WEBVTT - Jay Vargas Pulls the Trigger 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:15.796 Bushkin. 0:00:22.436 --> 0:00:24.756 It was a late fall day and four men walked 0:00:24.756 --> 0:00:28.516 through a field rifles in hand. The tall, dry grass 0:00:28.676 --> 0:00:32.036 rustled as they moved. They were alert, listening for the 0:00:32.076 --> 0:00:35.236 sounds of other bodies moving through it too, watching for 0:00:35.276 --> 0:00:38.596 a shadow or a bend in the grass. They went 0:00:38.596 --> 0:00:42.076 as silently as they could, ready to shoot as soon 0:00:42.116 --> 0:00:45.436 as they locked in a target. The four men with 0:00:45.556 --> 0:00:50.036 the Vargas brothers from Winslow, Arizona, all the Marines, and 0:00:50.076 --> 0:00:53.556 they were out hunting. The first brother caught a deer 0:00:53.596 --> 0:00:57.116 in his sights and shot it. He'd bagged a buck. Eventually, 0:00:57.396 --> 0:01:01.276 the second and third brothers did too, but the fourth brother, Jay, 0:01:01.796 --> 0:01:05.236 the youngest, couldn't seem to get one. He kept retreating 0:01:05.236 --> 0:01:08.996 to their campsite, putting his gun down. His brother's cheer 0:01:09.236 --> 0:01:12.116 him on, tried to keep his spirits up. This was 0:01:12.156 --> 0:01:16.036 their yearly trip, a family tradition did, all grown up 0:01:16.156 --> 0:01:19.156 hunting together. Now they vowed to stay out until the 0:01:19.236 --> 0:01:22.036 last brother got his buck. They didn't want him to 0:01:22.076 --> 0:01:25.996 miss out, but he just couldn't seem to shoot his rifle. 0:01:26.996 --> 0:01:29.636 I can picture it, the coolness of the day, the 0:01:29.716 --> 0:01:33.636 warmth between the brothers, the bright blue western sky and 0:01:33.676 --> 0:01:37.196 the call of birds overhead, and like an electric current 0:01:37.396 --> 0:01:41.676 underneath it all panic from Jay who couldn't pull the trigger, 0:01:42.356 --> 0:01:46.716 who in fact, would never pull a trigger again. He 0:01:46.756 --> 0:01:49.596 couldn't shoot a gun without remembering all the times he'd 0:01:49.596 --> 0:01:52.236 done the same thing in Vietnam, and he had something 0:01:52.316 --> 0:01:57.356 else to remember Vietnam by a Medal of Honor. I'm 0:01:57.396 --> 0:02:01.836 Malcolm Glavell, and this is Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage. 0:02:01.956 --> 0:02:04.836 The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in 0:02:04.876 --> 0:02:09.076 the United States, awarded for gallantry and bravery in combat 0:02:09.156 --> 0:02:11.916 at the risk of life, above and beyond the call 0:02:11.956 --> 0:02:15.916 of duty. Each candidate must be approved all the way 0:02:15.956 --> 0:02:18.916 up the chain of command, from the supervisory officer in 0:02:18.956 --> 0:02:22.716 the field to the White House. This show is about 0:02:22.716 --> 0:02:26.316 those heroes, what they did, what it meant, and what 0:02:26.356 --> 0:02:30.196 their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. 0:02:31.316 --> 0:02:34.436 The story I'm going to tell you today is brutally violent, 0:02:34.756 --> 0:02:37.956 and there's a reason those graphic details matter. It has 0:02:37.996 --> 0:02:41.836 to do with the aftermath of that violence. We'll look 0:02:41.876 --> 0:02:45.196 at why it's so important to talk honestly about what 0:02:45.316 --> 0:02:49.236 happens on the battlefield and how veterans tell their stories, 0:02:49.836 --> 0:02:52.636 if they can even bring themselves to tell them at all. 0:02:53.796 --> 0:02:56.596 This episode is about Jay Vargas and a story that 0:02:56.636 --> 0:02:59.316 took him more than thirty years to tell, but once 0:02:59.396 --> 0:03:03.196 he did, the change things not just for him, but 0:03:03.316 --> 0:03:09.076 for hundreds of other men and women just like him. 0:03:20.596 --> 0:03:24.396 By nineteen sixty eight, US combat forces had been fighting 0:03:24.436 --> 0:03:28.036 the war in Vietnam for three years. That January, the 0:03:28.036 --> 0:03:32.156 North Vietnamese military had launched a series of surprise attacks 0:03:32.276 --> 0:03:36.396 throughout South Vietnam, a campaign known as a Tet Offensive. 