with earth.
6. Buried Personnel: The dead ARVN troop was approx1.6 meters tall and weighed approx 52 kg. He had been killed by a single round passing through his throat and out the back of his neck. One of the Americans was Negro and the other was Caucasian. The Negro was approx 1.67 meters tall and weighed about 65 kg. He had been killed by one round through his stomach and out his back and he also had one round in his right thigh. The Caucasian was approx 1.7 meters tall and weighed about 68 kg. He had been killed by three rounds in the chest.
7. Miscellaneous: Source stated that a few days after the attack the area was hit by B-52 strikes until September 1969. Source claims the area has bomb craters too numerous to count. (Craters measure 9 to 15 meters in diameter and 3 meters deep.) Source is willing to lead an operation to the area to recover the bodies, but fears the site may have been obliterated by the bombing. PART IV COMMENTS OF THE COLLECTOR
8. Source Credibility: Source is above average intelligence despite his lack of formal education. Source was cooperative about furnishing information and control questions indicated no apparent attempts to deceive the interrogator. Source has been offered and accepted the promise of remuneration if he leads an operation to the burial site and the bodies are found and identified as U.S.
9. Map References: AMS Series L7014, Sheet 6232II, First Edition, dated 1965.
10. Source Disposition: Source has furnished information concerning COSVN hq in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia and two commo-liaison stations in Kandal Province, Cambodia. Source has no further information of air intelligence interest. Exploitation has been terminated. Source is presently in the MR IV Regional Chieu Hoi Center, CAN THO City, RVN.Gp3
On July 30th, four Australian SAS lads named Ray, Jim, Terry, and Bill arrived from Nui Dat. At 1730 hours we dutifully did our daily PT (physical training) and a three-mile run. Afterward, it was time to wet our whistles and to party with our newfound SAS mates.
The following day, Doc, Ray, and I went via sector slick to Vinh Kim subsector, picked up Captain Campbell, then proceeded to Ba To’s hamlet. I had managed to bum a case of 40mm HE and pop flares from the PBR sailors in My Tho for Ba To and his men. As expected, they were very thankful for the ordnance. It was only a matter of time until units of the 309F MF HW Battalion attacked Ba To’s tiny hamlet again.
Ba To gave me information on the activities of the VC village security subsection and a twenty-bed VC hospital that was located in the midst of a large bunker complex. Doc and I spent the afternoon back in Dong Tam making a 1:4,000 scale mosaic from split vertical photos for future enemy targets. We also replaced the malfunctioning KY-8 crypto unit in our FM, AN/VRC-46 radio.
Later that afternoon, Dai Uy and NILO John went on a VR near one of the cache sites that Ba To had told us about. After they returned to Subsector, Dai Uy gathered all information about the cache site from Captain Campbell. Fletcher had learned that approximately one month earlier a VC/NVA sapper school with nineteen instructors had educated fifty students in the arts of assaulting and destroying government outposts and hamlets such as Ba To’s. The school had been located in the immediate vicinity of two tombs and the cache. There was also a possibility that a seventy-man VC unit was located near the cache. Regardless, Dai Uy gave the warning order at 2130. There was no party with our SAS buddies that night.
On the morning of July second SAS Ray and I drove to Vinh Kim subsector to pick up two guides from Ba To’shamlet. Unfortunately, the guides didn’t show and we were forced to return to Dong Tam empty-handed, but Lieutenant Fletcher and I decided that the guides weren’t really that important.
Dai Uy gave his patrol leader’s order at 1000. By 1200 we had inserted in a rice paddy and were covered by Seawolf gunships.
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