Five men from the 2nd Platoon had been killed and 15 others wounded. In bunker 7, Pfc Joseph D. King was KIA and Pfc David Bowman was wounded. Private First Class Terry L. Strouth in bunker 4 and Private Baker, who had been in the CP, were also wounded. The village chief and one PF were killed during the fighting. Two more PFs and the national policeman died in the hospital.

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The VC 48th Battalion also suffered during the attack. Fifteen of its dead lay around the perimeter. The four VC suspects had also died. Later, the Marine Combined Action Company reported that 40 to 50 VC had been carried away and buried, and 50 to 75 more had been wounded. Company B air assaulted west of the hamlet of An Cuong 1 to block the 48th LF Battalion’s withdrawal. It was a fruitless exercise: The 48th had gone to ground.

For most men the aftermath of battle is as traumatic as its beginning. Lieutenant Williams explored the perimeter. ‘I wasn’t looking for anything,’ he said later. ‘I just wanted to see how many of my people were alive.’

One of the men from another platoon showed him an expended 57mm recoilless rifle round that he had found outside the fence in front of bunker 6, which was occupied by machine-gunner Pfc Merle Southland and assistant gunner Pfc Ronald Bergeson. Another six rounds were found to the right front of bunker 1, Trivette and Gilmer’s position and the site of a second 57mm recoilless rifle. Two dud U.S. M-26 hand grenades lay near the shell casings. Williams figured that Trivette or Gilmer had thrown them. Dud hand grenades–some American, but mostly Chicom or homemade devices–littered the ground around the positions. An explosive ordnance disposal team flew in to assist.

Captain Ruane thought it was important to remain in Van Tuong 1 and requested permission from Colonel Smith to continue the mission. Colonel Smith agreed with Ruane, ‘as any other course of action would show the people and the VC that we were defeated or chicken,’ he wrote later.

General Linnel, however, thought the idea was too risky and overruled Smith. He later apologized to him for ‘chickening out.’

The brigade commander’s decision totally frustrated Ruane and his men, who believed that they had paid in blood for the right to stay in Van Tuong 1. ‘We had told the villagers that we were coming to stay and then we were pulled out after one attack,’ Captain Ruane commented. ‘We completely lost the advantage we were trying to obtain. We didn’t get [the trust of those people] back while I was in country.’

Colonel Smith summed up the situation: ‘The main lesson…is that the U.S. Army failed to take the hamlets, villages and people from the VC. These were the source of recruits, money, food and intelligence. The Army [also] failed to recognize the soldiers of the USMC CAP posts.’

Early in the afternoon on May 23, Company C walked out of the hamlet and returned to its firebase. The 2nd Platoon’s battle for Van Tuong 1 was over.

Colonel James F. Humphries, a retired Special Forces officer, researched this article through original documents and correspondence with some of the participants. For additional reading, see Philip B. Davis’ Vietnam at War and Douglas Pike’s Viet Cong.

This article was originally published in the December 2003 issue of Vietnam Magazine.

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