Gardella 5

5    I stood there with the blood of half a dozen men hardly dry on my shirt, but ready to go on with the mission.  Looking back, I don't know how I got over the shock of what I'd done.  Part of it was that I was just seventeen, & when you're that young you can bounce back more easily.  Part of it, too, was being in a kill-or-be-killed situation.  Anyhow, it was lucky that I had no idea what was waiting for me in those caves.   "Twelve of us will go in," Scotty said.  Although Charlie argued that Scotty was too important to be one of the twelve, he insisted.  "This is too big for me not to go in," he said.  "Besides I am the only one who knows the way at all."   The other eleven would be made up of eith friendlies along with Lieutenant Damon & two others of his choosing.  He pointed to me & Holden.  Of the Chinese, Charlie, Yen, Sam One, Sam Two, Nancy & Sally would be going in, with two others whose names I was never sure of.   "We won't be able to just walk in," Scotty said.  "We'll have to get hold of a truck that's on its way in, & take it over."   I pictured the twelve of us, all in one place--& all dead.  But there was nothing I could say.  & before I could even think any further, we had started moving.  We had to backtrack a coup of miles to a winding path that led down along the canyon walls.  It must have been eight or nine in the morning when we started down.   When we'd gotten to the bottom, we stayed hidden but close to the road.  Several vehicles passed, none of them big enough to hold us all.  After half an hour we saw a covered truck.  Sams One & Two had put on the uniforms of two of the guards we'd killed.  Now they stepped out onto the road & signaled to the driver to stop.  While they approached him, the two girls slipped up on the other side & leaped for the passenger.  In a minute or two the bloody work was done, & the driver & passenger lay dead.  The rest of us jumped onto the back of the truck, which turned out to be empty under the canvas except for a few crates.   As we drove toward the reservoir we began to see more & more soldiers, dressed in uniforms of brown or gray--loose, floppy trousers, long jackets with wide black or brown belts & fatigue caps.  They paid no attention to us.  I found a part of me wondering why we didn't just turn the truck around & get the hell out while we could.   After a few minutes we arrived at a gate & the Sams spoke to the guard.  I don't know what they said--or whether it was because the guard was especially stupid or because the Sams were especially smart that they let us through.  As we drove on, we passed barracks, several small buildings, & dozens, maybe even hundreds of soldiers.  I could see a radio tower, & near the reservoir there were storage tanks--whether for fuel or water there was no telling.   Then we reached another gate.  Peering from underneath the canvas cover, I guessed that we'd reached the entrance to the caves.  We slowed & then stopped.  We'd done so well up to now that I wondered how long our luck would hold out.  I could see a soldier who looked like an officer staring at the side of the truck.  He spoke to Sam One, & then waved us through.  At least we seemed to have picked the right truck!   The road began to dip so sharply that we pitched forward.  Then we entered the mouth of the cave, & the road was suddenly steeper than ever--something like a thirty-degree incline.  There was plenty of artificial light.  I could feel the sweat running down my neck & back, & my mouth had gotten very dry.   I saw that Scotty was fiddling around with the explosives he was carrying.  They were light--they had to be--but he'd said they were powerful enough to do the job.  I could only hope he was right.   Deeper inside the cave, the road turned left.  I guessed that it must be taking us underneath the reservoir.  Then it leveled off.  Along the side walls we now saw concrete bunkers with steel doors.   The truck suddenly screeched to a halt in front of a gigantic steel door.  As we sat there, it began rising.  When it got to about ten feet, four armed guards came out, two on either side of us.  One of them started talking to Sam One, who said something back.  Their voices grew harsh, & I could see Charlie getting his machine gun ready.  I picked up mine too, while the arguing went on, & we peered through the canvas to watch.  Suddenly Sam Two fired a burst at the two guards on his side.  Charlie poked his weapon through the canvas & opened up on the other two.  He almost blew their heads off.  