1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Battle of The Rock Page5

Twenty minutes later, at 2150, third platoon, still in the valley floor, reports 2 NVA KIA and 1 NVA WIA.

At 2200 the Logs record Combat Sky Spot grid locations. Combat Sky Spot was also referred to as Ground Direct Radar. In a sense it was an early form of Global Positioning System (GPS). But, it used ground based radar in conjunction with airborne radar present in certain aircraft and in relation to specific map grids. It utilized these map grid coordinates as to where to direct their fire. It was heavily relied on to direct night time bombing raids of B52 bombers, Arc Lights as they were referred to. It also was used to direct the Shadows and Stingers.

The Shadows and Stingers were also equipped with 1.5 million watt candle power search lights as well as AVQ8 Xenon lights, they were circling and training their search lights all over the entire area. The AC119G’s also had the ability to deliver parachute flares via an automated flare launcher, flares seemed to be a constant that night as well as the search lights. The light filtering through the jungle canopy, intermixed with illumination rounds being fired from the artillery at LZ Niagara, lent an eerie other worldly atmosphere to the entire scene.

Third Platoon reports enemy tampering with their claymore’s and a total of 3 NVA KIA and the 1 NVA WIA, it’s now 2230.

At 2255, Shadow 45 is expending on the west side of the river, across from us and Stinger 13 has arrived on station. Bravo Company is again requesting Sky Spots at 2300. The movement, flashlights and voices continue and at 2315 hours Shadow 45 has expended and is off station.

The 4th Div Artillery Operational Report Lessons Learned records that
C Battery 4/42, firing from LZ Niagara, expended 83 HE, or High Explosive, rounds in support of B Company on this day.
The S-3 Logs record 7 helicopter gun ship sorties, we had Cobra gunships, Huey gunships and Huey resupply birds bringing ammo and other supplies. Support came from D-1-10 Cav 4th Division, 4th Aviation Battalion, 116th Assault Helicopter Company, 7th Squadron 17th Air Cav and I’m sure that I’m missing some. These included call signs Gambler Guns, Shamrocks, Blackjack birds and others. In addition, we had the fast movers, directed by Cider 14 FAC’s, jet aircraft performing low altitude strafing runs. The C119G gunships, guided by Combat Sky Spots, after dark. And, our own small arms and machine gun fire, it was a busy day.

When the Battalion S-3 Logs for 20 Jun ’70 were closed at 2400 hours they said, in part,
“…...all action and movement of the battalion were pretty much centered around B Company contact with estimated company size NVA element, contact kept up during the day until approximately 1700 when contact
was reported as heavy. Fighting is continuing throughout the night. At 2400 hours when Journal was closed, body count was 24 NVA KIA, 2 NVA WIA, 1 Chieu Hoi (surrendered NVA). 1 U.S. KIA and 2 U.S. WIA. And still, fighting continues.”

As 20 Jun becomes the early morning hours of 21 Jun, fighting abates somewhat but still persists. It’s clear to all of us that no one will be sleeping on this night.

The Logs record that at 0011, 3rd platoon, in the valley floor, is in contact and requesting flare ships and gunships. They report one NVA KIA victim of a claymore mine. The CO, CPT Tijerina, also requests two scout dogs and/or two tracker dogs for first light in the morning.

At 0100 Cougar 33 and Shamrock 62, helicopter gunships, are both on station.
At 0125 Stinger 13, one of the AC119G Spooky gunships, has expended his ammunition and is going off station.
At 0200 3rd platoon reports an NVA has walked in on their location, they respond with small arms fire and receive 5 or 6 rounds of return fire.
At 0220 both 2nd and 3rd platoons are reporting heavy movement and up at the rock we, 2nd platoon, are reporting flashlights and Vietnamese voices. We all respond with M16 and M60 fire.
At 0330 Shadow 45, another of the Spooky gunships, is on station and working out down in the valley floor. Also, at this time Brigade Headquarters has apprised us that they will send grappling hooks and rope to our location at first light. Brigade also advises that the FAC’s will be here and on station at 0600 if more air strikes are needed. Sunrise is at approximately 0520.

