With family approval to release details surrounding the May 6, 1968 death of KIA Allan Barnes at Nhi Ha, I contacted Jim Stone (Stoney), Allen's squad leader. Stoney's squad would have been to my squad's right during the battle. Today I received Stoney's impression of events and will now share it with you. It's tough enough to have thoughts of combat horror constantly bouncing around in your head, but it's tougher yet to put it in writing. Thanks to Stoney for spilling his guts. It's not easy. You'll recall that I held a memorial for Allan and our other Nhi Ha dead at the battle site eight days ago. Stoney's words, a rare, intimate glimpse into our lives in 'Nam, follow:
"Neil, as you know Barnes was in my squad. I just remember everything changing when I came back from R&R in later March and my squad had been totally reorganized by the new Platoon Sgt who came in when I was gone. Barnes and Straus were two of the new members and some of my old guys had been taken away. Barnes and Straus had gone thru mortar school together and were best friends. The two would clown around a lot and imitate our "wonderful" captain. They were both good soldiers and never caused a problem. Then we moved out of our LZ Center area and went north to Camp Evans. A few days of stumbling around that area and then on to Nhi Ha. My first close action with Barnes was on an OP the night before he was killed. He was right beside me in the bomb crater and we had to turn the LP into a 5-man ambush. Barnes stayed with me and continued to fire while the other 3 were to pull back. He was very cool under the situation and I admired him for that and he took a huge leap in my depending on him.
We were all feeling good the next morning that the 5 of us made it in without a scratch. After it got light out and mid morning we got permission to go check our ambush site and picked up 4 weapons and had 4 kills. We were on a high. Then a couple hours later I went to a squad leaders’ meeting and was told we were going across this huge paddy to check out a village mid afternoon. We departed the perimeter with two platoons walking abreast right across the paddy in the open. Our platoon went in a U-Shape with my squad across the front. When we had nearly crossed the paddy we came upon a cemetery at the edge of our village objective. We spotted an enemy soldier going into one of the grave mounds and immediately took him under fire. The grave mound was a disguised bunker and didn't fire back. The platoon sgt. had us pouring fire into the bunker. He told me to take my squad and assault the bunker but I persuaded him to ask for second platoon to do it as they were on the flank side of it. They assaulted the bunker and were mowed down by enemy fire. One NVA came staggering from the bunker, headed for the village and all hell broke loose. A hail of fire came from the village and the enemy came out into the rice paddy assaulting us. Our platoon sgt hollered to pull back and jumped up with others following him rearward. I didn't know who went with him from the squad. I stayed down and waited for the fire to let up and when it slowed I peeked over the dike and they had advanced close to me. Lying next to me was one of my team leaders named Nahrstadt. Straus was across the dike in front of me dead. I started shooting and tried to eliminate anything close. I then told Narstadt we had to pull back and get some separation from the enemy. That is when he asked me about my other team leader Alderson who was next to him. We were lying side by side. He said Alderson was hit so I told him to check him to see how bad he was. He was checking him when I glanced over to see that he was in bad shape, unconscious and barely breathing. The enemy was so close I told him there was no way we could take him. Narstadts rifle was jammed so I told him to take Alderson’s but it was jammed also. So we started leapfrogging to the rear him first and me second for short runs as they would immediately start firing at us. After a few of these we became separated and I was looking for others to hook up with. That is when I saw Barnes jump up. He was closer to the village and closer to second platoon. He was running to the rear and shouting, “Wait up. I’m out of ammo.” He had just run a short distance, then was hit and went down. Looking back, it was quite a ways to him, but now I wish I had gone back to see if I could have helped him. But ,that is easy to say now in hindsight. Decisions had to be made in seconds and sometimes fear clouds your judgment. I made it over to