0:03:36.996 --> 0:03:39.756 It was a norse attempt to bring about a decisive 0:03:39.916 --> 0:03:43.356 end to the war. A young Marine captain named Jay 0:03:43.476 --> 0:03:46.996 Vargas was there. He was twenty nine, on his second 0:03:47.076 --> 0:03:50.316 tour of Vietnam. From the outset, he could tell it 0:03:50.356 --> 0:03:53.036 was going to be even tougher this time around here, 0:03:53.036 --> 0:03:55.436 he is remembering back on that tour. 0:03:55.996 --> 0:03:59.076 I got in it in late sixty seven and through 0:03:59.156 --> 0:04:02.436 sixty eight, which was the worst time to be in Vietnam. 0:04:02.876 --> 0:04:07.076 We knew that the North Vietnamese were coming and it 0:04:07.276 --> 0:04:11.996 was starting to turn up ugly throughout the South Vietnam everywhere. 0:04:13.036 --> 0:04:16.196 The Tet Offensive didn't end the war, but it changed 0:04:16.236 --> 0:04:19.516 the way people in the US saw Vietnam. Watching the 0:04:19.556 --> 0:04:23.116 carnage unfold on the nightly news, the American public realized 0:04:23.116 --> 0:04:26.356 that despite what they had been told, the conflict wasn't 0:04:26.396 --> 0:04:30.156 coming to an end. The government had lied this could 0:04:30.276 --> 0:04:34.556 keep going for years. The North Vietnamese leadership knew that 0:04:34.676 --> 0:04:37.716 popular opinion was souring on the war. They saw an 0:04:37.716 --> 0:04:42.596 opportunity strike again hard, and maybe then the US would 0:04:42.636 --> 0:04:45.796 lose heart for the war altogether. So in the early 0:04:45.836 --> 0:04:49.636 spring of sixty eight, they planned another campaign. This one 0:04:49.756 --> 0:04:52.636 centered on the U. S supply base of Dong Ha. 0:04:53.516 --> 0:04:56.116 The base was set about twelve miles south of the 0:04:56.156 --> 0:04:59.796 demilitarized zone on the Beau du Quaviete rivers, and it 0:04:59.836 --> 0:05:02.876 supplied all the friendly forces in the northern part of 0:05:02.916 --> 0:05:07.876 South Vietnam with ammunition, supplies and medical support. It was 0:05:07.916 --> 0:05:13.236 strategically very important. A series of abandoned villages sat across 0:05:13.236 --> 0:05:16.996 the river from the base, The largest one was Dido There, 0:05:17.236 --> 0:05:20.836 the North Vietnamese military secretly built a sprawling maze of 0:05:20.836 --> 0:05:25.596 bunkers and armed positions pointed directly at the Dongha base. 0:05:26.116 --> 0:05:29.796 Then they quietly filled Dideaux with thousands and thousands of 0:05:29.876 --> 0:05:33.916 North Vietnamese Army troops, all of them setting their sights 0:05:34.396 --> 0:05:39.556 on Dongh. Their plan take the base by surprise, overwhelmed 0:05:39.556 --> 0:05:42.596 the roughly seven hundred Marines that were stationed there and 0:05:42.756 --> 0:05:47.356 essentially shut down US operations in that part of Vietnam. 0:05:47.636 --> 0:05:51.596 The entire area was covered in lush vegetation, which made 0:05:51.596 --> 0:05:54.356 it easy to hide what they were doing. The American 0:05:54.436 --> 0:05:58.676 command had no idea what was coming. On the last 0:05:58.756 --> 0:06:02.596 day of April nineteen sixty eight, the North Vietnamese Army 0:06:02.916 --> 0:06:05.836 NVA for short, struck the U. S forces at Dongha. 0:06:06.636 --> 0:06:08.956 They opened fire on a U. S. Navy river boat, 0:06:09.236 --> 0:06:13.676 killing a sailor and wounding several others. The Lieutenant colonel 0:06:13.716 --> 0:06:17.116 in command of the Marines, William Weiss, sent a company 0:06:17.516 --> 0:06:21.556 around two hundred men to investigate the abandoned village of Dideaux. 