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Convoy to Bao Loc

I joined third platoon of "Charlie Company" before sunrise. I was there to do a story on a Military Police convoy escort unit leading a collection of military trucks from Long Binh to Bao Loc 100 miles northeast up Highway 1.

I rode atop the "Lead" V, one of three V-100 armored cars bristling with machine guns and grenade launchers. I was armed with an M16 and my Pentax.

About three hours into the four-and-a-half-hour trip, the convoy drove up on an ambush that killed several men in an ARVN patrol. I dived down the hatch as the lead and middle Vs took up positions to block any attack on the Americans.

Stuck on an open road, we watched as a light observation helicopter (LOH) scouted the treeline, trying to draw fire so it could call in fire from Cobra gunships circling above. But the enemy had fled, disappearing into the jungle.

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