This account was graciously and forthrightly contributed by Phil J. Ronzo, then (Cpl. Phil J. Ronzo) Radio-Man Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, with a little help from his friends.

My Thanks goes out to Phil for this heart-felt account of a very painful day in the lives of all of us who were there.

My thanks also goes out to all of the Marines of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines for their sacrifices and for the gallantry they displayed that day and throughout Operation Allen Brook.

Without a doubt they were among the "Best Of The Best"

Semper Fidelis

The Account

This is straight from the heart and I have carried it with me all these years. (This is my version as I remember it) I did not know of Ben's long history in the R.V.N. until just recently. I was one of the radio-men for Golf Co.2/7. I took the first calls for help on May 7th when a small unit of ours was heading back for some resupplies of water, equipment etc, when they were ambushed. The Marine on the radio was a Cpl Saunders (aka to us as Water Bo) since he was a 'big" guy. He was an arty F.O. He said they were hit and that they had some casualties, himself included, I believe he was hit through the right side atop what I believe was an Amtrac. I remember running down this narrow dirt road for a long time with the rest of the Men and as we were starting to tire we took our packs etc off and threw them on top of a tank (Which tank?). We were already receiving some incoming from small arms from our left but it was not on us and we ignored it. The incoming seemed to be coming from a far off tree line (what else is new!). Don't ask me how this happened but we ended up going into what looked like an "L" shaped tree line. I remember that it was from left to right in front of us and then back down alongside our right side (sort of like the top and right side of a square if you can picture that). I remember ending up on the right side of Ben's tank just a few meters to the rear of it. Well then, it all hits the fan. I remember looking to my left and that Ben's tank is now moving up and the muzzle of the gun is even with a few of us. That would be Doc Casey (Navy Cross Posthumously) right next to me hugging my right side and a couple of other Marines. I know Marines on the left side of the tank were named Boatman and Steve Ravettina (Ravman1@aol.com), Charlie Snow, Carp, Gray, Russell and Ray Taylor and Lt. George Heatley to name a few. To my right are Greg "turkey bone" Manning, one of our M79 men Jack Boone, Treijo and others along the right hand side of the tree line. Ben was firing the 50 cal. laying down real heavy fire into the tree line to our left front and directly to his front to our right side into the tree line and the ground (the Tank and we Marines at this time were at and angle facing into the corner or right angle of the tree line at this time). I don't know if he could see who was shooting at us or not. I started firing at what looked to me as being about 3 or 4 NVA running away from the tree line which Ben was firing into, to my right and just ahead of the Marines along that side of the tree line. They quickly started to disappear in the natural cover and I emptied a magazine in their direction. It was the first and last time I saw NVA in that earlier action actually moving that day. I saw  Greg "turkey bone" Manning get hit in the arm or elbow and then Doc Casey said he was hit and he jumped up and I grabbed him by his gear and pulled him down and I said don't stand up there is too much incoming and I don't know where it is coming from. Well he wasn't hit, it seems that some of my empty casings went into his shirt and were burning him in the left side. We found this out when I pulled his shirt up to check where he said he had been hit. (Do you know we actually started to laugh and he said he was going to keep them as a souvenir to remind him of the day he got "wounded" by our own fire). The next thing I knew I turned to look at the tanker who was still blazing away with the .50 cal and man alive I still can't believe it to this day I saw him struck right in the head from a small arms round from the front and all the poor soul did was raise both hands and put them up to his ears as if to cover them and he fell back into the turret. I was so shocked by that indelibly etched "snap shot of death as I have called it ever since" I could not believe how dumb struck I was. I could not and still cannot fathom the impact of that moment on my own life ever since. I saw other actions and KIA and WIA from both sides but this just stands out so vividly I cannot explain it. (The story continues) Doc Casey and I were on the "lip" of a bomb or large arty crater which was like a raised rim about a foot or so higher than the ground around it and it was about 10 to 20 feet deep. The next thing that happens is that one of our men a Marine named Todd runs right