The truck lurched forward, then came to a stop directly underneather another huge door.  On Scotty's orders we all jumped out & rushed forward.  We heard shouts & then we could see men running, lots of them, many in white laboratory coats, the rest in military uniform.  At first I saw no weapons & heard no shots.  Then Scotty began firing, & I did the same.  Masses of men were coming at me & falling as I blasted away.  Still they kept coming & falling.  Then there were shots from the other side.  I could see the lieutenant moving off to the left; I took off to the right.  Standing there in the open was Holden, with Nancy & Sally.  I screamed to them to take cover, & they raced toward the wall.  I could hear the bullets hitting the walls & feel the showers of rock fragments that followed.    Men were charging at us from the front & from a second corridor off to the right.  I changed the clip in my gun & resumed firing; we must have knocked over fifty of them in those first few minutes, while we still had the advantage of surprise.   We moved forward, & since I could see that the weapons had been dropped, I slung my machine gun over my shoulder.  Many of the dropped weapons were Soviet M43-PPS-43s, the very guns we'd trained with.  I'd fire one until it was empty, then drop it & pick up another.  there was no shortage of them, & none had been fired very many times.   But now the firing was heavier.  Charlie & Yen came scurrying over to me, & the three of us made it to a large metal door with Chinese lettering on it.  When I leaned my weight against it, the door opened.  Inside was what appeared to be a laboratory with tables, test tubes & other apparatus--now deserted.   From the rear I could hear someone screaming at me.  The voice sounded like Scotty's but I couldn't make out what he was saying.  I grabbed one of my grenades & pulled the pin.  Now I could hear Scotty yelling, "Close the door!  Get the hell out of there!"   I tossed the grenade, & a blast of flame came at me as it exploded, knocking me off my feet & leaving me dazed.  I felt pain in my legs.  Looking down, I saw that my trousers were in tatters & that there was blood on them too, but I didn't think I could be badly hurt.   I got to my feet & started forward.  The noise of gunfire was so loud that I felt deafened.  About twenty yards ahead of me & to my left, I spotted Lieutenant Damon sprawled on the ground.  I started running, then fell only my belly & crawled toward him.  I managed to drag him to an angle in the wall, which gave a little cover.  He had been hit in the shoulder & was bleeding.  As I lay there & wondered what I could do for him, Sally came over & pointed to herself, apparently meaning that she'd look after him.  As I started to move off, I saw her looking at my legs, & waved my hand to tell her I was okay; I guess I looked worse than I felt.   I made my way to Holden, who also looked at my legs.  "I just slid into the plate too hard," I told him, not sure whether I was reassuring him or myself.   With us now were Charlie & the two Sams.  That made five in all.  I assumed the others were along the opposite wall, though I couldn't see them.  I must have been on my third enemy gun by then.  Half the time I couldn't see anyone because of the gloom & smoke, but in that corridor with those men coming at us it would have been hard not to hit someone everytime I fired.  Still they kept coming.  I wondered then, as I did afterward, whether they might have been drugged.  Whatever it was that kept us alive, I thank God for it.   I came to another door, like the one I'd gone through, ipened it, & tossed a grenade--only this time I got out of the way at once.  Again there was a blast, & a fire that filled the place with such thick smoke that it was hard to see anyone.  I was on top of Scotty & Nancy almost before I recognized them.  Scotty was leaning over trying to fix an explosive onto a big boiler.  Yen was at the far end of the boiler, firing like hell.  To the right I saw another door, opened it & went in.  I reached for a grenade & was getting ready to pull the pin when something made me stop.  It was a pile of crates.  Going closer, I saw that my first quick glance hadn't been mistaken.  Stenciled on them were the words MADE IN USA.   I stared for a moment longer, then headed for the door.  I lobbed the grenade on my way out, then slammed the door & made my way back to Scotty.  By this time he had fixed the charges with a timing device.  He looked up at me & said, "The time has come for us to make our exit."   