The Lost Squad of Ap Binh Son
The members of Romeo and Juliet Reconnaissance Platoons, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, woke to a bright sunny day in Vietnam. The date was 5 September 1967. We were at Camp Martin Cox better known as Bearcat. None of us had any idea what was to come to pass that day. It was supposed to be as close to a cake walk as the recon platoons could get. We didnt know how dark the sky was going get, even with the sun beating down on our heads, at a 100 degrees. This is an account of the events of that day a day that will never be forgotten at least while there's blood pumping through my veins.
The 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division, maintained a minimum force of one infantry company presence, from a rotated Battalion, at the Ap Binh Son rubber plantation at all times. There was an established Command Post (CP) that each Company used as its base of operations during its rotation. The unit would surround the plantation house common grounds and man it at all times. They would also run patrols around the plantation on a daily basis. The plantation itself and the surrounding area had once been a VC stronghold before the 9th Division arrived a year earlier and successfully pushed them out. Someone thought a show of force at the plantation was strategic and effective. Bearcat was only a few thousand meters from the plantation off Highway 15.
The plantation owner, a Frenchman and his two daughters, lived in the plantation house. They were suspected of being VC sympathizers. There was no relationship between the Frenchman and the occupying units. He and his daughters ignored us as best they could and we observed their daily routine. We knew they were paying the VC tax collectors regularly in order to be operating the plantation as if the war didn't exist. The VC tax collectors were rumored to come right up to the edge of the rubber at night, where the Frenchman would meet them, and pay up. The VC were also rumored to be accompanied by one or two "Caucasian mercenaries." We really wanted to capture or bring one of them in dead or alive. We suspected they were also French by nationality.
On 5 September 1967 ... the remnants of Romeo and Juliet reconnaissance platoons were trucked to the Ap Binh Son rubber plantation. This was supposed to be a break for us. An opportunity to pull a patrol close to what we considered to be home. A chance to afterwards to have a few minutes to ourselves to write letters home and to heal up. Most of us were ravaged with bamboo poisoning. Our forearms were raw and swollen masses of scabs and puss from beating our way through the bush. It was one of those rare times we looked forward too. Hot food and a safe place to sleep at night with both eyes closed.
This particular morning our mission was simple enough a quick and dirty cloverleaf patrol of the plantation and surrounding area. It was nothing exciting just three separate loops around the plantation to see what was going on. It was nothing that I hadn't done a number of times before when I was assigned to B Company. The difference this day was that Romeo and Juliet platoons were down to 20 men (or less). To complete this mission we would have to combine into one platoon and split up into 3 squads. It was a simple process that didn't take long. It was like picking players for a sand lot baseball game.
I was attached to 1st squad with a sergeant from Romeo Platoon being in charge as Squad Leader. At the time, I also was a buck sergeant in Juliet platoon. I was not in charge of the squad on that day because it was predominately a Romeo platoon squad. My function was another set of eyes and another loaded M16 Our squad had the first leaf of the patrol. We had some rubber and bush to beat around and then back to the CP.
SGT Bravie Soto, a Squad Leader, Romeo platoon, led the 2nd squad. I remember Soto as a hard figure to forget. Soto was of Native American decent. A looming figure but quiet. He was older than most of us at 26-27 His leaf involved patrolling the perimeter of a major portion of the rubber in the plantation then into the bush and back into the CP. The rubber itself had an access road that ran straight through the middle of the plantation. It came to a "T" at the far end or backside of the rubber. That's where the rubber trees gave way to the bush. The 3rd squad was to skirt the edge of the rubber and come back around to the right through the bush and back into the CP.
The three squads split up about 1030 hours and proceeded to execute the patrol. My squad took the short route through the rubber before entering the bush. I estimate that we weren't more than 20 minutes into the patrol when we heard all hell break loose to our right flank.
