the Hill (1995)

by Scott, Leonard B

  Bugs looked at Hammonds’s still form. “What happens to us if you don’t make it?”

  Ty checked to see if he had two grenades and patted the bucktoothed soldier’s shoulder. “Stay here and hope the company makes it this far. Cover me.”

  He slid out of the crater and crawled along the side of a shattered tree as Bugs positioned himself to watch the trench line. Ty moved slowly and kept his eyes on the bunker. He quickened his crawl every time the gun fired a burst down the hill, knowing the gunner wasn’t looking to his left. Ten minutes passed, adding ten years to Ty’s life, before he reached Cowboy, who was lying in a slight depression just behind the bunker. Ty rolled Cowboy over and gagged. The soldier had bled to death. His face was grayish white and his uniform was soaked with blood. Ty gently rolled the body back into the depression and pulled out a grenade. He crawled to the side of the gun port and was about to pull the pin when two NVA rose up from the trench behind him. Bugs fired, hitting one of the men, but missed the other, who ducked down.

  Ty yanked the pin, let the lever fly, and counted to two before rolling the grenade into the aperture.

  Neither the gunner nor the assistant gunner saw where the grenade came from. The small green bomb fell at their feet, and both men frantically kicked at it to knock it into the sump. It exploded as the gunner’s foot struck its side.

  Ty tossed in the second grenade and ran toward Bugs.

  The Bravo commander rose to his feet as the second device went off and screamed for his men to move forward.

  Ty dived into the crater with Bugs and frantically crawled toward Hammonds, who was lying in the bottom of the hole. Out of breath, he lifted the sergeant’s head and grabbed his fatigue collar.

  “Ty?” Bugs said. “Ty, was he …”

  Ty struggled to pull Hammonds up the crater wall and screamed in anguish, “He was dead, goddamnit! Help me before it’s too late for him, too!”

  Bugs glanced over his shoulder and saw the company advancing. He reached out for Ty’s arm. “They’re gonna take this fucking hill. Nothing can stop th …”

  From the trenches a platoon of NVA rose up firing B-40 rockets and AK-47s, catching the exposed assault line. Bugs was knocked backward by a bullet blowing through his shoulder. He grunted and tried to sit up but was hit again in the hand. Ty grabbed Bugs’s foot and pulled him down into the crater just as incoming mortar shells exploded in front of the bunker.

  Major Shelly shook his head, knowing the attack had failed. Lieutenant Shiler lowered the handset. “Sir, the company commanders from Fourth Batt are withdrawing. Alpha and Bravo companies report heavy casualties.”

  Shelly peered over the crater. “Better get ready to shift artillery to cover their withdrawal.”

  Shiler spoke loudly to be heard over the incoming mortar rounds. “Not yet, sir. We’ve got to get the wounded off the ridge.”

  Jason helped a blinded soldier over a fallen tree and had him sit down with the other walking wounded he had collected over the past few hours. At fifty wounded men, Jason had stopped counting. It simply didn’t matter anymore. It would be easier to count those who weren’t hit. Out of the ten men he had brought to recover the wounded, four had themselves become casualties and one had been killed. The dead were left where they fell.

  A medic stopped Jason from going outside the perimeter again. “Sir, that’s it. They’re going to start bringing in the artillery and bombers again in just a few minutes.”

  Jason turned toward the hill. “What about those who are still out there?”

  “Sir, you’ve done all you could.”

  Jason quickly turned around. “Where is Bravo Company reorganizing?”

  The medic pointed to his right. “I saw the company commander over there by that crater.”

  “What’s the count, Top?” the Bravo commander asked. He wiped his face with a towel.

  The first sergeant sighed and let his rifle fall to his side. “We got eleven or twelve killed and about thirty wounded. I can’t account for five men, so right now they’re missing.”

  Jason crawled over and knelt down by the exhausted commander. “Sir, I’m looking for Spec-4 Ty Nance. Have you seen him?”

  The captain exchanged glances with the first sergeant. “Yeah, I saw him. He took out Bunker 2 and jumped into a crater behind the first bunker. He’s dead.”

