On August 21, 1967, I think we were on perimeter duty at LZ Uplift. The company radios started going crazy. We all knew that we were about to get sent out. We air assaulted on a hilltop in an area some guys called the Tiger Mountains. The 2nd platoon walked point that day. When they got down to the valley floor, reports were coming over the radio that there were men in khaki uniforms. The point man for the 2nd platoon reported on the radio that there were men in uniforms like ours and requested to open fire on them.  He was told to hold his fire. Then all heck broke loose. They started yelling for 3rd platoon to drop their packs and come forward. We were sent around to this finger in hopes that we would come down behind the VC. We ran across a small trail and we took it to make better time. That was a mistake and we all knew it, but our friends were in peril. At one point it got real quiet so we stopped. George Sylvester told me look on the ground commo wire. I began to get everyone spread out and to watch our flanks. There were two machine guns, one on each side of us. As we moved to our flanks, they opened up on us. They had been waiting on us. Clarence Chase was to my right, Hubert Royster to my left, the RTO was next to me and the M-79 man McDowell was right in front of the RTO and myself. Then things really got crazy behind us.  Lt. Taylor and Sgt. Warf began loading magazines as fast as they could. At some point the Platoon Sgt. came down where we were and was hit immediately. At some point we managed to get out of the kill zone. I carried the RTO up the hill. He had been shot in the leg. When I went back down someone handed me Chase I carried him to the top of the hill. He died shortly after I got him to the medic.  I was told he had 21 wounds, not counting the grenade they threw on him. We spent the rest of that night on that hilltop scared to death because we didn't know if they were going to attack us. I don't know who died that day or who got wounded. I think about that day all the time and wonder if I had cut that commo wire, would things have turned out different? Maybe it would have confused the NVA?  What if?