One Good Deal After Another (continued)
Fox Visits North Vietnam
But the truth eventually came out. Leaving his radioman behind, Captain Hartman had taken his company across the Ben Hai into North Vietnam and was poking around over there learning what he could learn.
And finally, before we leave the mystique of the DMZ, we have another totally strange but most valuable event. I have forgotten the day but something tells me that it was a quiet Sunday afternoon. Things like this happen on quiet Sunday afternoons.
For reasons long forgotten, I wanted to talk to Captain Stan Hartman, skipper of Fox Company. All I know is that it was a routine matter that quickly became more than routine. I called him on the battalion tactical net and as usual, his radio operator answered. He told me that the captain was not available. That set off a chain of questions, all of which the radio operator, a fine Marine, had been told how to answer. But the truth eventually came out. Leaving his radioman behind, Captain Hartman had taken his company across the Ben Hai into North Vietnam and was poking around over there learning what he could learn.
The bad news was that, if word of his visit into North Vietnam with his company ever got to Paris, there would be serious hell to pay. On the other hand, the good news was that we now knew that there was nothing across the river opposite us. He and his troops came right back to our side of the river and nothing more was said or written about the touring excursion, an excursion we were pleased that he had taken.
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[Click here to see an annotated photo of one of the Company F squads that crossed into North Vietnam.]
