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The first two weeks of March 1971 saw an increase in enemy activity in the province of Quang Nam. Da Nang took 16 rockets in an attack on 4th March. Throughout the An Hoa basin patrols made contact with small groups of VC or NVA.

III MAF using recovered enemy documents knew that the Communists were planning a new offensive called the K-850 Campaign. The objectives of the campaign were to attack district Headquarters, PF & RF positions, CUPP and CAP units. Da Nang would also get its fair share of rockets .

During K-850 the VC/NVA put a lot of pressure on the Vietnamese forces and their pacification programme. On 27th March the 1st Marine Division put all its units on alert against foreseen rocket attacks. On the night of the 28th Da Nang which was shrouded in low cloud came under rocket attack along with nearby allied positions.

In the province the enemy attacked Duc Duc, Dai Loc, Dien Ban, and the Que Son District Headquarters. They also attacked CUPP and CAP hamlets and refugee resettlement hamlets. Bridges and highways in the province were also attacked.

Early on the morning of the 29th at 0210 two battalions of the NVA 38th Regiment along with two VC sapper battalions charged into Duc Duc while their mortars and rockets roared in. The District HQ compound was the NVA’s primary target. Meanwhile the VC sappers attacked the nearby hamlets destroying everything in their path.

The 412th Regional Force Company and the 123d Popular Force Platoon along with a few U.S. Advisers retreated to the HQ Compound and prepared to make a last stand.The NVA encircled the compound and due to low cloud, fix-winged air support could not be used. The defenders of the HQ could see the flames coming from local villages as the VC carried on with their destruction.

In Da Nang at 0245 the Direct Air Support Center ordered the Black Hammer helicopters of 1st MAW stationed at Marble Mountain to fly to Duc Duc and assist its defenders. Black Hammer was the name given to night reconnaissance missions. The patrol of helicopters was made up of a Huey searchlight bird from HML-167 which was under the command of Captain Thomas C. Mc Donald who was the flight leader. With him were two AH-1Js Sea Cobra gunships from HML-367. Lt Colonel Clifford E. Reese commanded these birds.

Flying below the thick cloud with their running lights off, the choppers headed south-west towards Duc Duc which was about 25 miles from Da Nang. Duc Duc incidentally was only a thousand meters from An Hoa Combat base. The U.S. Marines had pulled out of An Hoa on the 15th of October 1970 leaving the base in the hands of the ARVN The burning villages acted as a beacon for the Black Hammer patrol .

The radio in the compound crackled into life as Captain McDonald contacted the U.S. Advisor. The advisor soon gave a sitrep to McDonald and informed him that they were in grave danger of being overrun. Clearance was given for the gunships to fire at any targets around the HQ’s perimeter. The advisor also told McDonald that he could not direct any air-strikes as they were under heavy enemy fire.

Mc Donald’s Huey lead the attack and the patrol dropped down to 400 feet and homed in on flashes from the enemy’s guns. Once found the Huey’s Xenon search-lights lit up the area and a hail of bullets from the 7.62mm mini-guns and 20mm cannons tore into the NVA. The gunships also fired 2.75in rockets onto a knoll which was west of the compound where the enemy had set up mortars and RPGs.

The action was close and the gunships brought their firepower as near as 30 meters from the defenders. Desperate times need desperate measures. Now the choppers were under attack as the NVA fired into the night sky. The search-light Huey was most at risk. As soon as he turned on his beam, the NVA fired at it.

The Black Hammer patrol stayed at Duc Duc for four hours. The AH-1Js took it in turns to fly back to Marble Mountain to re-fuel and to re-arm. The other birds stayed to give cover to the trapped forces in the compound.

The NVA then began to pull back towards the Song Thu Bon and started to cross the river in boats. The Black Hammer followed this withdrawal and one of the Sea Cobras fired at the boats, sinking six of them mid-stream. The NVA fired back at the birds and the Huey’s search-light operator was wounded. With a Marine injured and the enemy in retreat the Black Hammer patrol returned to Marble Mountain and touched down at 0600. During the battle the Black Hammer patrol had expended 2,800 rounds of 20mm cannon and 64 2.75in rockets. They also destroyed 6 boats and 12 hooches. The enemy KIA was four confirmed and ten probable.

For the next three days and nights the area continued to take hostile fire. HML-367 squadron carried on with the air cover and provided emergency medical envac. During the support of ARVN forces they expended 407 2.75in rockets, 14,158 rounds of 7.62mm and 1,386 rounds of 20mm ammunition.

Units of the 51st ARVN Regiment were sent to reinforce the PF and RF garrison. They made contact with the NVA throughout these three days. The NVA losses were 59 KIA while the RFs and PFs lost 20 men and 26 WIA. 103 civilians were murdered in the attacked hamlets, 96 were injured and 37 civilians were also kidnapped by the NVA.