  Jason heard the words, but they didn’t register. “Sir?”

  “Well, I think he bought it,” the captain said tiredly. “We lay out there pinned down for hours, and I never saw anybody raise up from the crater. It’s not far from the trenches, and the dinks were tossing grenades. I know a few of them exploded in the crater.… Top, put Nance in for a Silver Star. He was the one that knocked out the machine gun.”

  Jason stood up. “Sir, please show me where you saw him last.”

  The captain frowned. “Goddamn, L-tee, what the hell you wanna know about one man for? Jesus, I had eighty damn good ones and now I’ve got thirty.”

  Tears streamed down Jason’s face as he looked at the darkening battlefield.

  38

  Major Shelly turned on his flashlight as soon as he crawled under Lieutenant Shiler’s poncho. “McDonald is going to find Johnson. I’m going ahead and briefing you. I’ll brief them when they get here. As you already know, the Fourth Batt got stopped cold. They had twenty-two killed and over a hundred wounded. Tomorrow the brigade is gonna blow the shit out of the hill with everything the Air Force has got, and the Fourth Batt will attack again. The good news is we’ve knocked out most of the NVA machine guns that were shooting down the choppers. Most of the wounded from our battalion got out this evening, and we’ll get Fourth’s out tonight or tomorrow morning. The birds have brought in all the ammo we’ll need.”

  Shiler lowered his eyes, thanking God the wounded had finally made it to safety. “Sir, why didn’t brigade bring in another battalion? Hell, we’ve had it and so has the Fourth. It’s simple math. We had almost six hundred men between us, and we’ve lost almost four hundred men killed or wounded.”

  “I don’t know,” Shelly said and shook his head dejectedly. “The decisions have been made at the highest levels. The battalion commander is coming in tomorrow; maybe he can tell us what is …”

  “SIR!”

  Shelly turned off the flashlight and tossed back the poncho on hearing the loud voice. He looked up at Lieutenant McDonald.

  McDonald squatted down. “Sir, Jason has gone outside the perimeter to recover some bodies. We gotta shift the artillery back to the hilltop.”

  “Johnson did what?” Shelly blurted, sitting up.

  Jason stopped crawling and checked the luminous compass dial. He had taken an azimuth from the perimeter to where the Bravo commander had pointed out the first bunker. Darkness had set in, and the compass was the only way he would be able to find the crater.

  Silk crawled up beside him and whispered, “We gonna stay on yo’ ass. We can’t see shit.”

  Jason closed the compass. “Remind Book Man not to shoot his 16.”

  Silk backed up and passed the warning to the soldier. The Bravo commander had allowed Jason to ask for volunteers from the company to check the crater for wounded. Six men had volunteered, but Jason took only two from Ty’s old squad. Those two had insisted. He couldn’t afford a larger patrol because of control problems in the darkness and noise.

  He closed the compass and began crawling again. He knew the bunker couldn’t be much farther away. Ty was alive, he knew it. He couldn’t have died … he had promised,

  “And you let him go out there?” Major Shelly snarled.

  The Bravo Company commander sat up tiredly. “Look, it was his brother. He had to know if he was dead or lying wounded in that crater. Besides, it looks like it’s not just Specialist Nance. Top tells me my squad leader and another man aren’t accounted for. I bet they’re all together in that crater, and the chances are one of them might be alive.”

  Shelly looked at his watch. “They’ve got
thirty minutes to get back before the jets come in. The mission is planned, and brigade won’t cancel it because of a couple of wounded.”

  The company commander shook his head and leaned back against a stump. “No way can they get back in that time. You might as well add them to the list right now … poor bastards.”

  Jason held his breath as the flare swayed high overhead. It had popped only seconds ago, revealing the bunker firing port three feet in front of him. An artillery round exploded a hundred meters up the hill, shaking the ground, but he was already shaking. In less than a minute he would know if Ty was going to see his hill again. The flare sputtered, then went out. Jason crept forward, praying. He crawled to the side of the bunker and put his hand out to feel for the ground. His fingers touched soil and he scooted forward. He reached out again, but his fingers didn’t touch anything—he was on the edge of the crater. Another flare popped, but he didn’t duck. Instead, he raised his head and looked into the large shell hole. His stomach knotted and futility swept through his body. The crater was empty.

