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observation post—our assault had become an enemy ambush—our staff group with A Co. was maneuvering toward the old buddhist Temple when the heavy machine guns hit us—one Marine went down—he was maneuvering his Marines to get them under cover—ignoring his own safety he was standing up giving hand signals to his men when the machine guns got him—S/Sgt. Vergalito died that day—formerly of E Co., 2nd. Platoon, 7th. Marines and as of late— First platoon, A Co., Fourth Marines— He had been mix mastered along with several of the new Marines in A Co. - I watched this happen approx. 20 yards from my position which was on the tail end of the Battalion staff group—Helplessly, I watched this great marine Veteran lose his life in this Godforsaken place and for what Godforsaken reason! There was nothing we could do to save him by the time we got to him.@51 The machine gun fire from the tree line was relentless— All of us began hitting the ground, looking for cover—the dikes were the only cover we had—Marines were being cut down from both A Co. and B Co. Orders were given to ‘stay down’ but one Marine to my right was screaming for his buddy who had been cut down in the initial burst from the tree line—his buddy was approximately 40-50 yards from our position—he said ‘hold on—I’m coming to get you’! We screamed at him to stay down—but he didn’t—he got up—ran forward—zig-zagged, got down, got up and was hit square in the chest with what appeared to be a .50 cal round—both Marines were KIA ! We wouldn’t be able to reach them until hours later when the firing from the tree line was neutralized. Enemy fire became so intense that our Marines couldn’t advance without taking heavy casualties.@52
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