Monday, April 3, 1972
Major Ran For His Life 4 Days - And Won
LONG BINH, Vietnam --"I will not surrender," swore the American adviser. "I will not die all balled up with my hands tied behind my back".Maj. Thomas A. Davidson ran back into the command bunker while Communist troops overran his small compound at Loc Ninh.Davidson had gone to Loc Ninh in early April to gather information on Communist activity in the area. He arrived in time to meet the brunt of an entire division attacking Loc Ninh and beginning the red push in Military Region III."They lost a lot of men," Davidson insists. "We killed them in the rubber, in the wire -in the compounds."In the third day of heavy fighting the Communist overran the four compounds that line the runway at Loc Ninh.Thus began a four-day struggle for Davidson to reach safety at another base -An Loc.The handful of defenders at Davidsonr'"s tiny camp huddled underground in the command bunker while he braved heavy enemy fire outside directing air strikes on his camp.Racing back into the command bunker, Davidson was certain the enemy followed him. He pushed his way into the crowded bunker and crawled under a table. The 75 frightened occupants held their breath."It was awfully quiet. Then I heard my interpreter calling me to come out. "We"ve been sold out I... They've got us?" " the major cursed. He was wrong about being sold out, but learned that the NVA were in the compound preparing to invade the bunker. He calmed the panic-stricken Vietnamese and hurried them out. As he followed them the NVA rushed in, weapons blazing.Pouring into the compound, a group of about 15 were mowed down as they ran to the front gate.Meanwhile, Davidson and another group slipped through a hole in the perimeter and darted across the runway. A FAC spotted the rag-tag collection and marked them for a strike."A mother dropped her two children and ran into the rubber," recalls the major. "I grabbed one in each hand and, swinging them by their arms, ran across the runway and into a slight depression just as the first bomb exploded. Somehow that plane didn't hurt any of us... I returned the children to their mother."Davidson looked back at the burning compounds and at the two-story villa he had helped demolish with artillery and rocket fire. It had been a Communist observation post. He watched the Communists setting up antiaircraft positions in the compounds and hopes of a planned rescue faded.At darkness the small band headed toward Loc Ninh City, stopping along the two-mile route to change into civilian clothing."I don't know where that pile of clothing came from," puzzles the major. "I didn't change for obvious reasons. I also remembered reading some captured documents that instructed the NVA to indoctrinate prisoners and then release them. I didn't think that would happen either."As the group neared the city it was halted at an NVA ambush site. Davidson had been trailing another American adviser and a province chief."I lost them! I whispered for them and crawled to where they had been but I couldn't find them!"He retreated. An explosion shattered the night and machine-gun fire raked the trees and brush.Davidson grabbed his interpreter and explained that they could not march back to the north. They must go south to An Loc. They began their escape without map, compass or weapons.During the next four nights and days the two men walked, crawled and swam through heavily-populated enemy territory. They survived numerous encounters with Communists.In one brush with the enemy, the two fugitives slipped into a marsh and two NVA who had been following them passed within five yards.On another day, after following a stream much of the night, the two were surprised as they looked for a place to hide through the day.They had just scouted a house and a nearby bunker when they suddenly froze. Six NVA crossed in front of them and entered the same house and searched the bunker.The two men quickly climbed into a tree and buried themselves in the heavy foliage. They soon learned that their hiding place was squarely in the middle of an NVA camp site."They spent the day building bunkers and hootches all around us. It was just a matter of time before they would find us. Once, about 50 of them walked by so close we could have tripped them," recalls Davidson.It rained most of that day and night. When the skies cleared allied aircraft poured bombs on the area. "They didn't hit us but they came close enough to scare hell out of us."At darkness they crawled out of their roost and slipped over and around the enemy and wandered aimlessly through much of the night before finally bedding down near another creek."I would doze off just a little and suddenly snap awake thinking I had slept for several hours and it had only been five or ten minutes.They navigated another stream. Davidson broke a rib in swift rapids and nearly drowned trying to carry the hapless Vietnamese through deep water.On April 11 they ate a few overripe papayas. It was their first food in five days. And they could hear the sounds of war all around them."We had to get to An Loc on that day," Davidson said. "He knew the fighting was moving to the south. We had to get to An Loc or we would have no place to go."They marched now in broad daylight. The Vietnamese trailed his leader cautiously. They talked to a stunned, surprised Montagnard and later slid along rice paddy dikes and thrashed through bamboo.They saw two more Communist patrols, then found Highway 13 and their pace quickened toward An Loc.Davidson ignored his blistered feet, smarting wounds and aching ribs. His companion fell behind and was sharply admonished: "If you can walk 50 yards behind me you can walk beside me! I will not carry you! We go to An Loc together or we die!"As darkness fell they were challenged.Jumping to the side of the road, Davidson convinced his interpreter to talk with the strangers.Several minutes of excited chatter. "They are friendly," he said finally."Come here," a voice commanded in perfect English."The enemy speaks English too," despaired Davidson. "Are you friendly?" he asked."Yes. Certainly!" they answered.Davidson could make out their steel helmets, but the clue did not register.He grilled them: "Who is the district chief? Who is the senior adviser?" They did not know and Davidson shook."I have never seen Regional Forces dressed as nicely as you," he cried desperately."You sure as hell have not seen VC dressed as well either! We are Rangers!" and the soldier proudly flashed a light onto his Black Panther patch and was bear-hugged by the American major."Major Ran for His Life 4 Days – And Won", published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Sunday, April 30, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.