[Illustration: _Marine Captain Franklin P. Eller, advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion, coordinates with other American-advised units operating nearby. (USMC Photo A183570)._] The battalion commander, accompanied by the assistant Marine advisor, First Lieutenant Philip O. Brady and the other OJTs, responded to the call for assistance by leading the remaining three companies from their positions at Binh Gia. Just outside the town they met Captain Eller, who had been wounded in the face, along with Lieutenant Kelliher and the remnants of the hard-hit company. Eller and the survivors of the morning ambush returned to Binh Gia while the remainder of the battalion pushed westward in an attempt to locate the enemy force. Later in the morning, the Marine column was surprised while moving through an abandoned rubber plantation by a Communist force of between 1,200 and 1,800 men. No artillery was available to support the beleaguered battalion. Vietnamese Air Force A-1 Skyraiders, however, were able to deliver close air strikes for about 45 minutes. U.S. Army helicopter gunships replaced the Skyraiders on station, but their rocket and machine gun fire proved too light to dislodge the enemy from his positions under the dense vegetation. By late afternoon, 29 of the 4th Battalion’s 35 officers, including the battalion commander, were dead. In desperation, the Americans organized the surviving Vietnamese Marines into small groups some of which managed to slip past the Viet Cong and find their way back to Binh Gia. The Vietnamese Marines had suffered their most decisive defeat of the war. Their losses were extremely high: 112 killed, 71 wounded, and 13 missing out of a 326-man battalion. Equipment losses included 142 weapons and over a dozen radios. Additionally, all four of the U.S. Marines who had participated in the disastrous action had been wounded. Both Captain Eller and Lieutenant Brady were later awarded the Silver Star Medal for their roles in the battle.[10-G] Captain Donald G. Cook, one of the OJT observers from the 3d Marine Division, was missing in action at the close of the battle.[10-H] [10-G] Personal decorations for heroism were awarded more frequently to Marine advisors through 1964. Earlier in the year (16 February), a Marine captain, Donald E. Koelper, an advisor to the 4th Vietnamese Marine Battalion earned a Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for heroism. Koelper was decorated for warning the occupants of a crowded American theater in Saigon to take cover just prior to the detonation of a Viet Cong terrorist bomb. The Marine was killed by a Viet Cong satchel charge. But his sacrifice limited the number of casualties to three killed and 51 wounded. [10-H] It was later learned that Captain Cook had been wounded and captured by the Viet Cong. Cook reportedly died in captivity in 1967.