Today is July 14th, and we are west of our night lager site about 5000 meters. After patrolling the area our orders are to set up a patrol base at XS710032. Later we get the word from Sergeant Kaplan that the company will be pulling AP’s tonight. The operation calls for 3 roving patrols made up of one platoon each. AP 1 will start out to the east then execute a 180 degree turn and work back toward the PB. AP 2 and AP3 will start west, with AP2 moving further west than AP3. AP3 after moving west to it first two checkpoints will reverse its direction and travel east for its next two ambush sites. AP2 and 3 will each execute a cloverleaf movement that returns them to our PB and beyond. It looks like a very screwy maneuver fraught with potential disaster. We abandon the PB around dusk and check our maps and compass. We start at dark. 

Everyone saddles up, and I make sure the radio is checked, and the word to head out is given. I am trailing Kaplan and the pace is slow. Thirty minutes into this patrol and we arrive at our first AP site. One hour later, we break down and move on to our second AP. So far so good. Around 2100, we leave for our third AP. We walk and walk and we seem to be off our mark. Trying to keep an accurate accounting of the distance we have traveled is difficult and compounded by the heavy mud and water of the rice paddies we are crossing.

It seems the patrol is unsure of exactly where we are. We pull up and try to find some reference point in the dark. There is little luck in doing that. SFC Kaplan decides to break off of our direction and orders a 90 degree turn to the north. It appears to be a tree line we can make out in the starlight. Behind us, is the glare of Saigon’s sky, lit up by aerial flares. We are a hundred meters from the trees and we trudge forward, each soldier stepping in the footsteps of the guy to his front. The column is in single file and we have no flankers out.

As we approach dry land, we are maybe 20 meters away. KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, in rapid succession, three claymore mines are detonated. BAM, BAM, BAM, and then our position is suddenly receiving automatic weapons fire. Everyone dives into the water. We are too close to the kill zone and have no cover. We try and pull back. We are cussing and yelling to each other to pull back. I am wrestling with my radio and trying to keep in contact with Sgt. Kaplan. The guys forward of me are screaming now.

In all this crazy frenzy, we can hear English voices. They are not ours. We quickly figure out we have walked into one of our own AP’s. It seems like it has been minutes but may have been only a matter of seconds through all the shooting and yelling that we manage to get a cease fire. “Anybody hit?” I hear called out. We look around and we are a scattered group. Someone is down and it’s McGeath. I jump on the radio and call for a dust off at our location, XS748986. McGeath has taken a round in the throat. By the time the chopper arrives, he is gone. I think he got hit with a claymore. He was a new replacement and this was his first operation. His death is listed as a “misadventure” in the official records. That’s how the Army listed those killed by friendly fire. No one else has been hit fortunately. The whip antenna on my radio has been severed in the melee. That antenna is only a few inches to the right of my head. I say a prayer for McGeath and for myself.

As we stand around and gather our thoughts, we discover that we were seen by an AP patrol from Alpha Company. They could see us moving across the horizon and backlit by Saigon. They were on their way to their own AP sight when they saw us and decided to set up their ambush and wait and see what happens. We didn’t let them down. I don’t know what the fallout was from this event. I don’t remember getting interviewed after we returned to our N.L. (night laager) to discuss this unfortunate event and what to do to avoid something like this happening again. It’s just a part of war and shit like this happens. We find out later that we overshot our third AP site by almost 2500 meters. It is really fortunate that we were discovered by this patrol from Alpha Company. If we had turned left when we had overshot our mark by 2000 meters, we would have walked directly into Alpha and Bravo’s base camp.