wash.
The Marine grasped the top of the heavy, black machine gun’s short, nylon stock with his left hand and rested the right side of his chin against his knuckles. His right hand clutched the gun’s pistol grip, with which he pulled the weapon into his shoulder and maintained his balance.
As the light utility helicopter zigzagged along the ridges, sporadic small-arms fire popped from beneath the trees. And with each assault from the ground, die pilot banked the Huey sharply on its right side, circling above the assault, tilting the open door to the point that the gunner lay out in the air directly above the fire. The rotors beat the air loudly, mixing with the chopping sounds of the rapid bursts that the Marine fired, showering the jungle and the hidden enemy with red tracers.
The helicopter drifted toward the ground and tilted its nose skyward as it settled onto its skids. Hathcock felt die tension that had built in the forty-minute flight disappear. He stepped quickly away from the noisy aircraft and sloshed his way through the grass and mud to a clear area away from the helicopter. He turned and pulled his bush hat back on his head to shield his face from the rain that fell in heavy sheets.
Once the three Marines stood clear of the landing zone, the Huey broke its bonds with the muddy ground. Shuddering slightly, the aircraft dipped nose down and raced away, disappearing quickly behind the trees.
Gunnery Sergeant Wilson met the three snipers at the hilltop and updated his captain on the status of the snipers—all were well, and each had kills. But what Wilson and several other Marines at the observation post really wanted to discuss was the job that the three Marines had just completed—this special mission.
For more than an hour, Hathcock and Burke sat cross-legged on the dirt floor of the snipers’ command post —surrounded by curious Marines who jammed in to hear-telling them about shooting the Frenchman, and unable to answer the paramount question: Why? Why did the spooks want him dead? Yet it was this unanswerable question, this dark secret shrouded in cloak-and-dagger mystique, that made the adventure a zesty, gee-whiz tale. From that first telling in the bunker on Hill 263, the story rapidly circulated, growing in drama and speculation as it spread.
From time to time Hathcock wondered what deed the Frenchman had done, or was about to do, that warranted this special mission to kill him. Captain Land had some insight based on what the curious man in tiger stripes had mentioned concerning the downed pilots and the Frenchman’s mission to interrogate them, but he heard nothing to confirm that, so he kept the hearsay to himself.
Operation Rio Blanco lasted three more days, ending at 6:00 P.M. on November 27, 1966.
The United States Marines, the Republic of Korea Marines, and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam forces, by their combined action, accounted for more than five hundred enemy dead, yet the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese continued to appear throughout the region along the Song Tro Khuc. Several units remained behind to mop up. Captain Land left four snipers at the Hill 263 observation point to assist, with Sergeant Carlos Hathcock in charge of them.
Very quickly the demand for sniper services surpassed Hathcock’s ability to meet them. He kept both two- man sniper teams on patrols and small operations day after day, recording their activity in situation reports, much of which he copied directly from his sniper log, and sent them every other day to Captain Land.
Since Hathcock was the fifth man, he assumed the risks of working alone and accepted the overflow requests for himself.
After ten days of constant patrolling, Hathcock saw the wear showing on his Marines. They looked like baggy-clodwd zombies, with tired red eyes sunken deep, beneath drooping brows. He began taking their patrols, telling them to stay on the hill and rest.
On December 14, Hathcock stood in front of the low, sandbag-walled bunker that the snipers had been using as their headquarters for the past twenty-four days. His men stood in a semicircle around him, their packs loaded and weapons at their sides. Today he was sending his four Marines home to Hill 55.
“Burke, tell Captain Land that they still need me down here. I’m sending you guys back because you’re wore plumb out. You might make a mistake out there and get yourselves killed. Besides, it’s gettin’ to be Christmas.”
Burke looked at his sergeant and matter-of-factly said, “Sergeant Hathcock, you don’t look too good yourself. Reckon this might be a mistake?”
“I know what I’m doing, Lance Corporal!” Hathcock said sharply. “It ain’t your place to question me. You just pass the word to the captain.”
The reaction bit deeply, yet Burke somehow expected it from his tired boss. He had come to greatly admire Hathcock, and he knew him well.
“I apologize for being out of line, Sergeant Hathcock, but 1 just don’t want to see nothing bad happening to you. You know, we’re supposed to take care of each other. Marines take care of their own. Right?”
“Yeah, Burke.”
“What would it hurt if you kept me back here. We’re a real good team, Sergeant. You said it yourself. I could sure be a help to you.”
“You’ll be a bigger help getting to Hill 55. And all I’ll have to worry about is myself. You just get these Marines back safe.”
Burke nodded morosely. “We’d better be going, huh.”
“Yep. You tell the captain I’ll keep him posted. I’ll get back soon as this mess clears up down here.”
The four Marines, packs and rifles strapped across their backs, walked away from the bunker where Hathcock stood.
“We’ll be thinking about you, Sergeant Hathcock, when we’re sleeping in them new cots and partaking of that Christmas cheer,” Burke said, waving.
Hathcock waved back. “That’s okay, me and Charlie gonna have our own little celebration. You boys keep your heads down, ya hear.”
Burke gave him the thumbs-up sign.
“Where the hell is Sergeant Hathcock Land snapped, as the four snipers came up beside him. He was standing behind a bunker on Hill 55 with a scope-sighted, .50-caliber machine gun trained on the flatlands beneath.
“Sir,” Burke said, standing at rigid attention, “Sir, Sergeant Hathcock had some more work to finish. He’s okay. He said he would keep you informed.”
“I expected to see him and you back here a week ago. Now you tell me that he’s off on his own, completely unleashed. Hell, now he has total freedom down there.”
“Sir, don’t be mad at him,” Burke said, trying his best to defend the sergeant. “He’s doing a lot of good down there.”
“Burke! Bullshit! I know how thick you and Hathcock are. You’d do anything to defend him. But, he’s wrong! Gunny,” Land said looking at Wilson, “you better get in touch with someone right now. I need to know what that skinny little shit is up to—today!”
Hathcock had known die captain would not be pleased to see the snipers return without him, but he had developed a rapport with several unit commanders. They let him call many of his own shots, planning sniper operations. And with each operation that he planned and brought off, his reputation grew. He liked that.
Enjoying a status shared by few other enlisted Marines, Hathcock’s ego thrived, even as he became more gaunt and weathered. However, he remained mentally sharp and demonstrated increased cunning against the enemy with each outing. No matter how bizarre the plan or dangerous the mission, his opinion meant much to the Marines who daily dropped him off on patrol and picked him up again at its completion. He had sold “snipers” to them.
Christmas passed and the new year was one day away when Hathcock marched outside the security wire with a patrol that would drop him at a bend in the Song Tro Khuc, where he could move and cover two wide zones that had opened to free fire.
Enemy contact had increased in this area, well to the west of where he usually worked. Now he embarked into that no-man’s-land to observe and count the enemy as well as to harass them with his fire. He would remain overnight and return on his own.
At a bluff that overlooked the bend in the river, Hathcock constructed his hide where he could watch his rear and flanks, as well as observe the river country below. He had three quick exits, should the enemy bear down on this position.
