Sanpans Coming In
by Doc Dave Pfeifer
I
t was a nite insertion,choppers brought us in one after another, putting
us down just at the edge of a tree line.
We debarked and headed into the woods at sundown,
then formed our perimeter of defense.The cp, sgts,& lt, & me, gathered in
the center. We were told intell from battalion said san pans were coming
in at nite bringing arms and ammo to charlie.
We dropped our heavies at the base of those trees and took what we
thought we would need. Extra ammo, smokes ,flares and grenades.I pacvked
my lite first aid bag.We left indian style following each other in the
dark.
After some time going thru the woods ,we broke out into rows of rice
paddies.As we followed each other accross the tops of the rice paddies
they kept breaking down
from the numbers and the weight of us.Everyother step would take you
breaking down the side of the rows and into the cold water of the
paddies.On and on we ran in the dark.Hearing a noise I looked up to see a
cobra chopper pull up and look us over in the darkness on the run.I
prayed he recognized us as friendlies, as he looked really
like death looking down on us.Finnally he moved on passing over us about
100 feet above.Whew.
After what seemed like forever running we broke out to the water edge of
the china sea.We followed a dike and lined up all along it in single
file.Some of us were ankle deep in water.A flare ship went back an forth
dropping flares lighting up the dark for us.Hours went by nothing but
darkness wet and cold.Shivering there on that dike all nite was not a lot
of fun and all the guys started grumbling.
At day break we could see better and finnaly one san pan
came floating along.It looked like and old man and old lady in the
dugout.Suddenly Apache the battalion commander appeared in a loatch
helicopter. leaning out of the window they passed over the san pan right
in front of us.
Onthe second pass, the Major leaned out the side of the chopper with his m-16
and fired up the san pan. He fired at least three clips into it at point blank,
right in front of us.
Then he just flew away.All of us just looked at each other and someone
said " what the fuck was that all about''?
LT, yelled we aregoing in, and we all ran off that berm, wondering just
what had happened. we made it back to our rucks and crashed for a couple
hours before choppers picked us up to take us someplace else to search
and destroy.
Doc Dave
Medic, Vietnam