Surviving The Claws Of The Tiger: Foxtrot's Fight For Survival In Operation Union II, June 2, 1967 - Vietnam

"The Que Son Valley/Basin will be controlled and held at any cost." This information was the result of intense interrogation of prisoners captured early in 1967 in the area some thirty miles southwest of Da Nang and west of Tam Ky in northern I Corps of South Vietnam known as the Que Son Basin. This was the operational area of the 2nd NVA Division of North Vietnam. The control of the basin by the communists would begin in April, 1967. The South Vietnamese and the United States Military took notice to the heightened enemy activity and began plans for large military operations in the area. The first would be code named Union. This operation would fragment the NVA 2nd Division, but not destroy it. More enemy troops were still being pumped into the area and now another large U.S. and South Vietnamese operation would be deployed on May 26, code named, Operation Union II. This is where the author's story begins. You will follow Lance Corporal John Gobrecht, a machine gun team leader attached to 2nd Platoon of Fox Company 2/5, from his departure at the An Hoa airstrip to the ridges surrounding the Que Son Basin where snipers and hills will be taken. With the operation nearing its end, Fox Company will enter a 1,000 meter-wide rice paddy where events will change the lives of everyone involved. Readers will experience the heat, see the dead and dying and the pungent smell of death. Follow Foxtrot into one of the bloodiest single day battles for an infantry company during the entire Vietnam War. Survival of Fox Company depended on the courage of so many individuals including a recipient of The Medal Of Honor. In the end you will have mixed feelings. You will be in awe of the Marines, have respect for the enemy, and may even shed a few tears. If the reader experiences these emotions, the author's goals have been accomplished. War is not glamorous, as portrayed in the movies, but a living hell that remains with you forever.