The CAP 2-9-2 patrol of five Marines and six Vietnamese Popular Forces (PFs) Militiamen left Phu Da with full gear.   Sergeant Donald Eifford led the patrol down a small, dusty path between two tall cornfields.   I was the M-79 Grenadier and a Lance Corporal.   When we exited the cornfields, Sergeant Eifford took out his field glasses and spotted three figures entering a known Viet Cong frequented treeline.     The treeline was once the site of a peasant village.  

      Since no villagers were allowed that far from Phu Da, it was safe to believe that the three figures entering the treeline were Communists.   Sergeant Eifford radioed for mortars on the jungle treeline from the Fifth Marines Headquarters at An Hoa.   (Only a month before, CAP 2-9-2, two tanks and a company of about 130 Marine Grunts from the Fifth Marines worked the same area.  Even with all those Marines and supporting equipment, the treeline was a bad neighborhood to say the least.)

        Using Eifford’s map grid coordinates, the Marine mortars from An Hoa were very accurate.   (He was excellent at calling in support for us.)   Our sergeant decided for the eleven-man patrol to go after the Communists.

        About a mile into the thin, open rice patty dikes, fear triggered five of our six Village Militiamen to refuse to go any farther toward the mile long piece of jungle.   Even though we tried to influence their decision, the militiamen refused.  They were terrified.   To be honest, having experienced combat there myself, I was a little worried.   Without the other PFs, there would be only six of us in the thick treeline.

      Like I already mentioned, the last time we dealt with the Communists in the same piece of jungle, we had about 130 men and 2 tanks.   In spite of all the men and equipment, we still had to call in F-4 Phantom fighter jets for a couple of bombing runs.

     The lone Vietnamese militiaman, who agreed to go along with us, was walking point (first) anyway.  He had to pass through five Marines on the less than two-foot wide rice patty dike in order to leave with his buddies.

     As the CAP 2-9-2 patrol came close to the treeline that only minutes earlier three Communists entered, the sergeant ordered me to walk point (first) and slam the face of the treeline with M-79 Grenade Rounds.   Immediately, I moved up in line and started firing.   About a hundred yards outside the large treeline, we had to stop.  My grenade launcher jammed from a BeeHive (shotgun-like) round casing.    I cleared my weapon and reloaded with just high explosive rounds.   

       (In the Command Chronology for CAP 2-9-2 for July 17, 1970, it was documented that I shot a total of 22  M-79 High Explosive (HE) rounds that entire day.   Although I picked my targets well, I thought that I shot much more than 22 high explosive rounds.   It was a long day under the hot sun.)

      Once we entered the jungle, we immediately spread out into two-man teams and found Communist huts, bunkers, and trenches and stored food supplies.   My buddy

L/Cpl. George Dros did some extra searching under some heavy jungle canopy.   Inside a large hut that George found was Communist military documents and the equipment for making booby traps.   In another hut, we found freshly cooked rice still warm in four bowls.  

      We were elated that we chased off the Communists.   I took my handy Kodak Instamatic Camera from my field jacket and started taking pictures.  A couple of the guys even posed.

      This feeling of satisfaction lasted only a few minutes.   Suddenly, we were hit from what seemed like every direction.    The Communist fire was extremely intense.

      Immediately, Sergeant Eifford radioed for mortars from the An Hoa Fifth Marine Base.   The Willie Peter placing round was right on target.   However, probably because of the shifting of the M-81 mortar’s tri-pod, the ten M-81 high explosive rounds walked directly towards where we were pinned down.   We thought that our own mortars would kill us.   I didn’t know what to do.  The thought of moving to my right or left was out of the question.  The Communist fire was too furious.  The last round exploded only about 20 yards in front of us.   

      After calling in t