through Doc Casey and me and yells he's going to get to the 50 cal. I sure tried to grab him also because we still could not figure who was hitting everyone so accurately but he jumped up on the tank and started to fire the .50 into the tree line (he did have to cock the .50 again for a jam? or something) then into the ground and then wham bullets start hitting the tank turret and he grabs his face and starts screaming that he is blind and he sort of partly falls and jumps off the tank and runs down and up the crater again towards us and I jumped up to check him out and thank God he was not blind but had plenty of blood in his eyes. He went to the rear of our position and I never saw him again until we were back stateside and I met him in Jacksonville N.C. one night and told him he should have listened to me and not tried to be like Audie Murphy he sure did agree, he had some nice scars from that. In my opinion Todd rated a medal and/or a promotion for that, I sure hope he got one. The second Marine who gallantly jumped up on the tank to man the .50 and provide suppressing fire was Michael Boatman a radioman that day for Lt Heatley the XO. The next Marine to come into the picture is Don Gray he ran up to me and Doc and yelled over the noise for us to move up as we were holding things up (which is to me still to this day quite a laugh) I don't think Don knew what had taken place yet and lo and behold an NVA gives his position away and guess where he is? right on the other side of the crater sticking his muzzle up to shoot at us from a spider hole. This bastard is just poking his AK up just enough to shoot at everyone and he is right at the right front of the track of the tank where he could look straight up at the turret. We were not able to see him because he was on the other side of the "lip" of the crater just like us!. I said I have you now to myself and I fired at the hole with no effect so I took a frag out of my flack jacket (my last one) and I lobbed it across the crater and it jumps ever so slightly off the dirt on the right side of the hole and it looked like it went right in, well it did and out it comes again it was a dud (yes I did pull the pin and I pulled the spoon off also) and we were stunned and I was pissed to no end to say the least then he chucks a chi-com at us and we ducked and it went off harmlessly in the bomb crater and I'm saying this can't be, we can't kill this SOB what's the story here. Well Don Gray took care of it he went down into the crater and lobbed one in and it was all over. It sure was all over, all this in such a short time, Bullets flying KIA/WIA Marines KIA NVA the whole thing over in such a short time, a matter of minutes. We then heard we were to pull back to have some arty or air strikes into the tree-lines and ville so we pulled back. As we pulled back the third and final brave Marine to jump up on the tank and man the .50 to provide covering fire was Cpl Don Gray. As I recall we had choppers coming in with Marines, resupplies etc and then there is Ben Greene in my view again. His buddies had placed him on the tank. He was on the left side of it as you would be if you were facing the front driving it. I saw the bullet wound once again and once again I said MY GOD you never knew what hit you. It was absolutely instantaneous without a doubt in anyone's mind it was over in less than a fraction of a second. I forced myself to go closer as I was still, I think in shock of seeing him get hit that way. I had to say goodbye to him. As I recall I think I said something to the effect that I was shocked to see you die like that and I will never ever forget you or what you were doing for us at the time. Then as the day went by it was my turn. On May 7th at 1800 hrs I was hit by shrapnel for incoming mortars and then took a bullet in the neck while being medivaced to NAS DaNang. I remember saying to another Marine WIA in the chopper with me (now I know how a duck feels, just flying along and wham its all over). He looked at me like I was crazy or something but it sure made sense to me that day. God had different plans for each of us that day. Who can question his wisdom and judgments, surely not I, surely not Ben who now knows the whys and wherefores now. This incident will be with me until St Peter opens the gates for all of us. I will never ever forget Ben Greene the tankers all the attachments and support people that kept us alive. It was one supporting all and all supporting one or it would have been much more tragic for a lot more of us. On our web site you can see a couple of nice photos from the Stars and Stripes newspaper showing Tanks in support. Thank you for that support God Bless All Of You and sleep easy knowing you are in our hearts and have our eternal gratitude for your help. Now I salute you all in the only way I know how.

Semper Fi Mac from Cpl Phil (P.J.) Ronzo Radio-Man Golf 2/7 July67-Aug68

Phil (P.J.) Ronzo