The piles of bodies in that murky tunnel would be almost impossible to describe.  & still people kept coming at us.  We backed our way to the lieutenant, who by this time was only semiconscious.  For his sake & ours we had to get out of there.  I said to Scotty, "Why don't you & the others take the lieutenant & start moving out?  Yen & I will come right behind & cover you."   He started to say No; but he knew I was right, that we couldn't all stick together.  So he got the others moving, half carrying, half dragging the lieutenant with them.  While they retreated, Yen & I stood still & kept firing as fast as we could.  The others had piled a few enemy guns near us to make things easier.  We began to back off, still firing, & just as I was thinking there was some kind of miracle about our not being hit, Yen groaned, twisted sideways & fell on his back.  He lay there motionless & I saw that he was dead, killed by a shot in the middle of the forehead.  I went on backing off & firing, in a scene as near to hell as I hope I ever get--the bodies, the smoke, the flames from fires started by the explosions, the new blasts as the fires spread.   I would fall back, stop & fire, fall back again, until finally, turning around, I caught sight of the truck where we'd left it parked, directly underneath the doorway.  Sam One had been clever; the Communists had tried to close that door to trap us, but the truck had kept it from dropping all the way.  As I backed up under the door, the shooting seemed to have eased off--maybe because of the fires & explosions.  I lobbed a grenade under the truck & took off up the ramp, hearing the truck blow, & looking behind me as the steel door dropped down the rest of the way.  After about fifty yards, I caught up with Scotty & the others.  "How come you haven't gotten any further?" I yelled.  "Yen is dead.  That place is an inferno.  Let's go!"   I could see from Scotty's face that he thought I was getting hysterical.  Maybe he was right.  While he was telling me to calm down, a tremendous blast sent us all toppling.  "There goes the boiler!" Scotty shoulted.  He seemed almost cheerful.   As we started up the ramp again, I noticed a locked wooden door.  I fired at the lock, breaking it open, & went in.  The place was an arsenal, with countless stacks of weapons.  In one corner stood case after case of .30 caliber ammunition, each one stamped WATERTOWN ARSENAL, WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, USA.  For a couple of seconds we just stared.  But we knew we weren't safe there.   When we stepped out of the bunker, streams of soldiers were coming at us.  This time they were moving down the ramp.  We dropped to the ground, set up our weapons & started firing.  Again, I couldn't understand what must be going through the minds of those Chinese, pouring in & letting us knock them off as though they were ducks in a shooting gallery.   I yelled to Scotty, "Don't you think we should get back into the bunker?"   "We'd be trapped.  We'd never get out!"   "Yeah, but they're going to run over us here!"   The stench from the smoke was worse than ever.  Many of the lights had been knocked out, & visibility was down to almost nothing.  The less they could see, the better, but still if they fired enough, they'd hit something.  All we could do, meanwhile, was fire up the ramp.   Next I heard small arms fire hitting near where we'd left Lieutenant Damon.  I crawled over to him & saw that he'd been hit again, this time in the neck & that his left ear had been shot off.  Nancy & Sally were trying to stop the bleeding, but they didn't have any medical supplies.  Damon was in bad shape, but since there was nothing I could do to help him, I moved back & went on firing up the ramp.  Thanks to the Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, MA, one thing we had plenty of was ammunition.   Suddenly the firing at us stopped.  We stopped firing too.  The quiet was terrifying.  We all stared up the ramp, & then Holden said, "There's another bunker up there.  Let's go & have a look at it."   Scotty opposed this.  "Some of those bodies on the ramp might not be dead ones."   "Yeah," I said.  "But all the same there might be something in there that we could use.  It's a chance.  If we just stay here, we've got no chance at all."   Scotty thought for a moment.  "Well, at any rate it's thirty yards closer to the top.  Try it, but be careful."   Holden, Charlie & I started moving up in the semidarkness, around & over the bodies.  The quiet made it even scarier.  