Tired of Being Communist Stooge – Rallier Leads Wolfhounds to Hospital Complex

By PFC DAN LOWRY 10/7/70

CU CHI – Members of the 25th Division’s 2nd Wolfhounds led by an enthusiastic young rallier, uncovered a Viet Cong field hospital complex and detained two enemy nurses near here recently.  The find by Alfa Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry was made in a thickly foliaged area 12 miles north of here.  “We were in our night holding position when we spotted this Vietnamese kid standing all alone,” said Staff Sergeant Steven Vance of Indianapolis. “Our Kit Carson Scout went out to talk to him and, after a while, they came back together.”

The boy volunteered that he was 14 years old and had been pressed into service by the VC when he was eight.

    

Communist Stooge
He had been sent out from a nearby underground field hospital to buy rice, but had lost the money. Fearful of being punished if he returned emptyhanded, and tired of being a Communist stooge, he decided to rally to the first US unit he could find.  “We gave him a fatigue jacket and a bush hat in place of his raggedy clothes,” Vance added. “He was real hungry too, so we stuffed him with C-rations.”
In return, the rallier offered to lead the company to the hospital where he said there were medical supplies and VC.  A short time later, two platoons of Alfa Company, with the youngster walking point, left their night position and headed for the suspected enemy field hospital.
      

Points Out VC

While enroute, the boy pointed out two VC women suppliers out of a group of civilians walking along a nearby road.  “The boy wasn’t in the least bit hesitant about pointing at the two women and shouting, ‘VC suppliers’,” said Sergeant Mike Jenkins of Atlanta.  “We asked the two for their identification cards, but they didn’t have any. So we detained both and took them along with us.  “When we reached the suspected area, one platoon was left behind for security while the other moved in,” Jenkins continued. “We maneuvered through thick brush and soon reached the medical complex -two underground bunkers.”

The Hounds removed over 40 pounds of medicines and drugs back to their security element, then moved forward again and found three more bunkers.  “We were in a file formation with the kid leading us to the bunkers,” Jenkins added. “Suddenly a VC jumped out of one and stared right at the kid.”  Unfortunately the boy was in the GIs’ firing line, so no attempt was made to kill the fleeing enemy.

Scared
“The poor kid was so scared by that guy that he crawled right between my legs trying to get away from him,” Jenkins said.  After evacuating the enemy supplies from the last three bunkers, the Hounds called in an immediate air strike. Among the goods taken were 125 pounds of polished rice, 25 pounds of salt, 10 pounds of sugar, two AK-47s, a dental kit, four large bottles of plasma and numerous amounts of cooking utensils and food and water containers.

 

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