ROBERT L HOWARD

There was little hope that Private First Class Robert F Scherdin was still alive. He was last seen wounded and under heavy fire, and an accompanying Montagnard soldier had been unable to move him.

Scherdin was lost during a covert US Army MACV-SOG mission behind enemy lines in Cambodia on 29 December 1968. The role of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group) was to conduct hit-and-run raids from Vietnam into neighbouring Cambodia and Laos, hopefully disrupting enemy operations at the height of the Vietnam War. Within hours of the engagement, a mission was mounted to find Scherdin, but the situation deteriorated quickly.

Another jungle fight

Men of Hatchet Force, specially trained in secret search-and-destroy operations and the rescue of missing soldiers, boarded helicopters and sped toward the scene of the previous action. Second in command was decorated combat veteran Sergeant First Class Robert L Howard – he was sure that this fight