There was a lock on the bunker door.  Holden shot it off, & the sound of his gun in that stillness was awful.  Going in, we found another arsenal, but with heavier stuff--bazookas, grenade launchers, rockets--along with more ammunition, all of it made in the USA!   We emptied a crate, loaded it with an assortment of weapons, & pulled it out of the bunker.  We'd intended to drag it down the ramp, but Scotty was already moving the group up to us.  We got down quickly, & I looked at the lieutenant.  He was unconscious, but the girls seemed to have stopped his bleeding.  I asked how they'd done it.   "With earth, wrapped in cloth," Scotty said.   "But that'll infect the wounds, won't it?"   Scotty shook his head.  "It works.  I don't know why, but it does."   The stillness was broken by the rumble of something that sounded like heavy machinery.  I asked what.  "Sounds to me like tanks," Scotty said.   Holden picked up a couple of bazookas from the box we'd filled & handed one to me.  He gave Charlie some rockets & motioned for us to go with him to the opposite wall of the tunnel.  When we got there, Holden asked, "Did you ever fire one of these?"   "Oh sure," I said.  & I had, actually--three times in training.  Looking across the tunnel, we saw Scotty standing with another bazooka.  Nancy was behind him, ready to supply him with rockets.  He called out, "If we can get one or two as they come around the bend, they'll block the tunnel."   Holeden waved back; the noise was getting closer.  I wondered whether the tanks would be carrying napalm.  If they did, they could fry us right where we were.  All we could hope was to knock out the first couple & hold back the rest with them.   "Here they come," Charlie shouted, & as the first tank appeared, we all let go.  That first round tore the turret off.  We reloaded as fast as we could.  The second tank got past the first before we could aim.  I fired at the tread, Holden at the turret, Scotty at I'm not sure what.  Anyhow, we stopped that one too, & set it afire.  No more tanks could make it through now.  But then men started coming down on foot I fired one rocket at them with the bazooka.  When I saw Holden drop his & reach for his machine gun, I did the same.  We started firing, & some of the men fell, while the rest backed out of sight behind the shattered tanks.   Another lull--for how long we had no way of knowing.  We used it to get back to the others near the bunker & resupply ourselves with ammunition--& it was a good thing we did, for almost at once we heard something bouncing down the ramp at us--something that might have been a rock, until it exploded.  So they were just going to lob renades down at us.  We heard more of those come clattering down, & Scotty yelled, "Back into the bunker!"   We made it somehow, dragging the lieutenant with us, & slammed that heavy wooden door behind us.  Then we just sat & listened to the grenades going off on the other side.  I thought, now we're trapped.  They can come for us whenever they want. The barrage of grenades went on for what felt like ten or fifteen minutes, though it may have been a lot less than that.  then everything was quiet.  I looked around, began counting, & realized that two of Scotty's Nationalists were missing.  Dead or captured.  Counting Yen & the lieutenant, that left four casualties & eight of us still able to fight.  I wondered if the other side knew how few of us there were.   Breaking the lull Scotty said, "Let's go!" & threw open the door, firing as he stepped out, with three of us just behind him.  We surprised a couple of dozen soldiers at point-blank range, wiping them out almost before they could fire.    More lights seemed to be going back on, as though there had been a switch to emergency power.  The longer we stayed here, the smaller our chances of getting out would be.   "Let's head up to the tanks," Scotty said, & we started out, moving as many weapons & as much ammunition as we could, while the two girls dragged the lieutenant.  All the way we were having to step over the bodies of the men we'd killed. The idea that twelve of us had been able to do all this was stupefying.  Even though there was more light now, the air was thick with smoke, which cut down the visibility.  We could still hear an occasional explosion somewhere in the tunnel behind us.  As I remembered, the bend in the tunnel was about halfway up.  That would be a good point to defend.  I kept fearing that sooner or later one of those explosions would bring the reservoir down on our heads, which may have been nonsense, but the higher we went the safer I felt.   