"HAVE GUNS, WILL TRAVEL" By Joe Kline
"Have Guns, Will Travel" by Joe Kline is my favorite Vietnam War painting. It could be an accurate depiction of many Vietnam War battles but, for me, it will always be the Battle of Tam Quan which, according to one source, was the 15th deadliest battle of the war.
Several 1st Cavalry units & I believe it was the 52nd Mechanized engaged hundreds of North Vietnamese Army troops about 9 a.m. on December 7, 1967. After some ten or eleven hours of death, battleground stench & continuous mayhem, there was a welcome lull in the action & we began preparations for the inevitable nightfall. Having endured all that I cared to endure & fearing the potential terror of a godawful night battle, I asked God to get me out of there. I said, "God, get me out of here! Don't kill me; just get me out of here!"
Within probably fifteen seconds, someone "popped smoke" & tossed it out to the front between our position & the enemy, as an indication of the imaginary line between U.S. & N.V.A. troops. A few seconds later, someone yelled "Gunships! Gunships!" & I could hear them coming in low over the palm trees. Shortly thereafter: screams of abject terror, as rockets began exploding in our midst & hundreds of M-60 tracers pierced the overhead palm fronds.
Following their initial assault with rockets & M-60 machine guns, the choppers circled at an altitude of about 100 feet & continued spraying us with M-60 fire. To this day, I can still see the intensity (fear?) in the door-gunner's faces & have never understood why we clearly saw them but they didn't see us.
Thus ended my participation in the Battle of Tam Quan & thus ended the day that I was hit by enemy shrapnel (it bounced off), came within about 6 inches of losing my head when a round from a grenade launcher ripped through a bush that I was using for cover & was nailed by American made steel. Come to think of it, that wasn't quite the end, as the chopper that took me from LZ English triage to the hospital was hit (but not downed) by small arms fire.
As they say, "There are no atheists in foxholes!" Well, I didn't have a foxhole but, after that day, I was firmly convinced that Someone was "watching my 6".
Posted by NAMVETCAV6768 at 10/28/2008 7:12 AM 
Categories: Vietnam War
Tags: vietnam war gunships N.V.A. m-60 battle of tam quan lz english
Categories: Vietnam War
Tags: vietnam war gunships N.V.A. m-60 battle of tam quan lz english
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