Both Legs Broken and He Said Get My Men Out 😳
A soldier recounts his final combat mission in enemy territory where he and his nine men fought through seven firefights over four days with both his legs broken. Despite severe injuries and being unable to fit on the extraction helicopter, he prioritized getting his men to safety before being forcibly pulled aboard by the crew chief, after which the helicopter crashed.
Summary
The speaker describes what he identifies as his last mission, during which his unit engaged an NVA base camp on a mountainside that had been targeted by phantom jets. His team moved into enemy territory and encountered a graveyard where they established a position. Over the course of four days, the unit faced seven firefights against intense enemy opposition. By the second day, they had exhausted their ammunition supplies, forcing the speaker to rely on grenades—throwing 19 on the final day alone. Both sides sustained heavy casualties in the extended firefight. With mounting casualties and depleted resources, the unit made the decision to extract from the area. By this point, the speaker had sustained critical injuries with both legs broken and significant blood loss from multiple wounds. Despite his condition, he remained committed to the mission objective of ensuring all personnel escaped. The unit reached the extraction point with nine men and a dog. However, the helicopter being used for extraction was too light to accommodate the speaker's additional weight given the other personnel and equipment already aboard. The speaker instructed the crew chief to prioritize extracting his men, indicating he would find another way out. The crew chief instead grabbed him by his harness and forcibly pulled him onto the aircraft. Immediately after takeoff, the helicopter rose approximately 10 feet before suddenly crashing.
Key Insights
- The speaker and his unit engaged in seven separate firefights over four days while operating on the reverse side of a mountain in enemy territory
- The unit ran out of ammunition by the second day, forcing the speaker to rely on grenades as his primary weapon, throwing 19 grenades on the final day alone
- Despite sustaining two broken legs and significant blood loss, the speaker refused to surrender or be captured and remained committed to extracting all of his men
- When the extraction helicopter was too light to accommodate both the speaker and his nine men plus dog, he instructed the crew chief to prioritize getting his men out while he stayed behind
- The crew chief physically pulled the speaker onto the helicopter against his instructions, but the aircraft crashed approximately 10 feet after takeoff
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] That was my last mission. The NVA had set up a base camp on the reverse side of the mountain. I called in the phantoms and they came in and blew the hell out of it and we walked in enemy territory. They see the traces so I didn't want to walk into that. Got to a graveyard. Had to cement things. So we stayed there. When I thought I could get in, I took off. I think we had seven damn firefights in those four days. We run out of ammunition the second day. The last day I think I threw 19 grenades. They hit us hard. We hit them [0:31] hard. We finally had to make a…
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