At 0350 both 2nd and 3rd platoons are again reporting movement and employing small arms. Artillery is also called in again at this time.

First light is at approximately 0500. Up at the Rock we are starting to stir, uncertain of what the day may bring. It’s quiet and everyone is in a somber reflective mood. Shadow 45 is still circling the AO and at about this time he begins to expend his ammunition and paint the area with his mini-guns.

At 0540 Shadow 45 has expended and is off station again. The entire night, thus far, has been bathed in either parachute flares and/or search lights continually. The Artillery has completed its fire mission at this time. Sunrise is at 0520 and it is becoming fully light.

At 0650 Shamrock 6, a helicopter gunship of D Troop 1/10 Cav, is on station and is working out, by 0755 he has expended his ammunition and goes off station.

At 0800 3rd platoon has another NVA walk in on their location and they employ M60 and small arms fire. They search the area and find a wounded NVA and they request a Dust off for him. By 0846 Dustoff 23 has arrived and completed the dust off.

At 0830 Shamrock 6 has rearmed with ammo and is back on station.
There is an odd Log entry at 0840, it doesn’t have anything to do with my story but I found it interesting “Blackjack 21 refuses to take dogs to B Company”………….I wonder why?

It’s now been approximately 24 hours since this all started.

By 0950 3rd platoon has searched the area of their contact and finds one AK47 and report that all individuals had AK’s, pith helmets and were dressed in NVA uniforms. At 1025 they report finding another KIA.

At 1040 another Shamrock gunship is on station and at the same time we, 2nd platoon, have taken a WIA POW and request him to be backhauled to LZ Niagara.

Not necessarily pertaining to the battle of the Rock but at 1050 the Logs report LZ Terrace taking 15-20 rounds of sniper fire. This was a continuous problem when we were building that firebase in late March and has continued ever since.

At 1125 we are notified that Alpha Company’s 2nd platoon is being inserted to help us and act as a blocking force further up the river. They are north of us about 2-4 klicks. A klick being a kilometer, or 1000 meters. A klick is a little over half a mile. They are right on the Dak Kron Bung River along the trail, the same trail where 3rd platoon is having so much action but further north.

CPT TJ is requesting a ground speaker team, at this time. Just a few minutes later and we, 2nd platoon, are reporting heavy movement and we are in contact again. It is a small arms shootout and they break off. They refuse to totally give up! Negative results.

Quite probably stragglers coming back to search for friends and perhaps recover some of the gear that they had left behind.
We request two slicks to back haul some of the equipment we have gathered.

By 1200 hours things have finally sufficiently calmed down enough that we are able to fully access the entire Rock. Some guys are climbing high upon it and others are policing the area around the base. We are keeping LP/OP’s (Listening and Observation Posts) out in all directions in the event any more stragglers come back.

Not done in the valley floor, at 1325 3rd platoon is once again in contact and reports another NVA KIA.

I’m unsure exactly when the following happened, strangely there is no mention of it in the S-3 Daily Logs. While the Logs are invaluable to accurately reconstructing those long ago days and are a priceless commodity towards helping a person write about those times, they do have their limitations and both leave things out that I know definitely happened and wrongly recorded things that I know to be different.
So, all that said, I’m placing this event at 1400 on 21 Jun. But it may have happened on 22 Jun, possibly even the 23rd or 24th.The only mention I can find of General Walker being in the area is at 1440 hrs on 24 Jun, when he was at LZ Niagara. It just doesn’t seem that it was that long after the battle that the following happened, but it may have been.