0:06:22.356 --> 0:06:27.076 Then, when we found out how extensive and the enemy 0:06:27.116 --> 0:06:31.596 positions were, they were very well constructed bunkers, They were 0:06:31.716 --> 0:06:35.636 very well camouflaged, mutually supporting in order to take one 0:06:35.676 --> 0:06:37.876 bunker who had came under the fire of two or 0:06:37.916 --> 0:06:41.276 three others, and it had obviously taken them a long 0:06:41.356 --> 0:06:44.076 time to build them. They had been in that area 0:06:44.156 --> 0:06:46.596 for quite a while to construct those positions. 0:06:47.956 --> 0:06:50.996 The marines that we sent were immediately drawn into battle. 0:06:51.516 --> 0:06:54.516 By the afternoon, a third of them had been killed 0:06:54.796 --> 0:06:58.356 or metavacked out. Remember, there weren't that many US troops 0:06:58.356 --> 0:07:01.636 had DONGHA to begin with, fewer than seven hundred. They 0:07:01.676 --> 0:07:06.396 would end up facing down more than ten thousand NVA. 0:07:06.916 --> 0:07:10.596 One of those marines stationed nearby was jav Argus. Jay 0:07:10.676 --> 0:07:14.076 was charismatic and soft spoken, with regulation and short, dark 0:07:14.116 --> 0:07:17.356 hair and olive skin, quick to grin. He was the 0:07:17.396 --> 0:07:21.516 company commander of roughly one hundred and seventy men. Jay 0:07:21.596 --> 0:07:24.836 believed that his guys, the Marines of Golf Company or 0:07:24.876 --> 0:07:27.556 Company G, were some of the best in the service 0:07:28.196 --> 0:07:28.796 or anywhere. 0:07:29.516 --> 0:07:34.076 Hard tough seventeen eighteen nineteen year old marines. 0:07:34.116 --> 0:07:36.636 I'm not ken ye I have. They were the toughest, 0:07:36.676 --> 0:07:38.436 meanest little bastards I've ever seen. 0:07:39.316 --> 0:07:42.116 In fact, they called the whole second Battalion of the 0:07:42.116 --> 0:07:46.876 fourth Marines the magnificent Bastards. They were tough and they 0:07:46.876 --> 0:07:50.436 would have to be. Lieutenant Colonel Weiss needed all of 0:07:50.476 --> 0:07:54.516 those magnificent bastards to drive the NVA away from the base. 0:07:55.276 --> 0:07:58.156 Jay and his marines were stationed several miles from did 0:07:59.116 --> 0:08:02.236 Because of NVA fire, it was too dangerous to fly 0:08:02.316 --> 0:08:04.876 the man in, so Jay's company was going to have 0:08:04.916 --> 0:08:09.316 to get there on foot. By the time they started march, 0:08:09.636 --> 0:08:12.116 it was dark and it took them more than five 0:08:12.156 --> 0:08:14.836 hours to get down to the battle. They were dogged 0:08:14.836 --> 0:08:18.516 the entire way by an onslaught of artillery and rockets. 0:08:18.956 --> 0:08:22.596 Motor shells fell all around them, exploding into the soft soil, 0:08:22.836 --> 0:08:24.276 sending shrapnel everywhere. 0:08:24.836 --> 0:08:27.676 Quantafeo has took some hits, and I didn't lose anyone, 0:08:27.836 --> 0:08:30.076 but we were all you know. I had one leg 0:08:30.196 --> 0:08:33.156 messed up and everyone had shrappl on them. 0:08:33.436 --> 0:08:35.916 In fact, Jay's leg was really messed up, but he 0:08:35.996 --> 0:08:38.476 knew that if anyone realized it, he would be taken 0:08:38.476 --> 0:08:40.876 out of the action. So he had his leg bandaged 0:08:40.916 --> 0:08:43.516 and he changed into a clean pair of pants and 0:08:43.636 --> 0:08:46.476 swore the medical who helped him to secrecy he wouldn't 0:08:46.556 --> 0:08:48.996 leave his company. By the time the men made it 0:08:49.036 --> 0:08:52.236 to base, they were exhausted, but there was no time 0:08:52.236 --> 0:08:55.436 to sleep. They were told to continue on to the fighting. 0:08:56.076 --> 0:08:58.716 That was the orders of the menetu land at Dideaux. 0:08:59.116 --> 0:09:01.276 I want you to continue and push on through. 0:09:02.956 --> 0:09:05.916 Early in the morning of May first, Jay's company got 0:09:05.956 --> 0:09:08.836 on boats and were ferried across the river to Dideaux. 