Oral Histories
of the 100 Hours
"Football War"

El Salvador - Honduras 1969

Company Commander 11th Battalion Eastern Operations Theater (TOO)

by David E. Spencer

Soldier, Treasury Police, TOO

In 1968 I was working in Maestranza (7). The head of that office was Lt. Juan Orlando Zepeda, who is now the vice-minister of defense. Zepeda was at Maestranza during the war with Honduras. Maestranza made several armoured vehicles and also a type of rocket launcher which they mounted on tripods. Several weapons were invented at Maestranza, which never reached the hands of the Salvadoran troops. In addition there were several "tanks." These tanks were armoured trucks with shielded howitzers mounted on the bed (8). There were about half a dozen at San Carlos and a similar number at Zapote. The Zapote vehicles were used in the TOO.

I was transferred to the Treasury Police where I was mobilized for the war. Then we still wore khaki uniforms and were equipped with steel helmets, ammunition belts, bayonets, canteens, etc.

Most of us carried the brand new G-3 rifle, so new that we had barely learned how to use and maintain them. However, the officers and sergeants carried M-1 carbines. The corporals were assigned the Madsen light machine-guns. In addition to these weapons, our company had two Madsen Saetter GMPGs with their respective tripods. At the battalion level we had .50 caliber machine-guns and support weapons. Officers carried binoculars and each radio operator carried a lensatic compass. I was assigned as a radio operator in the 1st company of the Treasury Police. Our commander was Captain Jaime Ernesto Flores and the battalion commander was Miguel Angel Flores.

Early on the morning of the first day we moved down to the river across from El Poy. We filed down through some trees on our side of the Goascoran river. By 0600 hours we were preparing to cross. At that moment, a force of Hondurans on the other side of the river opened fire. The fire caused confusion and panic among us and we scattered seeking cover. I found cover behind a large Ceiba tree.

There were soldiers from other units, and an army soldier nearby lay down in the open near me with a M30 Solothurn light machine-gun. In only a few moments he was hit by a bullet right in the forehead and killed. That really shook me. However, I soon had other things to worry about as a machine-gun found my tree and began shooting it up. I could feel the tree shake from the impact, and little bits of bark and tree began falling down on me. As soon as the firing stopped, I jumped up and advanced to a new tree. We returned fire and finally the Hondurans withdrew.

Captain Flores yelled at us to cross the river. Having seen how easy it was for a man to be killed I waited a bit to cross in the middle where I thought I would be safer than either the front or the rear. Once across we found a large patch of watermelons. We were very hungry as we hadn't eaten in a whole day and combat had increased our appetites. We rested for awhile and ate watermelons. After our feast our company formed up in an inverted V with a point squad and three squads on either flank, In the middle was the command squad with Captain Flores, In this formation we began to advance across the Honduran countryside to Alianza. The terrain consisted of patches of forest and small corn and bean patches. These were criss-crossed by low stone walls. There were small groups of Honduran soldiers and volunteers in the trees and in shallow trenches behind the walls.

We'd suddenly hear bursts of fire on our right and on our left as these little groups were engaged. It often sounded like someone was firing at us from the rear, but it was only our troops rooting out these defenders. Some of the Hondurans were merely farmers and peasants defending their land with shotguns and small caliber hunting rifles. These clashes were brief, violent, but caused few casualties.

As we approached Alianza we began to run into clusters of houses. Here things began to happen that I was ashamed of. Some of our officers ordered men to set fire to the houses and for the men to take prisoners of war. Three campesino men were taken prisoner. They were interrogated, beaten and finally executed by chopping their heads off.

After these acts, discipline broke down and some soldiers began to steal things from the houses and rape women that they found. Only a few of the soldiers did these things, but the officers knew about it and didn't stop it.

We approached Alianza from the south. We found a road and began to follow it toward the town. At about 1800 hours we came upon a stable that we could see about 100 meters ahead. Suddenly a member of the Honduran Special Security Corps (CES) in a white shirt yelled at us to halt. We immediately hit the ground and the Hondurans opened fire. The CES, reinforced by regular army soldiers, were in well prepared positions with good fields of fire. They had a machine-gun and several rifles. The man in the white shirt was a good shot because he didn't miss. He killed our battalion commander Miguel Angel Flores and wounded three others. I was directly in his line of sight. I asked God to protect me and make me invisible. Apparently my prayer was answered because he didn't fire at me. I felt several bullets zing past overhead.

When the Honduran with the white shirt ran out of ammunition, I got up and charged toward the stable. The other soldiers saw me and got up and charged too. The Hondurans withdrew hastily, and we captured a .30 caliber machine-gun on a tripod. The whole fight had lasted about 30 minutes. After taking this position, we rested and decided to place sentries and make camp for the night. Our officers decided to spread our forces out in separate groups. Perhaps they thought this would lessen the chances, if the Hondurans returned, of catching us all in one place and causing large number of casualties. At any rate, this turned out to be a big mistake as it got very dark and began to rain, In the dark and the rain, the men began to get lost.

I was ordered to check up on the sentries. One sentry named Echavarria had taken the opportunity of being alone to drink a bottle of booze that he'd been secretly carrying. As I got near to his position, I yelled out the call-sign "Rio." He was supposed to answer "De Sangre." However, he was so drunk that he didn't understand me, picked up his rifle and shot at the sound of my voice. The shot hit a rock and ricocheted off. I was angry and yelled "Echavarria, you idiot! You almost shot me!"

