Andrew York,,,Survived the grasp of his enemy, the NVA

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Photo Courtesy of Bill Bodine

A True Story about Andrew York C/3rd/8^th, 4^th Infantry Division---Battle of Plei Ya Bo

My Interpretation of the text accompanying this photo furnished to me by Bill Bodine

Captured U.S. Soldier Chews Ropes On His Wrists to Survive Vietnam Clash

AP Wire photo

PFC, Andrew York, 19, rests in a hospital at Tuy Hoa, South Vietnam, after being rescued.

Andrew York’s Story:

Along the Cambodian Border in South Vietnam –(AP)—

Andrew York bit desperately into the crude ropes binding his wrists, tearing at the strands with his teeth and unmindful of the blood the rough fibers drew.

Minutes earlier the 19-year-old from the 4^th Infantry Division was being carried into captivity by North Vietnamese soldiers who had overwhelmed his platoon in the rain forest along the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.

ARMS GRABBED

Both of York’s legs had been shattered by a mortar round as he was firing his machinegun at the dozen brown clad Vietnamese rushing at him through elephant grass. He fainted. When he came to, the roar of battle was stilled, his wrists were tied to his belt, and his Communist captors stood around him.

Two of them grabbed his arms, two others his feet, and York—from the little town of Chelsea, Maine, married on May 5 to his childhood sweetheart and sent to Vietnam a week later—was on his way to captivity.

But the battle last Sunday was by no means over.

Circling overhead in a helicopter was the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Thomas P. Lynch of Spokane, Wash., who called for silence on the radio net so he could hear the last man on the platoon’s radio set.

Artillery Hits Jungle

“Charger (the battalion commander’s code name), everyone else is dead,” the voice said. There were some mumbled words about home and mother. Then “Charger, I’m dying.” The set went silent.

Lynch assumed that everyone in the platoon was killed. Numerous North Vietnamese could be seen below. He ordered artillery barrages on top of them.

York, numb with pain, was being carried into the Jungle as the first rounds came in. The two North Vietnamese carrying his legs were killed in the first blast. The men at his shoulders dropped him to the ground.

“I realized they were our shells,” York said later at a hospital. “I was sure the Communist would kill me then, what had they to lose? And if they didn’t, then our Artillery would get me. I thought I was dead for sure. All that I could do was pray, and you better believe I was praying.”

Freed His Wrists

The Barrage ended quickly. York was alone beside the two dead men who had been carrying his legs. He tugged painfully at his belt and pulled his wrists free so he could get his teeth to the ropes. Then he started chewing feverishly.

The North Vietnamese battalion that had overwhelmed the 30-man platoon, killing 18 of the Americans, had reached the company perimeter where another 30 Americans were lying in foxholes.

Commanded by Capt. William C. Pratt of Edimburg, Tex., they were soon under rocket and machine attack from the shadowy figures at the edge of the clearing.

In a forward foxhole Sp, 4 Robert Rohan, from Omro, Wis., fired a claymore mine, shattering a patch of jungle with lethal pellets. Later, 11 dead Communists soldiers were found there with three rocket launchers and two machineguns beside them.

The big American guns to the rear slammed 6.682 shells at the enemy in 3 hours. U.S. Air Force bombers roared in, searing the jungle and grassy clearings with Napalm and bombs. Armed helicopters slashed at trails with machine guns.

Neutralized by Fire

One of Capt. Pratt’s platoons fought its way back to the Company perimeter. Then Capt. Neil D. Buie, came bursting across the clearing with his 120 men of “B” company/3^rd/8^th.

From then on, it became a “mechanical process..” Lynch said, á complete destruction and neutralization of the enemy with heavy gunfire.

North Vietnamese came running from the jungle to surrender, their hands clasped in front of them.

In all, 170 Communist were killed, 19 Americans were dead.

Alive amid the destruction were Pfc. York and ten others in his platoon, all wounded. York had managed to chew through his ropes, had dragged his mangled legs through the jungle to join up with some of his buddies, and gave a very painful cheer as he rejoined his troops.