Plei Me Defenders Fight Off Northern Regulars
EDITOR’S NOTE — Robin Mannock of
The Associated Press joined the relief column
that reached the battered Special Forces camp
at Plei Me Monday.
By ROBIN MANNOCK
PLEI ME, South Viet Nam (AP) — After
seven days of continuous action, the handful
of U. S. Army advisers behind the barbed
wire at Plei Me know they have been pitted
against the Viet Cong’s first team — a regi
ment from North Viet Nam’s 308th Infantry
Division. It shows on every haggard, grime-
smeared face.
A relief column of more than 1,300 Vietna
mese rangers, infantry, tanks and armored
personnel carriers reached the ibesieged Spe
cial Forces camp Monday. The Viet Cong
caught them in the open, and for more than
an hour enemy mortars, heavy machine guns
and automatic weapons poured fire into the
relief force and into the camp.
Capt. Russell Hunter, the camp’s doctor
from Abilene, Tex., seemed to be everywhere
inside the camp’s perimeter as dead and
wounded were carried in.
His week-old growth of beard was caked
with brick-red dust and his eyes stared with
fatigue.
One wounded U.S. adviser was brought to
Hunter’s underground aid station by other
Americans. They carried him through the
wire, under sniper fire, when South Vietna
mese soldiers balked at bringing him in.
For some of Plei Mte’s defenders, the as
sault was too much. A noncom ripped the
bandage off one Vietnamese soldier’s arm
and found no wound. Screaming with rage and
grabbing him by the jacket, the noncom haul
ed the cowering soldier from a trench and
kicked him back into the fight.
The camp’s defenders retaliated with 50-
caliber machine guns, mortars and small arms.
U. S. Skyraiders and jet attack bombers pum-
meled thickets on a gentle rise south of Plei
Me where the Viet Cong lay hidden.
Each time there was a lull, shots from
concealed Viet Cong snipers sent everyone
scurrying for cover.
Bomb fragments and shrapnel splattered
the camp as the planes and big guns hit close
to the wire. Gunners of the U. S. 1st Air Cav
alry division fired volley after volley of white
phosphorus and high explosives with terrify
ing accuracy.
The Americans in Plei Me credited the
planes with saving the camp. American pilots
flew hundreds of sorties by day and night.
“When ! meet a flyboy after I get out of
here, I’m going to hug and kiss him,” said
Maj. Charlie A. Beckwith. He commanded an
American team which came to the rescue of
Plei Me’s beleaguered troops last Thursday
with two companies of Vietnamese airborne
rangers.
With no water for washing or shaving,
Beckwith, 36, looked like an emaciated grizzly
bear. He is from Atlanta, Ga.
“I thought it was all over, chief,” said
Staff Sgt. Frank Kowalski of Utica, N. Y.
Kowalski, an artilleryman from the 1st Cav
alry, had been attached to the Vietnamese
22nd Ranger Battalion.
“I bounced into a hole but it was a real
small one and I bounced right out again,” he
said. Kowalski counted 10 mortar shells pass
ing overhead as he sought a better hole.
Kowalski’s forward artillery observer —
another American — was wounded in the
arm by a mine.
The onslaught pinned down part of the
rangers in trenches, bunkers and tunnels dug
by the Viet Cong less than 100 feet from the
outer wire on the northern edge of Plei Me,
scene of the heaviest attacks last week.
The Viet Cong abandoned the earthworks
and several of their dead.
“It was as much as I could do to stay
there,” said Capt. Paul Leckinger, 32, of Ro
chester, N.Y., senior U.S. adviser to the 21st
Rangers. Leckinger had spent part of his
fourth son’s first birthday hugging the dirt
Saturday night when a North Vietnamese reg
iment ibegan to attack the relief column on
its way to Plei Me.
Crouching in forward trenches inside the
camp were Plei Me’s garrison and their fami
lies. Wives comforted infant children next to
their menfolk. Most are members of the Mon-
tagnard tribes of Viet Nam’s central high
lands. The camp is about 210 miles north of
Saigon.
Montagnard youngsters in their early teens
shouldered carbines and prepared to defend
their squalid bunkers.
After one brief firefight a Viet Cong pris
oner was brought in. He was Cao Kuan Hai,
22, a master sergeant in the 324th Regiment
of the North Vietnamese 308th Division.
He smoked a cigarette as he sat on the
€bc Battalion
floor of a hut and answered questions put to
him by Brig. Gen. Doan Van Quang, com
mander of South Viet Nam’s Special Forces,
who had flown into Plei 'Me that morning.
Cao said his unit left Phu Tho, in North
Viet Nam, in July and reached the area a
week ago. He wore dust-stained khaki jungle
fatigues. His badly swollen feet bulged out
of sandals made from an old automobile tire.
