An UH-34 in the air at the Rockpile. If you look close, you can
see T.L. Smith standing in the door of his UH-34 with the tail
number 6 on it. How Many Marines have a picture of themselves
taken in the field while flying a resupply mission to those of
us who held the Rockpile? They were our "Life Line", and I'd
like to be able to thank him after 45 years.
If you don't know about The Rockpile, the attach word file is
from Time Magazine in Oct 1966.
S/Sgt. Ted Dudley
Time Magazine, October 1966
The terrain was as tough as any the U.S. Marines had ever
contested. It combined the horror of a Guadalcanal jungle with
the exhausting steepness of the slopes at Chapultepec. Added to
that were fusillades of bullets as ferocious as at Tarawa and
showers of shrapnel that turned the forest into a tropical
Belleau Wood. But "the Rock-pile," as Viet Nam's latest big
battleground has come to be called, is weirdly unique. There,
just south of the inaccurately named Demilitarized Zone, a task
force of six Marine battalions has been battling two entire
divisions of North Vietnamese regulars whose apparent aim is to
invade Quang Tri province. So far the Reds have failed. Over the
past few months, Hanoi's hordes have shifted away from their old
infiltration route, the Ho Chi Minh trail, which empties into
the isolated Central Highlands. Instead, more and more have been
striking directly southward into the populous coastal plain (see
map). The aim of the Marines' "Operation Prairie" is to cut
those arteries from the DMZ and push the Reds so far west that
they will once again be forced to use the trail.
Key to the fighting is "the Rock," a jagged, 750-ft. fang of
granite that thrusts upward at the intersection of three river
valleys and two enemy trails. During July's Operation Hastings,
the Marines established a reconnaissance post atop the Rock, and
a lone sniper fed by airdrops of C rations controlled the area.
Now it is a Marine battalion command post, under almost steady
siege. Across from the Rock rears the Razorback-a steep ridge
whose sides are pocked with caves dug by the Japanese in World
War II, but now occupied by North Vietnamese. Several hundred
yards below the Rock, the Reds have dug "spider holes" from
which they lob mortar fire and mount ambushes. Two miles to the
south stands Hill 400, dominating the Rock-pile and infested
with Reds. Last week the Marines moved simultaneously against
the Razorback and Hill 400. By week's end, both were in their
hands.
Snakes & Lanterns. Fighter-bombers seared both hills with
flaming napalm, then returned with rockets, heavy fragmentation
bombs and machine gun fire. For three days, the Reds on Hill 400
hit back with mortar and small-arms fire so intense that Medevac
helicopters could not land to take out Marine wounded. Finally,
Marine pilots used 1,000-lb. bombs to blast craters deep enough
to provide cover for the choppers, and a few critical cases were
evacuated. Then the Marines moved out, stormed the hill with
satchel charges,* and blasted the Reds out of their holes. They
found a Communist regimental command post replete with
underground rooms and trenches.
Near the Razorback, Marines were treated to an eerie spectacle
at night: dim lanterns moving back and forth on the ridge across
from them. "The North Vietnamese are afraid of snakes," sneered
one Marine. "That's why they carry them flashlights." Whatever
their purpose, the lights provided excellent targets for
artillery and air strikes. To date, Operation Prairie has killed
943 Reds, and the Marines have taken moderate casualties in the
process.