In any event, we were visited up at the Rock by the Commanding General of the 4th Infantry Division, MG Glenn D. Walker and members of his Command Staff. They came down from the LZ at the top of the mountain to the Rock itself, not very far, to inspect the battle site personally. We were in the midst of policing the NVA KIA’s. I was on the burial detail and vividly recall that there were 13 bodies at that one location. Jim Killian was also on that detail and he and I discussed it many times over the years. I think there were one or maybe two others on the burial detail, but I do not recall who they were. We placed them in a mass grave and spread quick lime on them, to aid in rapid decomposition, and covered them as best we could with dirt.

Major Rabin was there at the time also, and he says “I spoke with the General for a while and we agreed ‘impact awards’ were in order”. I would term an impact award as a battlefield award. Done on the spot. Orders to follow at a later date.

CPT TJ and 1LT Warfield stood with the General and his staff explaining things to them. I was some distance behind them and was watching without being seen, the proverbial fly on the wall. At some point they summoned SGT Buenzle over to them and MG Walker stands him at attention and pins E-6 SSG stripes on him. I felt very proud for him, as it was a most well-deserved promotion. It was also a true, honest to goodness, battlefield promotion. It was the only one that I ever witnessed or for that matter, the only one I ever even heard about.

I asked Major Rabin, some years later, if he was one of those there that day. He replied “Yes, The Rock had everyone’s attention, to include MACV”. MACV stood for Military Assistance Command Vietnam. It had authority over all U.S. military activities in Vietnam. It had command over all U.S. Army, Navy,and Air Force efforts in the country. It was the very highest level of U.S. command in the country. They did not become involved unless it was a big deal.
Major Rabin continued, “My personal SOP was to stay out of the way and make sure the battle commander on the ground got all the support he wanted/needed plus a little more. I found that if I popped up inn middle of any fire fight, it took the ground commanders attention away from what was most important - - winning the battle and making sure his men were as well led as possible.”

After this, the General and his staff left and we got back to the task at hand, which was policing the battle site.

I remember that there were unexploded M79 HE (High Explosive) rounds littered everywhere it seemed. As I probably fired most, if not all of them, I imagine it was just as LT Warfield had noted earlier, the jungle was so thick, and we were so close to the NVA that the rounds simply couldn’t travel far enough to arm themselves before hitting a tree. Nonetheless, I found it disconcerting to walk around among unexploded ordnance. At some point in the afternoon of the first day they had brought me HE rounds in case lots, they were in wooden crates. I had never even seen that many rounds in one place, at one time. I don’t know how many rounds I fired but it must have been many, many dozens, maybe a hundred, maybe more, I just don’t know. Lots. Really Lots!!

Captain Gil Tijerina firing captured AK-47,
on full automatic, at The Rock

Photo courtesy of Dave Brown

There was a huge amount of abandoned enemy equipment, rucksacks, weapons, canteens, helmets, you name it. We hauled it all up to the LZ to be back hauled to LZ Niagara. Days later the ruck sack count was 97, some may have come from the valley floor but the vast majority came from the Rock.
Most of the remainder of the day is spent mopping up the battle site and sending out Short Range Recon Patrols (SRRP’s) in all directions to follow blood trails and to recover any abandoned equipment that the enemy may have discarded as they fled.

At 1405 Brigade informs us that they’re going to give us a leaflet drop. They also release Hornet 11 and replace him with Demon 14 at this time.

At 1415 LZ Terrace receives approximately 30 rounds of sniper fire. It’s a never-ending problem at Terrace.

At 1525 Cider 26 is once again on station and at this time Brigade requests an air strike at grids 613-838, which is about a klick and a half to our Northeast. CPT TJ
OK’s the air strike, as we are far enough away. At this same time he also requests Stinger and Shadow birds for tonight.

At 1632 Delta Company 2nd platoon, who has been brought in to help us and is at grids 598-788, about 2 klicks to our South and along the river, pops a claymore and reports one KIA NVA.

B Company has four dog teams, King, Tococo, Andor and Fink. I do not remember which dog team that 2nd platoon had nor can anyone else remember. I wish I could figure it out.

