Swift Sword: The True Story of the Marines of Mike 3/5 in Vietnam, 4 September 1967

Monday, 4 September 1967

Marine Lance Corporal Jack Swan crested the face of a bare, rocky knoll in

the Que Son Valley of South Vietnam. Following Swan were the 164 Marines of

Mike Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. Their

mission was to locate and rescue two understrength and isolated companies

of felow Marines who were under attack by the North Vietnamese Armv

The sight of a quiet and serene rice paddy and shrub covered valley greeted

Swan. Too serene, he thought, as he caught sight of a trembling bush. 'I think

I just saw that bush move!' he shouted. 'If it moves again, shoot it!' his squad

leader commanded he bush moved Swan hired. and the hush went down

Then hell on earth broke loose.

Rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 fire, mortars, and machine guns engulfed

the exposed Marines. The vaunted 2nd NVA Division, six thousand, five hundred

men strong and expertly camouflaged, had sprung their well-laid trap.

Instead of coming to the rescue of their embattled comrades, it was now the

men of Mike 3/5 who were about to be annihilated. Burdened with a rifle, the

M16, that would often malfunction, how could they hope to beat back a vastly

superior foe bent on their destruction?

Outnumbered, out-gunned, and exposed, would any of the men of Mike 3/5 survive?