Michael Thornton: The radioman comes back — Dang was the radioman. He comes back by himself. Like I said, I had already been hit, and he comes back, and he has two bullet rounds in through the back of the radio where he had shrapnel in his back, and he says, “Mike, Da Wei’s dead! Da Wei’s dead!” And I just remembered — you know, I said, “Are you sure?” And he said, “Yeah.” And I just remembered the last position I saw Tommy when I left. So I jumped, grabbed my gun, and I went running back up there, and I saw Tommy laying on the side, and I thought Tommy was dead. The bullet had entered the side of his head over here and came out —
Thomas Norris: Blew out this whole portion of my head.
Michael Thornton: — and the whole side of his head was completely gone. I grabbed Tommy. At this time, we were being overrun at the position. So I got down in a kneeling position and I shot several guys right there. When they saw me — that I was there, they stopped and they started firing, and I grabbed Tommy and put him on my shoulders and started to run with him. Well, I didn’t know that Tommy had told the Newport News to fire for effect. Well, the first round came in, and the concussion hit, and it blew me like 20 feet in the air! And I’m watching Tommy’s body fly off my shoulders and he hits the ground like a “kabloop!” Like that. And I get up, and I’m dazed, but luckily the round hit behind me a little bit to the south, and it really got these guys’ attention. So I went over and I grabbed Tommy to pick him up. I’m dazed from the concussion, and he says, “Mike, buddy.” And I knew he was still alive.