On August 1st, 1968, Kilo Battery received orders to temporarily move west to Delta-4, an abandoned Fire Suppot Base near Mai Loc. We would be firing at N.V.A. targets in the Khe Sahn area that were out of reach for us at Camp Carroll. We moved out in column with a Twin .40 Duster and a Quad .50 escorting us. As we slowly made our way down the snakelike twists and turns of the dirt road towards Delta-4, we were an easy target for an NVA ambush. The fire power our escorting U.S. Army Units had and our own .50 Calibers atop the guns deterred the NVA from a firefight. It did not stop them from detonating a mine under one of the lead jeeps in the column. An NVA, somewhere unseen in the bush watched as the jeep was tossed by the explosion. 2nd Lt. David L. Hopkins, K/4/12 lost his life in that jeep. Lt. Hopkins was in-country approximately one month at the time.