I’m walking the hell out of here. So I got I got in the truck.

Yeah, and they took off and then I don’t know what happened after that. Uh they took us to a CB base and they just like dropped us off there. They kind of I guess re-rethink, regroup and uh Those the you know, they’re uh contractors. They’re construction contractors. They had good um They had good food there and stuff.

 They treated us really good. And they were like, “Hey, you guys sit out here.” You know, they gave us They had racks of bunks to lay in. We had We’d been in the bush for weeks. Hadn’t been inside or had any hot food except what we could cook on a heat tab. And um And so I started feeling the loss, you know, I knew those bodies were were probably picked up.

Left Swanson out there with with my AG gunner, guy named Lawrence uh Chaplin. And um We landed at Phu Bai airbase and um within a day or two we choppered into Hue City. And that was where the chopper I was on got shot down, shot up, and uh They made the They got the chopper back to Phu Bai and some of the wounded on the chopper.

 I I was hit on the chopper, but the bullet didn’t go through me. It went through my canteen. And it went from It knocked me to the floor. I remember I was on the floor and I got to get off this floor. And bullets were coming through the floor, you know. And the co-pilot was able to land the chopper back to Phu Bai and they took these guys into the hospital.

And they took me to the hospital and I sat there with a and they checked me out and they said, “Well, you’re lucky, man.” They used to bring people Wait, look at this Look at this guy’s canteen. It’s awesome. Bullet holes Bullet holes through it. And a bullet in my cha- in my flak jacket and didn’t get hit my spinal cord.

And wow, yeah. So, they said, “Well, you we’re going to release you.” They gave me a medical release. And um I caught a ride back to where we were stationed. And um They said, “We’re going to get you out. We’re I’m get you back out there, Luigi. I said, “Okay, but top sergeant.” Then he said, “Okay, we can’t get any choppers. The rain’s too heavy.

 You got to You got to bunker watch tonight.” And I go, “Oh, bunkers again? Okay, bunkers.” So, I kind of lived in limbo there on the base while Hue was while the battle for Hue was going down. And I really felt that I should have been in there with my guys, you know? And uh I had a lot of guilt feelings about not being in there.

 And uh But it’s probably why I’m alive today. I don’t think I would have made it and cuz cuz I I ended up identifying bodies and stuff like that. And uh So, uh after Hue was done about mid-March uh I rejoined my unit, of course. And uh I was supposed to go home. I said, “Stop. I I was supposed to get out of here, man. I only got 13 months.

” He said, “Well, your orders are canceled. You got to stay here.” I said, “What the hell, man? And you got to train with the new recruits coming in. And you got to help them acclimate them on how to shoot Teach them how to shoot laws.” Teach them how to shoot laws. Okay. And uh it was horrible.

 After 2 months, they put me like a in the in the CP compound with like the officers’ [snorts] guards. So, I I wasn’t even in the line unit. I didn’t I was misplaced. I just was It was a hard time for me. The whole thing the whole war had just like been like a wave that just like crashed over me. And uh And these poor guys, man, and their fuzz on their faces, man.

 And then I said, “You guys are going to be dead, you know? I don’t want to know your name. I don’t want to hear your story. I don’t want to know about your girlfriend. Cuz to me, you’re like wood for the fire, man.” And uh and maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. Cuz I did get orders. And I was flew to They flew from Phu Bai to Da Nang.

And we flew out out of Da Nang to Okinawa. The rockets were coming in Da Nang. What do you have to be here? Plane was like weaving. I said if I get off the ground here, man, I’m never going back to this god damn place, man. And I that’s how I felt for many years. So, this return trip that I went to in November of this year of ’95 of ’95 2005 2025 was very cathartic uh experience.

 And uh I had a lot of trepidation about it, but uh I’m really glad I did. And and the guy the veterans that I went with are are beautiful guys, man. And we held each other up, you know, and we told each other stories. I couldn’t probably tell you all of this had not had that experience cuz this business has been shut down for a long time.

And in the years after war it came up uh these emotions came up uh and ended up in like violence. So, I have uh some history of uh uh violent behavior after war >> It sounds like you became Luigi in order to do what you needed to do to >> kind of weird if I tell too many people that story.

 I mean, Luigi actually became like a a second person like Luigi would could do what Steve Valenzuela, who they called me Steve in high school, Estevan, uh may not have been able to do. It’s kind of funny. I I like I later on I like call on Luigi. Come on, Luigi. I need you right now. We’re going to And he would like be a a spirit that would empower me and >> [laughter] >> So, I went through some mental stuff uh Yeah, at first I didn’t do anything, you know, I just uh rode around on a motorcycle with a pistol and a bottle of whiskey and uh

look for trouble, but uh my girlfriend was got pregnant and uh I said, “Oh, well, you know, it’s We’re going to get married because you know when you’re when you’re raising in the ’50s, if your girlfriend is pregnant, you marry. That’s especially raised Catholic school. She was anyway. I was too, but I didn’t really have a faith by that time.

And so I uh I got a job, a good job with the as a fireman for Santa Barbara City Fire Department. And I shaved, cut my hair, got all squared away, stood at attention, saluted the flag. I thought, “This is easy, man. I can do this.” And uh there was um Korean Marine Corps Marine Corps veterans from the Korean War that were on the fire service.

And they said, “You know, we’re going to help you. We’re going to uh you’re a Marine. Guys, we don’t even care if you’re a Mexican. We we like you, you know, you’re a Marine.” You said, “Ah, great, man. We’re all green, you know.” And so cuz at that time the fire service was not integrated in the ’60s. And so they put me in in the city college in fire science courses.

And I began to to learn in pumping and fire science and chemicals and origin. I got assigned to the fire marshal and went out and did inspections and I got interested, went to the city trade school and started getting interested in law. And eventually I transferred to University of California, Santa Barbara and then on to law school and became a lawyer.

>> That’s good. See it. >> And remarried later and have another family. >> So other military guys helped you out, looked out for you the way that you looked out for them. >> That’s right. The veterans The veterans helped me out. Cuz nobody else and everybody else was scared of me, really. >> Mhm. Do you feel proud of your service to this country? >> Yeah, I did it. I did my job.

 I I never shirked a task. I stood every post. I um you know, I executed uh what was assigned to do and uh and aside from the politics of the whole thing, um I felt an honorable service and the guys I served with are the are the are the best. >> Yeah. Um and what does it mean to share your story with people? >> Well, now that I’m able to talk about it, um maybe it will help somebody.

 I don’t know. Um there’s parts of it I’m not real proud of like that incident with the bandit, you know, I feel kind of maybe it was over the top, but uh I you know, I really don’t tell the story. I’m only telling it now because of this whole excursion and bringing it all up and I’ve been thinking about it evening and then I told some story to part of the story with some guys and it’s all seemed at the surface right now rather than pushed down.

 Sometimes it seemed like it’s with somebody else like was a in strange like a dream that that happened that I was in. So, I’m all right with it if if if it helps anybody to hear my story, I’ll tell it. But I don’t want to pretend like I’m a braggart or I did this and that because uh like I said, I did what was asked of me to do.

 I stood up for what I understood a Marine committed that took the oath to defend the Constitution of our country. And um and I’m proud of that. >> Mhm.