0:09:09.556 --> 0:09:12.676 Once on land, they were seven hundred meters away from 0:09:12.676 --> 0:09:16.116 the village. First they had to cross a rice patty, 0:09:16.796 --> 0:09:19.596 and that patty turned out to have ENVA gunners on 0:09:19.716 --> 0:09:23.996 three sides. Jaye and his men crept forward through thigh 0:09:24.076 --> 0:09:28.276 high grass, rustled as they moved. The men were exhausted 0:09:28.516 --> 0:09:33.156 but alert, their ears hyper tuned to every noise, watching 0:09:33.236 --> 0:09:36.036 for a shadow or bend in the grass, guns in 0:09:36.076 --> 0:09:38.676 their hands, ready to shoot. As soon as they locked 0:09:38.676 --> 0:09:42.276 in on a target. Shots seemed to be coming at 0:09:42.316 --> 0:09:44.716 them from every corner of the patty, And then they 0:09:44.716 --> 0:09:50.236 came to a horrifying realization the shots were coming from 0:09:50.356 --> 0:09:51.716 inside the patty too. 0:09:52.556 --> 0:09:55.156 We had spider holes popping up all over the place. 0:09:55.236 --> 0:09:57.916 You know, guys that were in the ground with bamboo 0:09:57.956 --> 0:09:59.956 on top of them. They would jump up and just 0:09:59.996 --> 0:10:02.556 start shooting us. And you know, I started losing guys, 0:10:02.596 --> 0:10:03.916 but we were killing some too. 0:10:05.076 --> 0:10:08.116 It's like a horror movie. The ground would shift and 0:10:08.196 --> 0:10:12.276 a marine would fall dead or wounded. Jay realized they 0:10:12.316 --> 0:10:14.476 had to knock out the machine gun nests on the 0:10:14.516 --> 0:10:17.796 perimeter if they were going to survive. So he took 0:10:17.876 --> 0:10:20.276 four of his men and made a run for them, 0:10:20.796 --> 0:10:23.436 but they were fish in a barrel. One after another, 0:10:23.756 --> 0:10:27.276 those marines were wounded until Jay was. 0:10:27.236 --> 0:10:30.356 Alone, weighted up all by myself over there. 0:10:31.036 --> 0:10:34.356 But I knocked out three machine heavy machine guns and 0:10:34.516 --> 0:10:37.036 kills fourteen in the trenches that I got hold of, 0:10:37.436 --> 0:10:40.556 and that opened us up and we came through and 0:10:40.596 --> 0:10:41.636 continued the attack. 0:10:43.356 --> 0:10:45.636 Let's take a second to think about Jay's tone here. 0:10:46.116 --> 0:10:49.516 He's chuckling as he talks about this insanely stressful moment 0:10:49.956 --> 0:10:53.236 facing down three machine gun nests on his own. It 0:10:53.276 --> 0:10:56.196 may seem odd, but it's a pretty common reaction to 0:10:56.236 --> 0:11:01.476 traumatic experiences. Laughter keeps the pain at arm's length, and 0:11:01.516 --> 0:11:05.116 in that moment, at that rice patty in Vietnam, Jay 0:11:05.196 --> 0:11:08.036 didn't allow himself to feel any fear at all. 0:11:08.556 --> 0:11:09.796 I had two what's to do? 0:11:09.876 --> 0:11:13.076 And I didn't have time, and for some reason, I 0:11:13.156 --> 0:11:14.596 was pretty dog on calm. 0:11:15.836 --> 0:11:18.116 Finally, Jaye and his men got through the rice patty 0:11:18.316 --> 0:11:20.996 and arrived at the village of Didau. They had been 0:11:21.036 --> 0:11:24.956 fighting for almost twenty four hours straight and it just 0:11:25.076 --> 0:11:28.756 kept going. They began to fight through the village bunker 0:11:28.836 --> 0:11:31.516 a bunker. For a moment, it seemed to them that 0:11:31.596 --> 0:11:34.276 the enemy was pulling back. They might be able to 0:11:34.276 --> 0:11:38.116 secure Dideau, maybe even get some rest at last. But 0:11:38.196 --> 0:11:40.836 the North Vietnamese knew they had way more soldiers than 0:11:40.836 --> 0:11:46.396 the Americans, and they began a ferocious counter attack. The 0:11:46.436 --> 0:11:49.956 Marines were exhausted, short on ammunition, they were down a 0:11:49.956 --> 0:11:53.636 fewer than eighty men. Lieutenant Colonel Weiss told Jay to 0:11:53.676 --> 0:11:58.316 try and find somewhere stable and stay put. Knight was 0:11:58.356 --> 0:12:02.636 approaching the second night in a row without sleep, and 0:12:02.676 --> 0:12:05.516 by then Jay and his remaining men had been pushed 0:12:05.596 --> 0:12:09.756 into a cemetery. As Jay looked around, he realized it 0:12:09.876 --> 0:12:13.636 was full of freshly dug graves, graves of MVA men 0:12:13.716 --> 0:12:16.836 who had been killed and buried during the previous days 0:12:16.836 --> 0:12:19.676 of fighting. If his men were going to make it 0:12:19.716 --> 0:12:22.996 through the night, they needed foxholes to hide in for shelter. 