Find the Cost of Freedom

 "Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground. . ."  CSNY1970

A hell of a lot of fire was raining down on the guys up on the ridge; the only cover they had was the rise of the hill itself. Sgt. Rob said to Sgt. Ernie we gotta get out of here; stood up, and immediately got shot in the head, fell over backwards on a log, the radio on his back. Sgt. Ernie, now in charge after Lt. Henry, Sgt. Carl and now Sgt. Rob had all gone down, reached under the log, grabbed the radio handset and called in more artillery and mortars. He told the guys down below he would direct their fire in as close as possible. The artillery guys never could establish the platoon’s position exactly, but Lt. Riddle could adjust fire based on Sgt. Ernie’s sensing.

       And that is what they did, shot mortar rounds all around the stranded guys, without killing them, but instead killing the NVA soldiers who were assaulting them from three sides.

       After a while,  a lull came in the fighting. Under Sgt. Ernie’s direction, the men who still were breathing were able to rearrange themselves and hunker down to hold their ground for however long it would take them to get safely delivered out of there.

      Later, in the 26^th hour of their combat ordeal, all twenty-nine men of Bravo Company 2^nd Platoon were rescued; they were all brought out; twenty of them still alive. The first rescuers who walked into their perimeter could not see Sgt. Ernie or any of his men. All the artillery had blown dirt and dust on them; they looked like part of the ground.

excerpt from King of Soul, chapter 6.