We reached the burning tanks & looked around the bend at a sight I hadn't believed I'd ever see again--daylight.  But we weren't out into it yet.  Two more tanks were approaching, followed by men on foot.  While Scotty prepared to aim a bozooka, I remembered something I'd seen back in that last weapons bunker--a flamethrower.  I started back for it.  When Scotty screamed, "Where are you going?" I yelled, "Be right back" & kept on going.  Inside the bunker, it took me a while to locate the flamethrower.  Just as I was thinking I must have been mistaken, I saw it--another item marked MADE IN USA.  I picked the weapon up & mounted it on my back.   When I got back to the others, the second group of tanks had already stopped.  The Chinese soldiers were now ahead of them, firing & moving down at us.  Our people lay on the ground, trying to use the two burning tanks near us for cover & firing back as hard as they could.    Wondering if the flamethrower would even work, I dropped to one knee, ignited the spark, & opened up.  A stream of fire came shooting out that all but scared the hell out of me.  What it must have looked like to those poor guys while I waved it back & forth from wall to wall like somebody watering a lawn, I can't even imagine.   Demoralized, the poor bastards turned & ran.  Scotty immediately signaled us to move up the ramp.  We were firing as we went, to keep them moving.  After a few yards we came to the bodies that had been scorched.  Even through the smoke you couldn't miss the nauseating stench of burnt flesh.  I tried not to breathe or to look, but to keep moving.   The return fire had quieted, but now it started up again.  I heard a woman scream.  Nancy had been hit.  As she went down, Sam One fell too.  he & his brother had been carrying the lieutenant.  I hesitated, & then Holden yelled, "Let's go, Ricky!  Spray 'em!  Give 'em a hot shower!"  His yelling seemed to touch something off.  Scotty started screaming, & all the rest of us did too.  I turned on the flamethrower as we advanced, shouting & firing, hoping they'd think it was a regiment.  We could see more & more daylight as we went forward & it was a beautiful sight, even through all the smoke.   The two tanks had stopped just inside the tunnel.  When we passed them, we were at the very entrance.  Though we saw no one, & there was no firing, we didn't dare walk out into the daylight.  Thinking I should save as much fuel as I could, I took the canisters off my back & handed the flamethrower to Holden, tlling him I was going down to see how Sam One & Nancy were.  Sam Two went with me, while the others stayed put.  Sam Two stopped at his brother's side, & I kept going until I found Nancy.  Lying there, she tried to smile at me, but I saw that she was badly wounded in the hip.  I leaned down & picked her up; she was so light that carrying her was no trouble.   "I'll be fine," she said, adding my name, only it came out "Licky."  I smiled down at her, kissed her on the forehead, & started uphill toward the brothers.  Sam One had been hit in the legs, but with some help he could walk.  Sam Two had picked up a piece of lumber to use as a crutch, & he headed up the ramp on his own feet.   Then we heard Scotty yell, "Get back!  Quick!" while he & the others started running toward us.  "Planes!" Holden shouted.  I heard the sound, & looking back, I saw that two incendiary bombs, possibly napalm, had landed at the entrance to the cave.  The angle was such that the flame didn't reach us, & having nothing but concrete to feed on, it didn't last long.  A second & then a third plane made passes at the entrance, trying to drop bombs down the ramp, but with no more success.  Then each of the planes made a second pass, dropping conventional bombs.  The concussion was terrific but the tunnel held & we were far enough down into it to be safe.   When everything was quiet again, the six of us who were still in shape to walk--Scotty, Charlie, Holden, Sam Two, Sally & I--left the lieutenant, Nancy & Sam One where they were & made our way to the entrance.  Smoke was thick around us but everything was quiet.   "Some of this may be radioactive, " Scotty said.  I asked what he meant.   "The stuff that's used to make atomic bombs.  I think it was in the labs you blew up," he told me.  "It said so on the doors.  At least I think so.  I didn't get to read it very carefully."   "Can you read Chinese?" I asked.   "Oh yes, lad.  I've been here seventeen years, you know," he said.   