Even though I knew his name he still didn't think that I was Salvadoran and it took me several minutes to convince him who I was. However, finally I convinced him. He said he was sorry for shooting at me and asked me if I wanted to drink with him in reconciliation. I forgave him and turned him down and told him that I thought my life was more important than drinking at the moment.

By then, some troops from the San Carlos barracks in San Salvador had arrived nearby as well as some artillery troops who had come from El Amatillo. They camped nearby. At the same time, the Hondurans had decided to come down from Cerro Pelon and attack us at night. Fighting flared up in the rain and the dark. The action was so confused that no one knew exactly who was who, nor who exactly they were shooting at. Many Salvadorans were killed, some by their own comrades. A group of Treasury Police ran into a squad of artillery soldiers and were shot dead. As for me, we were shot at from further up the hill and tried to take cover.

As we sought cover we became disorganised and scattered. Lost in the rain and the dark, many men began to weep, thinking that they wouldn't survive the night. About 2300 hours corporal Albanez was hit by a burst of fire that sliced open his stomach and caused his intestines to spill onto the ground. He fell into a patch of mud where he began to scream in pain. His loud cries caused the Hondurans to keep shooting at him. Bullets continually splattered the mud all around him, but he was not hit. As I passed, he recognized me and called out, pleading with me not to leave him there in the mud. I told him that if I came to get him they would shoot me too, but his cries affected me and I went out to make the attempt.

Another soldier came out with me and we dragged him out of the mud. We put him down on the only patch of dry ground that we could find. However, it was covered with ants and thorny plants. He complained about his new situation, but we told him to decide because the alternative was to go back into the mud. he decided to stay where he was and died of his wounds just before first light.

Meanwhile, I began to advance tree by tree up the hill, toward where I thought the Hondurans were. As I reached one tree, I saw movement on the other side of the tree and realized it was an enemy soldier. His rifle was resting in the crook of a thick branch, pointed in my direction. I had thought it was a branch in the darkness. Apparently the rain had muffled my movement and this soldier was just as startled to see me as I was to see him. He desperately tried to point his rifle through the crook of the tree at me, but I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and tried to pull it out of his hands. He hung on and tried to manoeuvre the weapon to point it at my body by lifting it up. I responded by lifting the barrel up higher. He fired, missing me, but the barrel grew hot and burned my hand.

However, I knew if I let go of the barrel, he would kill me, so in spite of the pain, I hung on for dear life. I reached for my corvo (curved machete) with my other hand. The only way I thought I could survive was by using my knife to chop the other man. I knew I could chop his legs and then kill him, but I really had no desire to kill a man this way. I prayed "God, I don't want to kill this man, help me!"

Just then, a burst of automatic fire hit the other man and the tree, and killed him. The force of his fall pulled me over and I fell in a puddle of his blood. I got some on my shirt and in my hair. I heard footsteps approaching, so I lay still. A soldier began checking us, but I didn't move because I didn't know if they were Salvadorans or Hondurans. Our uniforms were almost exactly the same, so it was hard to tell. The only real difference were the buttons. The soldier looked at us and saw us both covered with blood. That's as far as he went, and then he turned around and left. I heard him tell some others that we were both dead. The footsteps faded off into the dark and the rain.

When they were gone, I began to search for my rifle and my helmet. When I found them, I got up and continued advancing. At another tree I found a piece of rawhide and an iron anchor. These were great finds. I used the rawhide as a sort of rug, and the anchor as armor to protect me. I lay down on the rawhide behind the anchor, and this became my position. They fired at me several times from the front, but each time the shots would bounce off the metal. I returned fire with my G-3 which seemed to make them angry. Finally someone went around my flank and fired on me from the side. A shot hit me right in the head. I felt a tremendous blow and was knocked unconscious.

When I woke up, I thought I was dead. I had a tremendous headache, and this caused me to realise that I was still alive. There was a big hole in the side of my helmet, and I thought that I must have a horrible head wound. I slowly removed my helmet and began to feel my head. I expected to feel soft, bloody pulp. It was very wet, but unexpectedly hard. I realized that the wet was not hot and sticky like blood, but cold like water. I had a flashlight, so I pulled it out and shined it on my hand. There was no blood, just water and mud. My helmet had saved me. The only wound I had was a slight burn mark where the bullet had creased my skull.

After this, I had no desire to continue in the fight, so I just lay in that position until morning. The rawhide became one of my prized possessions. It was useful for many things such as a sleeping mat, an eating mat, to protect me when crossing barbed wire or thorny bushes, etc.

In the morning, the officers began to reorganise our units and gather all the survivors together. Once we were organized, we marched into the town of Alianza. He we stopped, and when the OAS came the ceasefire began and the war ended.

During our occupation of Alianza, several Salvadoran soldiers abused their authority. There were several murders and rapes committed. There was looting and robbery on a much larger scale. Dozens of Honduran cars were stolen and loaded up with whatever else captured the Salvadorans fancy. In one case a Salvadoran soldier stopped a Honduran in a Volkswagen and told him to give him the vehicle. When the owner refused, the Salvadoran shot him dead and then drove the vehicle back to El Salvador.

Footnotes

(7) Maestranza are the ordnance shops of the Salvadoran armed forces.
(8) According to a reliable source, these howitzers were U.S. 75mm pack howitzers of World War II origin. The trucks were 2.5 ton REO armoured trucks.

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