History of Oscar Company - USMC Combined Action Platoon ...

command, but even he didn't know how correct this would prove - the artillery
ammunition dump would soon be a blazing inferno. In addition, the weather at
that time of year would often preclude the use of the air support which had
proved so useful in the defense, as we later came to see.
SGT Balanco said; "We received an agonizing radio message from LT Stamper
telling us to pack up." LT Stamper also told him that "No R.F.'s or Bru with their
weapons would be allowed on the helicopters to return to the combat
base." (Indeed, to the Marines' disgust, no Bru or ARVN were allowed on the
flights at all! They were inclined not to leave their brave counterparts, but they
were ordered to do so, and, being Marines, complied. (It would not be the last
order they would obey against their will at Khe Sanh.)
The evacuation was, as such things often are, chaotic, and included justifiably
panicked Vietnamese and NVA shelling.
Six evacuation missions flew out. As the choppers took off, frightened Vietnamese
civilians rushed to try to board. SGT Balanco, knowing that they would overload
the aircraft and cause them and their crews and the wounded to be lost as well,
fired "a few M-70 rounds" in the opposite direction, to hold them back. (The WIAs
were Americans, including two U.S. Army NCOs from the Advisory Group).
SGT Balanco departed on the last helicopter out. Before he boarded, two Bru
approached him carrying a badly burned man and asked the Marines to take him
on board. The pilot reportedly shouted: "No one except Americans can go." and
that he was departing immediately.
Balanco took out his pistol, thinking to put the man out of his misery, but changed
his mind. Instead, he "got him on that last chopper out."
Meantime, CPT Clarke also had received orders (from Robert Brewer), to
evacuate. According to CPT Clarke, Brewer had wanted to try to hold the village,
but without Marine artillery support, agreed that was not possible.
However, CPT Clarke and SFC Perry declined to board the choppers. They had no
intention of leaving their loyal Vietnamese counterparts to whatever mercy they
could gain from the NVA.
Instead, they organized the the remaining men of the 195th RF Company and a
number of the Bru PFs, and marched back to the FOB-3 compound along a secret
trail.
In my personal opinion, this was one of the bravest and boldest feats of this or
any war, and CPT Clarke and SFC Perry should have been awarded at least an
Army Cross for their exploits in defending the ville and leading this latter-day
"Anabasis."
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