Over 1,500 homes were destroyed by the VC sappers attack. The 38th Regiment remained in the Duc Duc area and on the 3d April Duc Duc District HQ was attacked again by the NVA. Over 100 mortars fell on the compound and surrounding villages. The NVA 38th Regiment was here to stay and take on the ARVN 51st.

PICTURE  TAKEN  BY  GOOGLE  EARTH  SATELLITE.

I lived in a little hooch just to the right of where the U.S. Army put a generator on the river side of the compound North (?).  Right behind the building that had "Quan Duc Duc" on it. 

I read the account that the Marine helicopter pilots wrote that is on your website.  That was the first I knew about the boats and the NVA battalions.  I was told later by the Army Intelligence Captain, who was part of Advisory Team 15, that it was elements of the T-89th and 90th Sapper Battalions that had hit us.  

We had been getting shelled on a fairly regular basis, but nothing super-heavy.  I was in the main bunker listening to RFVN about 0230-0300 hrs and they were just reporting that Lt. Calley had been sentenced.  We started taking pretty heavy mortar fire.  It hit the bunker that I was in and the building behind it.  The second mortar round that hit the building took out most of our medical supplies, including the IV bottles.   A Rocket-Propelled-Grenade (RPG) hit the chain link fence that the Army had put outside the bunkers for just this purpose, but the explosion still pushed through the bunker wall and I got hit in the head with a PRC Radio that I was trying to talk on.   We were on the radio pretty quick and found out that the Viet Cong terrorists were hitting several places all at once; so the cavalry so to speak, was spread thin.  

A mortar round hit the roof of the bunker and the ply board ceiling came down.  The Vietnamese Commanding Officer, Major Chin, came in very excited and yelled  "VC in compound."   An American Army Officer and I took an M-60 machine-gun and headed for another bunker.  We could see that most of the bunkers below us on the west side of the compound had been satchel charged and were gone.  We opened up with the M-60 just to let the Viet Cong know we were there and they  promptly returned the favor and wounded the Army Officer in the arm.  We could hear explosions all over, but I could not see what was happening on the village side of the perimeter.  We were the only folks on the west side of the defensive perimeter for a while, and finally a Vietnamese machine gunner came over and opened up on our side with us. 

After what seemed like an eternity, black hammer helicopters showed up and began to lay down some fire and things began to calm down on the west side of the perimeter.   When the sun came up, I was able to get over to the south side towards the former 5th Marine Base at An Hoa and could see that the village was a wreck.  The hooches were mostly burned down and there was a VC flag flying over the big blue building.   There were a few houses left, which were very close to the road that went from the compound out towards An Hoa. 

We had helicopter support and they were shooting and buzzing around the village.  Some of the South Vietnamese troops moved out to take back the village areas that the Viet Cong terrorists were still holding.  

We began trying to evacuate the wounded.  I can't tell you how many wounded there were, but they were being taken out on Ch-46 helicopters.  Old Vietnamese and young Vietnamese kept coming out of their burned village.  The sight that will always stick in my mind was a little two or three year old boy lying on the ground with a huge bandage around his little head and it was soaked with blood.  His eyes looked up at me and they were going back and forth like a metronome.  We were evacuating wounded villagers as fast as possible, but more would come. 

An old Vietnamese peasant was being carried on a bloody sheet by his family, little kids and some women.  There was a lot of blood and death and destruction all around. 

I couldn't figure out what the terrorists' military objective was.  The Viet Cong put up a flag in the village and they hammered us, but they must have known they weren't going to be able to hold it.  We had a lot of dead in the compound and in the village.  Most of the village was gone, and I don't know how many villagers were casualties.  We got their flag from the village and weapons from 33 KIA's.  It took several days of evacuating wounded and picking up bodies.  My ears rang for more than a day.  They had to send in a Navy ordinance disposal team to pick up all the unexploded grenades etc. that were lying around from an ammo bunker they blew up. 

The U.S. Army Officer, who was wounded, received a Purple Heart and I think may have been recommended for a Silver Star. (He had only 13 days to go on his tour.)   I was put in for a Bronze Star by the same Army Officer (The Army was easily impressed by Marines.) 

The Marine Corps sent in a lot of wood and tin to rebuild the village.  About two weeks later, I was pulled out of Duc Duc and I was sent to Hill 37.  After that I was sent to Hill 42 and eventually was sent home.    

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I don't know for sure why they hit the village, but it seemed unnecessary to me.   Most of what was there was destroyed.

The Army advisor Team members were:  CO Major Trapnell, he was from near Baltimore too.  A Staff Sergeant, who was born in London England, named Wallon.  The District Intelligence Officer was Capt. Brian Walls.  (I ran into him just a day after we got back to the states at BWI airport.)  Staff Sergeant Malcom Campbell was from Hagerstown Md.   Major Trapnell still lives in Towson, Md. (I think.) 

That is all of the American Team, who I can recall.

By: "Dennis S. Sherman" <marine@stic.net>