At 1700 2nd platoon sends out a SRRP (Short Range Recon Patrol) and we find shirts and pants with bullet holes in them, bloody bandages and blood trails. Back at the Rock proper someone reports an AK47 stuck in a rock and we are trying to get it out. Also, CPT TJ requests a psyops speaker team for the contact area.
They begin the leaflet drop at about the same time that they bring the airborne psyops speaker team online. They drop literally thousands of leaflets while encouraging surrender over the loudspeaker. I saved a Chu Hoi leaflet and still have it.

At 1720 3rd platoon employs small arms on an enemy soldier with negative results. We, 2nd platoon, report that we have retrieved the AK47 that was stuck in the rock.

At 1735 Battalion reports that 1-22 Recon platoon is at grids 614-814, which is about one klick to our southeast. Brigade is deploying other units all around us in an attempt to cut off all avenues of escape for the fleeing enemy soldiers.

Darkness has now once again fallen up at the Rock, CPT TJ stays with 2nd platoon and we spend the night in our same basic night positions as we had the night before. Not digging in again either.

At 2100 Air Force informs Brigade to inform Shadow 45 that if he shoots for us, he should expend all of his ammo. At 2300 Shadow 45 departs our Area of Operation (AO) and reports that he expended 15,000 rounds. Shadow 46 comes on station as Shadow 45 departs.

At 2330 Blackjack 33 is on station.

At 2358 Brigade sends out its Chu Hoi message: “Hide your weapon, put your hands over your head, approach American unit yelling CHIEU HOI! American units will not shoot but give you good food.”

Summary at 2400 hours on the second night
“………..B Company reported movement throughout the night and employed small arms, claymores, Artillery, airstrikes and others……”

As the very early hours of the 22nd begin to unfold, there is somewhat of a lull in the action.
Shadow 45 and Shadow 46 continue to make their gun runs. Shadow 46 reports a large secondary explosion approximately 400 meters south of 3rd platoon’s location in the valley floor, as they completed their gun run. I don’t know if we ever discovered the source of the secondary explosion. It’s not in the Logs and I don’t recall it.
Shadow 45 remains on station after Shadow 46 leaves.

Flare drops and spotlights continue through the night, much as they had the previous night, perhaps not quite as constant.

At 0435 Shadow 45 expends his ammo and leaves the AO.

Our, 2nd platoon, first entry on the 22nd is at 0900 when we send out a short-range patrol to the Rock itself, a very short distance from our night location.
We encounter approximately 10 NVA and engage in a brief firefight that they break off and flee. We employ SA, M79 and call in Arty. Negative results.
They are still a heavy presence in the area.

By 1030 we’re requesting gunships and FAC. Gambler guns and Cider 14 arrive as well as Hornet 6. Cobra Lead accompanying a Dust off ordered by Recon is also on station.

At 1235 we report that we had one man slightly wounded by shrapnel from one of our own M79 rounds during the 0900 engagement.

At 1240, 1st platoon is in contact with 3 NVA down in the valley floor. They add 2 NVA KIA to the total.

On our earlier patrol and continued recon of the Rock AO, we find two hootches made of 105 ammo boxes and used for storage. They had been mostly destroyed by Artillery, but we finished destroying them. One had 400 lbs of unhusked rice. We also found two more ruck sacks.

At 1350 Major Rabin, our BN CO, in the air, employs small arms from his Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) at one individual carrying an AK47. I do not know the results of this.

He told me years later that “One of the weird circumstances of our operational environment is that battle commanders, such as myself, could monitor radios and try to help troops on the ground like you, fight, win, and survive, we could not see/experience the real battle. I found that unless it was a real goat cluster on the ground that demanded my presence, it was best to let leaders like TJ run the operation without having to deal with distractions like me hovering around”

1355, BDE informs us to back haul the speaker team we had been using and they would replace them.

