The “Apache”

                                               NOVEMBER 1966

                                                 THE “APACHE”

The cruelty experienced by American servicemen at the hands of the North Vietnamese confounds verbal description.  Such was the case in “Indian Territory” in the northwest corner of South Vietnam in 1966, nicknamed for its rampant Viet Cong (VC) activity.  Hill 55, in the midst of the area was a forward operating base for the 5^th Marines, 1^st MARDIV.  From here on a November morning in 1966 a rifle squad headed out on a routine patrol.  They were to proceed along rice paddy dikes to a crossroads below the hill and there check the identity papers of passers-by, hoping to nab a few VC for intelligence.  But a sudden burst of rifle fire and anti-personnel mines cut into the patrol still within sight of HQ.  Four Marines fell dead while the rest scurried back to camp.  A reinforced platoon descended the hill to reclaim the bodies of the Marines.  But, in fact, the fourth was not dead.  He had been knocked unconscious when an enemy bullet slammed into his helmet and grazed his skull.

It was a notorious female VC operative who led a sniper squad against the Americans.  Worse, she had become hated for butchering captive Marines, slicing their legs and arms with knives and torturing them to death in what was usually a drawn-out, all-night affair.  So heinous were her machinations that the Marines had nicknamed her, the “Apache.”  The fourth Marine from the ambush this day had fallen into her hands!

Not long after sunset the tortured screams of a Marine could be heard just beyond Hill 55’s perimeter wire.  After a merciless beating he had been stripped to only his boots and socks and bound to a tree.  “Apache” then sliced away his eyelids, causing intense pain every time he blinked.  Blood streamed down his face as she proceeded next to rip out his fingernails one by one. Then, starting with his little fingers, she bent each finger backwards in sequence until it fractured.  Her assaults were timed at perfect 20-minute intervals to maximize the Marine’s pain.  All the while, she taunted him and spat betel nut juice in his face.  Then in a final act of depravity, she amputated his genitals with a single swipe of her knife and cut him loose.  She sent him running for the perimeter wire, clots of blood dropping down his legs.  He reached the perimeter but sliced himself to shreds in the concertina wire as he breathed his last.

The camp at Hill 55 was home at the time to a Marine sniper school, an early attempt to give scout snipers first-hand experience in combat, under the guidance of seasoned snipers.  One such experienced marksman was SGT Carlos N. Hathcock, stationed there as a combat sniper and instructor.  Hathcock listened impotently to the screaming and torture being inflicted just beyond the perimeter wire.  The hair on his neck bristled with hatred and frustration.  He and his CO, CPT Edward J. “Jim” Land, vowed to put “the Apache” in their sights as soon as possible!

Continued 12 December…

Henderson, Charles.  Marine Sniper:  93 Confirmed Kills.  Briarcliff Manor, NY: Stein and Day, 1986, pp. 79-83.

Podlaski, John.  “Who Was Known as Apache?”  Operation Triumphus website.  AT: https://operationtriumphus.org/story/who-was-known-as-apache/

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Geographic features in Vietnam were named for their elevation above sea level.  The crest of “Hill 55” was 55 feet above sea level.  As such there were likely multiple “Hill 55s” during the course of the Vietnam war.