Chapter 6
THE CACHE

In his Command Post, in a squad tent on the edge of a Michelin Rubber Plantation, the feisty Depuy summed up the weeks of activities as a major victory. The Communists, he was convinced, planned a major attack—maybe even a full-scale offensive, but instead had been badly pummeled. "We will be here for some time now," he said. "Also, from now on, it is search and pursue."

Both Major Meloy and Captain Foley were awarded the Silver Star; the Major, for his personal courage and resourcefulness in holding his outnumbered and ambushed battalion together against heavy odds; the Captain, for single-handedly attacking an enemy bunker.

The battle that began as a skirmish between the GI's of Company A and the VC culminated in an overwhelming victory for the Americans. The Communists knew they had been licked by the same people their leaders told them "didn't want to fight."