The Night Ambush
May 11, 1968
Don Corbin
Company A, 2/12th Cavalry
During the afternoon of May 11, 1968, at LZ Sharon, Lt. Rod Jefferson assembled his 1st platoon, A/2/12, First Cavalry Division for the purpose of doing a re-con for an ambush site to use later that night. Sgt. Ronnie Doss’s squad took the point and led the unit to the site to be used that night. Once the site was determined, the unit returned to LZ Sharon and started making preparations for the night to follow.
After dark the platoon eased out of Sharon and made its way along the route taken earlier that day. During the afternoon recon, the platoon had crossed a gulley using a foot bridge. This night when the point unit came to the foot bridge (to the right of the line of march), Sgt. Doss and Lt. Jefferson ordered the point element to by-pass the foot bridge and move farther ahead. After a short while the point element was told to turn right. A short distance after the right turn, one of the point soldiers, having a starlight scope mounted on his rifle, stopped and propped his rifle against a tree to scan the area. As he did this he felt something touch his rifle and land against his foot. He, thinking that he may have dropped a grenade or smoke, reached down and felt a Chicom grenade. Immediately he, crouched down, moved to Lt. Jefferson and told the Lt. that a grenade had fell by his foot but the Chicom grenade had failed to explode. The soldier then moved to Sgt. Doss to advise him and all hell broke loose.
The unit had walked into an enemy ambush. Sgt. Doss and two of his squad members were pinned down on a slight rise. Several automatic weapons opened up on the three men with one of the three being shot through the foot. Sgt. Doss ordered the rest of the platoon to back up and Lt. Jefferson ordered the platoon to form a defensive perimeter. One of the platoon members moved forward, picked up our wounded soldier and moved him back to the defensive perimeter. Sgt. Doss and the other soldier on the rise remained in position until the defensive perimeter was set up and then they fell back. Gun ships were called in and the ambush was over. The platoon stayed on full alert for the remainder of the night.
At daylight a medivac was called in for the wounded soldier, the field was scanned by the platoon, and the unit prepared to move back to LZ Sharon. On the way back to Sharon, at the foot bridge, the platoon noticed an enemy claymore mine mounted on the bridge facing what would have been our night entry to the bridge. In hindsight, it appears the enemy had observed the afternoon recon and decided that they would ambush us on the bridge. Our leadership foiled their plan by adjusting our move to our ambush site. It also appears that our new route confused them and they moved back from the bridge, flanked our route, and formed a new makeshift ambush. Their confusion, I am sure saved a lot of our lives. Had we taken the bridge, that night, chances are we would have lost a lot of people from the claymore and their automatic weapons, and the lack of cover for us on the bridge.
This was a good day in May. We did lose one of our people, but he recovered and is well today. Had it not been for our good leadership, many of us would have died and it would have been a horrible day in May.
Thanks Lt. Rod Jefferson and Sgt. Ronnie Doss.