An Iowa Veteran's Combat Experiences During Vietnam War

Iowa Veteran Captain Caesar Smith returned to Vietnam in 1968. Smith describes being put in charge of the 82nd Airborne's newly formed Delta Company, the loss of one of the men under his command and what had to be done to bring the fallen soldier home.

[Sounds of jungle insects. Soldiers walking with rifles across an open field as the narrator speaks.]

Narrator: Caesar Smith returned to Vietnam just after the Tet Offensive. He had been promoted to captain and was given command of the Eighty-Second Airborne newly formed delta company.

Smith: I’m standing there thinking, ‘Now, what company commander’s willing to give up some of his good men’, and he’s getting ready to face combat. So, I figured, this company was made up of anybody and everybody they want to get rid of, plus some new people that had never been in combat.

And, ah, that was the unit that I got over there. But, within ten days we were a good unit. And we served well.

[U.S. military helicopter flying across a river in Vietnam as the narrator speaks.]

Narrator: Smith’s first mission was to find and destroy a hidden cache of weapons.

[Sounds of helicopter blades as a group of U.S. helicopters carrying combat troops fly low to drop troops into the jungle.]

Smith: Anticipating. They’re scared to death. They’re hearts beating a thousand beats a minute and they’re out there in the open with all this gear on their back, running in this heat. And some of them just fainting and so we had to. . .

And I said 'Okay,, this is not good.’ So, we’re just going to have to stop right out here in the open and regroup. And, that didn’t take too long. We did get to the treeline. Fortunately, we didn’t get hit.

[Sounds of insects at night in the jungle. A Soldier is keeping watch. The narrator speaks.]

Narrator: Smith and his men made it safely out of the landing zone and into the jungle. A short time later, the young soldiers surprised the enemy.

Smith: So, we had a fire fight. We found the weapons. We thought we had a couple of prisoners, but they died before we could get them on the helicopter.

I’m sure some of those kids were just like I was. When they first started, they wanted to freeze. And, of course training, is to keep you from doing that. No one knows how you or I are going to act until we face the bullet for the first time.

And, I’m sure some of those kids were just laying on the ground and hoping they weren’t going to get hit. I don’t know how many of them got away, but we had some kills and got the weapons. That was the baptism and then after that they were ready.

[U.S. soldiers walking through the jungle as the narrator speaks.]

Narrator: Several missions later, Delta company stopped to rest during a patrol. The seasoned fighters hid themselves in the bush, but one soldier accidentally left his legs uncovered.

Smith: And all of a sudden we hear this machine gunfire. It was an AK-47. You can tell by the sound of them. One sergeant had been shot. And, he had died right on the spot. And, they were under fire. And, what we could assume by the amount of fire, up that hill further was a lot larger unit then we had.

[An artillery cannon fires on a hill.]

Narrator: Artillery support was called in; helicopter gunships sprayed the area where the enemy was hiding; and the company prepared to move to safer ground. Waters rising in a nearby creek threatened to block their retreat. They wrapped the soldier, who had been killed, in a rain poncho and fell back.

Smith: So, one platoon would cross and set up a parameter until the next one would cross. Imagine, under fire and they had to wrap the sergeant up in the ponchos.

By this time, the water was as high as under your arms. So, you’re holding your weapon over your head and this young soldier and all your equipment trying to get across while the rest of the platoons are keeping fire on those up there.

The amount of fire we were getting was enormous at the time. So finally, me and the last platoon crossed over and then it was getting close to dark.

Narrator: Smith’s men set up a parameter guard and waited to evacuate the dead and wounded.

Smith: We had to blow up some trees so the helicopter could get down. There wasn’t much room where we could get it, but the medivacs, they would come in just about anywhere. Even though we were under fire at the time, they came in and got everybody out.

But, that was the toughest night, 24 hours that I had while I was over there.

[Soldiers, with the wounded and dead, loading onto a medivac helicopter]

Narrator: Smith had been told up to sixteen men under his command could be killed during his tour of duty. But the young soldier they refused to leave behind was the only one he lost.