Not having much idea about the danger of radioactivity, I said, "Well, anyhow I got away with it."   He looked at me in a strange way.  I don't know whether the material I blew up was radioactive, even now.  But ever since I found I had leukemia, I've thought about it a lot.   Right then I was more worried about getting through the next few days or even the next few hours.  I kept thinking about how here in Manchuria I'd been using guns & ammunition from Watertown, MA, maybe fifteen minutes from my hometown--stuff that had also been used on me!     Holden broke in on my thoughts.  "Listen, kid, you did a hell of a job."   "I'm not such a kid," I told him.  "I'm nearly eighteen."   He laughed.  "How'd an old guy like you get into this assignment?"   When I told him about my asthma, & how I'd volunteered so as not to get thrown out of the Corps, he laughed again.  "You got shanghaied, just like I did," he said.  "Except that I got caught stealing food in Korea.  The army was getting hot chow, but our old man, the bastard, decided marines were too rough for that, & fed us nothing but cold K rations.  so we decided to get some good food from the army.  We drew straws, & I was the one that got the short straw.  I got caught, & then they gave me the same kind of choice as you.  Volunteer or else.  So here we both are.  Maybe we should call our congressmen. "   Holden told me that Gunny had gotten here the same way.  "Punched an officer in Korea because the guy wanted to get his squad wiped out.  They put it to him, too, & he had nineteen years in!"   "Those bastards," I said.  "I wish we'd get some word from Gunny.  I wonder what he's doing."   "What I hope he's doing, lads," Scotty said, "is rounding up friendlies in the countryside to come & get us."   There came the drone of planes again.  We backed down the tunnel as fast as we could, dragging the wounded, & hid behind the disabled tanks.  We heard the explosion & felt the concussion of more conventional bombs.  This round tore up some concrete.  There was a silence & Holden & I ran up the ramp to see what was happening.  When we saw no sign of anyone, we signaled to the others to move up.   Of the twelve in our group three were dead, the lieutenant was unconscious, Nancy disabled, Sam One woulded but able to fire, the other six of us in good shape.  I wondered again if they had any idea how few of us there were.  Then I heard Scotty call out, "Hey!"  Looking up, I saw a convoy of trucks rolling toward us.  Almost at once we heard the report of mortars & saw the shells exploding.  But the trucks were still coming at us.   Scotty shouted, "Let's go for them before they get out of mortar range!"  The others of us who could walk began mving forward, firing toward the Communists as they got out of the trucks & advanced toward us, also firing.  We dropped to the ground & kept at it.  It was soon clear that the Communists were under small-arms fire from our rescue party.  The question now was whether we could link up with them in time.   We began edging in the direction of the friendlies, hoping to make it easier, though we didn't know whether we could get to them.  I could now see them advancing on the Communist tropps in a skirmish line.  They were taking heavy casualties, explosing themselves to save us.  Realizing I wasn't far from where I'd left the flamethrower, I turned & ran back for it.   Lifting the canisters, I felt totally exhausted.  I also knew that if one of those canisters got hit by a bullet it would be the end of me.  When I was a little closer, I dropped to the ground & opened up with the flamethrower.  It burned everything on the ground in front of the troops, & they broke & ran.  By now I must have been really hysterical.  I got to my feet & went on firing the thing until it was out of fuel.  Once I'd put it down, I picked up a machine gun & started using it--blazing away even when there was no longer any return fire, until the clip was empty.   When we finally reached the boulders where the main body of the friendlies were, Holden really lit into me:  "You watch yourself, kid, or you're going to flip.  Only a crazy man would run out in the open the way you did!"  But if my nerves were shot, I guess probably his were too.   Then I saw Gunny, ran over & put my arms around him in a ber hug.  I don't think I was ever so glad to see anyone.   Things looked a little better now, even though we were in the midst of enemy territory & God knows how many hundreds or thousands of miles from any escape at all.