  The flare went out and Jason slid into the crater. He was going to let the others crawl in and turn around before starting back when a whisper came from a small hole to his right. “You move, you die!”

  Jason couldn’t speak. He was startled, scared, elated, and relieved all at the same time. The whisper was wonderfully familiar. “Ta … Ty? It’s me.”

  Ty rose from the dirt like a ghoul and stared at the dark figure in disbelief. “Jay?”

  Jason grabbed his brother and hugged him. He had never been so happy in all his life. “I knew you were alive. I knew it!”

  Silk crawled in and grabbed Ty. “Man, are we glad to see yo’ ass. Where is the rest of the dudes?”

  Ty began digging out the hole. “They’re in the tunnel. We dug into the crater to protect ourselves and hit the top of the tunnel that leads to the bunker. Come on in and help me get ’em.”

  Private Duong, with a bandage taped over his cheek and ear, followed two new replacements down the tunnel corridor toward his bunker. The lead soldier held a candle and lit others that were dug into the side of the walls as they made their way through the tunnel. Duong had mixed feelings about going back to his bunker. Three men had died horribly within the small confines, and the other replacement’s body was still there. He shivered, thinking about having to pick up the stiff man and clean his brains from the walls.

  The lead soldier stopped as he approached the entrance to the trench. “Bui, do we go straight?”

  Duong waved the two men forward. “Blow out the candle before entering the trench. The tunnel continues on the other side. It goes down, so watch your step.”

  The soldier in front of Duong paused. “My squad was responsible for defending this part of the trench. I’m the only one who still lives. The others were buried by the bombs.”

  “My bunker will protect you from the bombs,” Duong said as he gently pushed the soldier forward. “Catch up and help hold the candle so Nguyen can light it once we’re in the tunnel again.”

  Book Man tensed and turned around. “Somebody is coming!” he whispered.

  Silk and Jason quickly lowered Hammonds to the floor of the small room dug into the side of the tunnel. The room had been the ammo storage area for the bunker and still had several wooden boxes stacked against the near wall, Ty had placed Bugs and Hammonds in the storage room instead of the bunker because of the stink of the corpse. He pulled Book Man back and raised his pistol.

  Nguyen stopped and lit another candle. “The smell is horrible … look, the tunnel has partially caved in ahead.”

  Duong halted to wrap a scarf around his mouth and nose as the two replacements continued ahead.

  Ty let the first NVA soldier get within a foot of the storage room before stepping out and shooting him in the face. The second soldier, dropping his weapon, stared frozen in fear at Ty. Ty fired, hitting the man just below the nose. The soldier fell to the dirt floor, revealing a third soldier kneeling five meters back with his rifle raised. Ty didn’t have time to pull the trigger.

  Duong fired. The bullet struck the dark figure and knocked him backward. He pushed the lever from semi to automatic and pressed the trigger just as a huge man stepped into the tunnel, replacing the first. The soldier jerked with the impact of the AK bullets but didn’t fall. Duong emptied half the magazine before the man toppled over, only to have another jump out shooting. Bullets tore into Duong’s wrist, forearm, and shoulder. He screamed in pain, backing up and shooting with one hand. Another bullet glanced off the wall and hit him in the head, knocking him to the floor. He rolled over and tried to get up, but he had no more strength. The yellow candlelight above him seemed to be fading. He closed his heavy eyelids. He felt no more pain.

  Jason lowered his smoking M-16 and rolled Silk’s bullet-riddled body off Ty. He lifted his brother’s head. “Ty!” Ty grimaced and clenched his teeth. Jason pulled Ty’s hands away and tore open Ty’s fatigue shirt. The small bullet hole was four inches below the left nipple. He quickly checked for an exit wound and felt sick when he realized there was none. The bullet had tumbled once on entering the flesh and had done untold damage.

  Ty’s eyes rolled up. “I … I’ll make it, get me … on my feet.”

  Jason laid him back gently. “Lie still till I get a bandage on you.”

