To say that Grand Summit was an enigma would be an understatement. There it was, this massive, majestic mountain range enclosing the vast Nha Trang Valley from it's southern to it's northern end. Along the beautiful beaches of Nha Trang and the crystal blue waters of the South China sea lay the city of Nha Trang proper. Stretching southward from it's outskirts were a major VC and NVA prisoner compound, the MACV sector headquarters compound, 8th Army Field Hospital, an airfield, signal compound, fuel depot, the MACV Recondo school, 5th Special Forces Group headquarters compound containing a massive ordinance storage facility, a naval base and one of A-502's outposts on the Dong Bo River at the southern end. Towering over all this to a height of over 3,000 feet was Grand Summit only 4,000 meters away. Easy mortar range. Almost every night fire was directed from Grand Summit into the numerous compounds along Nha Trang's coast line. The threat that Grand Summit posed to this highly strategic area is obvious. But, the solution was elusive.

    5th Special Forces Group Det. A-502's area of operation included all of the Nha Trang Valley from it's southern to it's northern end and from Grand Summit to the coastline. Det. A-503 picked up at the southern end of the valley and worked the area surrounding the backside of Grand Summit south and westward toward Cam Rhan Bay and Dong Ba Thin. Both A-502 and A-503 had made numerous attempts to scale the slopes of Grand Summit both singly and in joint operations to no avail. The courageous Rhade Montagnard tribesman of the famous A-503 mobile strike force (Mike Force), who were to later to become B-55, and then Special Forces 5th Mobile Strike Force command, had made no less than seven attempts at Grand Summit. Each time the equation was the same. The further up the granite boulder strewn triple canopy forested slopes they went the more resistance they met. The enemy did not want company on the mountain.

    The evidence was all there. The numerous hard packed, high speed trails coming off both ends of the mountain that were being used daily, nightly bombardments from the slopes of the mountain into the Nha Trang area, and the many radio intercepts that were coming from the mountain indicated the possibility of a major base camp. The problem? Mr. Charles owned the mountain.

    Each time rounds were fired from Grand Summit one of the FACs from the 21st Tactical Air Support Squadron in Nha Trang would be airborne attempting to locate the source. Many times they worked in conjunction with radio intercept aircraft who would fly high above scanning for enemy radio transmissions and then fix their location with their direction finding equipment. The FAC pilot would then call in the air strikes.

    The callsign "Walt" FAC pilots were extremely gutsy and adept at their job. I would come to learn in the coming months that they never ignored a call for help and were always there when you needed them. I witnessed them place their lives unselfishly in jeopardy time after time to come to the aid of a unit in trouble. I came to realize that the indebtedness of the units operating in the area for the number of lives they had saved could never be repaid.

    Shortly after being assigned to Det. A-502 I witnessed one of their favorite tactics. From our little outpost on the Dong Bo river I watched the little 0-1 bird-dog flying at treetop level over the slopes of Grand Summit until he drew fire. He would then roll over and mark the spot with a white phosphorous rocket and call in one of the F-4 Phantoms circling high above. Watching one of the numerous air strikes I thought to myself how much devastation was certainly being inflicted upon the enemy unit by the repeated sorties unleashing 750 pound bombs, napalm and white phosphorous. This, to the dismay of all involved, would prove not to be true. The next night the rounds would once again arc into the Nha Trang area and wreak havoc. On the 20th of July, 1968 from somewhere in the higher command structure came a sudden supposedly brilliant idea. The brainstorm was that since the airbase at Nha Trang had a multitude of C-130 transports available, why not load them up with pallet loads of 55 gallon drums containing gasoline and diesel fuel and drop them on Grand Summit in the suspected area of the base camp? It was believed that upon striking the dense canopy and detonating, the resulting explosion would blow enough volatile fuel through the canopy to the jungle below to ignite and burn the undergrowth as well as burn the canopy above and therefore deny the enemy his precious cover.

    One of my most vivid memories of Vietnam will always be that of the sweltering heat the morning of 21 July, 1968 and the awesome spectacle we witnessed. At about 0900 hrs, as the sun cresting over the South China sea began bathing the east side of Grand Summit in a blanket of pale orange, the C- 130s began their run. As I stood on the launching pad in Nha Trang with the other advisors from A-502 and our two companies of CIDG troops, I watched as dark rectangles started exiting the tailgate of the lead aircraft and plummeting toward the mountain below. As they fell earthward it seemed as if, in the anticipation of the moment, time stood still. The only sounds I remember were the distant drone of the C-130s and the low crackle of our radios as the different units made their radio checks in preparation for the impending air assault. As the soundless specs began striking the canopy a monstrous orange fireball a half kilometer long erupted, billowing a mushroom cloud of ugly black smoke skyward. Suddenly, the hot humid morning air became a physical tidal wave as the first shock waves of the massive explosion rolled over us, assaulting our skin and our eardrums. As the succeeding loads of pallets rained down they added to the inferno until it seemed as though we were witnessing hell manifesting before our very eyes. Immediately, followed a second group of aircraft that dropped their highly volatile cargo and then another until it seemed as if the whole majestic mountain was a huge fireball. Everyone expected it to end there but already another group of aircraft were starting their pass over the mountain. While the last aircraft were dropping their loads the lead aircraft had landed at the nearby airfield, reloaded and was airborne again. This virtual earthquake of fire and shock waves continue for an hour and a half.