Stories of Charlie Co & 2-12th Inf Regiment

 Everyone remembers the first time they were shot at in combat. At the end of March, 1968 the battalion was involved in Operation Wilderness. Most of the divisional units were linked up in various groupings of elements simultaneously, working in different areas around either Dau Tieng or Tay Ninh. For our battalion, the 2/12^th, we were OPCON’d to the 199^th LIB and their organic units, the 3/7^th, 4/12th, D Troop 3/17^th mechanized and their aerial scout team A Troop.

 We had jumped from Dau Tieng  down to Go Dau Ha to FSB Hamilton the day of the 30th, and did a quick sweep of the area. On the morning of the 1^st of April we were flown west across the Van Co Dong River and dropped into a rice paddy area where we started to work our way westward over the next three days.

 The morning of the 4^th, after receiving reports from Charlie Co 1^st platoon’s AP of movement to their front and brief contact when they sprung their ambush on two VC at 0640, our task force mobilized and moved out of our night laager around 8AM on a westward azimuth.

 At our location, was D troop 3/17th and B, C and D companies 2/12^th. The remainder of the task force was to our north and west , conducting their own RIF’s. At 0800 we break out of our NL and head west and are in a “on line” formation with D troop and Charlie Co taking the point and Bravo off to our right with Delta trailing

 At 0955, a track spots movement to our front and the track commander motions to Schultz and myself to come over to his vehicle as he points to the west across a hedgerow. He says he is “holding fast” and wants the foot grunts to check out the area to his immediate front. So, Schultz and I abandon (stupidly, what else can I say as a greenhorn) our gun crew, walk around the APC and move forward onto an oxcart trail. As I look to my left and front and down the oxcart trail, I don’t see anything. Within a matter of a few seconds, AW fire and RPG’s are going off. My head whirls to my right in the direction of the noise as I drop to the ground on the road. In that moment, I see David Schultz who was standing to my right grab his midsection and fall motionlessly to the ground.

 My eyes scan the terrain across the trail and I see a row of bunkers with men in pith helmets firing their AK-47s. I pick out a few targets and engage, then crawl over to Schultz to see if I can determine his injuries. He is nonresponsive and not moving. I try and roll him over but he’s got all this gear on and he is a big kid to boot. I try and get a pulse. In the mean time, bullets are whizzing by me and as I look around, I am alone. The tracks have pulled back from the intense fire and I am separated from the unit.

 I am sure that Schultz is gone, but as I continue to make that final determination I get hit by some gunfire from the trenches and now, any chance to get Schultz out of there has vanished. What to do, I  ask myself?  The only way I can move him, even if he is alive, is to stand up and drag him. That is a ticket for my own death I am sure as I look towards the base of fire that is coming from those bunkers.I am totally exposed in the open with no fire support of my own. I must make a decision and leave him there. Is he really gone, I ask? Can I be sure? A question I have struggled with for 44 years and today, like the Phoenix, it rises once more.

 I fire off a few more bursts from my M16 and jump up and work my way back to the company. Past a burning APC and its two occupants, I pick my cover carefully. Once I locate a NCO and tell him of what I have witnessed, I am told to we will be holding our ground and Schultz is left to his fate. I am ordered to see a medic for my wound. The fight would continue for the rest of the day and the area to our front would be pounded with artillery and air strikes. I say a prayer for Schultz and just hope that I made the right choice, for now, there is no other……………………

 Lost between the 4^th and 5^th of April, 1968:

 Lorn Compton, Bravo Co.

 Lawrence Osborne, Bravo Co.

 David Rosenberger, Bravo Co.

 Robert Thompson, Bravo Co.

 Rafael Martinez, Bravo Co.

 Tommy Knapp, Charlie Co.

 David Schultz, Charlie Co.

 Richard Call, D Troop 3/17^th

 Heinrich Gerstheimer, D Troop 3/17th

 More can be read about this day in my journal found in RESEARCH/ BATTLE STORIES/BOOTS ON THE GROUND at www.212warriors.com