I grabbed a couple of SEALs and with two other American advisers we got two jeeps, one with a mounted .50-caliber machine gun. We used the jeeps to find civilians. Our first order of business was to get Maggie O’Brien, a civilian nurse who worked in a nearby hospital. We rounded a corner toward her house and got a horrendous amount of fire. The back of the house had been blown away by rocket fire. We shot our way to the front door, chasing away some VCs inside. One of our guys yelled for her, and Maggie kind of silently called back, then came running out. We put her in the jeep and covered her with flak jackets. We had to shoot our way out.
Back at the TOC, we got reports that the VC had taken the police building, a hotel and other strategic sites. We found eight civilians hiding in a bunker and got them to safety. Then we parked the jeeps in an alley and climbed to the second story of a building to get a good view of the city. We were taking lots of sniper fire. One of the SEALs, Ted Risher, got hit in the forehead when he bent down to pull up a recoilless rifle. We loaded him in a Ford pickup and took him away. The SEALs were ordered to stay at the TOC, so I headed back into town with my Vietnamese commandos. I was walking on the roof of one building when it caved in. There were two VC in there. They had a hell of a look on their face when they saw me crashing through. They fired up at me but missed. I took them both out.
The last stronghold was the deputy province chief’s house. It was next to Maggie’s. The VC had raised their flag over it. We moved in, taking fire from upstairs. We shot back and they ran out. We found the province chief’s wife and two children alive. We took them back to the chief, and I tell you, he was a changed man.