At 1440 2nd platoon reports dog team finding a dead NVA. In uniform and carrying an AK47.

As darkness approaches on 22 Jun, we prepare to spend our third night up at the Rock AO, grids BR601 819.
3rd and 1st platoons remain in the valley floor.

At 2050 Brigade informs us that we will have a speaker team flying over the AO tonight. Once more, we won’t be doing much sleeping.

At 2300 we are told the speaker team will be on station in approximately 20 minutes.

2400 hours, journal closes on 22 Jun 70. The daily summary reads in part ”………B Co 2nd contact with 10 Hostile Enemy Personnel (HEP’S) at 0940 resulted in one friendly WIA…….”

All sit reps through the night are negative.
What an incredible relief.
It’s been over 60 hours, two and half days, since it started. CPT TJ is still with us, 2nd platoon, and we’re still at BR601 819.

A message at 0918 that I never remember hearing, BDE S-2 states that the WIA POW from 22 Jun indicated that they had ferried the river in a 5 man boat and that they left the boat at BR589 835. Not very far up river from where 3rd platoon is currently located. I never recall hearing that story, I wonder if anyone checked it out? No one has ever mentioned it to me over the years.

CPT TJ and 2nd platoon continued to operate from the top of the mountain, BR601 819, as our base of operation and our November Lima (Night Location). During the days of the 23rd and 24th we would run Short Range Recon Patrols (SRRP’s) and Search and Destroy’s (S&D). TJ liked staying up on the mountain top because we had, by this time, cleared a very good LZ where we could receive resupply and also he had very good radio communication with 1st and 3rd platoons down in the valley. On the SRRP’s and S&D’s we always found heavy signs of the enemy presence and often made contact. We continued to find hootches, bunkers and equipment of every description. It was a stressful situation for all of us. There were constantly, virtually on a daily basis, contact (fire fights). Either 2nd platoon or one of the other platoons.

Thankfully the 23rd passed with no contact and at 2400 hours on Jun 23 the Journal’s Daily Summary closed with the partial reading,
“…..enemy activity continues to be observed in AO with negative contacts today …….but enemy still remains in AO……”

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On the Jun 24th, the 3rd platoon engages in contact that results in 1 NVA KIA.
At 2400 hours on Jun 24th the S-3 Logs close with “….continue to find hootches and caches showing enemy activity was quite heavy at one time……and that they are still in the area…..”

On the 25th, the 3rd platoon had, still along the river in the valley floor, set up an ambush with an Observation Post (OP) out front, the OP was SGT John Martinez.
The NVA somehow alerted to him and shot and killed John and wounded two others. He became our 2nd KIA in that valley. And our 3rd KIA in the last 11 days. We had lost David Prentice to a sniper on 14 Jun as we awaited our CA into the Dak Kron Bung valley. At that same AO, which was not close to the Rock AO, while we awaited CA, we also lost my buddy Steve Wach as WIA on the 18th with a sniper gunshot wound to the leg, quite possibly the same sniper that killed David Prentice four days earlier.

Left to right:
David Prentice killed on 6-14
Steve Wach wounded on 6-18
Melvin Rutherford killed on 6-20
Albert Brick wounded on 6-20
John Martinez killed on 6-25

There were also two other WIA’s from 3rd platoon mentioned in the S-3 Logs, I do not know their names nor the severity of their wounds.

Between 25 Jun and the end of the month, we continued to work the valley floor and run SRRP’s and S&D’s up the various side trails and feeder streams. There was a high amount of enemy activity and movement and we all, every platoon, continued to have contacts and to find hootches, bunkers and equipment. As I said before, it was a very stressful place to be.

I do not have any Logs for the month of July and sometime around the last of June, first of July, I went into base camp at An Khe, Camp Radcliff, and started my job as dispatcher in the 1-22 Motor Pool.

For the most part, the war was over me. The Motor Pool was a cake walk.

By the 1st of August B Company was back on LZ Terrace.