0:12:23.996 --> 0:12:26.196 So Jay made a grim decision. 0:12:26.956 --> 0:12:29.396 The only way that we could survive. And I know 0:12:29.516 --> 0:12:33.196 this sounds cruel, but I told Everyboddy, dig up the 0:12:33.196 --> 0:12:36.116 fresh graves, put the body on the side that becomes 0:12:36.156 --> 0:12:36.836 your foxhul. 0:12:38.116 --> 0:12:41.396 The young Marines climbed into the graves. They were running 0:12:41.516 --> 0:12:45.756 dangerously low on ammunition, and soon enough the cemetery was 0:12:45.796 --> 0:12:50.756 totally surrounded by NVA. He ordered his marines to fix 0:12:50.796 --> 0:12:54.356 their bayonets. Once the last of the AMMA was gone. 0:12:54.836 --> 0:12:56.956 Jay knew they would be fighting hand to hand in 0:12:56.996 --> 0:13:11.956 the cemetery through the long night. Stories about war heroes 0:13:12.236 --> 0:13:15.356 often start in a kind of quiet way. The young 0:13:15.396 --> 0:13:18.676 person who wants to give back, who finds himself in 0:13:18.716 --> 0:13:21.796 the military Sumont by surprise, and then comes into his 0:13:21.876 --> 0:13:25.756 own That's not really the Jay Vargas story. If you 0:13:25.796 --> 0:13:29.396 can be destined to be anything, he was destined to 0:13:29.396 --> 0:13:32.156 be a marine. He was born in nineteen thirty eight 0:13:32.236 --> 0:13:34.716 in Winslow, the youngest of four sons. 0:13:35.276 --> 0:13:37.316 I am the product of an Italian mother and a 0:13:37.476 --> 0:13:39.676 Hispanic father, immigrants of this country. 0:13:40.276 --> 0:13:44.516 Family life revolved around his indomitable mom, Teresa, who was 0:13:44.596 --> 0:13:48.036 something of a local institution. She owned a Western goods 0:13:48.036 --> 0:13:52.596 store and she spoke five languages fluently, including Navajo. His 0:13:52.716 --> 0:13:56.356 father was a newspaperman who worked for the Winslow Mail. 0:13:57.076 --> 0:13:59.836 Jay was close to his brothers, although they were much older. 0:14:00.236 --> 0:14:02.396 The two eldest had joined the Marines when Jay was 0:14:02.516 --> 0:14:06.996 just a little kid, and the third brother, Joseph, followed suit. 0:14:07.116 --> 0:14:07.756 Two of us. 0:14:07.796 --> 0:14:11.756 Angelo and Frank served in World War Two on Ewa GiMA, Okinawa. 0:14:12.476 --> 0:14:14.876 Joseph was just ahead of me, and he served in 0:14:14.956 --> 0:14:18.476 Korea in the Chosan Reservoir, which is an ugly battle 0:14:18.716 --> 0:14:20.436 in what Korea was an ugly war. 0:14:21.676 --> 0:14:24.716 When his brothers came home to Winslow, they never spoke 0:14:24.756 --> 0:14:27.516 about what they saw in combat. There was nothing out 0:14:27.516 --> 0:14:31.076 of the ordinary about that. People of that era rarely 0:14:31.116 --> 0:14:35.236 spoke about their war experiences. It was too hard, if 0:14:35.276 --> 0:14:39.156 not impossible, to reflect back. It was as if by 0:14:39.196 --> 0:14:41.796 not talking about it they could strip away some of 0:14:41.796 --> 0:14:45.396 the terror. Jay flirted with the idea of becoming a 0:14:45.396 --> 0:14:49.356 professional baseball player. In fact, he was recruited into the 0:14:49.396 --> 0:14:52.916 miners and played Triple A after high school, but in 0:14:52.956 --> 0:14:55.316 the back of his mind he had always imagined a 0:14:55.356 --> 0:14:56.516 future in the service. 0:14:57.236 --> 0:14:59.596 I knew where I was going, you know, and I 0:14:59.716 --> 0:15:01.916 used to play marine out there with a broomstick by 0:15:01.956 --> 0:15:02.636 the backyard. 