Veteran's Voices:Bill Albracht recounts the five days of hell at Firebase Kate

Nearly 50 years ago, a battle in the Vietnamese jungle forever changed the life of a Quad Cities veteran. 

Bill Albracht told Local Four News, at his core are the lessons he learned growing up in Rock Island.

Albracht said, “The values that I have, my moral compass. Everything was set here.”

A long way from the place Albracht calls home.

“I wanted to see what kind of stuff I was made out of, ” said Albracht. “Boy did I find out.”

His venture into the military right out of high school took him away from Quad Cities life on the Mississippi River and led him into the jungles of Vietnam.

Albracht said, “We were in the middle of nowhere.”

In October 1969, Albracht, known by his call sign Hawk, was just weeks into his tour and given the command at Firebase Kate along the Vietnam and Cambodia border.

“I got to Kate the afternoon before it was attacked, surrounded and ultimately overrun,” said Albracht.

He added, “The initial target was a much bigger target called Bu Prang, but we were in the way, so they needed to knock us out prior to hitting the big target. We didn’t know that. We were just fighting.”

The then 21-year-old said it was his men, air support and training helping them survive during a siege by the North Vietnamese Army.

Albracht said, “We were just fighting to keep our position and hold onto this worthless piece of real estate. After five days, we were no longer a firebase.”

As night fell…

Albracht said, “None of us thought or knew we would see the sun come up the next day.”

He led the US soldiers and native Montagnard forces into the jungle.

Albracht said, “Just as the North Vietnamese were coming up the south side, we went off the north side.”

Hours on the march to relative safety.

Albracht said, “Some people say that’s a minor miracle that you only lost one man and I say if you were there that night, I’d say it’s a major miracle.”

It defined his year in Vietnam and for a long time after, a memory shared primarily with comrades.

Albracht “When I came home, it was not a good time to be a veteran. Not at all. A lot of hostility, so veterans, we kind of hunkered down together. We knew where’d we’ve been.”

He went to college and then 25 years with the Secret Service, working in the Quad Cities and next to the sides of presidents.

But in 2008, the memories of those five days came flooding back.

Albracht “They would come out time to time when you least expect it. Could be a smell, could be a sound, could be a turn of phrase. In 2008, the door came open all the way. Everything came out, and I sat down and started to write. To me, it was a very cathartic experience when I put it on paper. I had no idea there would be a book, nor was that my goal.”

Preserving the legacy he and his men left at Firebase Kate through the pages of Abandon in Hell.

Albracht said, “We were truly a band of brothers. We all came together and all able to persevere.”

Albracht said he still remains in contact with his fellow service members and is planning to meet up with them during an event Veterans Day weekend.