Death Valley by Keith Nolan

happening. When the NVA finally swarmed over their position, he had taken cover and sweated out the night convinced he was going to be discovered and killed any minute.
    Bravo and Delta Companies shored up the battered perimeter while the jump CP and Charlie Company marched in from the west. Lieutenant Colonel Dowd was so explosive that he outdistanced his infantry escort and arrived at the Hot Dog first. The area was being policed up then. Among other things, one LP from Bravo, which had stayed low during the battle, trotted back to their lines, scared shitless and overjoyed to still be living.
    Bravo had eight dead, twenty-four wounded.
    Delta had one dead, seven wounded.
    Charlie and H&S had a handful of wounded.
    There were more than fifty dead North Vietnamese littered around Bravo Company’s perimeter; there were also mounds of equipment and weapons left behind, most of it of recent Chinese Communist make. There were pith helmets, web gear, automatic rifles, carbines, machine guns, grenades. Marines held up empty RPD machine gun ammo drums and half-fired ammo belts. It was only then that they realized how many NVA had been involved; they estimated that two infantry battalions had hammered into Bravo Company. Black communications wire was also found around Bravo’s perimeter. It had been unreeled during the night as guides so the NVA infantrymen leaving their tree line could navigate forward in the dark. Some strands ran straight from the NVA position to the Marine position. Other strands were laid across those lines to indicate staging points for the various NVA units; a final strand marked the line of departure.
    These Marines were part of the best-educated and informed army in history. They knew about the withdrawal plan and the discussion it had caused. They were also hearing on the radio that their hill was only one of many places the NVA had hit. As his men policed up that morning, Lieutenant Weh wrote a letter to his wife of one year on some 1st MarDiv stationery:
    They came at us from two sides and we had gooks in the open, gooks in the trees, and gooks everywhere.… By the time you read this the enemy offensive will be old news, but they really hit everyone today, everywhere! Rockets, ground attacks, mortars, you name it. I can’t figure those God Damn dinks out. If they wanted Nixon to pull out troops they’re sure not making it easy for him. To hell with them all they can keep coming down and we’ll keep killing the stupid, indoctrinated SOBs.
    Lance Corporal Zotter stood along the crest of the hill, watching other Marines stack up the captured gear and lay the dead NVA in a line. One grunt stood over the dike where the last two had gone down fighting, and hollered up, “Hey, this one’s still alive!”
    Dowd answered from the hill, “Where’s he hit?”
    “He’s shot right in the ass!”
    The Marines along the hillock burst into rough laugher and shouts. Dowd hollered to bring the prisoner up, and the grunts reached down and effortlessly hefted the little NVA like an empty sack of oats. Three others helped carry him up by his arms and legs, and they tossed him down almost at Zotter’s feet. The NVA had a battle dressing placed on his buttocks and tied around his leg, and he was stiff, frightened, and in a lot of pain. Two Vietnamese scouts crouched beside him and began firing off questions. The NVA gritted his teeth in a grimace of pain, and shook his head no, no, no. One of the scouts slid his knife up the prisoner’s anus, then twisted. The man’s eyes almost popped from his head. He talked.
    Lance Corporal Wells did not see this torture. He did, however, notice more than one grunt veer from his path across the hill to give the NVA prisoner an angry kick.
    Zotter thought Dowd was a scrappy old bird, and decided to sit near where the colonel was conducting his business. Dowd was on the radio and it sounded like he was arguing with someone who didn’t quite believe him. “… But I’ve got