[QUOTE=
But the book says that Capt Hobson took over Co C at Illingsworth in April when their Capt was wounded which was after the Alpha Troop action in March. So I'm assuming, as Plato says, it wasn't C co who was rescued but Hodges' previous company before he took over C co in April.
??
Ahh the fog of war....[/QUOTE]
And the FOG of war
.
The bit about CPT Hobson is the part that makes me try hard to rethink this.
I'm only assuming that I have the unit right. I was one of the 2/8 platoons riding in on the M113s to pull the mangled company out of the complex. And I mean just that. I'm assuming.
I met my theoretical CO, Ray.... (don't even recall his last name) once, months before, and after three days platoons split off to operate independently until we rejoined at Tay Ninh, as a company, with the 1/11 troop. We weren't "assigned" to them, by the way. We were simply co-resident.
Again, we're talking hot chow and actual showers, water trailers sling-loaded in.
It's possible that my platoon could have actually been part of a company designated A or B, or whatever. I know that sounds flaky, but when you're the Plato platoon and don't operate as a company, it doesn't stick in the memory well.
Still, I'm close to sure that we were part of C Co. I *know* we were part of 2/8 because the plaque downstairs says so.
If the Co. we pulled out was also 2/8 that may explain the confusion. My platoon had only been out of the field once, for a three day in country R&R, (Bien Hoa, steam baths, beer and great massages) so I wouldn't recognize anyone from the Battalion, except for my CO and that from only a few days together.
On the date of the contact, I was a week from inheriting the company, because Ray was due to DEROS. I know he was up and walking afterward, and don't remember any sign of wounds. So, if someone inherited a command from a wounded CO, it wouldn't have been from us. I left the battlefield in the supine position, however, and never made it back to my "almost" command.
I don't recall meeting the CPT who commanded the 1/11 troop either. I knew their XO, and it seemed to me that he was the one giving the directions. That doesn't mean that I was right. There may have been a stray ACav CPT in the AO.
And, if the CPT remembered a company of the 2/8 in the action, he was certainly correct. There was at least one (mine), and possibly two.
I know that the CPT who had walked his company into the obvious Regt. HQ had no serious wounds. He had a couple of small pieces of shrapnel in the cheek and jaw, and was moving the well, the last I saw of him, about 15 minutes before we withdrew.
And, I don't think my company from the 2/8 ever went to Illingsworth, when I got back from Bien Hoa, they had been assigned to being Palace Guard for the 1Cav HQ. Not back to 100%, I wound up at Division G-3, so I got to see them there.
Does the book mention any other 2/8 units around that time? Now I'm really wondering.
And, thanks for the words from those here to the Vietnam vets. I sometimes wonder, though, if we would have felt so close to each other if the opposition hadn't pushed us into closing ranks.