From my position in base camp, I worked to try and get any and all of my 2nd platoon buddies base camp jobs, as those jobs became available.
Holly as a truck driver, Jim Killian as a bunker guard, Cecil Dykes as a bunker guard, Tiny had already gone in to work a job in resupply. What with all the guys gone from DEROS, and in base camp jobs, Buenzle was about the last old timer, even TJ left in August. SSG Buenzle became the new Platoon Leader now, a slot for an officer. He finally left the field, and Vietnam, the first week of September.
I left the Motor Pool, and Vietnam, the first week of November. I was in Vietnam 11 months 16 days.

As the years passed and the National Archives released information and documentation, it became apparent that “The Rock” as we had taken to calling it was the largest engagement fought by the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry during 1970. It had always seemed so to those of us who were there, but it was reassuring that time had proved us correct.

As I stated at the very outset of my story, one man’s recollections can vary widely from the next man’s and that’s why we each have a story to tell. Mine is different from yours and yours from mine. I stuck strictly to the S-3’s and tried to be as factual, truthful, honest, straight forward and historically correct as possible. I also wanted a family friendly story that our families could all share. I’m sure it’s full of mistakes, please forgive me. Know that it is my very best effort.

The following are some of the totals and information from the 2, 2 ½, days of The Battle of the Rock:

A partial quote from 2nd Bde, S-2, Daily Journal is as follows:

“………..captured 19 yr old POW says their strength consisted of: “each squad consisted of 12 men & each platoon 35-40 men…..the 3rd Co (consisted of 4 platoons & 12 squads’)……..he is believed to be telling the truth”

It seems to me that there are 3 different ways to do the math on the POW’s statement. One way comes out 140 men. Next way comes out 144 men. The last way factors out 160 men.

The actual size force is unknown.

S-3 Logs state 97 ruck sacks recovered. The Bde S-2 Journal states 103 ruck sacks.
Between the various sources that I have available, there are some discrepancies.
But I am going to list them as best that I can.

29 NVA KIA
2 NVA WIA
1 NVA Chu Hoi POW
97 Ruck Sacks or maybe 103
12 AK 47’s
1500 Rounds of AK47 ammo

1 U.S. KIA
2 U.S. WIA

NVA weapons captured
during the Battle of the Rock

Twelve AK-47 rifles were
captured, along with 1500 rounds
of ammunition.

Photo courtesy of George Heidt

Medals awarded for Valor to 2nd Platoon personnel during this battle both at the time and belatedly in the years since are:

SGT Joseph “Cat” Akczinski - --------------Silver Star
Albert Brick -------------------------------------Silver Star Purple Heart
Donald Gary ------------------------------------Bronze Star for Valor

Rey Blazon --------------------------------------Army Commendation Medal for Valor
Dave Brown -------------------------------------Army Commendation Medal for Valor
LT Dwight Warfield --------------------------- Bronze Star for Valor
SGT Richard Buenzle -------------------------Bronze Star for Valor
Salvador Ramos --------------------------------Bronze Star for valor
Jimmie Carter ------------------------------------Bronze Star for Valor

James Henderson -------------------------------Bronze Star for Valor
Jeff Thurman ------------------------------------Bronze Star for Valor

Jim Killian --------------------------------------- Army Commendation Medal for Valor
CPT Gilbert Tijerina ---------------------------Silver Star

The men in 1st and 3rd Platoons, operating in the valley floor, were awarded many well-deserved medals for Valor also; they are unknown to me.
There was an awards ceremony sometime later at LZ Niagara and some of the Bronze Star Medals were awarded then, there is no list and I do not know any names from that ceremony.

Firebase Niagara - Pillow with Bronze Stars to be awarded for the Battle of The Rock

Medal ceremony at Firebase Niagara June 1970
Medals for actions at the Battle of The Rock were presented at this ceremony.
The pillow with Bronze Star Medals ready to be presented can be seen in the foreground.