In his reflections on this battle along the north bank of the Cua Viet River when one Marine infantry battalion (2d Battalion, 4th Marines) went nose-to-nose with a North Vietnamese Army division, a Marine wrote today (May 3, 2013):

AN ENDURING RECOLLECTION WAS A SCENE AT THE MOST DISTANT POINT OF MARINE ADVANCE. AMONG THE NVA BODIES THERE LAY A SHORT LINE OF DEAD MARINES, LIKELY OF FOX COMPANY. ONE MARINE WAS SPRAWLED HEAD FIRST ACROSS THE FORWARD EDGE OF AN NVA GUNPIT. THE BAYONET OF HIS EMPTY RIFLE WAS BURIED IN THE GUNNER’S CHEST.

FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO THIS MORNING.

Captures the essence of what “close combat,” and the U.S. Marine Corps, is all about,

And raises the question facing every generation of Americans: “Where do we get such men?”

(As Hack would point out, not a Perfumed Prince was to be found on this killing field.)