the captain’s location and a short time later we all pulled back to the bunkers from which we had originally departed. It was a very sad and sorrowful bunch of guys. That night second and third platoon combined to form one platoon for security. The next morning a man named Desmond from second platoon came in at first light and I went over to talk to him to see if he had seen anyone. He said he had seen Barnes and he was shot in the foot but would not come with him. One of our squads then went into the paddy closer to our perimeter and brought in another wounded guy. We started getting new replacements then and a couple days later some Marine personnel carriers came in to go out with us to retrieve our dead. Third platoon was at the back of the formation so I was not involved with finding and loading the bodies. After a short time we started taking in mortar fire and pulled to our bunkers in Nhi Ha. The Marine personnel carriers stopped in front of the bunkers by my location and we were told to get volunteers and unload and identify our guys. I took some of our older troops that would know them and we went outside the wire to do the gruesome task. It just took all we could muster to do it. Two of the guys with me were Tommy Hemphill and Richard Craig. I got up in the carrier with the others and we started dragging them out and laying them side-by-side. We had seven in ours. Second platoon had the duty of the second carrier and they had five. We were wearing gas masks to help with the odor. After lying out there for a couple of days most were visually unrecognizable. We went over them looking for dog tags and clothing we knew them to wear along with size and features. We got names for our seven but did not have Barnes. I went to second platoons carrier to see how they were doing and they said they had five missing and the five they had they had recognized and tagged. That left Barnes unaccounted for. We then loaded them back up and away they went and we went back to war. Finally about ten days later we were pulled out of that area and went back south to our old AO. All of these years I had wondered what had become of my friend Allan Barnes. Then out of the blue I get an e-mail from Tommy Williams from Allan’s hometown wanting to find out some details on Allan. He was doing some research and wanted to know what I knew. I was immediately interested and I told him all of what I have just said. After a bunch of back and forths he said he had contacted Allan’s sister but her husband wanted him to cease communicating. We then got Neil Hannan involved as he had gone back to the battle site recently and was gathering info. Neil contacted Jane and she sent for Allan’s army records and I believe firmly that we found our answer. You see, second platoon had one man captured (Bill Baird). In the records Baird was mentioned. Since at the time we didn't know Baird had been captured Barnes remains were misidentified as Baird. Later when the Army learned about Baird the remains we already had were identified as Barnes. You ask how could this have happened? My speculation is that at that time in the war graves registrations was taking in a lot of bodies and it took a while to get this figured out. The army works slowly and this situation got a little confusing. I can now sleep with this conclusion and with all of my heart want to thank Jane, Tommy Williams, and Neil Hannan for all they have done. We owe it to Allan. He was a fine soldier and I wish things could have turned out differently.Thanks Jim Stone (Stoney)"
"Neil, as you know Barnes was in my squad. I just remember everything changing when I came back from R&R in later March and my squad had been totally reorganized by the new Platoon Sgt who came in when I was gone. Barnes and Straus were two of the new members and some of my old guys had been taken away. Barnes and Straus had gone thru mortar school together and were best friends. The two would clown around a lot and imitate our "wonderful" captain. They were both good soldiers and never caused a problem. Then we moved out of our LZ Center area and went north to Camp Evans. A few days of stumbling around that area and then on to Nhi Ha. My first close action with Barnes was on an OP the night before he was killed. He was right beside me in the bomb crater and we had to turn the LP into a 5-man ambush. Barnes stayed with me and continued to fire while the other 3 were to pull back. He was very cool under the situation and I admired him for that and he took a huge leap in my depending on him.