0:15:03.436 --> 0:15:07.196 Teresa, on the other hand, had a different idea. She 0:15:07.396 --> 0:15:10.636 was fine with him joining the military. Both Vargas's parents 0:15:10.716 --> 0:15:14.236 were deeply patriotic and proud of their son's decisions to serve, 0:15:14.996 --> 0:15:17.516 but she did not want him to become a marine. 0:15:17.996 --> 0:15:19.916 She was afraid that I was going to go into 0:15:19.916 --> 0:15:23.156 the Marine Corps. And she says, what's the matter with 0:15:23.276 --> 0:15:26.556 you? You know, stupid though you go into the Navy. They 0:15:26.556 --> 0:15:29.396 sleep in white sheets, big pillows, you know, the smoke, 0:15:29.436 --> 0:15:32.276 big cigars, and you know they sometimes stand on the 0:15:32.316 --> 0:15:33.916 ship and it's just a great life. 0:15:33.916 --> 0:15:35.956 And you still, please, don't go on the Marine Corps. 0:15:36.396 --> 0:15:39.716 She made his brother's promise to dissuade Jay from the corps. 0:15:40.116 --> 0:15:42.436 She told him he will not go on the Marine Corps. 0:15:42.476 --> 0:15:44.516 You will talk to him and he will not go 0:15:44.516 --> 0:15:49.836 on to the rincoaps. You understand, of course, angel and Frank, yes, Mama. 0:15:50.596 --> 0:15:53.396 One Sunday, when the family had gathered for their big 0:15:53.436 --> 0:15:56.436 family meal, the brothers agreed to sit down with Jay 0:15:56.716 --> 0:16:00.196 and talk him out of the Marines, and then their 0:16:00.196 --> 0:16:01.076 mother left the room. 0:16:01.796 --> 0:16:06.756 The meeting lasted about thirty seconds because Angela leaned over says, Jay, 0:16:07.596 --> 0:16:09.436 if you don't go in the Marine Corps, going to 0:16:09.476 --> 0:16:10.716 break your frigging legs. 0:16:11.556 --> 0:16:14.476 So Jay set off for the Marines, but only after 0:16:14.516 --> 0:16:17.116 he had promised his mom that he would make it home. 0:16:18.396 --> 0:16:21.676 On the night of May one, nineteen sixty eight, that 0:16:21.796 --> 0:16:25.276 promise was seeming more and more difficult to keep. 0:16:25.836 --> 0:16:28.876 The NVA knew that we were surrounded. They had us good, 0:16:29.316 --> 0:16:32.036 and nobody could help me. You know, everybody was said, 0:16:32.076 --> 0:16:32.956 they're not going to make it. 0:16:33.876 --> 0:16:36.516 Jay and the Marines of Golf Company, hiding in those 0:16:36.556 --> 0:16:39.556 fresh graves, knew they had to protect their hard won 0:16:39.596 --> 0:16:41.996 perimeter at the cemetery in Dido. 0:16:42.596 --> 0:16:43.636 We fought all night. 0:16:44.156 --> 0:16:46.516 Jay got a call on the radio from the admiral 0:16:46.636 --> 0:16:49.836 in charge of the flotilla of gunships on the Quavillette River. 0:16:50.436 --> 0:16:52.996 He said he was calling in fire to back Jay up. 0:16:53.436 --> 0:16:55.916 It was scary just listening to the rounds come in, 0:16:56.036 --> 0:16:58.556 but it blew half the country side away. You know, 0:16:59.556 --> 0:17:02.116 you could hear the enemy's screaming and yelling because Tho's 0:17:02.316 --> 0:17:03.756 guns were just wiping them out. 0:17:04.996 --> 0:17:09.076 The hours wore on, night turned to the haze of dawn, 0:17:09.116 --> 0:17:12.636 another morning without waking up, another night without sleep, and 0:17:12.676 --> 0:17:17.676 the Marines kept fighting, killing and killing and killing to 0:17:17.796 --> 0:17:18.956 keep from being killed. 0:17:19.556 --> 0:17:21.836 We still had guys penetrate our positions. 0:17:21.956 --> 0:17:23.796 I know one guy, he must have been on some 0:17:23.916 --> 0:17:26.116 kind of drugs, because I know I hit him at 0:17:26.156 --> 0:17:28.516 least four times, but he just kept coming, throwing great 0:17:28.556 --> 0:17:30.716 age around like he was delivered in the La Times. 