Cao said volunteers to fight in South Viet
Nam were easy to obtain because intensive
American bombing in the Communist North
was reducing already scant food supplies and
soldiers could count on getting enough rice.
A diary found on the body of a dead
North Vietnamese showed that the soldier’s
unit had ibeen in position by the roadside since
Oct. 19.
That was the day the camp first came
under attack. The Viet Cong strategy appar
ently was to draw troops into a trap and
destroy them as they came down the road.
The strategy almost succeeded.
The relief column came under withering
fire Saturday night and was split in two. But
Leckinger, who was bringing up the rear with
half of the 21st Rangers, denied his men were
ambushed.
CoEaEST|}^
Volume 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1965
Number 223
Scott Carpenter To Speak Nov. 5
Teague Fete
To Feature
Space Pilot
CHEST DRIVE NEARS GOAL
Texas A&M coed Fran Kimbrough checks the thermometer
gauge which shows the 1965 College Station United Chest
drive has nearly reached its goal of $20,000. The goal is
expected to be met and surpassed during the annual fund
drive, which began Oct. 11.
Debaters Post Strong Showing
At Lubbock Invitational Meet
The Debate Club’s senior and
junior teams each won two out
of four rounds at the Texas
Tech Invitational Tournament
this week. The student repre
sentatives also placed in individ
ual competition.
Sim Lake, a senior from Fort
Worth, ranked third in two pre
liminary rounds of extemporane
ous speaking. Junior Marvin
Simpson, also from Fort Worth,
placed fourth in two rounds. Lake
and Simpson comprised the sen
ior debate team.
Sophomore David Gay from
College Station ranked third and
seventh in prose interpretation,
and Benny Mays, sophomore from
Grashear, placed fourth in extem
poraneous speaking. These stu
dents were junior debate team
partners.
Club sponsor Carl Kell said
the teams defeated Hardin Sim
mons University twice, Odessa
Junior College and the Air Force
Academy. He added that they
Consolidated Sets
Senior Class Play
A&M Consolidated High
School’s annual Senior Play will
be staged Saturday. The play,
“Sabrina Fair,” will be at 8 p.m.
in the high school auditorium.
The play will be a romantic
comedy based on a modem Cin
derella story.
The major characters are Peg
gy Owen as Sabrina Fairchild,
Prank Lamb as Mr. Larrabee,
Ann Ballinger as Maude Larra
bee, Scott Hervey as Lynus Lar
rabee and Rick Landmann as
David Larrabee. The director is
Mrs. Jan Alston.
Admission are adults, $1; stu
dents, 50 cents; and Aggies 50
cents with an ID card.
lost to Adams State College
(Clorado), North Texas State Col
lege, Angelo State College (Tex
as) and the University of Ari
zona.
Competing schools were not
ranked.
He also says that these same
students will attend the next de
bate tournament at TCU Nov.
5-6.
Scott Carpenter, Mercury astro
naut who piloted America’s sec
ond orbital space flight, will be
a featured speaker at the appre
ciation dinner Nov. 5 for Con
gressman Olin E. Teague.
Announcement of the second
space speaker came from Chair
man Ford D. Albritton Jr., who
called Carpenter “one of Amer
ica’s real heroes.”
“Commander Carpenter, who
traveled both to the edge of the
sky and the depths of the ocean,
has been in an excellent position
to report on Congressman Tea
gue’s efforts to put America first
in the space race,” Albritton not
ed. “We also expect Carpenter to
relate some of his experiences in
orbit and under the sea.”
Albritton added that accept
ance from the Aurora 7 pilot
would undoubtedly push the meet
ing into larger rooms in Sbisa
Dining Hall. He urged citizens
of Bryan-College Station to ar
range for tickets immediately.
“We already anticipate an over
flow crowd,” Albritton said.
Albritton said Carpenter, other
speakers and Congressman Tea
gue would be available for per
sonal greetings and autographs at
the banquet.
He reminded the tickets are
available at local banking insti
tutions, the Memorial Student
Center, the Ramada and Holiday
Inns and the Chamber of Com
merce.
Carpenter joins the NASA
launch chief, Dr. Kurt Debus, as
major speakers honoring “Tiger”
Teague. A third key speaker will
be announced soon.
ASTRONAUT SCHEDULES TALK HERE
Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter prepares to enter his the earth. Carpenter will speak here at the appreciation
spacecraft prior to becoming- the second American to orbit dinner for Congressman Olin Teague Nov. 5.
USIA Official To Deliver
SCONA XI Major Speech
Si
Si
X*
ix
Liberal Arts Head
Schedules Speech
Dr. Frank W. R. Hubert, dean
of the College of Liberal Arts,
will address the Texas A&M
Graduate Student Banquet Sat
urday.
The banquet is set for 7 p.m.