The chatter of the small arms fire couldn't have been more than 200-300 meters from us. The firefight couldn't have lasted more than 3-5 minutes at most. I remember hearing a lot small arms fire and the sounds hand grenades or maybe M79 rounds going off. We froze in our footsteps Our radio had been clear up to that point. We heard the 3rd squad call the CP wanting to know what was going on. We did the same.
The firefight was a short but intense exchange. Both my squad and 3rd squad were told to ignore the gunfire (we were waved off) and advised that racket was coming from the direction of A Company 2/39th that was also operating in the AO that day. Someone either at Battalion or at the CP surmised that it was A Company out their blowing off some steam. We couldn't confirm that. We were instructed to complete our leg of the patrol as planned. There was little or no radio contact with anyone from that point until the patrol ended.
By 1145 hours 1st and 3rd squads had reported back to the CP. We sat around and talked about what we had heard. It was more than evident to us that something was very wrong and we were all more than concerned about SGT Soto and his men. After what seemed like hours we were told to saddle up and cover Soto's leaf of the patrol to see if could find them. We immediately took off into the rubber. It was about 1430 hours.
I can't remember how long we had searched the area for sure ... but I remember being on the back road of the plantation. The rubber trees were to my right and the bush to my left. The sun was bearing down on us. It was scorching hot. There was also something in the air It wasn't just the unforgettable stench of raw latex it was fear!
We had come across a group of plantation workers. They were sitting in a group along side the road. I didn't remember ever seeing that many of them working there before at the same time. They were physically shaking, like they were all having drug withdrawal, at the same time. They were chewing beetle nuts, which itself is a narcotic, and smoking their dope too It was evident they were all scared shitless about something. There was real fear in their eyes. The Romeo squad leader was trying to get some information out of the workers as best he could. We didn't have an interpreter with us so we had no way of interrogating them. We knew the workers were terribly afraid, and that something was wrong, we just didn't have any way of finding out of what.
Long after the fact, having rolled the events of that day around in my mind a hundred times or more, I have come to the conclusion, that the fear we saw in the eyes of the plantation workers was due to their having witnessed what had happened to the 2nd squad. I also believe they knew that we were in the sites of the VC force responsible. They were probably afraid of being caught in the crossfire if the shit hit the fan. The thought also crossed my mind that they could very well have been part of the VC force themselves. Most of them were old men that looked like they wanted to live to be a little older. They appeared harmless enough.
The road we were standing on showed signs of VC traffic. There were directions signs scratched in the dirt limbs and branches laid out in patterns that could not be mistaken for anything other than movement signals. It made the hair, what little of it I had, stand up and tingle on the back of my neck. Personally, I just wanted to get the hell out of there and fast something wasnt right. I swear we were being watched and possibly within seconds of also becoming among those missing that day.
I surmised that the VC would not have left the signs on the road for a small force. The Romeo squad leader either wasn't sure about the signs or what they meant. Either way, he came to the same conclusion I did, and we left the area unceremoniously and headed back to the CP. We had searched the area in vain. Little did we know that we were within 20-30 yards of the ambush site and the bodies before turning back.
At the CP we sat around waiting for something to happen. We could hear a lot of radio chatter from the squawk boxes in the CP area. Until now we were the only ones to have done anything at all. In late evening several 2 1/2 ton trucks rolled up loaded with troops. The regular daily supply run for the CP was with them. A couple of cooks jumped off the trucks and began to set up the chow line to serve a hot evening meal. There was still no sign of the 2nd squad.
Shortly after the arrival of the trucks, we (the remnants Romeo and Juliet) less the 8 men of Sotos squad, were loaded on to one of them and brought back to the battalion area at Bearcat. We were there just long enough for a shit, shower, shave, and a hot meal. At dusk were loaded back up and trucked out somewhere to the south to do another ambush patrol along VC lane. It was evident that something had gone seriously wrong with SGT Soto's patrol and someone at the Company and Battalion didn't want us around and under foot. We didn't understand why at the time. Would all know soon enough.
