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By 1400 that afternoon, Charlie Company's progress had been noticeably slowed by the rugged terrain and thick jungle. Then, they paused as the trail they were breaking intersected another well-used path that undoubtedly was an enemy avenue.

"I don't like the idea of using their trail," Gunny Thompson grunted to Capt. Major.

The captain didn't like the idea either, but both felt it was the quickest route to their final objective for the day. None of the line companies favored the idea of spending the night in the jungle, surrounded by visibility-cutting undergrowth and strung out in positions where they would lose too much of their fire power. Their objective, if they could reach it, would afford them a tenable position.

With battalion headquarters' approval, Charlie Co. swung out onto the trail and less than an hour later, they made contact with the enemy.

The North Vietnamese were waiting for Charlie Co. on a little hill where the trail disappeared around an outcropping of brush. From this well concealed hill, they opened fire with heavy 12.7-mm. machine guns and AK-47 automatic rifles, backed by a barrage of hand grenades.

The Marines on the point dropped in the opening volley. Others went down from the exploding grenades. For less than a minute the enemy held the upper hand. Surprise had given him a short-lived advantage.

The Reds had made two mistakes, however: one was the tactical estimate of their ambush site. The other was the underestimate of the character of Charlie Co.

From their elevated position, slightly above the trail, the NVA were able to visually command about ten yards of open ground. The only way their fire could be effective against the Marines was for the riflemen to stand, thus presenting themselves as targets. But the fire was effective in that it kept the Marines pinned down and gave the Red grenadiers a chance to hurl their grenades.

Apparently, the Communists thought Charlie Co. would withdraw from the fight after the ambush was sprung. With the ambush site only about five yards from where the point Marine lay, Charlie Co. hit back immediately with M-16 rifle fire, M-60 machine gun fire, M-79 grenades and 60-mm. mortars. Within ten minutes, the enemy found the outpouring of Marine fire power too withering to withstand and broke contact.

"Pour 'em on!" Gunny Thompson ordered his mortar crews.

"All corpsmen up!" came a chorus from the battle area.

The entire point squad of the third platoon had become casualties from the ambush. The point Marine died of his wounds despite the concerted efforts of corpsmen to save him. Eleven other Marines, including Lt. Paul Nelson, the platoon commander, lay off the trail, wounded. Another four Marines who had sustained injuries ranging from torn knee ligaments to a dislocated shoulder were also out of action. All of the casualties would have to be evacuated.

Engineers moved up to the ambush site, now encircled by Marines in the jungle surrounding it, and began to blast and chop down trees to clear a landing zone from which medical evacuation helicopters could extract the wounded.

Meanwhile, Lt. Ruffer's platoon took the high ground behind the ambush site while the third platoon, now led by Sgt. Tom Livingston, who had replaced Lt. Nelson, formed a defense to the front, and Lt. Bob Anderson's second platoon fanned out in the draw leading to the ambush site.

As dusk began to settle, only one stubborn tree remained in the LZ. It resisted the attempts of engineers to blast it down, although its trunk was shattered. Axes bounced off it. It was unyielding to efforts of a group of Marines trying to push it over.

The first chopper was on the way in.

"The pilot says he'll take care of it," said Capt. Mike Lesnik, who was leading a Forward Air Controller (FAC) team attached to Charlie Co.

The pilot, Capt. H.L. Eisenson, of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron-163, brought his helicopter slowly in above the defiant tree. Together, the airborne crew chief aboard the chopper and Capt. Lesnik guided Capt. Eisenson over against the tree until the right wheel of the chopper touched its limb-stripped top.

Capt. Eisenson jockeyed his chopper hard against the tree until it snapped at its splintered base and left the landing zone clear. Seconds later, the four most seriously wounded were aboard Eisenson's chopper and on their way to a hospital.