0:17:31.476 --> 0:17:35.076 Again, Jay sounds so casual as he's talking about this 0:17:35.476 --> 0:17:38.916 delivering in the La Times. But the situation could not 0:17:39.076 --> 0:17:42.596 have been more dire. Just as Jay had feared, his 0:17:42.796 --> 0:17:44.316 men ran out of ammunition. 0:17:44.996 --> 0:17:49.036 They were hitting these dark Hutton MBA with intrenching tools 0:17:49.036 --> 0:17:50.156 and helmets and rocks. 0:17:50.196 --> 0:17:51.956 Whatever we would kill them with, we did. 0:17:53.476 --> 0:17:57.516 Finally it was daylight, and for some reason that felt 0:17:57.556 --> 0:18:02.396 inexplicable to Jay, the enemy pulled back. The Marines climbed 0:18:02.436 --> 0:18:05.636 out of the graves. In the quiet. Jay could finally 0:18:05.676 --> 0:18:07.916 see exactly what they had been up against. 0:18:08.436 --> 0:18:10.636 And I'll get the look in all of our faces. 0:18:10.676 --> 0:18:12.316 I'm sure I was the same way. Our eyes were 0:18:12.316 --> 0:18:13.636 as big as owls. 0:18:13.956 --> 0:18:17.076 And he could see exactly what they had done. 0:18:17.596 --> 0:18:20.396 There was blood smell all over the place. We had 0:18:20.436 --> 0:18:24.156 three hundred and eighty four dead MVA around us that 0:18:24.196 --> 0:18:28.036 we had killed. That all night, And I keep in mind, 0:18:28.076 --> 0:18:30.876 my marines haven't slept yet, none of us have, so 0:18:31.036 --> 0:18:33.996 this is probably forty eight hours that no one had 0:18:34.036 --> 0:18:35.036 even closed their eyes. 0:18:35.156 --> 0:18:36.756 It was just continual fire. 0:18:37.996 --> 0:18:41.876 All wore as hell. That's a cliche and it's a fact. 0:18:42.396 --> 0:18:46.196 And Vietnam was particularly brutal. We've all heard about the 0:18:46.236 --> 0:18:50.396 atrocities there, the cruelty, but Jay Vargas always speaks of 0:18:50.476 --> 0:18:56.356 his adversaries with deep humanity. These weren't nameless, faceless soldiers 0:18:56.396 --> 0:18:58.916 he was fighting. He knew they were people. 0:18:59.396 --> 0:19:01.356 They were well trained, they were smart. 0:19:01.476 --> 0:19:03.516 You know. The troops had to search pockets every once 0:19:03.516 --> 0:19:05.356 in a while when you knocked one down, and you'd 0:19:05.356 --> 0:19:08.396 find a laundry ticket from Hanoi, you know, And I'm 0:19:08.396 --> 0:19:10.996 going this guy came allway from the knowing he's got 0:19:10.996 --> 0:19:14.356 a laundry ticket here, and he's thousands of miles from 0:19:14.396 --> 0:19:18.716 his dog gone home. You find pictures of their wives 0:19:18.716 --> 0:19:20.596 and children, and that gets to you. 0:19:21.516 --> 0:19:24.956 So that morning, in that moment of quiet, when it 0:19:24.996 --> 0:19:28.156 felt like there was a reprieve, Jay and his men 0:19:28.276 --> 0:19:31.516 reburied the soldiers they had disinterred the night before. 0:19:32.276 --> 0:19:33.556 I honored those warriors. 0:19:33.636 --> 0:19:35.676 We made damn sure that we put the bodies back 0:19:35.716 --> 0:19:38.676 in the grave and covered them. 0:19:38.996 --> 0:19:42.316 Jay's company had started that march two days earlier with 0:19:42.436 --> 0:19:46.276 more than one hundred and fifty men, Only around forty 0:19:46.436 --> 0:19:50.076 were left. They had been fighting for two straight days. 0:19:50.876 --> 0:19:55.836 They needed rest, but the enemy hadn't actually retreated. A 0:19:55.916 --> 0:19:59.316 decisive victory was too important to the North Vietnamese cause 0:19:59.756 --> 0:20:03.276 they were determined to take back Dideau. Jay and a 0:20:03.316 --> 0:20:06.036 golf company met up with the remnants of three other 0:20:06.116 --> 0:20:09.876 marine companies. They'd been resupplied with AMMA well, but it 0:20:09.956 --> 0:20:13.796 hardly mattered at that point. The entire group of fighting 0:20:13.836 --> 0:20:18.676 marines was around three hundred against an enemy that's still 0:20:18.756 --> 0:20:20.556 numbered in the thousands. 