Lt. John Pickett on the left. Probably David Kling in the middle . Sgt. William Adams on the right.
Sgt. Adams was killed August 23, 1969.
Lt. Pickett was killed October 13, 1969.
The following is David Kling's account of Sgt. Adams' death. My Comments are in red.
As Golf 2/7 up the hill (This would be Hill 441 that formed the east side of Hiep Duc Valley) we stopped for a break. My squad, weapons, was sent across the ravine. Sgt. Adams sent the M-60 gunner and one man to the other side. Sgt. Adams, myself, and a new Pvt. stayed on the other side. As the men reached the other side all hell broke loose. We started through the tall grass and Sgt. Adams turned to me said to stay here. Next thing you know hell's fury started all over again. I yelled to him but got no response. I thought we had lost all three men. Cpl. Black (Randall Black, who I thing was wounded in the next couple of days) came around the top of the tree line and the first person out of the woods was Pfc Jarrell (Kenneth Jarrell), no sooner did he appear then the gook shot him. We were ordered back to the other side. Thinking we had lost all four Marines, we knew we had to retrieve the bodies. I remember Lt. Larrison's face (Jack Larrison, who was wounded a few days later) when the M-60 gunner and his assistant came walking up the hill. As soon as they took fire they came rolling back down the hill.
We dropped so much stuff on that hill, it should have killed every gook there. But it didn't. There was a lone sniper under a large boulder, he would stick his head out and fire on us. (I remember seeing him myself. I think this is the gook that Hayward Peliholani killed the next day) The CO told me to go part way down the hill and fire my LAAW at the sniper. After the second shot it was over. I can still remember the smell of the burned bodies. Sgt. Adams gave his life for me and the other Marines. |
