The Terrible Carnage of Hue NDIC A K R NDE A ALEX A Marine M67A2 flame tank, number F-32, of Headquarters and Service Co, 3d Tank Bn, commanded by Cpl Charles West, spews flame at a Com- munist position during the heavy fighting in the streets of Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive. By R. R. Keene guests can sit on the veranda in the 11­blocks­wide and eight­to­nine­ luxury for which Southeast Asia is blocks­deep fighting that followed the This is the conclusion of a two-part famous, drinking aperitifs, smoking combat described in Part I of this article. See Part I, “Golf Company at cigars and admiring the sunset behind article. Hue,” in the June 2013 Leatherneck. the Citadel as the view of Trang Tien There was fighting everywhere. They Bridge becomes bathed in changing had never fought house to house or “The stink—you had to load up so lights, and candle­lit paper lanterns float building to building. According to many wounded, the blood would dry on the water, guiding dragon­headed Cap tain Charles L. “Chuck” Meadows, on your hands. In two or three days restaurant barges carrying diners up the commanding officer of Golf Co, you would smell like death itself.”—A river. “We were out of our element.” But, Marine at Hue, as quoted in “U.S. For returning veterans of the Vietnam then too, so were the Bo Doi—regulars Marines in Vietnam: The Defining War, there comes a subtle realization of the North Vietnamese infantry. Year, 1968” that there is no longer that gnawing Enter Lieutenant Colonel Ernest C. feeling of fear that accompanied them “Ernie” Cheatham Jr., Commanding here are several great hotels in in their combat tour. Hue and Vietnam Officer, 2/5, up from the Troi River Hue. With tour groups going to are beautiful. south of Phu Bai where Communist T Vietnam, Military Historical But, in 1968, carnage is the word for forces had hit Marine and South Viet­ Tours always has booked into the what happened at Hue. namese units the night of 30­31 Jan. Huong Giang Hotel Resort and Spa, Company G, 2d Battalion, Fifth Ma­ 1968. Cheatham was a big man: a formerly the Army of the Republic of rine Regiment, after reaching the Citadel former defensive tackle with the Pitts­ Vietnam (ARVN) bachelor officers’ and under heavy fire, went back across burgh Steelers and the Baltimore Colts quarters and site of the U.S. Navy’s the river to the Military Assistance Com­ in the mid­1950s, who gave up football landing craft, utility (LCU) ramp dur­ mand Vietnam (MACV) compound. to be a Marine. The Corps was his ing the Vietnam War. This is the further account of “Golf” vocation, and he was known to be tac­ The Huong Giang sits on the south Co, 2d Bn and its sister companies of tically smart and innovative, but he bank of the River of Perfume. Today, 5th Marines and the street­to­street, had never fought in a city. 36 LEATHERNECK JULY 2013 www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck For the Battle of Hue, he scrounged for field manuals and came up with two: “Combat in Built­Up Areas” and “Attack on a Fortified Position.” They weren’t much, but the books provided three basic rules for conducting combat in a built­up area: isolate the battlefield, seize footholds and conduct systematic clearing operations. Cheatham reshaped that advice, according to author Eric Hammel in his book “Fire in the Streets,” to “gas the enemy, blow things up and then clear out the ruins.” He ordered up the battalion’s 106 mm recoilless rifles, every CS tear gas grenade and gas masks, composition C­4 plastique explosives, every M79 grenade and hand grenade, even obsolescent rifle grenades. Cheatham also broke out 3.5­inch rocket launchers to supplement his M72 Light Anti­Armor Weapons. He was going to C need it all. USM Back in the MACV compound, G/2/5 Above: Leathernecks of 5th Marines muscled a 300-pound 106 mm recoilless rifle up to the second floor corpsman “Doc” Bruce Grant Jr. was of the University of Hue to get a better firing position on the treasury building just down the street. Once assigned to assist with the wounded from the weapon was sighted in, they hooked up a 20-foot string lanyard and backed out of the classroom the fighting across the river. There were and down the hall. The back blast collapsed the classroom and tore out the walls—the treasury building many: Marines, U.S. and ARVN soldiers withstood the round. and civilians. Marines were hot­wiring Below: On 6 Feb., Golf Co stormed the provincial