IN THE KILL ZONE: The Life and Times of Willie Merkerson (Part 1)

Part 1: A Gauntlet of Fire

1^st Lt. Willie Merkerson of 10^th Special Forces Group (right) shakes hands with Brig. Gen. John H. Cushman, commander of Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in 1968, after Cushman had pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on Merkerson for his actions during a battle in Vietnam the previous year. (Courtesy of the Merkerson family)

Face down in the dirt and badly wounded, Sgt. Hubert Bahr had almost given up hope.

A hidden North Vietnamese soldier had shot him in the hip with a three-round burst, leaving his left leg paralyzed. When he pushed himself up on his hands to glance around, another bullet had ripped across his right shoulder blade.

The South Vietnamese irregulars he was leading were reluctant to break cover to help him or otherwise attack the enemy. The rest of their outnumbered force were fighting for their lives and separated from him by 150 meters of open ground covered by enemy fire.

As the sun climbed higher, pushing the temperature into the steamy nineties, death or capture seemed imminent for the 22-year-old Special Forces NCO. Nobody was coming to help.

Or so he thought.

Out of Bahr’s line of sight, a hundred meters away but closing fast, an unarmed and helmetless U.S. soldier was sprinting toward him through the kill zone, zigzagging across the corrugated surface of the paddies as bullets cracked past his head and kicked up soil around his feet. In shock, trying not to get shot for a fifth time as he pressed himself against the ground, Bahr may have been oblivious to the sound of an American voice. But it was there, faint at first but getting louder.

Second Lt. Willie Merkerson Jr. was calling his name.