Page 67 - History of War - Issue 25-16

LESLIE SABO JR

Walking into an ambush
01 On 10 May 1970, two platoons
are sent to engage the NVA at Se San (a
Driving back the NVA
02 The platoons had been marching in Vietnamese and Cambodian river). While
a column, and, positioned near the front, en route, the platoons are ambushed
Sabo i nds himself right in the thick of by a force of 150 NVA soldiers who had
the battle. He and the rest of the platoons been lying in wait in the jungle.
hunker down and do their best to stop the
NVA from surrounding and butchering them.

Protecting the wounded
03 With the ambush in full effect, Sabo
continues to hold back the NVA. In the heat
of battle, Sabo sees an enemy soldier throw
a live grenade towards a wounded American.
Moving on pure instinct alone, Sabo throws
the grenade away and covers his fellow
soldier, taking the brunt of blast himself.

The fi nal sacrifi ce
05 Already riddled with bullets and
badly burned from the grenade blast earlier,
Sabo makes his way towards a machine-gun
emplacement that is in danger of wiping
out the American soldiers once and for all.
Crawling with every last ounce of energy, he
Resupplying the troops
throws in a grenade. The nest is destroyed,
but Sabo loses his own life in the process. 04 As the battle continues to rage,
the Americans are starting to run low on
ammunition. Sabo begins popping his
head out of cover to draw out the NVA –
he kills countless foes but takes many
hits in the process. This enables him
to scour the battlei eld for ammunition
from fallen soldiers and redistribute it to
Ed Crooks
the remainder of the platoons.

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