We were all feeling good the next morning that the 5 of us made it in without a scratch. After it got light out and mid morning we got permission to go check our ambush site and picked up 4 weapons and had 4 kills. We were on a high. Then a couple hours later I went to a squad leaders’ meeting and was told we were going across this huge paddy to check out a village mid afternoon. We departed the perimeter with two platoons walking abreast right across the paddy in the open. Our platoon went in a U-Shape with my squad across the front. When we had nearly crossed the paddy we came upon a cemetery at the edge of our village objective. We spotted an enemy soldier going into one of the grave mounds and immediately took him under fire. The grave mound was a disguised bunker and didn't fire back. The platoon sgt. had us pouring fire into the bunker. He told me to take my squad and assault the bunker but I persuaded him to ask for second platoon to do it as they were on the flank side of it. They assaulted the bunker and were mowed down by enemy fire. One NVA came staggering from the bunker, headed for the village and all hell broke loose. A hail of fire came from the village and the enemy came out into the rice paddy assaulting us. Our platoon sgt hollered to pull back and jumped up with others following him rearward. I didn't know who went with him from the squad. I stayed down and waited for the fire to let up and when it slowed I peeked over the dike and they had advanced close to me. Lying next to me was one of my team leaders named Nahrstadt. Straus was across the dike in front of me dead. I started shooting and tried to eliminate anything close. I then told Narstadt we had to pull back and get some separation from the enemy. That is when he asked me about my other team leader Alderson who was next to him. We were lying side by side. He said Alderson was hit so I told him to check him to see how bad he was. He was checking him when I glanced over to see that he was in bad shape, unconscious and barely breathing. The enemy was so close I told him there was no way we could take him. Narstadts rifle was jammed so I told him to take Alderson’s but it was jammed also. So we started leapfrogging to the rear him first and me second for short runs as they would immediately start firing at us. After a few of these we became separated and I was looking for others to hook up with. That is when I saw Barnes jump up. He was closer to the village and closer to second platoon. He was running to the rear and shouting, “Wait up. I’m out of ammo.” He had just run a short distance, then was hit and went down. Looking back, it was quite a ways to him, but now I wish I had gone back to see if I could have helped him. But ,that is easy to say now in hindsight. Decisions had to be made in seconds and sometimes fear clouds your judgment. I made it over to the captain’s location and a short time later we all pulled back to the bunkers from which we had originally departed. It was a very sad and sorrowful bunch of guys. That night second and third platoon combined to form one platoon for security. The next morning a man named Desmond from second platoon came in at first light and I went over to talk to him to see if he had seen anyone. He said he had seen Barnes and he was shot in the foot but would not come with him. One of our squads then went into the paddy closer to our perimeter and brought in another wounded guy. We started getting new replacements then and a couple days later some Marine personnel carriers came in to go out with us to retrieve our dead. Third platoon was at the back of the formation so I was not involved with finding and loading the bodies. After a short time we started taking in mortar fire and pulled to our bunkers in Nhi Ha. The Marine personnel carriers stopped in front of the bunkers by my location and we were told to get volunteers and unload and identify our guys. I took some of our older troops that would know them and we went outside the wire to do the gruesome task. It just took all we could muster to do it. Two of the guys with me were Tommy Hemphill and Richard Craig. I got up in the carrier with the others and we started dragging them out and laying them side-by-side. We had seven in ours. Second platoon had the duty of the second carrier and they had five. We were wearing gas masks to help with the odor. After lying out there for a couple of days most were visually unrecognizable. We went over them looking for dog tags and clothing we knew them to wear along with size and features. We got names for our seven but did not have Barnes. I went to second platoons carrier to see how they were doing and they said they had five missing and the five they had they had recognized and tagged. That left Barnes unaccounted for. We then loaded them back up and away they went and we went back to war. Finally about ten days later we were pulled out of that area and went back south to our old AO. All of these years I had wondered what had become of my friend Allan Barnes. Then out of the blue I get an e-mail from Tommy Williams from Allan’s hometown wanting to find out some details on Allan. He was doing some research and wanted to know what I knew. I was immediately interested and I told him all of what I have just said. After a bunch of back and forths he said he had contacted Allan’s sister but her husband wanted him to cease communicating. We then got Neil Hannan involved as he had gone back to the battle site recently and was gathering info. Neil contacted Jane and she sent for Allan’s army records and I believe firmly that we found our answer. You see, second platoon had one man captured (Bill Baird). In the records Baird was mentioned. Since at the time we didn't know Baird had been captured Barnes remains were misidentified as Baird. Later when the Army learned about Baird the remains we already had were identified as Barnes. You ask how could this have happened? My speculation is that at that time in the war graves registrations was taking in a lot of bodies and it took a while to get this figured out. The army works slowly and this situation got a little confusing. I can now sleep with this conclusion and with all of my heart want to thank Jane, Tommy Williams, and Neil Hannan for all they have done. We owe it to Allan. He was a fine soldier and I wish things could have turned out differently.Thanks Jim Stone (Stoney)"
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| Stoney Nhi Ha |