DR. FRANK W. R. HUBERT
in the Memorial Student Center
Ballroom.
Hubert became dean of the
College of Liberal Arts this fall
after serving as dean of the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences since
1959. Prior to that time he was
superintendent of Orange schools.
The speaker is president of the
Association of Texas Colleges
and Universities, chairman of the
Commission on School and Col
lege Relations of ATCU and a
member of the executive com
mittee.
He is also a member of the
state executive board for the de
partment of religion in public
education, Texas Council of
Churches. He is a councilor for
the Texas A&M Research Foun
dation and listed in Who’s Who
in America.
Wallace Johnson, president of
the Graduate Student Council,
said two Former Student Associ
ation awards will be announced
during the banquet. They include
$200 for a Ph.D. candidate and
$100 for a master’s degree can
didate.
A top official in the United
States Information Agency will
deliver a main address at the
eleventh Student Conference on
National Affairs Dec. 8-11 in
the Memorial Student Center.
Charles T. Vetter Jr., Infor
mation Coordinator for the USIA
Office of Public Information,
will speak at one of the five
plenary sessions open to the gen
eral public.
Vetter joins Dr. Frank Trager,
professor of International Af
fairs at New York University,
as a SCONA XI speaker. The
three remaining major speaker
SCONA Needs
Cars, Drivers
The eleventh Student Confer
ence on National Affairs needs
cars and drivers for the confer
ence Dec. 8-11.
Students wishing to offer
their car and services for one
or more 12-hour period should
notify the Memorial Student
Council and Directorate Office
before Nov. 1.
All cars must be four to six
passenger vehicles and must be
of 1962 make or newer.
Students volunteering their
their cars will be reimbursed for
all expenses, granted SCONA
memberships and will be al
lowed to attend the SCONA bar
becue.
slots will be filled at a later
date.
A 1946 graduate of Hamilton
College, Vetter attended the
School of Advanced Internation
al Studies in Washington, D. C.
and Georgetown University Law
School.
He also attended The Academy
of International Law at The
Hague and received a law de
gree from National University
Law School in 1953.
During World War II Vetter
was a naval aviator who served
as an American instructor and
liaison officer, with the French
Naval Training Mission. He
was awarded French Naval
Wings for his contributions to
the French Navy.
He joined the State Depart
ment as a research and liaison
officer in 1950 and assumed the
same pob for the USIA in 1953.
In 1955 he was assigned as an
advisor to the Director of Public
Relations of the Government of
East Pakistan. He was later
a USIA political science lec^-
turer in West Pakistan.
Vetter joined the Professional
Training Staff of the USD A
in 1956 and became employe de
velopment officer in the fields
of International Communications
and Communism.
He has held his present post
since 1962.
Vetter is a regular lecturer at
the State Department Foreign
Service Institute, the Military
Assistance Institute, the Air War
College, the School of Interna
tional Service of American Uni
versity and other overseas ori
entation programs.
The topic for SCONA XI is
“The Far East: Focus on South
east Asia (The Challenge of a
Dynamic Region).”
The yearly student conference
brings together outstanding stu
dents from colleges and univer
sities in the United States, Cana
da and Mexico to explore timely
national and international issues.
The students tudy the impact of
world problems and attempt to
grasp their complexity rather
than offer solutions.
A general theme is chosen each
year and outstanding public
figures who hold varying view
points on the subject are invit
ed as keynote speakers.
A&M, TWU Sophs
Plan Denton Dance
The Texas A&M and Texas
Woman’s University sophomore
classes will hold a dance from
7:30 p.m.-l a.m. Saturday in the
TWU Student Union Building in
Denton.
Dress will be causal and no
admission will be charged, but
an Aggie ID will be required
for admission.
Aggies may change in the
TWU gym upon arrival if they
so desire.
Theological
Fellowships
Available
Any married or single stu
dent interested in a ministerial
career may fulfill this interest
with the aid of the Rockefeller
Brothers Theological Fellowships
Program.
Interested persons can sub
mit their names to J. Gordan
Gay at the YMCA Building. He
will then send these names to
the program advisors.
Gay, campus representative
for the Rockefeller Foundation,
said the program attempts to
provide well - educated laymen
for our churches.
Financed through a $100 mil
lion fund, this program selects
67 outstanding students across
the nation interested in a minis
terial career and sends them to
any accredited theological school
for one year. All expenses are
paid for each student, and mar
ried students are allowed extra
expenses.
If after one year the individual
decides to discontinue his train
ing, he is permitted to drop the
program. If he does decide to
continue, he must then seek
financial support from local
churches or similar organiza
tions, since the Foundation with
draws its aid after the year.
Gay adds that the program
is set up only for those who are
undecided about a ministerial
career. The Foundation will not
accept students who have al
ready decided on pursuing this
career.