Page 45 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2020-1

The events of 28 September began earlier that month when the NVA forces were preparing a major assault on Da Nang. First on their hit list was the Camp at Thuong Duc, which was a stronghold on the river valley the NVA used for troop movements south. With practiced stealth, two regiments of NVA infantry, about 3,000 troops in all, moved mortars and artillery to surround the camp and its outposts on three sides.
The assault began at 0200 hours on 28 September when elements of the NVA 21st and 141st Regiments attacked and overran Outposts Alpha and Bravo, located six hundred yards from the camp perimeter. The Green Berets and Camp Strikers led successful but bloody counterattacks to retake the vital outposts. Throughout the day the enemy forces increased the pressure with mortar and artillery attacks on local villages to establish more concentrated fire on the camp. The Special Forces and Montagnards continued to repel the attacks, but as night fell, the battle was far from over. That was when Captain John Calamos, call sign Lopez 58, was sent in to relieve the FAC who had directed air strikes during the day.
“The camp was on ridges overlooking a river valley,” Calamos explained. “The NVA was in a valley and moving towards the camp.”
By this time the enemy had lost the element of surprise and the initiative. The night was both a blessing and a curse. For Calamos, in his little Oscar Deuce, it meant he had to watch the ground for the flashes of gunfire, tracers and explosions.
“I had tracers coming up at me. I could not see the enemy troops, but I knew where they were from the ground fire.”
His main source of information was the Green Berets themselves. The opposing forces were, according to Calamos, only two hundred feet apart. In anyone’s book that was far too close for comfort. “The bad guys were too close for the jets to hit with any precision.”
More light was needed. He called in flare planes, which kept up a steady stream of parachute flares to illuminate the battlefield in an eerie stark white light.
Da Nang had been sending in air strikes during the day. Upon receiving Calamos’ requests, the base sent more jets loaded with anti-personnel ordnance. Phantoms and Super Sabres streaked in low and disgorged cluster munitions and general-purpose bombs, even as Calamos attempted to assess the damage and effectiveness of each strike.
The bombs detonated in bright yellow and white flashes that left spots in the pilot’s eyes. Small fires flared up, further adding to the macabre night landscape and revealing a charnel house of bodies and weapons. But the remnants of the two North Vietnamese Army regiments refused to give up, continually pushing to find a weak spot in the American and Montagnard perimeter. But their probing attacks were often spotted by the keen eyes of John Calamos. More white rockets streaked down and the call of “Cleared in hot!” came over the radio frequencies. Calamos had to call for a second full strike on the determined enemy. “The weather was poor, and it sometimes interfered with my being able to see what was happening. The second strike came in and hit right where I had put my rockets.”
USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom on Bombing Run.
SUMMER 2020 / DFCS News Magazine / 45