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—we ran into a ‘bamboo forest’ which was too thick to walk thru so we chopped our way up the hill—we had a couple of machetes and we were putting them to good use—it was hot so we had to swap the ‘cutters’ up front often—I took my turns as well—progress was slow—a Marine from the rear guard came up the column and reported they could hear the NVA several hundred yards back. We were making progress thru the bamboo forest and finally we came into the clear at the top of the mountain—we picked up speed —moving downhill made a huge difference along with the thinner vegetation. These Marines were tired but we kept moving —almost double time. The squad leaders were making sure everyone was accounted for. We arrived near the base of the mountain and emerged into the valley below. I formed up the platoon—set up a perimeter and took a rest break—the rear guard rejoined the platoon. We couldn’t see or hear any sign of the NVA—apparently they had been caught in the bamboo forest too and that had slowed them up while we were moving out. We had outrun them! I reported our sighting to Company HQ—who then passed it on to Battalion HQ. air and artillery strikes were called in while we returned to the Company CP.
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