"Combat in a built-up area is close, personal and extremely violent. We were familiar with fighting in dense jungles but were disoriented by the combat in tightly packed streets. Sounds ricocheted off walls adding to the confusion of urban combat. Crumbled buildings and blind corners made perfect sniper nests and ambush points. It was chaos.
It was just absolutely utter devastation, burned out trucks and bodies on the road. The stench of death was there all the time.
I remember looking up and saw someone with a cross on his uniform, and I knew he was a chaplain. He told us, 'I don't know if some of you will make it to Sunday...I'd like to give you guys last rites.'
During the fighting, all I could hear were people say, 'I'm hit, I'm hit, I'm hit.' And I kept thinking, when is a bullet going to hit me?
If there's anything close to hell, it had to be Hue." – Lcpl. Richard Prince, Delta Co., 1/5 Marines, Hue City, Vietnam, Feb 15, 1968.
(Photo shows a Marine taking cover next to the remains of a radio operator who took a direct hit from a missile).
