TBS 2-67 Cruisebook_Updated_7Jan23

Con Tien
With the obvious now explained to Washington, Lady Bird
(we have always thought) relented to General Walt’s request
to give the DMZ a good sweep­down, fore and aft. By
Nineteen May a combined force of Third Marines and ARVN
1 st Division had launched the first of what was ultimately to
be a long series of operations in the vicinity of Con Tien that
came to known as Leatherneck Square. Anchoring the top
was the Hill of Angels, and while it retained its geographical
significance as a commanding elevation, in all respects but
one it eased slightly into the background, like somebody’s
kid sister at a ball. One thing that never changed was the
pounding that Marines there took. Regardless of who was
sweeping where, whatever battalion of Marines that was
rotated in and out of Con Tien every thirty days got
hammered.
There probably never will be a gathering of Marines
anywhere, from the birthday ball in Washington to a Marine
Corps League Toys for Tots raffle in Dubuque where
someone doesn’t resuscitate debate as to who and where got
poked the most with the brown end of the stick in Vietnam.
It’s too entertaining to curtail with facts. Many are offered
even when someone should move the conversation on to bad
calls at the Super Bowl. Here’s one fact to pocket: On 25
September of 1967 one­thousand two­hundred NVA rounds
hit Con Tien. It’s a small hill.
Marines, God bless’em, aren’t easily put off their feed
– or for that matter, dissuaded from “showtime.” Dong Ha
had a direct line of sight to Con Tien and was rewarded for
its proximity with the same course of shrapnel served up on
the Hill, just in smaller portions. Trenches slithered around
the base. They even extended to what was surely the only
walk­in movie theater in the world with a sand­bagged
projector and rows of trenches instead of pathways.
Helmets were required of the Marines for peaking out over
the lip of their trench. Choice of viewing direction was
optional, however, because a double feature was
simultaneously shown. Although it was announced every
night that Destry Rides Again would be showing, it wasn’t.
Invariably on the “big sheet” Sergeant Chip (Vic Morrow)
could be seen blasting away with his Thompson gun and its
magical self­loading magazine. If all the Germans
preemptively surrendered and there were a lull in the movie,
a 180 degree twist of the head toward Con Tien would
reward a Marine with a fine, unending display of fireworks.
Whatever the Phantoms and Skyhawks were doing was
good, but the heavy flash­thump­thump of B­52 arc­lights
was the crowd favorite, at least until sergeant Chip got up off
his tired behind and gave the Jerries another whacking.
For a month or so Marines at Con Tien could breathe
without sucking in small bits of shrapnel. Bleeding,
however, mostly got moved from behind the wire to in front
of it. Out trying to clear away the NVA from the
underbrush, Marines suffered 142 KIA and 896 wounded
with US “claims” of 362 PAVN killed. Claimed, the histories
say.
This is as good a time as any to address what might
be characterized as nonsense on stilts: casualty reporting.
“Body count” is now assumed to be inflated. Or was it?
Confirmed casualties got counted:1,2,3,4. An unconfirmed
count was either an estimate or one made at a distance (i.e.
by recon or a FO spotter – O’Leary). Consequently, error
could run in two directions – over and under – not one as
A‐19