2/9 s armoured thrust into the DMZ also called the Dash to the Ben Hai and back or the gauntlet. Here is a passage from the book:.
"The air was filled with yells, screams, and whistles. Pandemonium broke out as the little brown-clad men pierced our column in many places. I saw a stream of NVA—North Vietnamese Army—back up the road overrun a portion of the column. One Marine was firing his rifle but was not pointing it. He was just shooting into the ground. I yelled at him to shoot. He went down instead. A Marine ran by me with his hand held high, screaming, “My hand, my hand!” I stopped him and looked through his hand and saw the battlefield through the hole. I told him he would live and wrapped his hand in my last battle dressing." |