  Ty could feel Silk’s body weighing on his legs and raised his head to see if the man had made it. One look and he knew. “He … he didn’t have a chance, the poor … Jay, you’re hit!”

  Jason continued biting the wrapper off the field dressing. Blood was pooling on the floor from a painful leg wound he didn’t want to think about.

  Book Man squatted in the tunnel and kept his eyes on the corridor ahead. “Lieutenant, the tunnel is clear.”

  Jason placed the bandage on Ty’s wound and began to tie it off. “It won’t be for long. Someone was bound to have heard the shots. Get your grenades out.”

  Bugs dragged himself to the tunnel. “Aw, man, not Silk.”

  Jason tied the knot on the bandage and stood up, but the stabbing pain in his leg was too much and he went down.

  Bugs sat up and faced down into the tunnel. “Get that wound bandaged, L-tee, or you’re gonna bleed to death.”

  Jason lifted his pant leg as he spoke. “Bugs, you can walk and crawl, can’t you?”

  “Yeah, I can make it.”

  Jason looked at the bullet hole through his calf and began tearing his pant leg. “Book, you’re gonna take the sergeant, and Bugs, you help Ty. I’m gonna stay here a little while and make sure they don’t pop us from behind.”

  Ty slapped the ground, trying to reach his rifle. “I’m … I’m staying here with you.”

  Jason spun around. “You’re out of here, and that’s an order. Book, Bugs, move it.”

  Ty picked up his submachine gun and sat up. “Book can’t drag Hammonds by himself. Bugs has got to help him.”

  Bugs looked at Jason and lowered his head. “He’s right, L-tee.”

  “Shit!… Okay, but damnit, hurry, get out of here.”

  Book Man and Bugs grasped Hammonds under the arms and dragged him to the crater. Jason handed his compass to Book Man. “Stay low and stay on a one hundred seventy-five-degree azimuth. We’ll give you ten minutes, then start behind you. Good luck.”

  He crawled back into the tunnel and limped into the storage room. He emptied two of the large wooden ammo boxes and pushed them into the tunnel. Scooping up dirt, he began filling the boxes. “This isn’t much, but it ought to stop a few rounds if they come.”

  Ty looked at his brother’s leg and spoke with difficulty. “Plug the hole in … that calf.”

  Jason ripped his pant leg back further and tore off a piece of material. “Brother, looks like we’re both going home. I’ll be limping down the aisle and probably pushing you in a wheelchair. Cover me. I’m gonna move the bodies into the bunker and blow out the nearest candle. They won’t be able to see us, but we’ll see t
hem.”

  The senior sergeant rang the handle of the field phone again and waited for only a second before tossing the phone to the corporal. “They still have not hooked up the phone. I will ring Duong’s neck instead of the phone.”

  The corporal put the receiver back in place. “It may have something to do with the shots reported by Sergeant Ninh.”

  The senior noncom rolled his eyes. “They heard the Yankees shooting at ghosts. Send a signal repair team to check the wires. If they find Duong has been lazy, I will break his head.”

  “But the sergeant said the shots sounded like they were in the tunnel.”

  “You go with the signal team then. You will see that I am right.”

  The corporal picked up his assault rifle and woke the two communications men behind him. “Come, we have work to do.”

  Jason looked at his watch. “Those last bombs hit almost on the hilltop. I hope they made it all right. In two more minutes we’re going to be out there.”

  Ty began to speak but heard what he had hoped he wouldn’t. He whispered almost inaudibly, “They’re coming.”

  Jason lowered himself behind the boxes. “Hope they don’t see the blood on the floor. I didn’t have time to cover it very good.”

  Ty didn’t answer as he gently pushed off the safety.

  Waving a small flashlight, the corporal led the two sleepy signal repairmen down the corridor. One of the men was checking for breaks in the wire.

  He shined his light ahead. He saw a pile of dirt and a hole in the roof of the tunnel. “The tunnel has caved in. Duong? Duong, are you …”

  Ty fired first, aiming low, hoping to knock them all down. Jason joined in a split second later, able to see his targets easily in the candlelight.