0:20:21.276 --> 0:20:23.276 We're killing every step of the way, but the NBA 0:20:23.356 --> 0:20:25.356 are holding tight and they're making us pay for every 0:20:25.356 --> 0:20:26.276 footed ground we took. 0:20:26.956 --> 0:20:29.876 This is another marine who was there at Didea, Vic Taylor. 0:20:30.396 --> 0:20:32.636 It's like a tone poem of the horrors of war. 0:20:33.236 --> 0:20:36.676 Small arms fires are shredding everything above. Brown leaves and 0:20:36.756 --> 0:20:40.076 twigs and branches are coming down, Banana trees getting knocked over, 0:20:40.196 --> 0:20:44.876 Bullets snapping cracking by now they make that spat sound 0:20:44.876 --> 0:20:48.596 of the hit meat and somebody'd yelped. Rockets and RPGs flying, 0:20:48.836 --> 0:20:53.316 Wi Bang flash bang grenades going in and out fast 0:20:53.356 --> 0:20:55.756 as people control them. 0:20:55.876 --> 0:20:58.316 Twenty six and Ji cooms passing each other in the air. 0:20:59.036 --> 0:20:59.636 There was a fight. 0:21:00.596 --> 0:21:03.876 It was a fight, and the enemy they weren't down 0:21:03.876 --> 0:21:06.036 and defending any more man. They were up and coming 0:21:06.116 --> 0:21:09.676 on threes and fours and sixes and eight popping out 0:21:09.676 --> 0:21:13.916 of the brush. All cameed up, leaves in the helmets, 0:21:14.476 --> 0:21:18.236 weapon held out in front, a little spiked bayonet shining 0:21:19.516 --> 0:21:22.836 coming to the trot. Give him credit. They were soldiers, 0:21:23.956 --> 0:21:30.436 that's sure. But also at that time these beat up, bloodied, 0:21:31.796 --> 0:21:36.356 bone tired, raggedy ass teenagers turned marine. 0:21:37.596 --> 0:21:44.076 Beat up, bloody, bone tired, Good god. Lieutenant Colonel Bill 0:21:44.116 --> 0:21:46.356 Weese was sitting at a command post near the fighting, 0:21:46.876 --> 0:21:50.716 cigar grip between his teeth. He knew how fruitless their 0:21:50.756 --> 0:21:55.916 prospects looked. But then he got the order keep pushing forward. 0:21:56.636 --> 0:22:00.676 We didn't have anything left in us. What meager troops 0:22:00.716 --> 0:22:04.876 we had were tired, very little sleep, they were hungry, 0:22:05.196 --> 0:22:08.596 they were low on ammunition. When I was ordered to 0:22:08.676 --> 0:22:12.276 continue to attack forward and retake then tell I told 0:22:12.356 --> 0:22:14.396 him hell, no, we can't do it. We're just out 0:22:14.396 --> 0:22:14.756 of stain. 0:22:15.996 --> 0:22:19.076 The command had realized that if the NVA were flushed 0:22:19.116 --> 0:22:21.796 out of the villages and into the rice paddies to 0:22:21.876 --> 0:22:24.396 the north, they would be totally open to the US 0:22:24.516 --> 0:22:28.036 fighter planes overhead. The more that the Marines could push 0:22:28.076 --> 0:22:31.316 the enemy into the open, the more the planes could 0:22:31.316 --> 0:22:35.316 mow them down. They had to keep going finish the job. 0:22:36.116 --> 0:22:39.836 But the Marines themselves were being mowed down, and Jay's 0:22:39.876 --> 0:22:42.116 company was right in the middle of it. 0:22:42.676 --> 0:22:45.876 A lot of us were alavamo. The NVA was out 0:22:45.916 --> 0:22:46.876 of ammo. You know. 0:22:46.876 --> 0:22:49.756 We were killing each other with knives and bayonets and 0:22:49.796 --> 0:22:51.836 everything we could possibly survive. 0:22:52.916 --> 0:22:56.076 Jay called an airstrikes and mortar fire from the Navy 0:22:56.076 --> 0:22:59.596 gunships to help drive the enemy back, and just at 0:22:59.636 --> 0:23:02.436 that moment his commander found him. 0:23:02.796 --> 0:23:04.956 Carl Weese came up and kind of fell in the 0:23:04.996 --> 0:23:07.556 trench with me. He says, what the hell's going on? And 0:23:07.676 --> 0:23:10.276 I said, you better get out here, because I called 0:23:10.396 --> 0:23:13.556 artillery on myself and my marines. 0:23:13.196 --> 0:23:13.756 And they know it. 0:23:13.876 --> 0:23:16.356 And I told my marines, I said, hey, grab your 0:23:16.396 --> 0:23:21.076