Operation Buffalo

I went online and read several articles about what people’s thoughts are around the Fourth of July. Some were interesting, and others were just sending good wishes for all to have a safe and wonderful Fourth.

I sat back and asked myself, “So what are my feelings about the Fourth of July?”

The first thing that came to mind was July 1, 1967. The place was just off the shore of Vietnam. Our Marine battalion had just come aboard the USS Okinawa helicopter ship to get a few days of hot meals, new gear, clean clothes, showers, and some needed rest. We had been having many battles and skirmishes over the last two months. Getting a short break was exactly what we needed. It was more like recharging our batteries and after a couple of days, we would resume operations, hunting the enemy.

We were aboard only a few hours when we received news that a company from the First Battalion, Ninth Marines (the “Walking Dead” as they would come to be known) had been wiped out in the DMZ. By the time we received the call, only about 35 Marines were alive out of the entire company (a company was, on average, about 250 men)! We weren’t going to be able to take our break—our brothers needed help. Every Marine battalion in the area was called upon to come to 1/9s aid in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Battalions were coming in from the west and south. Since we were Special Landing Force Alpha and on a helicopter ship, we were going to attack from the east, from the South China Sea.

The next day, the ship’s loudspeakers pronounced, “NOW HEAR THIS, NOW HEAR THIS! BATTLE STATIONS, BATTLE STATIONS!”—words that always raised my adrenalin.

Our Company Commander, Captain Reczek, met us on the hangar deck.

“Men, we don’t know what we’re walking into, but our own Bravo Company took off a half an hour ago and headed for the DMZ,” he said. “They were hit upon landing, and we lost several men and two choppers. The rest of the choppers are returning soon, and we need to get onboard and get into the fight. Our new landing site is a small open area about a mile south of where Bravo landed. Once we land, we’ll begin sweeping toward our stranded brothers.”

It was a hundred degrees when we landed. The word came down to ration our water. Two months before, on two operations, we ran out of water. Heat stroke followed and as much as a third of the company suffered from heat exhaustion. We certainly didn’t want that to happen again. After two months of combat, our officers were good and now well-seasoned.

The goal was to find the enemy and that wasn’t going to be a problem. There were thousands of North Vietnamese troops all over the area. The enemy planned this attack for months. They had artillery, rockets and mortars zeroed in on several areas surrounding 1/9. When I experienced this bombardment, it felt like everything was in total chaos. In retrospect, after looking back after 50+ years, I realize how well-trained we were. But at the time, I thought I was going to die.

The artillery, rockets and mortars were constant. Sometimes hundreds of rounds crashed randomly all around us. Some of the projectiles that exploded were so close, the concussion would punch against your eardrums—blocking out all other noise until the ringing subsided. One of the rounds sent shrapnel into my pack. The bombardment finally ceased, and Marines slowly came out in the open again. A Marine yelled the words, “Corpsman up!” This means someone was wounded. Mostly the bombardment just shook us up. Only a few were medevac’d from the initial onslaught, but every time we moved, they would send more rounds into our positions.

On July 4th, word came down that we were to attack a tree line that was about one and a half football fields away from our positions. Our artillery and jets laid siege to that tree line for several hours until our officers thought it was safe to attack and end the stalemate. The order came for us to get up and attack. We had four tanks supporting us. As we got online, I thought that this is what it must have felt like in the Civil War, when the men of the North and South had to get up and take an enemy position. We began walking toward that infamous tree line and as soon as we got into the open, all hell broke loose. All four tanks were taken out quickly by rocket propelled grenades (RPGs).

In the Civil War the muskets had to be loaded one round at a time and it would take almost a minute to reload each. On this particular 4th of July, modern day, large caliber enemy machine guns opened fire with a fury of death you can’t imagine. Marines were falling everywhere. There was no place to find cover in the open. My platoon sergeant, Malloy, was hit in the back and so was Sergeant Pike, my squad leader. Both died almost immediately. I ran to where I had started from and dove headfirst behind some trees for cover. I opened fire at the tree line, but it would have been a miracle if I hit anyone. We ended up pulling back and called in more air and artillery support.

Later, B-52 bombers came and blew the hell out of the tree line. The enemy had been adapting to our tactics. They had worked feverishly constructing huge underground bunkers, anticipating our close air support, but I don’t think the NVA anticipated the B-52s and their two-thousand-pound bombs. I don’t think those bunkers survived those explosions. At the time, I hoped the NVA had only succeeded in digging their own graves.

It was July 4th, 1967 and I had ten months yet to go. There was more coming. So much more. My unit was awarded two Presidential Citations for the battles we faught. I personally received three Purple Hearts for wounds received on the battlefield.

It disappoints me to see many of our citizens giving up on freedom and Democracy for Socialism or Communism. There seems to be a force that is trying to divide us (some say it is the social media algorithms that prey on our limbic systems and pit us against one another). It often feels like an agenda that is trying to take hold of the entire world. We must continue to fight, even when we’re not at war. That’s the message that I want to share with you now.

The biased news media is part of the problem. It breaks my heart to watch the news and not see balanced and objective reporting. Stories that should be newsworthy are often ignored in favor of a bias until the media outlets realize they can’t keep the cat in the bag anymore. A recent report said that only 20% of Americans have any relevant amount of confidence in our political system and I can certainly relate. It hurts me to say that because I love this country. But again, it just underscores our need to continue to educate ourselves and find true signals in all the noise.

I’d like to echo Dick Morris’ comments wishing us a Happy Fourth of July.

We are the freest and most generous country in the world. We are the only country that defines ourselves by our ideals and not by its ancestry. It was America that defeated the Nazis and Japanese and then, we not only helped our allies, but also helped our enemies rebuild their economies.

Happy Fourth of July and God Bless America! 

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