I don't remember when exactly it was that we heard that they had found the squad. I want to say 2-3 days but it may have been late the next day. It seemed like forever. Time was a "warp" in Vietnam. I just don't recall. I do remember feeling sick to my stomach and then a fit of rage when I heard the circumstances under which the bodies had been found.
It appeared that the VC had ambushed the 2nd squad midway through the rubber on the back road of the plantation. They were taken totally by surprise. Their bodies had been found riddled with bullets, stripped nude, and it was apparent that their bodies had been brutalized, even after they were dead. The VC had then placed some of the bodies in water filled APC emplacements or ditches, tied together and weighted down with rocks and or pinned down to the bottom of the water filled ditches with stakes. Due to the 1st and 3rd squads being waved off, when the initial firefight was heard, the VC had plenty of time to have their way with SGT Soto and his men. There were signs that a couple of the men had been shot execution style after they were dead.
On September 21st 1967, I was wounded in another action, and put on light duty. I was sent to the 9th Division Reliable Leadership Academy as a student. I was thankful for the opportunity. A few weeks rest. It would prove to be the move that got me off the line for good. I went through the two-week course. It was a piece of cake for me after all the training I had received on my previous tour in Korea. I graduated as co- Honor Graduate and was retained as an Instructor.
Shortly after being assigned to Reliable Academy, I read a newspaper or magazine article, about that patrol at Ap Binh Son. The article told it like it happened. Unfortunately I can't find the copy I had sent home for safekeeping. Nor can I find anyone else that was on the patrol with me that day. Fortunately, I have been contacted by several men that were detailed to the recovery team that went into the plantation to recover the bodies. Their accounts of the condition of the bodies of our fallen brothers was grizzly to say the least. The memory of the patrol and the sight of The "Wall" further engrave the events of that day in my mind.
As time passes I often wonder why there wasn't any intelligence passed on to us prior to our doing the patrol. Particularly about the possible presence of a significant VC force capable of doing what they did. We didn't have a clue. I understand that Mushrooms are grown much the same way by being kept in the dark and fed on shit. We knew the feeling that day.
Sometimes I wonder who was in charge of the CP at plantation that day. Id like to be able to ask him (them) them what was going through their minds when they waved us off while listening to the firefight. There are times I try to rationalize, whether we could have made a difference that day, had we "cut and run" to help, when we first heard the firefight. I think things might have gone down differently if the squads had consisted of all men of Romeo platoon or all of Juliet platoon. We probably wouldn't have radioed the CP at all we would have been on our way while the shooting was still going on. Had we been forewarned of VC activity in the area we would have known there was trouble and done all we could without hesitation. Some decent intelligence perhaps would have made all of us, particularly Soto and his men, a little more cautious and alert in the execution of the patrol.
In all honesty, I have come to the conclusion that we couldn't have saved the men of 2nd squad that day. They were surely dead by the time the shooting stopped. The best we could have done was made contact with the VC forcing them to leave the bodies where they were. We could have seen to it that Soto and his men had their dignity in death! The VC wouldn't have had the time or opportunity to do anything else to the bodies as they did. I often wondered how the Army explained the condition of the bodies, and the circumstances under which these men died, to the families. For years I could only imagine The fact of the matter is that the next of kin were informed that the men had been killed in action. They explained away the condition of the bodies by saying that they the squad had been in the jungle for several days before being found and that they had been ravaged by animals during that time The only animals that could have inflicted the damage found on those men were armed with guns, bayonets, knives, and machetes
This was written in memory of SGT Bravie Soto, SP4 Edwin P. Prentice, SP4 William T. McDaniel, SP4 Kenneth J. Krause, SP4 Arnold Benson Jr., SP4 Elmer D. Byrd, SP4 Willie L. Jones Jr., and PFC William R. Brennan The Lost Squad of Ap Binh Son.
As remembered by
SGT John J. Bradley, III
Juliet Reconnaissance Platoon
E Company, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment
1st Infantry Brigade
9th Infantry Division
Camp Martin Cox (Bear Cat), Vietnam
(May-September 1967)
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