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3rd Marine Division when we heard about FSB Russell and FSB Neville being hit hard and partially overrun.
I reported in to 3rd Marine Division on July 8, 1969 as a 2/Lt. straight from artillery school at Ft. Sill, OK. I was assigned to Hotel Battery 3/12 and as "fresh meat" they assigned me as an FO with Fox Company 2/4. On July 11 (7 days after I had left Travis Air Force Base) I found myself on a shell pocked ridgeline about 8 clicks west of LZ Russell with 130 other Marines. There were no friendlies to the north of us and no friendlies to the west; we were the "end of the line". "How in the hell did I get myself in this mess?"
For the next 4 weeks we moved around from position to position and I was "shooting" Hotel everyday. I knew without having seen the battery position or having met anyone in the battery it was a good one! Finally around August 7, Fox Co was assigned to go LZ Russell to serve as perimeter security for the hill. For us "grunts" it was almost as good as being in the rear. You had a hooch of (some sort; at least you weren't sleeping on the ground ); you had re-supply everyday (mail!) and once in awhile a chance at a hot meal. I pretty much stayed with my company on the north side of the hill and around the perimeter and had very little interaction with the battery personnel. To this day I wonder why I didn't spend more time getting to know the people in my own battery.
I have a few Russell stories. I remember thinking many times that the hill was so exposed and so close to the DMZ and wondering how easy it would be for the NVA to send a couple of low flying Migs to napalm the hell out of us. I remember the rats too! At night you could hear them all over the bunker and many times I could feel them running over me. Once, one ran right over my face and I still wake up at times feeling that furry little bastard. I remember lots on insects; I swear it seems like I saw a different kind of flying or crawling critter everyday I was there. I also remember hearing, but never seeing, what we called the "fuck you birds." I'm not sure what they were; some guys thought it was a lizard.
Two clicks to the NW of Russell in the Cam Lo River valley was LZ Margo where we kept a platoon(-) outpost which was in clear view of the battery position. I had spent about 5 days down there when a rifle squad got engaged in a hot firefight about 300 meters off the hill. It later turned out that they had stumbled across an NVA field hospital and the NVA were staying to fight. It was a bad night and we had a "Puff the Magic Dragon" and a "Spooky" flare ship around us as we tried to get medevacs in. The whole next day Margo was reinforced with 81 mortars with lots of ammo (2000 rounds), boxes of grenades and a ton of c-rats. About 1700 we got the word that the hill was being evacuated and we were all choppered back to Russell. All that evening I got to call in my dream fire mission; to destroy an enemy ammunition dump, except it wasn't the enemy's, it was ours. Hotel Battery blew the hell out of LZ Margo; the secondary explosions were fantastic. It was better than any 4th of July I had ever seen!
I also remember when a CH-53 dropped a whole load of 105 ammo into the trash
pit on the side of the hill which was always on a slow burn. It was certainly a dangerous
situation and I don't remember the exact details but I know just about everyone on the
hill formed a human chain, led by Capt Ely, from the bottom of the trash pit up to the LZ passing ammo up one round at a time to keep it from cooking off. Later that same day another CH-53 dropped a whole load on the trench line crushing a grunt bunker. No one
was hurt, but it was a bad day for the wing and for us!
Around August 21 we got the word that "Intelligence" had picked up info that
the NVA were planning a six month anniversary attack on the hill. Our Kit Carson
scouts (former NVA) were jabbering like crazy that there were large numbers of NVA just to the west of us. I have never seen so much activity. We laid 3 or 4 more layers of wire; put out dozens of claymores; and the engineers came and built several "foo-gas" pits( napalm in a 50 gal drum with a charge in the bottom ). All day long the hill was covered with field grade officers , including the Asst. Division Commander, "inspecting" the situation, all of whom by dark seemed to have caught a ride back to the rear. The "zoomies" were pounding the area with "nape and snake". For 3 nights the grunts were on 100% alert and every hour or so we would cut loose with a 30 second "mad moment" of small arms; grenades and 60 mortars. The attack never came but years later I asked my company commander, Capt. Jim Murphy, if he had ever heard anything further. He had read an intelligence report that stated the NVA had been attempting to stage an anni
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