prison, fighting its way in to take on the added problem vehicles and using them for medical evacuation. They needed all the help they of sorting Communist soldiers and sympathizers from criminals and political prisoners. The process could get. started by lining everyone up against the walls. Doc Grant remembers seeing a Vietna­ mese man wearing an ARVN uniform and the red beret of the airborne battalion. He claimed to be a doctor. Grant asked him his name, and he replied, “First Lieutenant Doan Van Ba.” “Ba?” said Grant. “Doesn’t ba mean woman?” Ba smiled and waded into the wounded, helping triage. At 0700, 1 Feb., elements of Golf Co with two M48 Marine tanks set off toward the jail and provincial building six blocks down Le Loi Street. Word had been passed to relieve a small pocket of South Vietna­ ON mese holding out in the Thua Thien pro­ rs ETE P vincial prison and to liberate the nearby province administration complex. am “We didn’t get one block … before we WILLI PL started getting sniper fire,” said an M79 C grenadier in “U.S. Marines in Vietnam: journalists, Catherine Leroy and Francois fast­moving tactical aircraft laden with The Defining Year, 1968.” Mazure, joined the convoys headed into rockets, bombs and napalm. “We got a tank … got a block, turned Hue. They claimed they had “wandered” However, the weather hadn’t cleared. A right and received 57 mm recoilless which into the North Vietnamese lines and were fine rain mist coated the chilled Marines put out our tank.” The Marines went back captured. Leroy talked their way out and and enshrouded the city in an eerie bank to the MACV compound. emerged as the first newsperson to take of fog. That night the North Vietnamese photos of the Bo Doi in Hue. The story Today, across and down the street from dropped the Bach Ho Railroad Bridge made the cover of Life magazine. the home for old communist soldiers, pre­ into the River of Perfume, but south of On 3 Feb., the South Vietnamese lifted viously known as the MACV compound, Hue, the bridge on Highway 1 that crossed all restrictions on fire support south of is the Saigon Morin, another of Hue’s great the Phu Cam Canal still was unscathed the River of Perfume. It opened the way hotels. Renowned for its excellent brunch and the American forces were streaming for support from up to 8­inch howitzers, and evening steaks, it stands on the corner troops and supplies across. Two French naval gunfire and, if the weather cleared, of Le Loi Street overlooking the Trang www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck JULY 2013 LEATHERNECK 37 dangerously fully elevated for targets just across the street. EL Across the street, the Bo Doi were ticks D ensconced in the treasury and post office A buildings designed to withstand just about IT anything while providing excellent fields C LCU ramp/ARVN BOQ/ D E I G N of fire down the streets. The Marines threw Huong Giang Hotel R Thuong Tu E N everything and then assaulted, five or six Gate G R times. According to his statement in “U.S. I V E R Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year, Nguyen Hoang Imperial Palace ll 1968,” LtCol Cheatham said, “That means a Bridge l W mustering everybody’s courage and energy e ad it C MACV compound/old soldiers home up. ... You’d assault and back you’d come, . Viet Cong St drag your wounded and then muster it up oi University of Hue/Hotel Saigon Morin L flag Le E Jeanne d’Arc High School/Imperial Hotel again and try it again.” 1 M Treasury/Post Office In the university, Golf Co Marines U H F un R g muscled a 300­plus­pound 106 recoilless E Vuong P Hospital Complex B F lv rifle up a staircase to a classroom over­ O Provincial Prison d. ER looking the treasury. The Marines would RIV Thua Thien Provincial Admin Complex 1 mark a target with the 106’s .50­caliber L Viet Cong y T h flag u traffic circle and tracer spotting rounds. It dawned on Staff o n g gas station K Sergeant James Long that the 106 mm i e t S Catholic cathedral t rifle’s back blast was going to devastate to Bach Ho . Railroad Bridge P An Cuu Bridge the room and anyone dumb enough to be HU CAM NAL CA in it. The Ma rines improvised, firing the railroad 1 OE R 106 mm recoilless rifle with a lanyard. ON M And, while the round took out the NVA, ON its back blast took out the rear wall, col­ JAS lapsing the build ing. The leathernecks just Tien Bridge. The marble­colored, multi­ The leathernecks slowly continued dug out the rifle and continued the fight.