Dong Xoai: Seabees Earn a Special Place in Combat History

By L.A. SHIVELY

Seabee involvement during the Vietnam conflict began as part of a humanitarian effort assisting refugees emigrating from the north to the south, in response to the 1954 Geneva Convention agreements recognizing Ho Chi Minh’s communist government. The June 9, 1965, ambush at Dong Xoai, 55 miles north of Saigon, is particularly important because the first Medal of Honor given to a Seabee, Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin G. Shields, was bestowed for extreme valor during the assault.

Mortars blasted through the U.S. Army Special Forces camp in Dong Xoai, where Seabee Team 1104 was stationed, just before midnight on June 9. Chief Equipmentman Johnny Ray McCully, Team 1104 assistant officer-in-charge, had just finished rounds of the compound with a Cambodian Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) guard. He’d stepped into the Ranger barracks and was drinking coffee with Sgt. 1st Class James Taylor, Special Forces senior medic, when explosions rocked the camp.

Bellowing for everyone to take defensive positions, McCully grabbed his weapon and ran toward the northwest berm where Steelworker 2nd Class William Hoover, Utilitiesman Plumber 2nd Class Lawrence Eyman and Shields were returning fire on advancing Viet Cong. Hoover and Shields were already injured. Heavy mortar, machine gun fire and grenades pummeled the compound. At a lull in the barrage, Shields scurried to a burning shed, retrieving more ammunition.

At approximately 0245, an intense onslaught of mortars and recoilless rifle rounds, grenades, small arms fire and flame throwers hammered the defenders while several hundred Viet Cong, in human waves pouring over the berm, overwhelmed them. Shields, Eyman, Taylor, Staff Sgt. Harold Crowe and Pfc. Michael Hand withdrew, hurtling through a gauntlet of razor wire and enemy rounds, to the district compound on the other side of camp. Shields and Taylor carried Capt. William Stokes, the Special Forces detachment commander who was seriously wounded, while Crowe carried the weapons.

Lt. j.g. Frank Peterlin, Seabee Team 1104 officer-in-charge, Hoover and Special Forces Staff Sgt. Donald Dedmon were separated from the others when the Viet Cong swarmed over the berm. An explosion knocked Peterlin to the ground. Unable to stand or walk, and further separated from Hoover and Dedmon, Peterlin crawled through concertina wire, found a foxhole outside of camp and burrowed in throughout the rest of the day and the night.

“At that point the (Ranger) camp was under VC [Viet Cong] control,” Peterlin recalled. “Our planes bombed and strafed the entire area, so they assumed we were dead.”

He was rescued the following morning. Hoover and Dedmon were later found killed in action.

McCully and two CIDG troops, also cut off when the Viet Cong stormed the Ranger camp, withdrew to a buried weapons cache outside the compound. They found Viet Cong camped over the hidden weapons. Realizing returning to the camp was impossible under heavy fire, they hid in a pigpen, then in a sawmill. During the day, while the area was strafed and napalmed, they hid in the woods.

At one point, McCully passed out from his wounds and when he woke the CIDG soldiers were gone. He thought they might report his location. “That scared the dickens out of me,” McCully said.

Finally, on the morning of June 11, McCully emerged from the woods into the hands of friendly Vietnamese forces.

In the district compound conditions were critical. Ammunition, food, water and medicine were depleted. Fourteen of the original 20 Americans assigned to the camp were wounded, some seriously. They had huddled together and defended against the Viet Cong assault. Even at early light, a Viet Cong machine gun rattled the compound headquarters.

Special Forces 2nd Lt. Charles Williams requested a volunteer to help destroy the enemy machine gun and Shields, who’d already been wounded twice, spoke up. Williams, who had also been wounded, hefted a 3.5-inch rocket launcher across 100 meters of hostile fire while Shields followed with three rounds. They took out the machine gun, but on returning both were hit. Shields’ right leg was nearly severed by two rounds.

The Americans dreaded spending another night at Dong Xoai, and by 1300 evacuation was the only choice. The Viet Cong were massing for a huge assault. Withdrawal meant a sprint across an open area, fording a ditch and crawling under concertina wire to the howitzer pits 50 meters away, while dragging two very seriously injured men: Stokes and Shields.

Fourteen Americans and 20 South Vietnamese were evacuated by 1400, but shortly after liftoff Shields died from loss of blood. Both Shields and Williams were awarded Medals of Honor. Seabee Team 1104 received seven Silver Stars, eight Bronze Stars, a Navy Unit Commendation and Purple Hearts for their defense of the camp.

Sources: All Hands special report: “The Brave Men of Dong Xoai,” February 1967; “Seabees At Dong Xoai,” John F. Wukovits, CEC-Seabee Heritage Center; “The Ordeal of Seabee Team 1104 At Dong Xoai;” Lt. j.g. Frank Peterlin, from official after-action reports.