July 1st, 1968

PANO - Early in the next morning, as it was getting bright, a soldier ran into our formation. He passed the higher command’s order to withdraw from the battlefield. Most of our forces managed to safely withdraw to our base but the company command, including the company commander, a scout, two communications soldiers and I, were stuck at the foot of mount 689, so we had to camouflage our trenches to stay there. Enemy artillery guns and mortars from mount 689 continuously fired at the battlefield around our shelters.

I peered through the gap of leaves and saw many US troops on the top of the mount talking and pointing at our hide-out. We started to feel hungry but we did not have anything to eat except a handful of dry rice from the scout. We quickly ate it and a little bit later on we fell thirsty. Nevertheless, our hunger and thirst soon passed as long as enemy aircraft L19 appeared and began looping above our heads. Suddenly, it dropped a smoke grenade onto our position. It was noon. Several minutes later, we heard a series of US riffle shots near our trenches and we realised that the 5 of us were being surrounded by US troops.

The company commander told us to keep calm and wait for them to get nearer. A couple of minutes later, he stood up and started to fire at the US troops. After a series of shots, he fell down. He had been shot in his face and there was a lot of blood all over his face. I felt so pitiful for him that I got out of my cover. I immediately saw 2 US soldiers in front of me, only 3 meters away from me, and I pulled the trigger of my weapon; the two US soldiers collapsed close to my feet.

I looked around and saw a lot of US soldiers around our position. They saw me too and sprayed fire at me. I jumped down back into the trench and threw 2 grenades toward them. The enemy seemed to stop shooting. I started to call out our comrades but there was no reply and I could not see the company commander there either. I thought to myself that I should run away from the battlefield and then I got out of the trench, quickly rolled myself down toward the stream. US troops must have been so surprised at my move and did nothing until I got into a shell crater. They then started to fire and moved toward me. But it seemed that they wanted to seize me alive as I heard some voice calling out on me to surrender.   

This made me feel as if I had just been insulted. I stood up and cast a grenade to them yelling “This is the surrender of the Liberation Army!” I kept running down to the stream while the enemy lay down to dodge the grenade. After that they stopped tracing me and returned to their base on mount 689.

Shortly after I reached the stream, mortar salvos dropped on my position. I quickly threw myself into a small cave in the bank of the stream. As the blasts got closer to me, I lost consciousness. I came to myself some time later and I saw a lot of blood coming from my mouth and nose. I heard neither shots nor sounds and a moment later I knew that I had gone temporarily deaf.  

The enemy kept on shelling around me, water was splashing and earth and rocks were dropping like rain. I found a rocky cave in the bank of the stream and took shelter there. I also piled up some rocks in the front of the cave, put my gun there and decided to fight to my last breath if the enemy troops came for me. After arranging the combat position, I found a tortoise inside the cave. Perhaps, we both found the cave and took shelter there by chance. It was an unforgettable memory.

As it was a small cave, I could not stand or sit upright and could only lie down and most of my body was under water. For some time, I felt so cold and later on I realised I had a temperature. I knew that I had malaria. I thought to myself that I should not wait there any longer otherwise I could die of the disease.

It was getting dark. I crawled out of the cave to find a way to our base and tried to learn the frequency of enemy shelling series. After carefully examining the situation, I decided to go. I tried to stand up and started to run forward. It was dark so I could not see the ground under my feet. I frequently fell down in mortars and shells holes. When I got tired, I stopped running and started to crawl, always moving in the chosen direction.                   

I did not know how long and how far I had moved, but felt exhausted. I crawled a little by a little. Under enemy flares, suddenly I saw a familiar path in front of me. I felt so happy and used my last strength to crawl toward mount C 622, where one of our units was garrisoned. When I got near the top of the mount, I saw some of my comrades of the same company who were fetching food to soldiers there. We hugged each other crying happily. I was even happier when I was informed that the other 4 comrades, including the seriously-injured company commander, made their way to the base safely in the afternoon.  Later I knew that the higher commander sent a contingent to the battlefield to rescue us on knowing that we were still stuck there. It might have been the reason why the enemy had not fully followed me and I had successfully retuned to our base.

July 13th, 1968

Khe Sanh was completely liberated after several days. At midday, we were ordered to move out. After fierce fights over a number of days, all of us looked worn-out. We did not reach the assembly place until late afternoon. The place where we stopped was at the foot of mount 803, a battlefield some days ago, and I felt so sad when recalled the comrades who laid down their lives in battles there.

August 8th, 1968

I had not been able to find time to write in my diary for many days. Today too, I had to do a lot of things. But I finally managed to spare some minutes to write about one of my worthy memories.

This morning, a team of the Military Movies visited our unit and wanted to make a documentary film about the battles on mount 689 in late June and early July 1968. Our commander asked valiant soldiers, including me, to help them with the information about the battles and act out the fighting. We were soldiers, who might be excellent at fighting but not very good at acting. As a result, we had to perform actions again and again. But all of us were very happy since we were included in the historical film that would last forever. I promised to myself that I would fight more bravely on the battlefield to deserve the honour.

Translated by Thu Nguyen